The mainly EU-funded DISCO project coordinated by VTT
Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed powerful enzymes, which
accelerate plant biomass conversion into sugars and further into products such
as bioethanol. The project's results include lignin-tolerant enzymes and enzyme
cocktails for processing spruce, straw, corn cob and wheat bran. The
commercialisation of these enzymes has now begun in the Netherlands.
The EU's DISCO project developed powerful enzymes and enzyme
cocktails suitable for various raw materials, with the purpose of converting
agricultural side streams into fermentable sugars and further into products
such as bioethanol. Plant biomass was chosen as the raw material for the
project, since it contains lignocellulosic biomass, which is an abundant raw
material.