On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) issued a new report, Moving Beyond Drop-In Replacements: Performance-Advantaged Biobased Chemicals Workshop Summary Report, that summarizes presentations and discussions from a workshop BETO held in June 2017 to gather stakeholder input on the research and development necessary for novel biobased compounds and functional replacements.  DOE states that performance-advantaged biobased products and functional replacements can offer many advantages to the U.S. bioeconomy.  The conclusion section of the report states that performance-advantaged biobased products present an important opportunity for the bioeconomy, and the ideal novel biobased compound would achieve the following:

• Allow for new functionality in end products and generate new markets for manufacturers of biobased materials;
• Increase the value of domestic biomass resources and provide a new revenue stream for biorefineries; and
• Reduce the environmental impact of some manufacturing processes.