A fear years ago, a lab at Michigan Univ. successfully combined the fungus T. Reesei with E. coli to produce biofuel in lab experiments. Since then, many other labs have also been trying out other types of fungi with varying results. The research is so exciting because we can use non-edible plant fibers like corn stalks, and break them down into a useable bio-mass much cheaper using fungi instead of expensive laboratory chemicals.
It seems as though nature herself can help produce a means to help us continue to survive and thrive into the future. Currently these new methods are being refined to increase batch conversion rates which were around 62 percent using the initial unrefined process. Researchers are currently hoping to achieve a conversion rate of 90% and to make the process commercially viable and they have stated the technology holds a lot of promise.
