RACE TO THE PUMP

CHEMISTS, chemical engineers, and synthetic biologists have largely met the technical challenge of developing biofuels to supplement and then replace petroleum-derived transportation fuels in the coming decades. For biofuels to reach the U.S. market, however, these technologies have to fit into the existing transportation fuel infrastructure. Every major chemical and petrochemical firm has claimed a stake in the race to biofuel commercialization, as have dozens of start-up companies. Biofuels have multiple starting points, including sugars, starches, vegetable oil, recycled paper and cardboard, and raw biomass, which can be processed by biological or chemical methods, or both. Whichever ones win, the competing technologies’ versatility ensures that companies will make money, and the country will gain energy security by eliminating dependence on imported oil, as well as climate security by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “We all know how to get from the beginning to the end and make biofuels—we’ve all d...