The production of advanced biofuels could result in more than 800,000 jobs by 2022, according to a report released yesterday by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the Associated Press reported. However, a lot of the industry’s development depends on the economic situation and the cost of gasoline.

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s industrial and environmental department, said the economic crisis could delay the commercialization of advanced biofuels – renewable fuels derived from sources other than cornstarch – at a point when the technology is ready to move forward.

“More than 20 advanced biofuels projects are ready to go, but developers are having some difficulty finding financing,” he said.

Two major projects are moving forward. Verenium Corp. and BP plc plan to build a $300 million biorefinery in Highlands County, Fla., that could produce 36 million gallons a year from sugar cane and other cellulosic plant waste. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and Danisco A/S also are partnering to build a demonstration plant in Tennessee that will produce ethanol from switchgrass and corncobs.

The Iowa Power Fund Board is scheduled to vote this afternoon on whether to approve a $14.75 million grant request from Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Poet LLC for Project Liberty. The $200 million project, which has already received $80 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding, would expand a 50-million-gallon-per-year dry mill facility in Emmetsburg into a 125-million-gallon biorefinery that can produce ethanol from corn fiber and corncobs.

Poet announced last month that its research center in Scotland, S.D., is now producing cellulosic ethanol on a pilot scale of 20,000 gallons per year. Poet expects to begin production at the expanded Emmetsburg plant in 2011.

According to the BIO study, most of the direct jobs created in the advanced biofuels industry would be in feedstock production, followed by construction, engineering and procurement.

The study estimates that the industry could directly contribute $5.5 billion annually to the U.S. economy by 2012 and $37 billion by 2022.

Though the study found no fundamental barriers to large-scale production of biofuels, it noted that gas prices would have to rise to make production more feasible.