Bioenergy Pioneer Awarded DOE’s Highest Recognition and Leaves an Extensive Legacy in the Renewable Energy Industry

Kevin Craig retired in December 2023 after nearly two decades of service to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). Starting as a chemical engineer analyzing coal and biomass gasification power systems and retiring as the Program Manager for BETO’s Conversion Technologies Program, Craig leaves a legacy. He has been on the forefront of the clean energy transition that accelerated in the late 20th century, making significant contributions in research, leadership, and innovation. He was recently presented the Secretary of Energy Exceptional Service Award for exemplifying the highest standards of and dedication to public service and significant benefits to DOE and the nation. His approach to service challenged and empowered the best researchers and scientists to develop their ideas into transformational, real-world technologies.

CRAIG’S CAREER TRAJECTORY AND HIGHLIGHTS: EARLY 1980S – EARLY 2000S

Craig always had an affinity for chemistry and pure mathematics and developed computer models for chemical processing while in college at West Virginia University pursuing his B.S. in chemical engineering. After graduate school, Craig took on a role at DOE’s fossil energy lab in Morgantown, West Virginia (now known as the National Energy Technology Laboratory). The lab was hiring chemical engineers to develop, test, and improve the Advanced Systems for Processing Engineer (ASPEN) process simulation software package and apply it to first-of-a-kind analyses of coal gasification power systems. “Those analyses spun out into a number of large projects that DOE later funded to construct and operate coal gasification combined cycle systems,” said Craig. He was also the manager of contracted ASPEN simulation projects at Simulation Sciences Inc. (now InvenSys), where he developed novel approaches for using process simulation in process control among other major projects.

I was hired at NREL and became what’s now called the Lab Relationship Manager (LRM) for Biopower. Back then there were three programs – biofuel, biopower, and essentially industrial technologies. In the late 1990s, DOE started combining those offices over time into what’s now called BETO and I became Deputy Program Manager, or LRM, for the biofuels program at NREL.”

Craig had been connected to DOE and its projects for many years and in 2004 decided it was time for a change after dealing with what he referred to as the “ups and down of lab funding.” Through his network, he heard about job openings at BETO’s Golden Field Office and transitioned there. “They were growing the biofuels space and initially I was brought on to do project management work for the feedstock program.” Craig saw BETO grow into the structure that it has now, combining program and project management as part of the portfolio.

CRAIG AND BETO’S CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM

Commercial scale processes that are in production today have benefited from Craig’s leadership over the years, elevating bioenergy as a viable energy source. Before retiring in December 2023 as program manager for BETO’s Conversion Technologies Program, Craig was primarily focused on supporting research and development (R&D) in technologies converting biomass feedstocks into intermediate or final products-such as fuels, fuel precursors, fuel blend stocks, and chemicals that can be made into renewable polymers or other industrial compounds. “That simply means taking sustainable renewable feedstocks and making them into sustainable and renewable fuels and products,” said Craig. “What resonates with people is converting ethanol into sustainable aviation fuel and the impact of plastics on the environment. One of the things we are doing is finding better ways to use our technologies, biological enzymes and organisms, to break down and recycle plastics and come up with new plastics, new polymers that are designed for recyclability.” READ MORE