Researchers found that after 24 weeks, about 40 percent of total PCB mass had been removed by the
switchgrass -
treated soil, significantly higher than the 30 percent removed from untreated soil.
After
treating a common cellulosic biofuels plant called
switchgrass with a compound known as an ionic liquid (IL) to break apart the plant fibers and reduce the lignin, the researchers added their engineered E. coli.