Sandia National Laboratories and General Motors’ R&D Center
conducted a joint biofuels systems analysis project from March
to November 2008. Known as the “90- Billion Gallon Biofuel
Deployment Study,” the purpose of the project was to assess the
feasibility, implications, limitations, and enablers of large-
scale production of biofuels in the United States. Ninety
billion gallons of ethanol (the energy equivalent of
approximately 60 billion gallons of gasoline) per year by 2030
was chosen as the book-end target to understand the requirements
of an aggressive biofuels deployment schedule. Since previous
studies have addressed the biomass supply potential, but not the
supply chain rollout needed to achieve large biofuels production
targets, the focus of this study was to develop a comprehensive
systems understanding of the evolution of the complete biofuels
supply chain and key interdependencies over time. The biofuels
supply chain components examined in this study included direct
agricultural land use changes,