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Fuel for debate

With fossil-fuel supplies set to dwindle, the race is on to find ways of making fuels from renewable sources of biomass. Two experts discuss the broad strategies — biochemical and thermochemical — that have emerged as practical approaches.

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Figure 1: Biomass for fuels.

AGSTOCKUSA/ALAMY A. COOPER, VISUALS UNLIMITED/SPL

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Correspondence to Stephen Mayfield or P. K. Wong.

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Competing interests

Stephen Mayfield: I am a founder and have an equity position in the algal biofuels company Sapphire Energy.

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Mayfield, S., Wong, P. Fuel for debate. Nature 476, 402–403 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/476402a

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