Cellulosic biofuels edging closer

The recession has hit the US biofuels industry, but government initiatives and rising oil prices are supporting development of next-generation cellulosic fuels, writes Ian Lewis

THE WEAK outcome of the Copenhagen climate summit provided little succour for the pioneers of next-generation cellulosic biofuels. But the industry's commercial viability would be greatly enhanced by progress with cellulosic processing, which enables the use of a greater variety of plants – and more parts of them – to produce fuel than is possible with established biofuels. That gives them better seed-to-wheel benefits, in terms of reducing emissions and competition with food crops, compared with first-generation bioethanol and biodiesel, which use land-intensive food crops, such as maize and rapeseed. This advantage had raised hopes that cellulosic and other biomass-related projects could