| Abstract |
 By 2030, the global demand for energy will have increased by 50% based on the
predicted human population increase, even ignoring compounding factors of climate
change, urbanization and increasing prosperity. Clean water, sustainable agricultural and
renewable energy are the grand challenges scaled to the projected population. There are
many solutions to the energy challenge. Energy biosciences, the ability to use living
organisms for the production of liquid transportation fuels, electricity, hydrogen, and high
value chemical products, represents one avenue of tremendous potential.
The long-term promise of a thriving biofuels industry encompasses new jobs, greater
economic vitality in rural America, increased energy independence, technological and
industrial leadership in renewable biofuels and bio-products, and reduced impact of fossil
fuel emissions. Presently, the U.S. produces about 12 billion gallons per year of primarily
corn grain ethanol biofuels. However, we will not reach the Congressional goal of 36
billion gallons per year by 2022 or the 100 million gallons cellulosic biofuels target in
2010 unless we dramatically accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of
major scientific breakthroughs and new disruptive technologies. We need vast
improvements in the quantities of biomass produced per plant as well as per acre, the
yield of those feedstocks for biofuels conversion, the carbon and energy efficiencies of
biofuels production, and the sustainable implementation of a living carbon-based
economy. This can only be achieved through partnerships that change the bioenergy
paradigm; partnerships that create deep interactions between academia, industry and
government.
In 2009, the Office of Science in the Department of Energy funded 46 Energy Frontier
Research Centers to carry out high-risk, high-reward research across the full range of
energy sciences, with a total commitment of $777M. This year, we are delighted that two
of the EFRCs are co-hosting this symposium. The Argonne National Laboratory-led
Institute for Atom-efficient Chemical Transformations (IACT) addresses key catalytic
conversions that could improve the efficiency of producing fuels from coal and biomass.
With Purdue as a partner, the project is focused on advancing the science of catalysis for
the efficient conversion of energy resources into usable forms. The Purdue-led Center for
Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio) is conducting high-risk,
high-reward research for the future deployment of advanced liquid transportation fuels.
C3Bio aims to develop transformational technologies for the direct conversion of plant
lignocellulosic biomass to hydrocarbon-rich biofuels and other biobased products
currently derived from oil.
This Bioenergy Symposium, fifth in a series held at Purdue, will present an overview of
the agronomic, fuel infrastructure and economic context of biofuels production, and then
focus on second-generation and third-generation (drop-in) advanced biofuels both from
biological and chemical/thermal conversion pathways. The aim of this symposium is
many-fold: to strengthen interactions among the energy biosciences research community
on campus; to increase the collaborative research enterprise between academia,
government laboratories and industry; and to welcome external participants and future
collaborators to our community. We have brought together experts from a wide range of
scientific and engineering disciplines both from universities and industry to share their
perspectives. These are exciting times for energy biosciences! On behalf of the Colleges
of Agriculture, Engineering, Science and Technology, the Bindley Bioscience Center and
the Energy Center, at Purdue University, we hope you enjoy and are energized by the
program.
Maureen C McCann
Program Chair
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