New research from North Carolina State University provides
molecular-level insights into how cellulose – the most common organic compound
on Earth and the main structural component of plant cell walls – breaks down in
wood to create “bio-oils” which can be refined into any number of useful
products, including liquid transportation fuels to power a car or an airplane.
Using a supercomputer that can perform functions thousands
of times faster than a standard desktop computer, NC State chemical and
biomolecular engineer Dr. Phillip Westmoreland and doctoral student Vikram
Seshadri calculate what’s occurring at the molecular level when wood is rapidly
heated to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, a decomposition process
known as pyrolysis.