New Method Turns Wood into Sugar for Biofuels

German researchers appear to have a breakthrough in this new method for turning wood into simple sugars. Simple sugars can be easily turned into ethanol or other useful substances.
New Method Turns Wood into Sugar for Biofuels: "Up to now, conventional methods for converting cellulose to sugar have used acid baths or high temperatures and pressures that require massive amounts of energy. This new method, however, works by first dissolving cellulose in an ionic liquid so that the long chains are broken down into shorter, single stranded chains called oligomers."