PhD Candidate Bioresource Science and Engineering
School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington
Low prices at the pump make it tough for biofuels to compete with petroleum fuels, not only by convincing consumers to purchase biofuels, but also by attracting investors to develop commercial scale biofuel biorefineries. It further reinforces the idea that we need to figure out how to reduce the the selling price of biofuels and we need to diversify the products made from lignocellulosic biomass. Designing biorefineries that can produce both fuels and chemicals, such as bio-based acetic acid, would allow biorefineries to adapt to changing demands and market fluctuations.
