"To meet worldwide goals for renewable liquid fuels production, large numbers of biorefineries are projected to be constructed over the next several decades. Most of these will process lignocellulosic plant material to produce ethanol from the cellulose and hemicellulose carbohydrate components of the biomass and biodiesel from the oils and fats. Many potential feedstocks for these biorefineries, such as wood, straw, bagasse and deliberately grown crops such as switchgrass, contain minor chemical components that give rise to industrial chemicals, such as acetic acid and furfural, or bioactive compounds such as phytosterols, lignans and lignin. Using appropriate biorefining technologies, these minor components can be recovered as co-products of large-scale biofuels production and become economically significant sources of renewable chemicals and chemical intermediates for various industries."

Objective1:"Alert the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries to the opportunity to obtain renewable chemicals and ingredients as secondary products of the rapidly developing biofuels industry."

Objective2:Identify bioactive compounds that might be recovered from biomass feedstocks to be used in biorefineries.

Objective3:Identify plant materials that could be used to yield high-value bioactive compounds together with biofuels.