SUGARCANE bagasse is an economically attractive feedstock for conversion of
fermentable sugars to bioethanol production. This paper reports on the activities
of the Syngenta Centre for Sugarcane Biofuels Development (SCSBD). The goal
of the SCSBD is to develop technologies to enable the economically viable
production of cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane bagasse. New methodologies
are required to achieve such an outcome, including the controlled, high level
expression of cellulases in transgenic sugarcane, and processing technologies
that enable the cost-effective use of these enzymes to convert bagasse to
fermentable sugars.