Biomass, the renewable energy resource, is key to solving future energy security issues. Since the CO₂ emitted as a result of biomass usage can be converted back to organic matter by biological process, no net change in atmospheric CO₂ occurs. For being carbon neutral therefore, biomass usage is anticipated to be at the forefront in the fight to counteract effects of climate change, thus helping to economically alleviate the world's current dependence on fossil fuels.

 In recent years, the concept of a "biorefinery" has been coined to encompass advances in disparate biomass utilization technologies that collectively yield various useful industrial chemicals. In our group, we undertake R&D on fundamental biomass utilization technologies with the aim to establish the biorefinery concept as a mainstream technology.