The Oil Drum

And from another source:
http://blogs.dmregister.com/?p=5302#comment-67181
This week’s announcement by ConocoPhillips of a $22.5 M contract with Iowa State is significicant not only because of the magnitude of the grant, but also because of the company’s statement that it is interested in pursuing pyrolysis as a biomass conversion technology. To date, most of the action and attention in the biofuel world has been focused on the enzymatic breakdown of cellulosics to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. Although much progress has been made over the years, the “sugar platform” remains costly and still has some technical barriers to overcome before it will become economically feasible. Pyrolysis offers another alternative that has several advantages.