Opportunities and Challenges for Advanced Biofuel Industry

Biofuels have been criticized for leading to rise in food costs. Advanced biofuels steer clear of this controversy as they are produced mostly from non-food crops. The US government renewable fuel standard mandates 21 billion gallons/yr of advanced biofuels by 2022 while current production levels are significantly low. In order to rise to this tremendous opportunity, several companies are taking different technological pathways for the commercial production of advanced biofuels. This presentation will discuss some recent projects at KBR for advanced biofuel production. Some of the hurdles in commercialization of advanced biofuels and future industry projections are discussed.