EPFL has developed new method that can doubles sugar production from plants

“EPFL’s Laboratory of Sustainable and Catalytic Processingexternal link has developed a chemical method that stabilises simple sugars and prevents them from being degraded. This method could mean that chemists no longer have to balance deconstruction of the plant with avoiding degradation of the product. The new method changes the chemical susceptibility of the sugars to dehydration and degradation by latching aldehydes onto them. The process is reversible, meaning the sugars can be retrieved after deconstruction. ”

Read more here.