U.S. Department of Energy Awards $118 Million to Accelerate Domestic Biofuel Production

January 26, 2023

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(U.S. Department of Energy) 17 Projects Will Boost Production of Biofuels for Consumer and Freight Transportation in America, Support President Biden’s Decarbonization and Climate Agenda -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $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. 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 biofuels and at least a 70% 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,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “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.”

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 emissions throughout the transportation sector and accelerate the bioeconomy. Financing for 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 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge goal of enabling the production of three billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel annually by 2030 and 35 billion gallons annually by 2050.

Award amounts range from $500,000 to $80 million, with most receiving at least $2 million. See full list of funded projects here. 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 $500 million in bioenergy and biorefinery research and development through BETO. READ MORE

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, catalytic biorefining, among others.

The following projects were selected:

Selectee	Location (City, State)	Project Title	Federal Cost Share
Topic Area 1: Pre-Pilot Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries
Algenesis Corporation	Cardiff, CA	Pre-Pilot Scale Production of Algae-based Jet Fuel and Polyurethane Monomers	$4,987,974
Captis Aire LLC	East Point, GA	Renewable Blending Components to Enable 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)	$2,000,000
Comstock Inc.	Virginia City, NV	Production of Renewable Diesel, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Gasoline, and Marine Fuel from Lignocellulosic Biomass at Dramatically Improved Yield, Efficiency, and Cost.	$2,000,000
Global Algae Innovations	San Diego, CA	Algae Direct Air Capture Scale-up to Multi-Acre Raceways	$3,600,000
MicroBio Engineering Inc.	San Luis Obispo, CA	Attached Algae Flow Ways for Biofuels Production Utilizing Air-CO2	$3,978,199
Research Triangle Institute	Research Triangle Park, NC	A Corn Stover Pyrolysis Pathway for Sustainable Aviation Fuel	$2,000,000
University of California: Riverside	Riverside, CA	Scale-up Demonstration of Hybrid Catalytic Biorefining of Biomass to Sustainable Aviation and Marine Fuels	$2,000,000
University of Utah	Salt Lake City, UT	Entrained-Flow Biomass Gasification with Syngas Fermentation for Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels	$2,000,000
Viridos, Inc.	La Jolla, CA	Pre-pilot Integrated Sustainable Aviation Fuels Algae Biorefinery	$2,000,000
Topic Area 2: Pilot Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries
LanzaTech, Inc.	Skokie, IL	RESTORE: Replenishing EcoSystems by Transforming Residues to Energy	$1,640,286
MicroBio Engineering Inc.	San Luis Obispo, CA	Scale-up of Hydrothermal Liquefaction with Supercritical Water Oxidation in an Integrated Biorefinery	$579,673
Topic Area 3: Demonstration Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries
Alder Fuels, LLC	Washington DC	Decarbonizing the Skies – Sustainable Aviation Fuel from Alder Biocrude Oil	$2,000,000
AVAPCO LLC	Thomaston, GA	AVAP Biorefinery: Enabling Net Zero™	$80,000,000
Topic Area 4: Gen-1 Corn Ethanol Emission Reduction
Green Plains	Omaha, NE	Emissions Reduction Technologies for Green Plains Biorefineries	$500,000
Lincolnway Energy LLC	Nevada, IA	Reduced Carbon Intensity Ethanol via Biogas from Stillage & Other Feedstocks	$453,000
Marquis, Inc	Hennepin, IL	Carbon Refining: Corn Ethanol 2.0	$8,547,047
RenewCO2 Inc	Cranford, NJ	Integrated Electrocatalytic Conversion of CO2 from Bio-Ethanol Emissions into Carbon-Negative Chemicals	$499,953

These awards will be administered by DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), which is focused on developing technologies that convert domestic biomass and other waste resources into low-carbon biofuels and bioproducts. READ MORE

DOE awards $118M to juice domestic biofuels, as Georgia’s AVAP Biorefinery nabs $80M of it (Biofuels Digest)

Biden administration awards $118 million for biofuel projects (The Hill)

DOE Awards $118 Million for Domestic Biofuel Production (Energy.AgWired.com)

Algae Projects Win DOE Funding, Congress is Sending Millions More for R&D in 2023 (Algae Biomass Organization)

Excerpt from Biofuels Digest: The Big Winner: Granbio’s AVAP Biorefinery

The winner that stood out by a country mile is the GranBio project in Thomaston, GA for the AVAP Biorefinery, which received an $80M cost share from the Feds. The proposed AVAP Biorefinery: Enabling Net ZeroT project will construct and operate a 1.2 million gallon per year equivalent fully integrated biomass to cellulosic Sustainable Aviation Fuel and renewable diesel demonstration plant. Valuable co- products will include second generation cellulosic sugars for conversion to biochemicals and a nanocellulose rubber masterbatch, the Nanocellulose Dispersion Composite, for the tire and rubber goods industries.

The proposed project would be Phase 2 of AVAPCO’s “ABBA: Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts with AVAP” project awarded for Phase 1 (Design Phase) under the DOE’s 2016 FOA: Project Development for Pilot and Demonstration Scale Manufacturing of Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biopower. Project partners include Petron Scientech, Byogy Renewables, Birla Carbon, and Clark Atlanta University. More on the project here, of contact Kim Nelson at Knelson@granbio.com or 404-931-9109.

Achievements of the Phase 1 project include: Integrated pilot scale production of SAF from woodchips under observation and technical validation by DOE and their Independent Engineer ; Continuous pilot scale production of BioPlus® nanocellulose and NDC for the tire and rubber goods industries; completion of the demonstration-scale basic engineering package and commercialization business plant; and, Life Cycle Analysis conducted by Michigan Technological Institute showing up to a 93% reduction in Green House Gas Emissions compared to conventional jet and diesel

Goals of the Phase 2 project include: producing on-spec cellulosic SAF and diesel from biomass; producing SAF with aromatics for testing and certification; confirming Key Performance Indicators at demonstration-scale that support commercial scale production of SAF at a minimum sales price equivalent to conventional jet fuel and a 2G sugar MSP of ≤$0.20/lb; and producing NDC that gives the same performance benefits in tire compounds as obtained at previous scales (10% lower estimated rolling resistance, equivalent modulus and tensile strength, and improved tear strength) for extensive on-road tire trials. READ MORE

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Department of Energy (DOE) grants bioproducts BioRefineries/Renewable Fuel Production pilot scale demonstration scale/unit GHG (Greenhouse Gas Emissions) bioenergy Transportation Fuels Policy environmental policy energy policy Green Jobs Jetfuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)) Aviation Fuel/Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) BioChemicals/Renewable Chemicals corn ethanol corn/maize anaerobic digester/digestion conversion technology cellulosic sugars catalysis California algae bioplastics bioeconomy biomaterials Georgia Renewable Diesel/Green Diesel/HVO/Paraffinic Diesel Biogasoline/Renewable Gasoline Marine/Maritime Bio and Renewable/Sustainable Fuel (SMF) Lignocellulosic Biofuel direct air capture carbon capture and utilization (CCU) Nevada corn stover pyrolysis North Carolina Utah syngas (synthesis gas) syngas/gas fermentation Illinois hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) integrated biorefineries Washington DC Nebraska Iowa New Jersey Carbon Intensity (CI)/Carbon Footprint ethanol/bioethanol Investing Sustainability cellulosic biofuel

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