I found this article on a website called Bio mass magazine.

This article is about how researchers are now tapping into the plant’s innate environmental benefits, from desalinating wastewater to exploring its potential as a viable starch-based feedstock for ethanol production.

Duckweed has traditionally been studied because of its inherently rich protein content at 30 percent to 35 percent on a dry-weight basis. The purpose was to explore whether duckweed could be a protein source for animal and human food. A growing interest in sustainable ethanol feedstock development, however, has researchers exploring the plant’s starch content. The research, funded by the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, was presented at the annual conference of the Institute of Biological Engineering in March in Santa Clara, Calif.The one challenge that has impeded duckweed’s progress in becoming a sustainable, dedicated energy crop for biofuels production or being used as a bioremediator for farm or city wastewater treatment operations is the fact that it wasn’t domesticated.

 

The drive to develop sustainable nonfood, starch-based ethanol feedstocks and more efficient conversion processes is intensifying as the U.S. attempts to reduce ethanol’s carbon footprint by transitioning from corn to cellulosic ethanol. That has prompted researchers at North Carolina State University to take a closer look at plants, such as duckweed, that could be a potential feedstock for ethanol production. The one challenge that has impeded duckweed’s progress in becoming a sustainable, dedicated energy crop for biofuels production or being used as a bioremediator for farm or city wastewater treatment operations is the fact that it wasn’t domesticated. “The trick to domesticating duckweed is going to be how much it will cost per ton to grow this stuff,” Stomp says, adding that data on economic feasibility will be released later this year. “That number provides a threshold for commercial viability,” she adds.