...through termite guts:

The bellies of these tiny beasts actually harbor a gold mine of microbes that have now been tapped as a rich source of enzymes for improving the conversion of wood or waste biomass to valuable biofuels.

Sounds better than converting food to fuel.

I'm surprised they are spending their time on a different sub-species when so much time and money has been spent understanding the Formosan termites you are probably familiar with. Seems like a better fit since they are already known for their prolific nature and amazing appetites.

Oh, great, now the logging companies will be chopping down all of our precious trees to fuel Bush's war machine.

No wood for oil! :P

I'm wondering if this idea and thermal depolymerization could be profitably combined.

This is old news. The Futurist had written about this way back on January 18, 2007.

I dunno, the environment in which thermal depolymerization takes place is pretty inhospitable towards biologicals, considering that the point is to break down organic matter. There might be some efficiencies gained in pre- or post-processing, though.

Speaking of which, has anybody seen any updates on TDP lately? WikiP doesn't have much in the last couple of years.