Renewable Alternative Fuels: Alcohol Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Advances in renewable alternative biomass-based fuel technologies make their commercialization likely within a decade. Substituting fuels derived from biomass for fossil fuels can reduce dependence on petroleum use, improve air quality, mitigate global warming, and strengthen a weak farm economy. Implementation of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 increased the oxygenate content in gasoline, providing greater market opportunities for alcohols-as direct blends and to produce ethers such as ETBE and MTBE. Alcohol production from lignocellulosic biomass is promising, leading to renewable, alternative transportation fuels that are projected to be competitive as pure fuels with fuels derived from petroleum at $20-$25/bbl ($0.13-$0.16/liter) within the next 5 to 10 years. However, the timeframe for deployment depends not only on the development of technologies, but also on the active involvement of appropriate industries. Industrial partnerships have been formed, and commercialization strategy is well under way; process development units at the pilot scale are both operating and under construction in the United States. Alliances between industry and the government include agreements to proceed with scale-up to engineering development units and eventually to commercial-scale plants.