U.S. D.O.E.: Roadmap for Developing Cleaner Fuels

The Department of Energy has just announced the publication of an ambitious, long term, research "road map" for developing technologies for the conversion of biomass to cellulosic ethanol.

The roadmap identifies the research required for overcoming challenges to the large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol to help meet this goal, including maximizing biomass feedstock productivity, developing better processes by which to break down cellulosic materials into sugars, and optimizing the fermentation process to convert sugars to ethanol

The focus is clearly on the longterm development of enzymatic hydrolysis techniques involving enzymatic, genetic, thermochemical, and chemical R&D. The question is, what is the Department of Energy doing to support R&D and deployment of the other major processes for converting biomass to ethanol - synthesis gas fermentation including catalytic conversion of syngas to ethanol?

The D.O.E. appears to be ignoring the potential of converting a whole, vast class of feedstock and blended feedstock options (non-agricultural feedstocks including municipal solid waste, tires, sulfurous coal, etc.). In addition, they are ignoring the relative speed, ease, and cost efficiency of gasification of feedstock to break down molecular bonds prior to fermentation to ethanol. These technologies are crucial for waste diversion and urban participation in cellulosic ethanol production.

We applaud the scope of the D.O.E.'s commitment to cellulosic ethanol R&D, but focusing only on vastly more challenging and expensive processes may significantly delay the funding crucial to the R&D and deployment of more expedient bioconversion technologies. We would like to see a commensurate commitment to funding syngas fermentation and catalytic conversion process.

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DOE Publishes Roadmap for Developing Cleaner Fuels
Research Aimed at Making Cellulosic Ethanol a Practical Alternative to Gasoline

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released an ambitious new research agenda for the development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. The 200-page scientific “roadmap” cites recent advances in biotechnology that have made cost-effective production of ethanol from cellulose, or inedible plant fiber, an attainable goal. The report outlines a detailed research plan for developing new technologies to transform cellulosic ethanol—a renewable, cleaner-burning, and carbon-neutral alternative to gasoline—into an economically viable transportation fuel.

“Cellulosic ethanol has the potential to be a major source for transportation fuel for America’s energy future,” Under Secretary for Science Raymond L. Orbach said. “Low production cost and high efficiency require transformational changes in processing cellulose to ethanol. DOE’s Genomics: GTL program is poised to help do just that.”

The roadmap responds directly to the goal recently announced by Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman of displacing 30 percent of 2004 transportation fuel consumption with biofuels by 2030. This goal was set in response to the President's Advanced Energy Initiative.

The roadmap identifies the research required for overcoming challenges to the large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol to help meet this goal, including maximizing biomass feedstock productivity, developing better processes by which to break down cellulosic materials into sugars, and optimizing the fermentation process to convert sugars to ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is derived from the fibrous, woody and generally inedible portions of plant matter (biomass).

The focus of the research plan is to use advances in biotechnology -- first developed in the Human Genome Project and continued in the Genomics: GTL program in the Department’s Office of Science -- to jump-start a new fuel industry whose products can be transported, stored and distributed with only modest modifications to the existing infrastructure and can fuel many of today’s vehicles.

The new roadmap was developed during a December 2005 workshop hosted jointly by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Office of Science and the Office of the Biomass Program in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The success of the plan relies heavily on the continuation of the partnership between the two offices established at that workshop.

“Biofuels represent a tremendous opportunity to move our nation toward a reduced dependence on imported oil,” DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner said. “We fully intend to use all of our resources and talent to support the President’s goal of breaking our addiction to oil, while also enhancing our energy security.”

The report, “Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol: A Joint Research Agenda,” and a fact sheet on the report may be viewed at http://www.doegenomestolife.org/biofuels/.

For more information about the Genomics: GTL program in the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Office of Science, see http://www.doegenomestolife.org/. For more information on the Office of the Biomass Program in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, see http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/.


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