- Offices: U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- FOA number: DE-FOA-0003178
- FOA amount: $6 million
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $6 million in funding for three projects that will advance biofuel development and support U.S. leadership on energy and emissions innovation. Funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the projects will support research to improve performance and reduce costs of high-impact biofuel production technologies; scale up production systems with industry; and support the U.S. bioeconomy. Located in three states, these projects will support DOE’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge goals by developing biofuel technologies that use sustainable biomass and waste feedstocks.
Biofuels are liquid fuels produced from renewable biological sources, including feedstocks such as plants and algae. When responsibly sourced, U.S. biofuel production can help strengthen the rural economy, move the U.S. toward greater energy independence, and support domestic production of cleaner fuels.
The projects will provide industry with new technologies to meet EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program requirements to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and expand the nation’s renewable fuels sector, while reducing reliance on imported transportation fuel, heating oil, and jet fuel. Using agricultural residues and wet wastes, the projects also align with DOE’s 2023 Billion-Ton Report, an assessment of domestic renewable carbon resources that estimates that the U.S. can sustainably provide 134 million tons of agricultural residues and 32 million tons of wet waste in the near-term.
This funding will address the development of advanced biofuels through the topic area of pre-pilot scale up of integrated biorefinery technologies. Projects that have completed work around Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 and are ready to move to TRL 4-5, piloting a single process step, prior to TRL 6 integrated piloting. Feedstocks will align with the RFS Program’s definition for feedstocks that could be used for advanced biofuels.
The following projects were selected:
| Selectee | Location | Project Title | Federal Cost Share |
| Air Company Holdings | Brooklyn, New York | Biogenic CO2 to Drop-in Sustainable Aviation Fuel The project team plans to scale up a CO2 hydrogenation reactor, with special focus on catalyst yields and overall reactor flow scheme. This information will be critical for estimating and planning capital expenditures and equipment. The CO2 hydrogenation reactor is part of the selectee’s process for converting biogenic waste carbon dioxide into 100% drop-in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Pre-screening testing showed that the SAF can meet compositional requirements and other physical properties of conventional jet fuels. As part of the project, the selectee will generate SAF samples to be used in an ASTM International qualification program. | $2,000,000 |
| Erg Bio Inc. | Dublin, California | This project team will develop the Advanced Solvent Pretreatment for Integrated Biorefineries (ASPIRE) technology which has demonstrated high fermentable sugar release efficiencies from mixed woody feedstocks, agricultural residue mixtures, sorghum bagasse, and sugarcane bagasse with >99% solvent recovery rate at the laboratory scale. The ASPIRE process uses distillable solvents at moderate temperatures and pressures that are integrated with a CBP host that secretes the saccharolytic enzymes that liberate sugars and then ferment those sugars into ethanol. | $1,998,184 |
| Terragia Biofuels | Hanover, New Hampshire | Continuous Conversion of Corn Stover to Ethanol Using Engineered Thermophilic Bacteria The project team aims to advance corn stover conversion to ethanol via consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) with engineered thermophilic bacteria. Key objectives include: implementing CBP at industrially-relevant solids loading using continuous processing and developed bacterial strains, demonstrating a ≥ 2-fold reduction in reaction time with cascade continuous operation, operating at a 0.5 dry ton per day pilot scale, projecting favorable economics with technoeconomic analysis, and leading activities aimed at promoting understanding of the bioeconomy, biofuels, and related workforce development. | $1,998,349 |
More Information
- Learn more about the BETO and EPA IRA Advanced Biofuels Funding Opportunity
- Visit BETO’s funding opportunities webpages to learn more about their other funding opportunities.
- Visit EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard Program webpages to learn more about their other programs.
- Sign up to receive regular communications about BETO vacancy announcements, webinars, workshops, Bioprose: Bioenergy R&D Blogs, funding opportunities, and technical reports.
- Subscribe here to receive news releases and other information from the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality.
About the EPA Renewable Fuel Standard Program
The RFS program, which is a national regulatory program implemented by EPA, was created by Congress with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions along with expanding the nation’s renewable fuels sector while reducing reliance on imported oil. The program requires a certain volume of renewable fuel to replace or reduce the quantity of petroleum-based transportation fuel, heating oil, or jet fuel. The four categories of commonly used renewable fuels are: biomass-based diesel, cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel.
For more information on the RFS program, visit EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard Program webpage.