ACS-BIO '04: Biomass R&D needs a 'Manhattan Project'

29 October 2004 00:12  [Source: ICIS news]

McLEAN, Virginia (CNI)--Interest in biomass-based chemical manufacturing is "very high" but R&D funding is short, a leading biomass scientist said here Thursday, adding that the US should mount a "Manhattan Project" to advance the research.

Larry Walker, a professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University, told CNI here today that a broad, government-sponsored plan to convert 25% of US commodity chemicals production to biomass-based feedstock by 2030 "faces a tremendous challenge" in meeting that goal.

Walker, who spoke with CNI on the sidelines of the second annual ACS-BIO CTO conference here, said the principal obstacle to meeting the 2030 production goal is a shortage of research and development (R&D) funding.

"There is tremendous interest in the chemicals industry for biomass-based production technology," Walker said, "but federal government R&D funding in this area is woefully short." Walker said the US Department of Energy (DoE) has an annual budget of $100m (Euro79m) for R&D on biomass product development, such as chemicals, and biomass-based energy development.

With that funding, he said, DoE invites proposals from the private sector for 17-20 biomass product or energy research projects each year. "But the DoE gets about 450 proposals from industry and academia for those few projects each year," he said, indicating that interest far exceeds available funding.

Walker is part of the DoE’s Biomass R&D technical advisory committee (TAC).

In late 2002 DoE approved the TAC’s proposal - called a "Roadmap for Biomass Technologies" - that set what were then believed to be realistic goals for moving 12% of targeted US chemical commodities production to biomass feedstocks by 2010, to 18% by 2020 and reaching 25% biomass-based chemicals production by 2030.

Asked today, two years on, whether the US can meet those goals, Walker said: "It will be a tremendous challenge."

"If we really believe this [Roadmap] initiative is going to be part of our energy and product solution in a sustainable environment," Walker said, "we’ll need far more R&D funding to make it happen."

Walker said he could not name a dollar figure for what would be needed to accelerate biomass-based chemical and energy development, but he said the effort should be given the kind of financial and policy commitment that characterized the "Manhattan Project," the top-secret US effort to develop a nuclear bomb in World War II.

Absent that kind of massive US funding, Walker said academia and the chemical and biotech industries must combine their resources. "This is essential," he said, "if we are to move this forward."

Sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the CTO conference brings together about 80 chief technology officers (CTOs) and other top executives of chemical and biotech firms to explore mutual interests. The conference concludes tomorrow.

Cornell University is based at Ithica, New York. BIO and ACS are both based in Washington, DC.

 

By: Joe Kamalick
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