lysts using enzyme, microbial, and plantbiochemistriesand genetic engi- neeringand "ProcessingResearch" describedtheconversionofplantcom- ponentsviaintegrationofmicrobiology,biochemistry,andchemistrywith engineering, separations, and hybrid systems. The "Enzymatic Processes and Enzyme Production" session focused on the manufacture and use of enzymes. The"IndustrialChemicals"sessionemphasizedrecentdevelop- mentsintheintegratedproductionandscale-upofchemicalsfrombiologi- cal rather than petrochemical routes. Special interest was on separation methods and their integrationintonew fermentation orhybrid processes. 35 oral presentations, a roundtable The technical program consisted of forum, two special topic discussions, and a poster session of 135 posters. Wecontinuedasuccessfulinformalroundtableserieswith"Bioenergy and Bioproducts: Forum on Recent Government Initiatives," which dis- cussedthePresident'sExecutiveOrder, the BioenergyInitiative, the Tech- nology Roadmap for Renewables Vision 2020, and other thrusts. These eventscontinuethe strongindustrial focus and activeindustrialparticipa- tionintheorganizingcommittee. Thishasbecomeverypopularbecauseit allows industrialand government participants to speakmore openly. AspecialTopicsDiscussionGroupwasheldon"C0 Sequestration," 2 ledby James W. Lee. Another onwas held on "Commercializationof Bio- mass-to-Ethanol" where chairs Jack N. Saddler and David J. Gregg made thegoal ofthisworkshop to showparticipantsthatweare close to demon- stratingthe technicalviability ofanintegratedbiomass-to-ethanolprocess and that progressive technical advances and policy decisions will likely greatly enhance the economic attractiveness of the process.

BRIAN H. DAVISON Oak Ridge National Laboratory MARK FINKELSTEIN National Renewable Energy Laboratory CHARLES E. WYMAN Oak Ridge National Laboratory The Eighteenth Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemi cals continues to provide a forum for the presentation of research results and the exchange of ideas on advances in biotechnology for the produc tion of fuels and chemicals. Although the emphasis is on utilization of renewable resources, the scope of the Symposium is broader than this and includes bioconversion of fossil fuels and syngas and the new area of conversions in nonaqueous environments; these areas were discussed in Session 5 and in a Special Topic Discussion Group at the Symposium. In addition, recent developments in bioremediation were well represented in Session 6 and in the poster session. The Symposium involved both the development of new biological agents (such as enzymes or microbes) to carry out targeted conversions as well as bioprocess development. The first area covered improvements in enzymes as well as fundamental insights into substrate-enzyme inter actions and photosynthesis. The latter area focused on converting one material into another using biological agents through combinations of chemical engineering, biological sciences, and fermentation technology. This area also refers to an overall processing involving at least one bio logically catalyzed step in combination with other physical and/ or chemi cal processing operations. Agricultural crops, such as corn and corn fiber as well as woody biomass and lignocellulosic wastes, are emphasized for process feedstocks and their pretreatment investigated.

The increased attendance required concurrent sessions for the 48 oral presentations and 190 submitted posters (for more details see Website: www.ct.ornl.gov/symposium). Attendees came from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and Ven ezuela, as well as from the United States. This international perspective was continued in a Special Topic Ses sion sponsored by the International Energy Agency (lEA) Bioenergy Pro gram on Biofuels and chaired by Jack Saddler and David Gregg from the University of British Columbia. Several of the 10 member countries in this network are approaching Demonstrations of the Biomass-to-Ethanol pro cess and have a range of more fundamental projects that look at various aspects of pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, and lignin utilization. Presenters from several of the participating countries described their country's biomass-to-ethanol projects, and differential factors such as the type of biomass available, the maturity of the wood or agricultural processing industry, and the willingness of government to bear the risk/ cost of development and demonstration."

lysts using enzyme, microbial, and plantbiochemistriesand genetic engi- neeringand "ProcessingResearch" describedtheconversionofplantcom- ponentsviaintegrationofmicrobiology,biochemistry,andchemistrywith engineering, separations, and hybrid systems. The "Enzymatic Processes and Enzyme Production" session focused on the manufacture and use of enzymes. The"IndustrialChemicals"sessionemphasizedrecentdevelop- mentsintheintegratedproductionandscale-upofchemicalsfrombiologi- cal rather than petrochemical routes. Special interest was on separation methods and their integrationintonew fermentation orhybrid processes. 35 oral presentations, a roundtable The technical program consisted of forum, two special topic discussions, and a poster session of 135 posters. Wecontinuedasuccessfulinformalroundtableserieswith"Bioenergy and Bioproducts: Forum on Recent Government Initiatives," which dis- cussedthePresident'sExecutiveOrder, the BioenergyInitiative, the Tech- nology Roadmap for Renewables Vision 2020, and other thrusts. These eventscontinuethe strongindustrial focus and activeindustrialparticipa- tionintheorganizingcommittee. Thishasbecomeverypopularbecauseit allows industrialand government participants to speakmore openly. AspecialTopicsDiscussionGroupwasheldon"C0 Sequestration," 2 ledby James W. Lee. Another onwas held on "Commercializationof Bio- mass-to-Ethanol" where chairs Jack N. Saddler and David J. Gregg made thegoal ofthisworkshop to showparticipantsthatweare close to demon- stratingthe technicalviability ofanintegratedbiomass-to-ethanolprocess and that progressive technical advances and policy decisions will likely greatly enhance the economic attractiveness of the process.

active industrial participation in the organizing committee. Recently, the conference has begun a regular informal industrial roundtable (Session 4). This has become very popular as it allows industrial participants to speak more openly. For a broader perspective, R. James Woolsey, Former Direc tor of Central Intelligence Agency, gave an after-dinner address on "Wagon Trains for the 21st Century: The Role for Biorefineries. " He urged the attendees of the importance of their efforts to develop renewable, benign processes for the United States and the world based on both security and prosperity reasons. These related to energy supply, support of domestic agriculture, global warming, and other issues. With the Twentieth Symposium, we continued the tradition of pro viding an informal, congenial atmosphere that our participants find condu cive to pursuing technical discussion of program topics. The technical program consisted of 35 oral presentations, a roundtable forum, two spe cial topic discussions, and a poster session of 133 posters. This year, tech nical topics included: Session 1: Feedstocks: New Supplies and Processing Session 2: Applied Biological Research Session 3: Bioprocessing Research Session 4: Emerging Opportunities for Industrial Chemicals Session 5: Bioprocess Evaluation and Confirmation Session 6: Enzymatic Processes and Enzyme Production Special topic discussions were held on "Defining the Future Separa tions Needs Derived from Bioprocessing" by Earl Beaver, Monsanto Com pany, St.

MARK FINKELSTEIN National Renewable Energy Laboratory BRIAN H. DAVISON Oak Ridge National Laboratory The proceedings of the 19th symposium on Biotechnologyfor Fuels and Chemicals, held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, May 4-8, 1997, had over 200 attendees. This meeting continues to provide a unique forum for the presentation of new applications and recent research advances in the production of fuels and chemicals through biotech nology. The utilization of renewable resources, and in particular cellulosic biomass, has broad implications in today's world of green house gases, global warming, ozone layers, climate change, energy sustainability, and carbon emissions. It also has relevance to the chemical industry's continuing need to both lower current chemi cal production costs and produce novel chemicals. Biotechnology and bioprocessing are now making it possible to convert this bio mass to fuels and chemicals in a commercially attractive fashion. The 19th Symposium captures a wide range of technical topics from an academic, industrial, or government perspective. A vari ety of biomass feedstocks are discussed in Session 1, along with several updated and innovative pretreatment processing approaches. The ability to turn lignocellulosic materials into simple sugars offers great opportunities to generate cost-effective feed stocks to be used in biotechnological processes for the production of fuels and chemicals. Through the advent of genetic engineering, the development of a series of exciting new biocatalysts and microbes were presented in Session 2."

BRIAN H. DAVISON Oak Ridge National Laboratory MARK FINKELSTEIN National Renewable Energy Laboratory CHARLES E. WYMAN Oak Ridge National Laboratory The Eighteenth Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemi cals continues to provide a forum for the presentation of research results and the exchange of ideas on advances in biotechnology for the produc tion of fuels and chemicals. Although the emphasis is on utilization of renewable resources, the scope of the Symposium is broader than this and includes bioconversion of fossil fuels and syngas and the new area of conversions in nonaqueous environments; these areas were discussed in Session 5 and in a Special Topic Discussion Group at the Symposium. In addition, recent developments in bioremediation were well represented in Session 6 and in the poster session. The Symposium involved both the development of new biological agents (such as enzymes or microbes) to carry out targeted conversions as well as bioprocess development. The first area covered improvements in enzymes as well as fundamental insights into substrate-enzyme inter actions and photosynthesis. The latter area focused on converting one material into another using biological agents through combinations of chemical engineering, biological sciences, and fermentation technology. This area also refers to an overall processing involving at least one bio logically catalyzed step in combination with other physical and/ or chemi cal processing operations. Agricultural crops, such as corn and corn fiber as well as woody biomass and lignocellulosic wastes, are emphasized for process feedstocks and their pretreatment investigated.

In the Seventeenth Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, leading researchers from academia, industry, and government present state-of-the-art papers on how bioengineering can be used to produce fuels and chemicals competitively. This year's program covered topics in thermal, chemical, and biological processing; applied biological processing; bioprocessing research; process economics and commercialization; and environmental biotechnology. The ideas and techniques described will play an important role in developing new biological processes for producing fuels and chemicals on a large scale, and in reducing pollution, waste disposal problems, and the potential for global climate change.