Expert: Hydrocarbon Biofuels' Promise Tops That of Ethanol and Gasoline

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Posted by Scott Doggett August 14, 2009, 10:53 AM

Recent technological advances might put fuel from forest waste, cornstalks, algae and other biomass into commercial production within just a few years, a National Science Foundation program director said in a paper published today.

John Regalbuto, a chemical engineer at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and director of the NSF catalysis and biocatalysis program, wrote in Science (subscription required) that biomass-derived fuels are not far from being part of the energy mix as a replacement for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

"If recent technological innovations result in competitive production costs, hydrocarbons rather than ethanol will likely be the dominant biofuel," Regalbuto wrote.

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