Patent granted to Japanese scientists for ethanol production process

Tetsuro Nishimoto, Kiyohiro Nishimoto and Tsutomu Morinaga, all from Japan, have developed a process for the production of ethanol. The patent has been assigned to Cosmo Ace Co. According to an abstract posted by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the invention relates to a “process for producing ethanol from a lignocellulose-containing resource more effectively.” In the process for producing ethanol, enzymes derived from a waste mushroom bed have high activities and can convert cellulose and xylan contained in the lignocellulose-containing resource into glucose and xylose efficiently; namely the enzymes can convert the lignocellulose-containing resource into a saccharified solution containing glucose and xylose.” The invention carries International Patent Publication No. WO/2009/096215 on Aug. 6. The original patent was filed in Japan. (August 8, 2009)