Biomanufacturing isn’t cleaning up chemicals

Biomanufacturing firms have long promised that engineering microbes to convert biomass into chemicals would reduce the chemical industry's carbon footprint. So far, these companies have produced small volumes of high-value chemicals, not the commodities that represent most of the industry's emissions. After decades of work, these efforts have barely made a dent in the nearly 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases released by the chemical industry each year. But biomanufacturing companies still say they can help abate those emissions. Some claim that biobased chemicals' climate benefits will accumulate as the tally of facilities increases. Others say new technologies that ferment cheap waste into chemicals will be needed to compete with petrochemicals. Skeptics argue that sustainable chemicals won't displace chemicals made from fossil fuels unless policies force chemical firms to account for the environmental costs of their emissions. In summer 2008, US crude oil prices reached an all-time high. And