Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals: The Twenty-Fourth Symposium (ABAB Symposium) - Tapa dura

The increased attendance required concurrent sessions for the 48 oral presentations and 190 submitted posters (for more details see Website: www.ct.ornl.gov/symposium). Attendees came from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and Ven­ ezuela, as well as from the United States. This international perspective was continued in a Special Topic Ses­ sion sponsored by the International Energy Agency (lEA) Bioenergy Pro­ gram on Biofuels and chaired by Jack Saddler and David Gregg from the University of British Columbia. Several of the 10 member countries in this network are approaching Demonstrations of the Biomass-to-Ethanol pro­ cess and have a range of more fundamental projects that look at various aspects of pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, and lignin utilization. Presenters from several of the participating countries described their country's biomass-to-ethanol projects, and differential factors such as the type of biomass available, the maturity of the wood or agricultural processing industry, and the willingness of government to bear the risk/ cost of development and demonstration.

In Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals: The Twenty-Fourth Symposium, leading US and international researchers from academia, industry, and government present state-of-the-art research on how biotechnology is being used to produce high-volume, low-price products from renewable resources, as well as to improve the environment. The focus of this symposium was on bioprocessing from multidisciplinary perspectives. Session topics include advanced feedstock production and processing, enzyme and microbial biocatalysts, bioprocess research and development, opportunities in biorefineries, and commercialization of biobased products. This symposium was particularly exciting because of the projects and concepts that were being commercialized on a large scale for lactic acid, propanedol, and ethanol.
Cutting-edge and authoritative, Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals: The Twenty-Fourth Symposium provides an excellent overview of current research and development in the production of commodity fuels and chemicals via biological transformation.