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Chemistry challenges to enable a sustainable bioeconomy

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A bioeconomy — that is, an economy in which fuels, chemicals and other products are sourced from biomass — can contribute to a sustainable and prosperous future. Realizing a bioeconomy will necessitate new methods for processing the complex structure of biomass to produce commodity chemicals. Many exciting opportunities are availing themselves to chemists brave enough to tackle this challenging problem.

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Figure 1: The chemical challenges associated with converting biomass, via value-added intermediates, to bio-based products.

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Acknowledgements

N.D.F acknowledges K. Craig and J. Male for helpful discussions.

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  1. U.S. Department of Energy, Bioenergy Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Golden Field Office, Golden, 80401, Colorado, USA

    Nichole D. Fitzgerald

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  1. Nichole D. Fitzgerald
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Correspondence to Nichole D. Fitzgerald.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Fitzgerald, N. Chemistry challenges to enable a sustainable bioeconomy. Nat Rev Chem 1, 0080 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-017-0080

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