ORLANDO, FL - The biofuels industry stands poised for exceptional growth and ethanol is the most promising over the long term, keynote speakers said at BIO’s World Congress in Orlando yesterday.

Thousands of biotech industry executives, scientists, and economic development specialists gathered at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort for the event which started Wednesday and runs through Saturday. The congress is focused on industrial biotechnology and bioprocessing.

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures and industry consultant Dr. Jens Riese of McKinsey & Co., pointed to ethanol from cellulose, derived from corn, wood, or other renewable sources, as the best alternative fuel option.

In addition to reducing dependence on oil, ethanol fuels would also significantly cut the emission of greenshouse gases associated with global warming, the speakers said.

Cost competitive by 2009

Khosla outlined the range of technologies currently being commercialized to convert cellulosic biomass to transportation fuels. His venture firm actively invests in breakthrough scientific work in clean technology areas, such as biorefineries for energy and bioplastics, solar, and other environmentally friendly technologies.

Khosla said that the U.S. Department of Energy’s recent grants to cooperatively fund biorefineries that produce ethanol from cellulose is an acknowledgment that the technology is moving faster than expected.

He said that a 100 percent replacement of petroleum transportation fuels with biofuels is achievable, and predicted that ethanol from cellulose technology will be cost competitive with current ethanol production by 2009.

Replace Saudi oil by 2020

McKinsey’s Riese predicted that global annual biofuel capacity would double to 25 billion gallons over the next five years and could reach 80 billion gallons – meeting 10 percent of world transportation fuel demand, enough to replace the annual oil production for fuel of Saudi Arabia – by 2020.

McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm and is a top expert in industrial biotechnology.

According to McKinsey & Company’s model, biofuels can economically replace 25 percent of transportation fuel with crude oil above $50 per barrel. He concluded that the race is on to build a biofuels industry and that companies should invest now.

The World Congress is hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the American Chemical Society, the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council, the European Federation of Biotechnology, BIOTECanada and EuropaBIO.