BRC Science Highlight Co-solvent System for Sugar Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Biomass Derived γ-valerolactone Objective To improve ease-of-use and economics of the GVL method for lignocellulose biomass deconstruction. Approach The GVL method is a promising biomass-agnostic, renewable technology that can improve the economics of biofuel production Recovery of sugars and lignin from the GVL mixture relies on methods that are expensive or may inhibit downstream conversion of sugars to biofuels; a new method examined the use of co-solvents1 and their impact on sugar yield and economics of biofuel production2 Result/Impacts Use of co-solvents to recover high-yielding sugar streams, lignin, and GVL is comparable to previously used recovery methods Technoeconomic analysis for ethanol production indicated a minimum selling price of $2.95 per gasoline gallon equivalent, a ~10-12% decrease when compared to other benchmarked processes Notes: text Title again: Text 1-2 sentence summary? 1Motagamwala, AH et al. 2016. An engineered solvent system for sugar production from lignocellulosic biomass using biomass derived γ-valerolactone. Green Chemistry, doi:10.1039/c6gc02297a. 2Won, W et al. 2017. A co-solvent hydrolysis strategy for the production of biofuels: process synthesis and technoeconomic analysis. Reaction Chemistry and Engineering, doi:10.1039/c6re00227g. GLBRC March 2017