Wyman Charles E
Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, Center for Environmental Research and Technology, Bourns College of Engineering, University of California, Riverside, CA 92506, USA.
Trends Biotechnol. 2007 Apr;25(4):153-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2007.02.009. Epub 2007 Feb 22.
Ethanol made biologically from cellulosic biomass, including agricultural and forestry residues, portions of municipal waste, and herbaceous and woody crops, is finally being widely recognized as a unique transportation fuel with powerful economic, environmental and strategic attributes. Although underfunded, it has been advanced to be competitive with corn ethanol; however, government policies are needed to overcome the perceived risk of first applications if we are to realize its societal benefits soon. Costs below those for fossil sources are foreseeable, with advances in pretreatment, enzyme production, and enzymatic hydrolysis - the steps that overcome the natural resistance of plants to biological breakdown - offering, by far, the greatest economic leverage. We must also build on the wisdom gained from past experience to avoid directing limited funds to projects that offer little new insight, could have marginal impact on commercial outcomes, or could be better improved through the power and wisdom of the learning curve.
由纤维素生物质（包括农业和林业残留物、部分城市垃圾以及草本和木本作物）生物制得的乙醇，最终被广泛认可为一种具有强大经济、环境和战略属性的独特运输燃料。尽管资金不足，但它已发展到与玉米乙醇具有竞争力的程度；然而，如果我们要尽快实现其社会效益，就需要政府政策来克服首次应用时所感知到的风险。随着预处理、酶生产和酶水解（这些步骤克服了植物对生物分解的天然抗性）方面的进展，化石能源成本以下的成本是可以预见的，这目前提供了最大的经济杠杆作用。我们还必须借鉴过去的经验教训，避免将有限的资金投入到那些几乎没有新见解、对商业成果影响甚微或者通过学习曲线的力量和智慧能得到更好改进的项目上。
