Proof in the pudding

Many approaches are being taken worldwide to get around this problem, and what the Syngenta centre in Brisbane aims to do is genetically modify sugarcane to produce cellulases, while maintaining the sugar content of the cane.

"We thought, what is the cheapest way to produce these enzymes - get the plant to produce them," Dale says. "But, the plants don't want to produce them naturally and we don't want to destroy the plant, so we are combining our INPACT technology with Syngenta's molecular IP to put appropriate enzymes into the sugar cane plant, and do it such that the genes are not expressed until we want them to be expressed and then at very high levels, so about two to three days before harvest ... that's the plan."

Thus, both the existing consumer sucrose product and ethanol for fuel can be produced in a sort-of one-stop-shop, providing a potential second income stream to sugar producers and ultimately a more sustainable sugarcane industry in Australia.

The global market for this technology is vast: adapting it to other biomass sources such as switch grass in the US, for example, could revolutionise CE production almost immediately.

With the joint venture now up and running, Dale and his team are focussing on outcomes. The first sugar cane field trial is planned for 2010 and a $7.5 million pilot plant is already under construction at Mackay in North Queensland, next to an existing sugar mill.

When everything else is in place, this mill and plant will process the transgenic sugar cane for commercial production.