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Details Report for:
11-9041.01 - Biofuels/Biodiesel Technology and Product Development Managers

Define, plan, or execute biofuels/biodiesel research programs that evaluate alternative feedstock and process technologies with near-term commercial potential.

This title represents an occupation for which data collection is currently underway.

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Tasks  |  Education  |  Wages & Employment

Tasks   Save Table (XLS/CSV)

  • Conduct research to breed or develop energy crops with improved biomass yield, environmental adaptability, pest resistance, production efficiency, bioprocessing characteristics, or reduced environmental impacts.
  • Oversee biodiesel/biofuels prototyping or development projects.
  • Propose new biofuels products, processes, technologies or applications based on findings from applied biofuels or biomass research projects.
  • Analyze data from biofuels studies, such as fluid dynamics, water treatments, or solvent extraction and recovery processes.
  • Conduct experiments on biomass or pretreatment technologies.
  • Conduct experiments to test new or alternate feedstock fermentation processes.
  • Design chemical conversion processes, such as etherification, esterification, interesterification, transesterification, distillation, hydrogenation, oxidation or reduction of fats and oils, and vegetable oil refining.
  • Design or conduct applied biodiesel or biofuels research projects on topics such as transport, thermodynamics, mixing, filtration, distillation, fermentation, extraction, and separation.
  • Design or execute solvent or product recovery experiments in laboratory or field settings.
  • Develop methods to estimate the efficiency of biomass pretreatments.
  • Develop methods to recover ethanol or other fuels from complex bioreactor liquid and gas streams.
  • Develop separation processes to recover biofuels.
  • Perform protein functional analysis and engineering for processing of feedstock and creation of biofuels.
  • Prepare biofuels research and development reports for senior management or technical professionals.
  • Prepare, or oversee the preparation of, experimental plans for biofuels research or development.
  • Provide technical or scientific guidance to technical staff in the conduct of biofuels research or development.
  • Develop carbohydrates arrays and associated methods for screening enzymes involved in biomass conversion.
  • Develop computational tools or approaches to improve biofuels research and development activities.
  • Develop lab scale models of industrial scale processes, such as fermentation.

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Education

Education data collected from Engineering Managers.


Percentage of Respondents
Education Level Attained
84   Bachelor's degree or higher
12   Some college
  High school or less

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics external site survey of employees aged 25-44.

This occupation may require a background in the following science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational disciplines:

Environmental Science — Environmental Science
Life Sciences — Biotechnology

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Wages & Employment Trends

National

Median wages data collected from Engineering Managers.
Employment data collected from Engineering Managers.

Category Occupation Information
Median wages (2008) $55.42 hourly, $115,270 annual
 
Employment (2006) 187,000 employees
 
Projected growth (2006-2016) Average (7% to 13%) Average (7% to 13%)
 
Projected need (2006-2016) 51,000 additional employees

State & National

          CareerOneStop

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2008 wage data external site and 2006-2016 employment projections external site. "Projected growth" represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2006-2016). "Projected need" represents job openings due to growth and net replacement.

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