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, which helps faculty, staff and students commercialize and protect their discoveries.

Kansas State says two former faculty members developed a substance that can be used in the production of syngas. Syngas can be burned for energy and used to generate electricity.

But converting biomass to syngas creates tar that must be scrubbed from the syngas. Research foundation vice president Marcia Molina says the newly developed substance is more effective at removing the tar.