Wastewater Treatment Plant. Image from Istock.com
Offices: Bioenergy Technologies Office and Vehicle Technologies Office
FOA number: DE-FOA-0003072
FOA amount: $6.9 million
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) announced $6.9 million in funding for nine projects to support local waste-to-energy management solutions for transportation energy needs. Located across six states, these selected projects will help sustainably manage and recover potential clean energy sources from local community waste streams using innovative and cost-effective technologies to produce low-carbon biofuels.
Organic waste streams from food waste, municipal wastewater sludge and solid waste, and manure are a key feedstock for producing biofuels and bioproducts. However, these waste streams represent one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to water, soil and air quality pollution. In addition, waste management costs for treatment, stabilization, hauling, and disposal are considerable, and municipal landfills can contaminate soil and water. This funding will support local communities to plan and identify waste-to-energy solutions for their waste streams, and also help reduce other impacts associated with waste collection and landfilling, including reducing heavy vehicle traffic, odors, and litter.
Recognizing that local communities may be at different stages in their sustainable waste management planning efforts, the selected projects will address the above waste-to-energy needs through two topic areas:
- Topic Area 1: Feasibility Study Development Analyses
Topic Area 1 is aimed at helping move communities beyond a conceptualization phase by supporting more in-depth feasibility or scoping analysis. It will support feasibility study development, to include activities such as feasibility studies, identification of transportation use cases, and sustainability indicator baselining.
- Topic Area 2: Design Work and Experimental Validation
Topic Area 2 will support and advance more detailed engineering design work for communities that are further along and may have already identified potential solutions for their waste/transportation needs. Outcomes from this Topic Area will include FEL-3 engineering design work, detailed siting analysis, transportation fuel testing, experimental testing and validation, and generation of data for air quality assessment (Phase 1). Upon the conclusion of Phase 1 activities, recipients are eligible for additional Phase 2 funding which will allow for the construction and operation of a pilot-scale system designed in Phase 1.
The following projects were selected:
| Selectee | Location | Project Title & Description | Federal Cost Share |
| Topic Area 1: Feasibility Study Development | |||
| California Dairy Research Foundation | Davis, California | Dairy Methane Utilization for Clean Hydrogen Production This project will assess the environmental and economic feasibility of converting methane from dairy manure into hydrogen. The study will instead assess various hydrogen production pathways, including steam methane reforming and electrolysis. | $750,000 |
| City of Berryville, Arkansas | Berryville, Arkansas | This project will evaluate the establishment of primary and secondary materials recovery facility infrastructure to enable more efficient municipal solid waste separations and eventual conversion to fuels (renewable natural gas, methanol, and hydrogen). | $745,932 |
| City of Reedley - California | Reedley, California | Organic Waste Energy Conversion This project will evaluate a closed-loop system to produce renewable natural gas, electricity, and/or hydrogen from agricultural food processing waste within a 100 mile radius. The project will test seasonal and geographic blends to inform economic and environmental analysis. | $750,000 |
| Ecology Action Center | Normal, Illinois | This project will perform a waste audit from a 75-mile radius to evaluate co-digestion to renewable natural gas. The project is testing a new anaerobic digester technology to evaluate the benefits a lower-energy mixing approach. | $513,185 |
| GTI Energy | (Des Plaines, IL; Walcott, IA; Fair Oaks, IN; Middleton, WI) | HARVEST: Hydrogen Assessment from Remote Valorization of Energy Sources Through Organic Waste The project will assess a system to produce fuel-cell quality hydrogen from organic waste at three locations: the Fair Oaks Dairy in Indiana, I-80 truck stop in Iowa, and a dairy cooperative in Wisconsin. The project will analyze a variety of impacts including generation of fertilizer as a co-product, air quality, job creation, and diversification of farm revenue. | $559,527 |
| Houston Advanced Research Center | Huston, Texas | Waste to CLEAN Fuels for Decarbonizing Transportation in the Rio Grande Valley Region This project will investigate the feasibility of capturing waste at Wastewater Treatment Facilities in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and converting it into renewable fuels such as biogas, renewable natural gas (RNG), and hydrogen. 25 candidate wastewater treatment sites have been identified and this project will identify the individual transportation fuel use cases (biogas, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen) for each site. | $748,194 |
| Montgomery County, Maryland | Rockville, Maryland | This project will evaluate resource potential and technical feasibility of converting wastewater residuals to hydrogen for use in the County’s regional bus fleet. The project will also complete a siting analysis for an in-county organics processing facility | $750,000 |
| New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition | Elizabeth, New Jersey | Closed Loop Organic Waste to Transportation Fuel Virtual Fueling Station This project will perform a waste analysis of 44 New Jersey higher education campuses and perform a cost-benefit analysis of using the waste-derived fuels for on-site fleet usage versus utilizing food waste recycling facilities versus business as usual practices. The project will also establish a verified emissions reductions tracking system. | $500,000 |
| Topic Area 2: Design Work and Experimental Validation | |||
| Las Virgenes Municipal Water District | Calabasas, California | Conversion of Biosolids and Biogas to Hydrogen for Transportation This project proposes to design a system that collects biogas and biosolids to generate clean hydrogen. The proposed approach will use on-site biochar as a catalyst for reforming to reduce capital and operating costs and to enable more modular biogas reforming technologies. The project will design a 1-2 ton of biosolids/day system capable of producing 100 kg/day of fuel cell grade hydrogen. | $1,600,000 |
More Information
- Learn more about the WASTE funding opportunity notice
- Visit BETO’s funding opportunities and VTO’s funding opportunities webpages for other upcoming funding opportunities
- Sign up to receive regular communications about BETO vacancy announcements, webinars, workshops, Bioprose: Bioenergy R&D Blogs, funding opportunities, and technical reports
- Subscribe to VTO’s newsletter to stay current with their latest news.