This post is a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation’s leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year.

“The law codifies the federal production targets for biofuel, which we believe presents a real opportunity for Vernenium (VRNM).”

The advisor continues, “‘Biofuel’ has, for decades, been code for ‘corn-based ethanol.’ But this law also contains provisions for a new, advanced biofuel derived from cellulose, an organic compound found in all plant matter.

“Instead of using corn — which uses valuable farmland and can drive up the price of a staple food — cellulose can be derived from any plant, wheat or rice straw, corn stalks, scrap wood or even grass.

“The law calls for hundreds of millions of gallons of cellulose ethanol. There’s just one problem: Very little of cellulosic ethanol is being produced. By 2022, however, the nation will need, by virtue of federal law, 16 billion gallons.

“All problems, of course, are really opportunities in disguise. Especially for one company: Verenium. This is a biotech company that has mastered the enzymes required to unlock the energy in cellulose.

“It has two partners in this endeavor: Petroleum giant BP and the U.S. federal government, which has begun its due diligence on a federal loan guarantee for the project.

“The demand for cellulosic ethanol will rise many-fold in coming years, and Verenium, the leader in this field, will likely see similar gains as it puts this ground-breaking technology to work in the new plant and licenses the technology to hundreds of others.

“The loan guarantee for the plant will likely be a significant catalyst for these shares, and the continued demand for cellulosic ethanol will fill its coffers — and reward shareholders — for years to come.”