For almost a century gasoline has been the dominant transportation fuel
around the world. Today gasoline in the USA is produced from mostly imported
oil, whose escalating prices and declining availability have a significant
impact on family budgets, business profitability, and national accounts.
Moreover, gasoline use results in gaseous and particulate emissions that
continue to pollute the air and the environment in general.  Governments
around the world are seriously rethinking their reliance on fossil
transportation fuels by
seeking alternatives, such as ethanol in the short term and hydrogen later
on.  They can be domestically produced and are expected to reduce
dramatically automobile emissions.

Ethanol is currently produced in rather small volumes primarily from corn
(USA) and sugarcane (Brazil) through fermentation. It is blended with
gasoline as E10 (10% ethanol), but new flexible fuel vehicles are able to
run on E85.  Crops like corn are convenient ethanol sources at the present
time, but they cannot satisfy our increasing energy needs in the long run
because there is simply not enough corn or arable land for expansion.
Furthermore, corn requires
significant amounts of irrigation and fertilizers straining scarce water
resources, affecting soil quality, and polluting ecosystems.


In contrast to crops, cellulosic biomass is an abundant non-edible feedstock
that can satisfy our fuel needs if it can be converted to ethanol
economically.  It is available in the form of agricultural residues, such as
corn stover, sugacane bagasse, and citrus peel, forestry residues, and urban
waste.  The conversion process is a combination of chemical and biochemical
steps, which first release sugars from biomass and then ferment those sugars
to ethanol.  The use of enzymes and microorganisms plays a pivotal role in
this process.  Although significant progress has been achieved in the area
during the last 10 years, there are still technical and business issues that
need to be addressed before the technology is commercialized.  During the
presentation those critical issues will be reviewed and possible solutions
developed at FIU's Applied Research Center will be discussed.