We here at BBI International, a renewable energy media and conference organizing company, have witnessed, even helped shape, interesting changes over the past several years in the renewable fuels and biobased products industries and markets. In the early 2000s, corn ethanol and soy biodiesel were on the crest of what most people recognized as a green fuels revolution, and growth in those so-called first-generation industries blossomed-some say too fast. Investors poured money into sound, and not-so-sound, projects. As first-gen production grew, commodity and oil prices hit all-time highs, and then the bubble became unstable. In early 2008, biofuels went from sexy to evil overnight as mainstream media purported that biofuels production jacked up the cost of food. Biofuels projects were starving people in less developed countries, they said. And on top of that, first-gen biofuels took heat for that which they were trying to prevent-environmental degradation. The industry was cutting down rainforests through indirect land use change, they said. On top of it all, in late 2008 the financial markets crashed and project development screeched to a halt. The nation and bioenergy projects are still recovering from that economic downturn nearly two years ago. The food, oil and fringe environmental groups have, at least for now relented somewhat but very important lessons have been learned. BBI still proudly publishes its flagship journals Ethanol Producer Magazine and Biodiesel Magazine, along with Biomass Magazine, which launched in 2007 and is now called Biomass Power & Thermal.


Clearly, much of the first-generation work has laid the foundation for second- and third-generation projects. It’s hard to make biobased chemicals from biomass, for instance, before one attempts producing them from starch or virgin oils. We walk before we run. Typically, a progression of events takes place before an advanced biorefinery using nonfood biomass feedstocks can produce a suite of advanced biofuels and biobased chemicals. BBI’s launch of Biorefining is a progression of the very same nature, following the development of advanced biorefining concepts, dreams, and more recently, project development, all of which grew out of first-generation feedstocks and conversion technologies. We’re not forgetting how to walk, as evidenced by our continued support of first-generation biofuels, but we’ve also begun to run. We look forward to bringing you the latest information, ideas and perspectives in biorefining.