BETO Selects 13 Small Businesses to Develop Innovative Bio-Based Products and Biomass Processing Technologies

December 10, 2024

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(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced awards for the FY24 Phase I Release 2 of the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Across DOE, 229 projects in 39 states received $52 million to pursue clean energy research and development (R&D), and eventual demonstration projects. The Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) selected 13 small businesses working to accelerate bioenergy R&D as part of this announcement. The companies, located across 10 states, have been selected to receive up to $206,500 each for this Phase I SBIR award. Of the 13 BETO awards, six are first-time awardees, four are located in Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Zones, two are in socially and economically disadvantaged areas, and one is a woman-owned business.

The awards under the two BETO topics include:

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Capro-X Inc.	Ithaca, NY (14850-3346)	$206,500.00	Cellulose Ester Bioplastics from Organic Waste-Based Fatty Acids Bio-based plastics can deliver lower carbon footprint, biodegradable, and recyclable alternatives to petroleum-based counterparts, but it is critical that their production does not lead to competitions with food. Capro-X will work together with the University of Georgia to develop and scale up cellulose caproate bioplastic produced from organic waste streams. Cellulose caproate will be used to produce nonwoven textiles. Capro-X technology relies on arrested anaerobic digestion with an integrated continuous chemical extraction system to convert organic waste streams to mid-chain fatty acids, including caproic acid, a platform chemical. The primary focus of this SBIR project will be to optimize the chemistry between caproic acid and cellulose to produce the bioplastic cellulose caproate.
Dynaflow, Inc.	Jessup, MD (20794-9381)	$199,742.00	Production and Extraction of High-Value Wax Esters and Lipids from Yarrowia Lipolytica Using Cavitation Enhanced Hot Water Extraction Biomanufacturing is a sustainable approach to replace petro-chemical manufacturing for producing fuels, chemicals, materials, and pharmaceuticals. Yeasts, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Yarrowia lipolytica, have been engineered to produce many important high-value bioproducts, including bio-based lubricants, at high titers, rates, and yields for many applications, but conventional extraction methods of intracellular wax esters and lipids is energy-intensive and expensive. Dynaflow Inc., together with University of Massachusetts Lowell, will develop a process for disrupting yeast cells and extracting the intracellular compounds from the biomass so that they can be produced more economically. Specifically, this project will investigate the feasibility of using hydrodynamic cavitation and hot water for improved recovery of intracellular products from yeast cells. This process will use less energy and lower temperatures and aims to produce yeast-based lubricants that will be cheaper than petroleum-based counterparts.
Exelus, Inc.	Fairfield, NJ (07004-2531)	$200,000.00	Low-Cost Route to Glycols from Lignocellulosic Biomass Current high temperature thermochemical processes to convert renewable feedstocks to fuels or chemicals, such as pyrolysis and gasification or low temperature enzymatic processes, are not cost-competitive with conventional fossil-fuel based processes. Exelus will apply novel reaction and reactor concepts with environmentally benign homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in a multi-step process that deconstructs and stabilizes biomass before conversion to commodity chemicals ethylene glycol and propylene glycol. This SBIR project will build on previously developed technology for the hydrolysis of non-food biomass to oligosaccharides and the hydrogenation of oligosaccharides to stabilized sugar alcohols. A multifunctional catalyst will be developed to enable cost-effective conversion of the biomass-derived sugar alcohols to ethylene and propylene glycols.
Global Algae Innovations, Inc.	San Diego, CA (92159-0623)	$206,500.00	Aqueous Algae Oil Extraction Algal oil is an excellent precursor for commercial production of renewable chemicals and materials with >70% greenhouse gas reduction compared to petroleum-derived counterparts. The objective of this project is to develop a low cost, low energy use process for separating algal oil from algal biomass. The proposed approach will use aqueous extraction of algal oil, eliminating the need to dry the biomass, thus reducing the separation energy, complexity, and cost of the extraction process. Successful development of the proposed extraction process can advance the use of algal oil as a precursor for renewable chemicals. A portion of the algal oil produced by Global Algae Innovations, Inc. will be converted to polyurethanes by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and by Algenesis, an industrial partner.

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Alternative Uses of Commercial Equipment (ACE)

Atlantic Biomass Conversions, Inc.

Frederick, MD (21701-4919)

$199,180.00

Low-Cost Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) from Perennial Feedstocks Using Simultaneous Ball Milling and Enzyme Hydrolysis

Purpose grown herbaceous energy crops have the potential to provide 535 million dry tons of new biomass to the U.S. bioeconomy. These energy crops, such as perennial grasses, are not currently grown commercially but could be a vital source of renewable carbon to meet net-zero goals. The Atlantic Biomass team will optimize a simultaneous ball milling and enzymatic hydrolysis process that would replace separate pretreatment and hydrolysis processes in the production of cellulosic sugars from energy crops. These sugars could be easily fermented into ethanol, which could be upgraded to sustainable aviation fuel via an alcohol-to-jet pathway. The team will optimize the system for switchgrass, miscanthus, and phragmites to maximize biomass processing volumes, improve sugar recovery, and reduce processing times.

Enexor Bioenergy

Franklin, TN (37067-8240)

$199,860.00

Modular Biomass Preprocessing System Development

Many companies and entities are investigating alternative disposal methods to transform waste streams to reduce their carbon footprint. Enexor Bioenergy, in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory, will focus on the development and commercialization of a modular pre-processing system that will transform a wide array of organic materials, including agricultural and food waste such as algae and barley dust, into feedstocks for Enexor’s combined heat and power system. This system will generate onsite renewable electricity and thermal energy for the waste producers, which will reduce their reliance on grid electricity. Enexor Bioenergy aims to deploy an economical, modular pre-processing system that transforms landfill-bound organic waste into a feedstock for clean energy generation and other conversion technologies that produce biofuels and bioproducts.

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Novastus

Cookeville, TN (38501-2102)

$206,500.00

Driving Decarbonization – Producing RDF from Waste Feedstocks Using Commercial Equipment

Municipal solid waste (MSW) contains substantial amounts of organic biogenic materials, including food scraps, yard trimmings, paper, and wood. As this material decomposes in landfills, it produces potent greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide. Novastus will develop an energy-efficient non-thermal mechanical dewatering process to convert high-moisture MSW, agriculture residues like corn stover, and paper mill residues into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) using repurposed equipment like mills, cyclones, and filters. This project will determine the system’s feasibility in reliably producing customized RDF across the various organic waste feedstocks. Novastus’ diversion technology will reduce greenhouse gas emissions while converting organic wastes into feedstocks for biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower, displacing fossil fuels. This project aims to alleviate the systemic environmental, logistical, and cost issues landfills face through affordable waste-to-energy solutions benefiting municipalities, businesses, and the climate alike.

WeNeW Carbology LLC

Charlottesville, VA (22906-1102)

$206,389.00

Combine and Blower Equipment Adaptation for Biomass Preprocessing

Agriculture residues like corn stover and soybean straw, the stalks and leaves left over from harvesting have the potential to sustainably supply up to 205 million dry short tons per year of excess biomass after soil health and erosion considerations. WeNeW Carbology will modify existing combine harvesting and air blower equipment to more efficiently collect agriculture residues. The combine will be modified to support modern round baler features for single-pass collection and the air blower equipment will be modified to stabilize and dry the baled materials. Together, these two modifications will significantly lower the ash and moisture contents, minimize size reduction energy costs, improve logistical efficiency, and mitigate storage losses to effectively collect and store crop residues for cost-effective, down-stream conversion into low-carbon biofuels and bioproducts.

Read more on all the DOE projects in the SBIR/STTR program. Visit BETO’s funding announcement page for other upcoming funding opportunities. READ MORE

Tags

yeast yard waste woody biomass Wood Virginia Tennessee Switchgrass straw Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program Small Business Innovatin Research (SBIR) Pulp/Paper Mill pre-processing phragmites perennial grasses paper New York National Laboratory MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) miscanthus Massachusetts Maryland lignocellulosic sugars Landfills Idaho Grasses GHG (Greenhouse Gas Emissions) Intensity Georgia genetically engineered yeast cells food waste Department of Energy (DOE) corn stover cellulosic sugars cellulosic feedstock catalysts catalysis bioplastics biomass biomanufacturing BioChemicals/Renewable Chemicals barley anaerobic digester/digestion algae separation algae extraction algae Agricultural waste/residue BioRefineries/Renewable Fuel Production Feedstocks grants conversion technology Sustainability

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