Miscanthus [Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center]
Multiple societal benefits underlie U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research efforts to support a viable and sustainable domestic biofuels and bioproducts industry derived from nonfood lignocellulosic plant biomass. More specifically, these benefits include ensuring future energy security, lowering greenhouse gases to mitigate climate impacts, expanding the diversity and range of available biobased products, producing fewer toxic chemicals and waste products, creating jobs in rural areas, and improving the trade balance.
Lignocellulose is the most abundant biological material on Earth. Most often contained in plant cell walls, it is made up of long, tightly bound chains of sugars (polysaccharides) that can be converted into biofuels and bioproducts by microbes. However, cellulose in cell walls is resistant to degradation because it is embedded within a matrix of other polymers including hemicellulose and lignin. This resistance or recalcitrance along with a lack of efficient methods to convert lignocellulose to useful products are major impediments to the cost-effective production of biofuels and bioproducts from plant biomass. Innovation stemming from research based on advanced biotechnology is key to accelerating needed improvements in the sustainable production of lignocellulosic biomass, its deconstruction into sugars and lignin, and conversion.
Since 2007, the Genomic Science program within DOE’s Office of Science Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) has supported the Bioenergy Research Center (BRC) program, whose mission is to break down the barriers to actualizing a domestic bioenergy industry. The centers—each led by a DOE national laboratory or top university—take distinctive approaches toward the common goal of accelerating the pathway to improving and scaling up advanced biofuel and bioproduct production processes.
Over 10 years (2007-2017), three BRCs, supported by DOE's Genomic Science program made significant advances toward this new biobased economy. They produced multiple breakthroughs in the form of deepened understanding of sustainable biomass production practices, targeted reengineering of biomass feedstocks, development of new methods for deconstructing feedstocks, and engineering of microbes for more effective production of a diverse range of biofuels.
In all, these three BRCs produced 2,696 peer-reviewed publications, 619 invention disclosures, 397 patent applications, 199 licenses or options, 101 patents, and 14 company startups. Through this work, they transferred substantial insight and expertise to industry through cooperation with both large and small companies.
For more on these previous centers, see archive: Bioenergy Research Centers 2007-2017 including this list of peer-reviewed publications.
Kent Peters
Phone: 301-903-5549
Email: Kent.Peters@science.doe.gov
Shing Kwok
Phone: 301-903-2977
Email: Shing.Kwok@science.doe.gov
