During the last 20 years, the US biofuel industry grew at a faster rate than almost any other manufacturing industry, providing home-grown fuels, jobs, and rural wealth.  In 2012, the industry is at a critical stage, faced with diminishing government incentives, higher grain and other feedstock prices, and concerns over �fuel versus feed� issues.  The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) addresses some of these issues by placing a cap on the amount of conventional biofuel (corn ethanol) we can use and by mandating increasing use of �advanced� and �cellulosic� biofuels made from non-food feedstocks. How can we make these advanced and cellulosic biofuels in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner?  The key is in efficiently converting the carbohydrates in biofuels feedstocks into both fuels and higher value coproducts. The sustainable biorefineries of the future will use chemical, biochemical, and thermochemical processes to produce �drop-in� fungible fuels and numerous coproducts. Several examples will be given.

Critical roles of carbohydrates in producing the sustainable biofuels of the future

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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