Developing biofuels production

Developing more productive ways of converting plant sugars to fuels is the problem being tackled by this program. The current method of accomplishing this for many biofuels used today — such as ethanol, butanol and biodiesel — is similar to the centuries-old fermentation practices relied on to make beer and wine. While those methods are successful for spirits, they've proved inadequate in the production of biofuels, especially on the large scale that's necessary if the U.S. is ever to attain the Department of Energy's goals for biofuels. That target would have the U.S. satisfying 30 percent of its transportation fuel needs from biofuels by 2030.

If produced in a sustainable manner, biofuels have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, diversify sources of transportation energy, and support a dynamic agricultural economy—both in the U.S. and abroad. In the wake of the ongoing global food crisis, arguments have flared over the impact of diverting some agricultural products out of the food supply and into gas tanks. Biofuel production does have an effect on food prices, though estimates vary from 2 to 30 percent of recent price increases. In order to produce biofuels that provide a net benefit for the environment and but do not compete with food crops, producers in the U.S and around the world need to scale production of cellulosic biofuels, particularly those made from abundant waste materials and crops that do not compete with food.

Cellulosic biofuels, unlike ethanol derived from corn starch, are made from the durable molecules—cellulose—that comprise the woody part of common plants. Not only does the production process result in less greenhouse gas emissions than the process for making ethanol from corn, there are hundreds of millions of tons of biomass feedstocks available every year in the U.S. for cellulosic ethanol that would otherwise be discarded as waste.