Excrement from elephants excites biofuel engineers

Scientists in the Netherlands have discovered a fungus that exists in elephant dung that will help them break down fibres and wood into biofuel.

Bioethanol firms currently extract sugars from crops such as grains and sugar beet, but some are developing technologies to extract energy from fibre such as wheat bran, straw or wood.

Scientists working for Royal Nedalco, the Delft University of Technology and a firm called Bird Engineering have found a fungus in elephant dung that helped them produce a yeast which can efficiently ferment wood sugars.
Globe and Mail