Challenges on the road to biofuels.

Lignocellulose-based ethanol offers a renewable, sustainable and expandable resource to meet the growing demand for transportation fuels. The main hurdles to be overcome include feedstock-supply logistics, conversion technology and workforce availability. Agronomists, agricultural engineers, and implement-manufacturing companies are addressing feedstock production, harvest, storage and transportation while several universities are developing new curricula and programs to bolster the workforce pipeline in bioprocessing. This presentation describes issues related to conversion technology.