The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will provide up to $200 million, over five years to support the development of small-scale cellulosic biorefineries in the United States.

According to a DOE announcement, the funding will be for projects to develop biorefineries at ten percent of commercial scale that produce liquid transportation fuels such as ethanol, as well as bio-based chemicals and bioproducts used in industrial applications. This research aims to advance President Bush’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012, and assist in reducing America’s gasoline consumption by 20 percent in ten years by expanding the availability of alternative and renewable transportation fuels.