Kansas State University has received a patent for a substance that helps convert straw and other grasses into a cleaner-burning fuel.
The patent was issued to the university's research foundation.
Kansas State says two former faculty members developed a substance that can be used in the production of syn-gas.
Syn-gas can be burned for energy and used to generate electricity.
However, converting biomass to syn-gas creates tar.
Research foundation vice president Marcia Molina says the newly developed substance is more effective at removing that tar.