Technology development for the production of biobased products from biorefinery carbohydrates—the US Department of Energy’s “Top 10” revisited

A biorefinery that supplements its manufacture of low value biofuels with high value biobased chemicals can enable efforts to reduce nonrenewable fuel consumption while simultaneously providing the necessary financial incentive to stimulate expansion of the biorefining industry. However, the choice of appropriate products for addition to the biorefinery's portfolio is challenged by a lack of broad-based conversion technology coupled with a plethora of potential targets. In 2004, the US Department of Energy (DOE) addressed these challenges by describing a selection process for chemical products that combined identification of a small group of compounds derived from biorefinery carbohydrates with the research…