Compared with the cellulosic ethanol industry's best efforts to make ethanol from the hemiclellulose, turning it into furfural yields profit margins that are upto 10 times higher than the returns per tonne of hemicellulose from ethanol. In addition, CO2 greenhouse gas emission is reduced (see Cellulosic-Plus™ - "Energy on steroids").
The conversion of C5s into furfural also offers a platform for the creation of many other valuable down-stream products or replacement of chemicals that are currently derived form coal/oil/gas.