Researchers studied how to turn agricultural waste like barley straw and corn cobs into a sugar called D-xylose. They soaked the waste in a special solution and then used enzymes to break it down. They found that after 48 hours, 15.8% of the waste turned into sugar, with 87% of it being D-xylose. Corn cobs and barley straw were shown to be good sources for making D-xylose through this process.