Modern society heavily depends on the petrochemical industry (“petroleum refinery”) to produce fuels like gasoline and chemicals like plastics from the petroleum oil, a fossil resource. Those products are finally burnt and carbon dioxide is released into the air, causing global warming. As an alternative, this Research Unit aims to establish technology for producing fuels and chemicals from natural resources, biomass, i.e., non-edible plant-derived resources, such as waste wood and agricultural waste, which are originally produced by photosynthesis. We call this production process “biomass refinery,” and when our research is successfully implemented on an industrial scale, it is expected to cope with the depletion of petroleum and result in a reduction of carbon dioxide in the environment.