By PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer Wed Mar 21, 3:17 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - Biotechnology was first applied in medicine, then farming. Today, dozens of lifesaving drugs are on the market, while many crops are genetically engineered to withstand weed killers.
Thousands of corporate executives and scientists gather this weekend in Orlando, Fla. for an industry trade show specifically aimed at touting biotechnology‘s so-called third wave, industrial applications. The word on everyone‘s lips: ethanol.
Most of the 5 billion gallons of ethanol produced annually in the United States is still made by fermenting corn, but the crop is expensive and its use in biofuels cuts into the nation‘s food supply. So the Canadian biotech company Iogen Corp. has developed a method for deriving ethanol from a variety of plants including wheat, oats and barley. Others are genetically engineering microbes to produce enzymes that will convert the cellulose in crop waste, wood chips and other plants into ethanol.
President Bush helped breathe new life into this once-sleepy biotech sector by touting the need to ramp up production of this "cellulosic ethanol" in his last two State of the Union speeches.
Government agencies led by the Department of Energy are sinking millions into biotech projects aimed at making ethanol more efficiently. And startups dedicated to turning plants into fuel have captured the fancy of deep-pocketed venture capitalists like Vinod Khosla. The billionaire co-founder of Sun Microsystems Inc. is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in green technology and will be a featured speaker this year at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing.
Oil companies are also investing heavily in biotechnology these days, and executives from ConocoPhillips Co., Chevron Corp. and Shell Oil Corp. will also be on hand at Walt Disney World for the conference, which starts Thursday.
Past conferences have featured discussions on topics like biotech‘s role in manufacturing enzymes used to help laundry detergent break down dirt and give blue jeans the stone-washed look. But this year‘s meeting will be focused on the industry‘s role in making ethanol and other alternative fuels.
"We are moving into a very diversified fuel era," said Ron Pernick, who co-founded Portland, Ore.-based Clean Edge, which tracks venture capital investment. "Private investment is really taking off."
At least one industrial biotechnology company has radically remade itself into an energy company in hopes the alternative fuel craze is here to stay.
Still, even industrial biotechnology‘s adherents concede that commercial success in the alternative energy industry is years away — if ever.
"Taking any invention from the lab to the marketplace is a long-term process and takes a lot of patience," said Celunol spokesman John Howe, who said the company‘s plan to convert sugar cane into ethanol will take many years to become profitable.
Others wonder if trend to making more ethanol has created a bubble that may soon burst.
Economist Lester Brown, who launched the Washington-based think tank Earth Policy Institute, said it‘s easier to make automobiles more fuel efficient than it is to radically alter the country‘s fuel supply.
"If we were to raise fuel efficiency standards, we could save as much oil as the president wants," Brown said. "Ethanol is not a winning ticket."
