The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced US$118 million in funding for 17 projects to accelerate the production of sustainable biofuels for America’s transportation and manufacturing needs. The selected projects, located at universities and private companies, will drive the domestic production of biofuels and bioproducts by advancing biorefinery development, from pre-pilot to demonstration, to create sustainable fuels that reduce emissions associated with fossil fuels.
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Funding for this opportunity supports President Biden’s goals to deliver an equitable, clean energy future and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.
Projects selected as part of this funding opportunity will contribute to meeting DOE’s goal to achieve cost-competitive sustainable biofuels and at least a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.
Biofuels are a versatile tool because they have the immediate potential to power our ships, trains, airlines, and heavy-duty vehicles—a huge contributor to total carbon emissions—with a significantly reduced carbon footprint. DOE investments are helping to build out a domestic bioenergy supply chain that increases America’s energy independence, creates jobs, and accelerates the adoption of cleaner fuels for our transportation needs, said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
Made from widely available domestic feedstocks and advanced refining technologies, energy-dense biofuels provide a pathway for low-carbon fuels that can lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the transportation sector and accelerate the bioeconomy.
Financing novel biorefinery process systems can be a barrier to commercializing advanced biofuels, and this funding will reduce technological uncertainties and enable industry deployment.
The selected projects include pre-pilot, pilot, and demonstration projects that will scale up existing biomass to fuel technologies that will eventually create millions of gallons of low-carbon fuel annually.
By investing in these technologies, the projects will create good-paying jobs in rural and underserved communities in nine states. Plans submitted by the selected projects show intent to collaborate with local school districts to educate and train the bioenergy workforce of tomorrow.
Additionally, the funded projects align with renewable fuels goals in the first-ever US National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, a multi-agency framework for reducing emissions, creating a robust transportation workforce, and securing America’s energy independence.
The projects also support the US Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge goal of enabling the production of three billion (US) gallons (≈11.36 billion litres) of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) annually by 2030 and 35 billion gallons (≈ 132.5 billion litres) annually by 2050.
Award amounts range from US$0.5 million to US$80 million, with most receiving at least US$2 million. The selections, which are subject to final award negotiations and additional eligibility vetting, will be administered by DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO).
Over the past two years, DOE has invested more than US$500 million in bioenergy and biorefinery research and development through BETO.
The 17 selected projects fall into four areas:
- Pre-Pilot Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries;
- Pilot Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries;
- Demonstration Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries, and;
- Gen-1 Corn Ethanol Emission Reduction.
The selected projects are located in nine states and Washington, DC, and focus on technologies including anaerobic digestion, conversion of cellulosic sugars to SAF, and catalytic biorefining, among others.
Topic Area 1: Pre-Pilot Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries
Algenesis Corporation, Cardiff, California (CA): Pre-Pilot Scale Production of Algae-based Jet Fuel and Polyurethane Monomers (US$4.9 million).
Captis Aire LLC, East Point, Georgia (GA): Renewable Blending Components to Enable 100% SAF (US$2 million).
Comstock Inc., Virginia City, Nevada (NV): Production of Renewable Diesel, SAF, Gasoline, and Marine Fuel from Lignocellulosic Biomass at Dramatically Improved Yield, Efficiency, and Cost (US$2 million).
Global Algae Innovations Inc., San Diego, California (CA): Algae Direct Air Capture Scale-up to Multi-Acre Raceways (US$3.6 million).
MicroBio Engineering Inc., San Luis Obispo, California (CA): Attached Algae Flow Ways for Biofuels Production Utilizing Air-CO2 (US$3.9 million).
Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (NC): A Corn Stover Pyrolysis Pathway for SAF (US$2 million).
The University of California, Riverside California (CA): Scale-up Demonstration of Hybrid Catalytic Biorefining of Biomass to SAF and Marine Fuels (US$2 million).
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (UT): Entrained-Flow Biomass Gasification with Syngas Fermentation for Production of SAF (US$2 million).
Viridos, Inc., La Jolla, California (CA): Pre-pilot Integrated SAF Biorefinery (US$2 million).
Topic Area 2: Pilot Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries
LanzaTech, Inc., Skokie, Illinois (IL): RESTORE: Replenishing EcoSystems by Transforming Residues to Energy (US$1.6 million).
MicroBio Engineering Inc., San Luis Obispo, California (CA): Scale-up of Hydrothermal Liquefaction with Supercritical Water Oxidation in an Integrated Biorefinery (US$0.5 million).
Topic Area 3: Demonstration Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries
Alder Fuels, LLC, Washington DC: Decarbonizing the Skies – SAF from Alder Biocrude Oil (US$2 million).
AVAPCO LLC, Thomaston, Georgia (GA): AVAP Biorefinery: Enabling Net Zero
(US$80 million).
Topic Area 4: Gen-1 Corn Ethanol Emission Reduction
Green Plains Inc., Omaha, Nebraska (NE): Emissions Reduction Technologies for Green Plains Biorefineries (US$0.5 million).
Lincolnway Energy LLC, Nevada, Iowa (IA): Reduced Carbon Intensity Ethanol via Biogas from Stillage & Other Feedstocks (US$0.4 million).
Marquis, Inc., Hennepin, Illinois (IL): Carbon Refining: Corn Ethanol 2.0 (US$8.5 million).
RenewCO2 Inc., Cranford, New Jersey (NJ): Integrated Electrocatalytic Conversion of CO2 from Bio-Ethanol Emissions into Carbon-Negative Chemicals (US$0.5 million).
