NOVELTY - An anaerobic, thermophilic microorganism comprising a vector that expresses an exogenous heat-stable, NADPH- and iron-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase cloned from Thermoanaerobacter pseudethanolicus strain 39E, or its homolog, is new.    USE - The anaerobic, thermophilic microorganism is used in lignocellulosic biomass fermentation process for producing biofuel and bulk or platform chemical. The bulk or platform chemical is chosen from ethanol, butanol, lactate, furfuryl alcohol, 1,4-dicarboxylic acids (succinic, fumaric, malic), glycerol, sorbitol, mannitol, arabinitol, L-ascorbic acid, xylitol, hydrogen gas, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, 3-hydroxypropionic acid, aspartic acid, glutaric acid, glutamic acid, itaconic acid, levulinic acid, 3-hydroxybutyrolactone, fatty acids, fatty-derived molecules, isoprenoids, isoprenoid-derived molecules, alkanes, isopentanol, and isoamyl acetate (all claimed). The microorganism is used in metabolic engineering strategies for producing longer-chain alcohols from sugars.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for the following: (1) method for generating an anaerobic, thermophilic microorganism, involves introducing a nucleic acid vector that expresses an exogenous heat-stable, NADPH- and iron-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase cloned from T.pseudethanolicus strain 39E or its homolog into an anaerobic, thermophilic microorganism; (2) nucleic acid vector capable of expressing an exogenous heat-stable, NADPH- and iron-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase; (3) lignocellulosic biomass fermentation process involves contacting biomass or lignocellulosic biomass with the microorganism for a time and under thermophilic, anaerobic conditions to detoxify inhibitory aldehydes present in the biomass, and to allow fermentation of the biomass and conversion of the biomass to biofuel; (4) method for improving yield and/or efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass conversion to biofuel, involves contacting lignocellulosic biomass with the microorganism for a time and under thermophilic, anaerobic conditions sufficient to detoxify inhibitory aldehydes present in the biomass, and to produce improved yields or efficiency of biomass conversion to biofuel, relative to lignocellulosic biomass that has not been so contacted; and (5) improved method for producing a bulk or platform chemical from lignocellulosic biomass, involves contacting the lignocellulosic biomass with the anaerobic, thermophilic microorganism for a time and under conditions to reduce the aldehyde content associated with the lignocellulosic biomass and to improve production efficiency or yield of the bulk or platform chemical, and recovering the bulk or platform chemical.