We evaluated the impact of stepwise improvements to feedstock and fermentation technologies for the DC configuration along four key indicators of sustainability: MBSP, total capital investment (TCI), carbon intensity, and biodiesel yield (Figure ). The MBSP serves as an indicator for profitability while the TCI serves as an indirect measure of financial feasibility due to the inherent difficulties of financing capital-intensive projects with emerging technologies. We focus our discussion on the DC configuration because not only is it the most financially viable, but it also has a lower carbon intensity than the ICF configuration (Figure ; SI). Taking oilcane 1566 and the demonstrated oilcane fermentation performance as the baseline, all scenarios at the current state of technology have MBSPs significantly above the market price range (Figure ). Evaluated improvements in both fermentation technologies and feedstock oil content and yield would reduce the MBSP such that 20% of evaluated scenarios lie within the market price range of biodiesel (Figure ). Further improvements to the biomass yield (up to 25.6 DMT•ha -1 •y -1 ; equivalent yield to sugarcane) would bring down the MBSP such that 87% of evaluated scenarios fall within or below the market price range (Figure ). Therefore, assuming key improvements to oilcane biomass yield and oilcane fermentation, biorefineries with integrated plant and microbial oil processing can be market competitive at 10 dw % oil content. The TCI decreases with improvements to fermentation performance and cane oil content (Figure ) and increases with cane biomass yield under the assumption of constant land availability (as expected from greater feedstock processing capacity; Figure ). Regardless of technological improvements, the TCI remains 3 -7 times as large as the TCI of soybean biodiesel (83.9 10 6 •USD; Figures ). ). Compared to biofuel production from soybean, this outcome is equivalent to 3.0 to 3.9 as much biofuel per hectare of land and a 57 to 63% reduction in carbon intensity. If biofuel policy would incentivize the land usage and environmental benefits of integrated microbial and vegetative oil-based biofuel pathways (as compared to conventional oil seed pathways), a greater fraction of scenarios would readily fall within the market price range of biodiesel. Furthermore, these policy incentives could be implemented as tax exemptions and deductions to reduce the capital investment and, in turn, lower the economic barrier for deployment.