Systems biology research will result in improvements to feedstock and will maximize the recoverable liquid fuel per acre of land and drastically simplify the conversion process. These improvements have the potential to reduce the cost of converting lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol by about 30% for a similar sized 2000 tonnes/day facility (4). Additionally as the advanced state of technologies facilitate larger scale facilities, an additional 40% cost-of- production benefit could be realized for a 10 000 tonnes/day operation. These kinds of cost reductions are typical of conversion technologies as they mature. The oil and corn industries, among others, have seen processing costs drop dramatically over time until feedstock is the predominate cost.

It is envisioned that, through systems biology, the overall conversion process can be simplified, and capital and operating costs can be reduced (see Figure 2.11).

The advanced technology will combine several unit operations and improve the pre­treatment operation. Enzyme production and fermentation will be combined in a sin­gle organism. Thus, with enzymes produced during the saccharification and fermentation processes, the three process operations are combined into one. In addition, more robust microorganisms will eliminate the need for hydrolyzate conditioning. These technology improvements will lower the total capital cost (project cost) of a 2000 dry tonnes/day fa­cility by about 22% (44). Further capital cost reductions can be realized as these systems biology advances enable larger scale facilities that take better advantage of economies of scale.

Translational science concepts need be adapted to pursue these advancements. This ap­proach, familiar to the biomedical industry, integrates basic research (or fundamental bio­logical science) with industrial application (such as bioengineering). To meet the long-term potential of the biorefinery, significant fundamental scientific advances beyond what was described for a near-term economic competitive state of technology must be achieved (45). Additionally, it is important that these advances be implemented to realize the significant operating and capital cost reductions, so that the growth of biofuels does not stagnate due to the need to draw in higher cost feedstocks.