Biotechnology Is Accelerating the Evolution of Advanced Biofuels

Non-Food Resources Will be Converted to Fuel
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
Biotechnology is delivering solutions to rapidly rising demand for
both food and biofuels through improvements in current biofuel
production, commercialization of cellulosic and other advanced
biofuels, and increased production of food and energy crops on
existing land. Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO's
Industrial & Environmental Section, released the following statement
at the Biomass 2008: Fueling Our Future conference hosted by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program:

"Biotechnology is the key to sustainable, affordable biofuel
production. As companies across the United States plan construction of
cellulosic ethanol refineries to meet the goals of the Renewable Fuel
Standard, industrial biotech scientists continue to reduce the cost of
advanced biofuels. Several companies are even looking beyond ethanol
to biobutanol and even biobased hydrocarbons.

"Biotechnology advances are improving current biofuel production
in three key ways: increasing biomass yield per acre, increasing the
amount of ethanol extracted from each acre of crop, and reducing the
amount of energy needed in the process. For instance, a newly
developed enzyme eliminates the need to cook corn to produce ethanol
and increases the yield by 6 percent.

"Agricultural biotechnology is helping farmers around the globe
meet the growing demand for food, animal feed, fiber and biofuels by
increasing crop yields per acre and by developing new sources of
non-food plants for biofuels. Since the introduction of agricultural
biotechnology in 1996, corn yields have increased 30 percent and
soybean yields have increased more than 20 percent. Biotech scientists
are also studying the genomes of sorghum, switchgrass and other
non-food plants to optimize them for use in advanced biofuel
production."

In Erickson's presentation at the Biomass 2008 conference he
outlined specific ways that biotechnology is accelerating biofuel
development:

-- Improving the energy efficiency and yields of starch to
ethanol processes;

-- Enabling conversion of crop residues and dedicated energy
crops in cellulosic ethanol processes;

-- Producing new fuels such as biobutanol from carbohydrate
feedstocks;

-- Developing groundbreaking technology such as synthetic biology
to produce renewable hydrocarbons from agricultural
feedstocks;

-- Improving crop yields for both food and fuel crops; and

-- Developing new dedicated energy crops.

"These advances in biotechnology are making it possible for the
U.S. to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard and accelerating the
evolution of the industry toward cellulosic biofuels," Erickson
stated. The RFS sets a goal of annually producing 21 billion gallons
of cellulosic and advanced biofuels by 2022.

The "Advanced Biofuels & Climate Change Information Center"
presents the latest commentary and data on the environmental and other
impacts of biofuel production. Drop in and add your comments, at
http://biofuelsandclimate.wordpress.com/.

BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations
across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO
members are involved in the research and development of innovative
healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology
products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the
world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with
industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the
world.

Upcoming BIO Events

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-- BIO National Venture Conference
April 22-23, 2008
Boston, Mass.

-- World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing
April 27-30, 2008
Chicago, Ill

-- 2008 BIO International Convention
June 17-20, 2008
San Diego, Calif.

-- Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy
Sept. 10-12, 2008
Vancouver, BC
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BIO
Paul Winters, 202-962-9237
pwinters@bio.org
www.bio.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008