Moving America’s Clean Energy Economy Forward: Boost for Biofuels, Clean Coal

by Heather Zichal (White House Blog) ... The President’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group released its first report – Growing America’s Fuel, which lays out a strategy to advance the development and commercialization of a sustainable biofuels industry to meet or exceed the nation’s biofuels targets. READ MORE

• The U.S. is producing 12 billion gallons per year of biofuels, mostly from corn grain ethanol, but we are not on a trajectory to reach the Congressional 36 billion gallons per year goal by 2022 or to meet the 100 million gallons cellulosic biofuels target in 2010.

o The recession has raised significant barriers to private sector capital financing and investment in new biofuels production.

o First-generation corn grain ethanol is a critically important renewable fuel source that is lowering our reliance on foreign petroleum dependent fuels, and cellulosic ethanol will soon be contributing as well.

o Advanced next generation biofuels will be one of the nation’s most important industries in the 21st century.

o Many next generation biofuels feedstock and process technologies that are promising at bench scale are just beginning to be developed through the scale-up process.

o Challenges exist in matching existing petroleum fuel distribution infrastructure and current generation biofuels, but cost-effective solutions must be found.

• Hundreds of projects have been funded, but stronger, more robust supply chains would emerge if there were integration of effort across government agencies.

o There has been minimal active management to achieve targets across the federal government or private sector.

o Significant gaps in the biofuels supply chain need to be addressed. Some key policy tools, such as DOE and USDA project loan guarantees and research programs, could be targeted more effectively to support the emerging industry and to deliver outcome-driven results.

• Strong management for results using a regional supply chain systems approach that ensures all fuels produced are compatible with the U.S. transportation fuel infrastructure.

o Manage by a small centrally-located team accountable to the President’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group that has clearly defined roles and deliverables for all participating federal department, private sector, tribal, and international partners.

o Establish Lead-Agency responsibility for each supply chain segment – discovery science, sustainable feedstock development and production, feedstock logistics, pilot scale feedstock conversion to biofuels, commercial-scale feedstock conversion, regulatory, education-extension, and workforce development. This effort will be driven by clearly defined deliverables and milestones, with the understanding that sustainable commercial options will emerge and be rapidly deployed.

o Create a collaborative process for delivery of Federal investments to assure a user-friendly, effective and efficient delivery of programs and services offered.

o Present quarterly reviews to the President’s Interagency Working Group, Secretary(s) of DOE and USDA and EPA Administrator.

• Continue support on development of first- and second-generation biofuels with additional strong focus on accelerating third generation (drop-in) biofuels development – gasoline, diesel (for transportation, home and industrial use), aviation fuels, and industrial biofeedstocks (such as biobased crude).

o Improve current delivery programs to support current generation and advanced biofuels technologies.

o Streamline strategies that move technology research and development rapidly to pilot-demonstration phase and to full-scale commercial production facility construction for next generation technologies and systems.

o Comprehensive analysis that addresses up-front the elements of feasibility and sustainability for all existing and new technologies (environmental, technical, management, economic, market, financial) to build confidence for creating markets, investments, and credit to sustain long-term biofuels production.

o Develop new technologies and alternative processes to improve economic and conversion efficiencies for biofuels production. Multiple conversion routes are researched in parallel, including: biochemical, thermochemical, and hybrid designs. o Support development of new uses and markets using existing ethanol infrastructure (e.g., green ethylene and biobutanol) and other vertically produced value-added bio co-products (e.g., biochar, dried distillers grains, synthesis gas) with shortened supply chains to enhance long-term rural wealth creation within regions.

...Also, other significant users of liquid fuels, such as the air transportation industry and the military, have needs that cannot be fully met today by ethanol or electric power sources. Therefore, expansion of the biofuels industry should focus on advanced biofuels and direct substitute fuels that can leverage the existing American multitrillion-dollar liquid fuels infrastructure.

...The existing multibillion-dollar national USDA science and research infrastructure will be used to support the establishment of USDA Regional Feedstock Research Centers along with robust partnerships with land grant and other universities, industry, and other federal and state agencies. The centers will develop sustainable supply chain strategies and science-based implementation plans designed to accelerate biofuels feedstock production and reduce transaction costs to feedstock producers and biorefineries.