Plant Biomass Biorefinery Network (PBBNet)

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Petroleum is a fossil carbon resource used to produce most of the transportation fuels and large proportions of bulk chemicals and materials we have come to depend on, but reserves of this resource are in decline. At the same time, concerns over the impact of human activity on global warming and climate change are driving international commitments to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon doixide produced from burning fossil fuels. This has encouraged a move towards biofuels and biorenewable chemicals derived from plants. Such biorenewables have the advantage that they are produced continually by crops and hence area a renewable resource. In addition, these products emit far less carbon dioxide on a net basis because that released from their use is balanced by having been fixed from the atmosphere to produce the biomass in the first instance. Currently, biofuels and biorenewable chemicals are produced mostly from plant sugar, starch and oil, and the problem with this is that it imposes added strain to world food security and pushes up food prices. The most immediately available alternative is to make biofuels and chemicals from the woody parts of crops that are not used for food such as straw from cereal crops. These woody materials are mostly made of polysaccharides (sugar polymers) that can be converted into simple sugars for fermentation to produce fuels and chemicals. Whilst the potential of producing fuels and chemicals in this way is well understood, the practicality of doing it is challenging. This is because the costs of converting woody materials into simple sugars and other chemicals is too expensive to make the resulting products cost-effective. Producing cost effective and sustainable biofuels and chemicals from woody biomass is a new industrial challenge that can only be met by bringing wide-ranging scientific disciplines together with companies from the commercial sector with ambitions in this domain. In order to bring down processing costs we need to develop innovative new approaches to bioprocessing, which incorporate understanding and innovation across the supply chain from crop production and harvesting through processing to final products. The aim of the Plant Biomass Biorefinery Network is establish a community of researchers from the academic and commercial sectors to identify the major system-wide challenges to establishing a modern fuel and chemicals industry based on plant biomass. This network will help establish integrated cross-disciplinary teams to tackle the big challenges to realising the vision of s sustainable and competitive bio-based economy. As well as providing an active community of interested participants, the network proposes to provide a range of competitive funding opportunities to help kick-start new major research projects and to attract new researchers into this area of research. We also plan to establish the UK as the international partner of choice in the area of biomass-derived fuels and chemicals. This will be achieved by establishing an excellent science base and providing encouragement and funding to UK scientists to establish competitive international collaborations. The network will also work closely with environmental scientists to ensure that environmental concerns are at the heart of approaches we take, and with policy makers from government departments to harmonise our aims and activities with government policy and public interests.