A WOOD-MUNCHING bug which was once the scourge of the shipping world is at the forefront of attempts by the University of York to find an alternative to petrol.

For centuries the Limnoria quadripunctata, or gribble was considered little more than a nautical nuisance as it bored its way into the wooden hulls of ships.

Now the tiny maggot-like bug could hold the key to the production of sustainable carbon-neutral fuels, thanks to their unusual digestive system.

Scientists at the University of York believe potent digestive enzymes that the gribble produces to convert wood into the sugars they live on could be harnessed as a crucial component in making liquid biofuels.

The brain behind the project, Professor Simon McQueen-Mason, is now working with marine biologists at Portsmouth University to identify the enzymes in the gribble’s digestive tract that are the most efficient in breaking down wood.

He said: “Producing sugar from non-food biomass, such as wood or straw, in a sustainable way is one of the biggest challenges we face. The problem is that the sugars that we need to use are tied up in the stems of plants.

“If we can get these sugars out of biomass in a cost effective manner, they can be fermented to produce the liquid biofuels we need to replace petrol.”

Professor McQueen-Mason said the research was still at an early stage but hoped to see a fuel available for motorvehicles within the next ten years.

The University of York is one of six UK research centres which make up the Sustainable Bioenergy Centre.

Funding from the government and private sector to the tune of £27 million in the centre means it is the country’s biggest ever public investment in bioenergy research.

Prof McQueen-Mason said: “There’s a lot of investment in this research area.

“We can already make bio fuels form starch and sugar but if you look at wheat stems there’s as much sugar tied up in the stem as in the grain.

“If we can get the sugar from the stem we are taking the strain off the food chain for bio-fuel production.”