In addition to its value as a food source for humans and animals around the world, corn is becoming a major player in the world’s evolution from a petroleum-based economy to a carbohydrate-based economy. Evidence of this changing economy is seen in the millions of bushels of corn that are replacing millions of barrels of oil in fuel, plastics, solvents and cleaners. The United States has abundant biomass resources (crop residues--including corncobs, crops, trees, grasses, forest residues, animal waste and municipal solid waste) that have the potential to be transformed into valuable industrial and consumer products and bioenergy. Biorefineries, where biomass is converted

into high-value chemical products and fuels, may become the foundation of the new economy.

With current dramatic increases in oil prices (crude oil prices now in excess of $50 per barrel, as shown in figure 1), consumers are faced with higher prices at the gas pump and for heating their homes (as shown in figure 2). Thus, petroleum alternatives become increasingly attractive, resulting in more government and private sector resources being directed towards research into improved methods for producing biofuels and bioproducts.