TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOLOGY - Preferred Components: The feedstock is a cellulosic material, preferably a lignocellulosic material (comprising cellulose and hemicellulose). The lignocellulosic material: is wood (which is softwood and/or hardwood) and comprises wood chips, sawdust and/or saw mill residue; and is from a feedstock source that is subjected to a disease or infestation. The microorganism is a Clostridium strain derived from a species, which is C. saccharobutylicum, C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum, C. acetobutylicum or C. beijerinckii, where the Clostridium strain is an environmental isolate or is derived from an environmental isolate. The immobilized microorganism comprises a biofilm. The Clostridium strain possesses at least one phenotypic characteristic, which is butanol tolerance, tolerance to inhibitors of fermentation, low acid accumulation, stability in continuous fermentation, high butanol titer, production of biofuel with high butanol to acetone ratio, increased yield of butanol per unit of feedstock, increased yield of butanol per unit of cellular biomass, increased oxygen tolerance, increased ability to adhere to a solid support or decreased ability to sporulate, relative to a wild-type or parent strain from which the Clostridium strain is derived (i.e. C. saccharobutylicum (B643), C. saccharobutylicum (P262), C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum (N1-4), C. acetobutylicum (824) or C. beijerinckii (8524)) grown under identical conditions.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The bioreactor is in the form of a packed bed, an expanded bed or a fluidized bed. The feedstock hydrolysis unit and the bioreactor are in fluid communication, where the hydrolysis unit is upstream from the bioreactor, where the feedstock is continuously hydrolyzed. The system comprises multiple bioreactors arranged in parallel or series, where: the multiple bioreactors are in fluid communication with the hydrolysis unit; the first bioreactor in the series is in fluid communication with the hydrolysis unit and with a downstream bioreactor; each subsequent bioreactor in the series downstream from the first bioreactor is in fluid communication with the previous upstream bioreactor in the series; the hydrolyzed feedstock is fed continuously into the first bioreactor in the series; and effluent from each bioreactor is fed to the next bioreactor downstream in the series. The hydrolysis unit comprises a first and a second hydrolysis module respectively, where the first and second stages of nitric acid hydrolysis take place in the first and the second hydrolysis modules respectively. The hydrolysis product streams from the first and second hydrolysis modules are combined prior to introduction into the bioreactor and are introduced as separate hydrolyzed feedstock streams into separate bioreactors. The flash steam generated in the second stage hydrolysis is provided to the feedstock for deconstruction of the feedstock prior to hydrolysis and/or to the first hydrolysis module to provide energy for the first stage hydrolysis. The recompressed steam is provided to the first hydrolysis module to provide energy for the first stage hydrolysis and/or the downstream distillation process. The flash steam is provided to a third hydrolysis module to provide energy for the third stage hydrolysis. The system further comprises a conditioning unit and a recovery unit for recovery of the bioproduct from the fermentation medium. The conditioning unit comprises an ion exchange resin, and is in fluid communication with both the hydrolysis unit and the bioreactor, and is downstream from the hydrolysis unit and upstream from the bioreactor, where hydrolyzed feedstock is conditioned in the conditioning unit to remove inhibitors of microbial growth and/or bioproduct production prior to introduction of the hydrolyzed feedstock into the bioreactor. The hydrolysis and conditioning processes occur continuously for the duration of the fermentation in the system. The recovery unit is in fluid communication with and downstream from the bioreactor, where the recovery unit comprises: a concentration module for concentration of the bioproduct; and a distillation module to separate the bioproduct from other components of the fermentation medium, where the distillation module is in fluid communication with and downstream from the concentration module. The system further comprises a recovery unit for recovery of butanol from the fermentation medium. The bioreactor operates under pressure to compress gas in the bioreactor.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The hydrolysis is performed by treatment with at least one acid, which is nitric acid (preferred), formic acid, acetic acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, where: the nitric acid hydrolysis comprises a first stage and a second stage; the second stage hydrolysis is performed at a higher temperature than the first stage; the conditions in the first and the second stages are chosen to achieve hydrolysis of at least 70% of the hemicellulose and 40% of the cellulose in the feedstock respectively; and the first and second stage hydrolysates are combined prior to introduction into the bioreactor, or are introduced as separate hydrolyzed feedstock streams into separate bioreactors, where the first and the second stage hydrolysates are introduced into a first and a second bioreactor respectively, comprising the same or different microorganism(s). In the first stage hydrolysis, flash steam is generated, which is used to deconstruct the feedstock prior to hydrolysis. In the second stage hydrolysis, flash steam is generated: which is used to deconstruct the feedstock prior to hydrolysis and/or provide energy for the first stage hydrolysis; which is recompressed, where the recompressed steam is used to provide energy for the first stage hydrolysis and/or a downstream distillation process for product purification; or which is used to provide energy for a third stage hydrolysis, where the temperature of the third stage hydrolysis is lower than the temperature of the second stage hydrolysis, and where the lower temperature permits hydrolysis of remaining oligomeric sugar molecules with less degradation than hydrolysis performed at a higher temperature. In the process, lignin is recovered in the solid phase residue of the second stage hydrolysis, where the lignin-containing residue is dried to a liquid content of at most 35%, and where the lignin-containing residue is used as an energy source for the process and/or for electricity generation. The hydrolyzed feedstock is conditioned to remove inhibitors of microbial growth and/or bioproduct production prior to introduction of the hydrolyzed feedstock into the bioreactor. The removal of inhibitors comprises at least one process (which is over-liming, adsorption, precipitation or ion exchange) and is performed by contacting hydrolyzed feedstock with an ion exchange resin under conditions where the inhibitors are retained on the resin, or by precipitation with an aluminum or iron salt. The feedstock is hydrolyzed continuously upstream from the bioreactor and the resulting hydrolyzed feedstock is fed continuously into a microbial growth medium in the bioreactor (preferably into multiple bioreactors arranged in parallel and/or in series) for the duration of the fermentation, where the fermentation occurs continuously in the multiple bioreactors, and where the multiple bioreactors comprise the same or different microorganism(s). The lignocellulosic material is deconstructed prior to: hydrolysis, where the deconstruction comprises at least one process, which is pre-steaming, mechanical grinding or mechanical explosion; or harvest, where the deconstruction occurs due to at least one natural or intentional cause comprising drought, infestation, fire or herbicide. The lignocellulosic material is pretreated to remove extractives, where the pretreatment comprises compression, water extraction, solvent extraction, alkaline extraction, enzymatic treatment, fungal treatment, oxygen treatment or air drying, where the pretreatment occurs prior to or in conjunction with deconstruction. The first and the second bioreactors comprise a first and a second microorganism respectively, which are different. The first and the second microorganisms are optimized for growth and/or desired product production on the first and the second stage hydrolysates respectively. The process further comprises recovering the bioproduct from the fermentation medium, where the recovery process operates continuously for the duration of the fermentation. The process further comprises recovering butanol from the fermentation medium, where: the recovery comprises distillation to separate butanol from other components of the fermentation medium; butyric acid is recovered in the distillation; the butyric acid is added to the fermentation medium in the bioreactor; the microorganism converts the butyric acid to butanol; and the flash steam generated during hydrolysis of the feedstock provides energy for the distillation. The fermentation is conducted under anaerobic conditions.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The support material on which the microorganism is immobilized is bone char, polypropylene, steel, diatomaceous earth, zeolite, ceramic, engineered thermal plastic, clay brick, concrete, lava rock, wood chips, polyester fiber, glass beads, Teflon (RTM: Polytetrafluoroethylene), polyether ether ketone or polyethylene. EXAMPLE - Wood chips were mixed with nitric acid and water, and pressured into a first stage hydrolysis reactor of a biobutanol production plant. The first stage hydrolysis was carried out at 175 degrees C using 115 psig steam to produce 5C hydrolysate, which was separated from the unconverted biomass, stripped with nitrogen for oxygen removal and pumped to the 5C fermentation section of the plant. The 5C hydrolysate was brought to pH 3.5 with ammonium hydroxide and passed through an anion exchange resin bed upstream of fermentation. Residual unconverted biomass from the first stage hydrolysis was mixed with nitric acid and water, and pressured into a second stage hydrolysis reactor. The second stage hydrolysis was carried out at 215 degrees C to produce 6C hydrolysate, which was separated from solids containing unconverted cellulose and lignin, stripped with nitrogen for oxygen removal, evaporated to remove water and acetic acid, brought to pH 3.5 with ammonium hydroxide, passed through an anion exchange resin bed and pumped to the 6C fermentation section of the plant. Neutralized 5C and 6C hydrolysates were cooled to fermentation temperature, treated to remove fermentation inhibitors via anion exchange, mixed with nutrients and charged to separate bioreactors. The hydrolysates were fermented into biobutanol in the bioreactor using specific Clostridium strains. Reactor effluents from the 5C and 6C fermentations were combined into a product recovery feed tank and then fed to a product recovery distillation column feed tank. The fermenter effluent was pumped from the feed tank to a distillation column where the dilute product stream was concentrated from 2.5 wt.% total organics in the feed to 50 wt.% in the overhead liquid product. The overhead vapor from the distillation column was condensed in an overhead condenser. The overhead stream was pumped to an additional separation equipment to produce acetone, butanol and ethanol.