US DOE eyes potential of cellulosic ethanol as alternative fuel

Washington (Platts)--7Jul2006

The US Department of Energy Friday released a research agenda for the
development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline, saying that
advances in biotechnology were needed to jump-start a new fuel industry.

The agenda, described in a 200-page scientific "roadmap," cites recent
developments in biotechnology that DOE said make cost-effective production of
ethanol from plant fiber an attainable goal.

"Cellulosic ethanol has the potential to be a major source for
transportation fuel for America's energy future," Under Secretary of Energy
for Science Raymond Orbach said in a statement. "Low production cost and high
efficiency require transformational changes in processing cellulose to
ethanol."

Orbach said work done by DOE's Genomics:GTL program would serve as a
basis for further research into cellulosic ethanol. The program supports
technologies that use plants and microbes to address energy and environmental
problems.

Among the challenges to be addressed, he added, are maximizing biomass
feedstock productivity, developing better processes to break down cellulosic
materials into sugars, and optimizing the fermentation process to convert
sugars into ethanol.

The roadmap responds to the Bush administration's goal of making
cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012 and having the
biofuel displace 30% of 2004 transportation fuel consumption by 2030.

The roadmap was developed during a December 2005 workshop hosted by the
Biological and Environmental Research and the biomass program offices at DOE.

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