Dr. Robert Fraley, Chief Technology Officer of bio-engineering company Monsanto, spoke today at a conference in St. Louis, Missouri about the future of biofuels, and likely surprised no one by promoting corn as a leading source of biomass for enthanol production.

"While there might be several sources of deriving ethanol, corn offers the advantage of providing both feed and fuel from one acre," Fraley said. "By 2030, with the addition of corn stover use, corn has the potential to supply nearly one-third of projected U.S. gasoline demand."

Corn has been a top-of-mind source for biomass, partly due to good marketing on the part of Monsanto - the leading provider of bio-engineered corn products for farmers. But other sources of biomass are gaining in popularity as less expensive and more plentiful sources of ethanol. Recent advances in gasification enable the co-production of electricity and ethanol (and/or hydrogen) from any carbon-based material, such as municipal solid waste (MSW), biosolids and animal wastes, used tires and plastics, even coal, refinery tars and waste oils. So Monsanto's stepping up the marketing.

The conference, Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance, was organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Energy. It brought together stakeholders from the public sector and private industry to address challenges and explore partnerships in ensuring a domestic, commercially viable renewable energy industry.