The President's FY2001 budget proposal includes a new initiative in research and development in bio-based technologies, which convert crops, trees, and other "biomass" into a vast array of fuels and products. Biobased industries use agricultural, forest, and aquatic resources to make an array of commercial products including fuels, electricity, chemicals, adhesives, lubricants, and building materials. The initiative supports the President's August 1999 Executive Order 13134 and Memorandum on Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, aimed at tripling U.S. use of biobased products and bioenergy by 2010.
The initiative provides an increase of more than $93 million over the
amounts available for FY 2000, with $49 million directed towards the Department
of Energy (DOE) and $44 million for increased R&D efforts at the Department
of Agriculture (USDA). In addition to this increase in R&D, the
Commodity Credit Corporation will provide $100 million in FY 2000 and up to
$150 million in FY 2001 and 2002 in incentive payments to encourage production
of biobased fuels.
Reaching the President's goal would generate billions of dollars of new income for farmers and diversify and strengthen the rural economy producing 50,000 new, high-technology jobs in small processing plants in rural America and up to 130,000 such jobs in biopower, bioproducts, and biofuels industries. It would also generate 348 million barrels of oil a year, equal to 158 super tankers and would lower the emissions of greenhouse gases by 100 million tons, equal to the amount emitted by 70 million cars.
A major goal of this initiative is making biomass a viable competitor to
fossil fuels as an energy source and chemical feedstock while protecting the
environment. Continuing advances in forest and farm technology, molecular
biology, and other areas make this goal achievable, but capturing the goal will
require an unprecedented effort to support research in universities, companies,
and our national laboratories. In the past few years, for example,
federal research has developed techniques that greatly accelerates the
production of sugars and other useful chemicals from materials like corn stover
and wood. Creative companies have taken research results from such
investments and are making major investments. Cargill-Dow Polymers, for
example, recently announced plans to build a $300 million production facility
that will convert corn based sugars to plastic fibers that can be used to
create products that are all natural and biodegradable. In the near
future we can expect production of loose-fill packaging materials from a
combination of plastic resins and natural polymers made from biomass. The
research funded under this initiative will ensure a continuing flow of the
basic innovations on which such investments can be made.
Many uses for biomass materials are possible in the near future and this initiative will support research concepts on a competitive basis. This will include support for integrated systems capable of processing feedstocks simultaneously into a variety of products such as fuels, chemicals, and electricity. Much like today's petroleum-based refineries, the mix of products from these facilities will depend on market conditions. The research aims to understand the basic chemistry of cellulose and other materials in biomass, and develop new thermal, chemical, and bio-chemical techniques for converting these materials into useful forms.
The President's August 1999 Executive Order instructs DOE, USDA,
NSF, EPA and other agencies, to work closely together in supporting the broad
range of needed research and development efforts. The research will
support research partnerships linking industry, university, and government
research facilities selected on a competitive basis. Key areas of new
research activity will include:
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