The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced $12 million in funding to support the advancement of integrated biorefinery technologies to decarbonize the transportation and industrial sector. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA), FY24 Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries, will help reduce technology uncertainty and demonstrate bioenergy technologies that produce low carbon intensity biofuels and biochemicals, particularly sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), using biomass and waste resources.
The U.S. transportation sector, including aviation, marine, rail, off-road, and heavy-duty vehicles, depends heavily on petroleum, which in 2022 supplied over 90% of its energy needs and accounted for 37% of transportation energy use. Additionally, the U.S. chemicals industry self-reported 186 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2022. Therefore, the use of renewable carbon feedstocks, such as biomass and organic waste, provides an opportunity to not only reduce our carbon footprint but also forge a path to conversion strategies that require less energy.
“Addressing the climate crisis by building a clean energy and equitable bioeconomy is a top priority of the Department of Energy,” said Dr. Valerie Sarisky-Reed, BETO Director. “This funding will be a crucial step in expanding the U.S. manufacturing base for SAFs, other low-carbon transportation fuels, and biochemicals, which will reduce our dependence on petroleum in the transportation and chemicals industry.”
This funding opportunity supports the interagency SAF Grand Challenge to produce 3 billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030, advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s goals to achieve net-zero emissions by no later than 2050 to the benefit of all Americans. Additionally, this FOA will support DOE’s Clean Fuels & Products Shot™ goal of meeting 50% projected demand for maritime, rail, off-road, and carbon-based chemicals by 2050 by demonstrating cost-effective integrated biorefineries to de-risk technology pathways for industrial commercialization.
The FOA aims to accelerate cost-shared research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects with partners in industry, academia, and DOE national laboratories. Selected projects will be focused on the design, construction, testing, and verification of new technology and feedstock pathways for engineering scale integrated biorefineries. By reducing cost and technical risk, BETO can help pave the way for industry to deploy commercial-scale integrated biorefineries and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these hard-to-decarbonize sectors.
Topic Areas
Seeking a phased approach to achieve the above outcomes, the FOA will include the following topic areas:
Topic Area 1: Pilot-Scale Integrated Biorefineries: Phase 1 Preliminary Design and Phased Construction
Topic Area 1 intends to identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing project definition, development, and execution plans for the scaling of pre-pilot biofuel technologies to pilot scale, for the manufacturing of SAF, heavy-duty truck fuel, off-road vehicle fuel, sustainable marine fuel, and/or sustainable rail fuel. Pilot-scale facilities developed under Topic Area 1 must produce, at the plant’s rated capacity, a minimum quantity of 20,000 gallons per year of liquid or gaseous biobased hydrocarbon fuel for aviation, marine, rail, heavy-duty, or off-road.
Topic Area 2: Demonstration-Scale Integrated Biorefineries: Phase 1 Preliminary Design and Phased Construction
Topic Area 2 intends to identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing project definition, development, and execution plans for the scaling of pilot biofuel technologies to demonstration scale, for the manufacturing of SAF, heavy-duty truck fuel, off-road vehicle fuel, sustainable marine fuel, and/or sustainable rail fuel. Demonstration-scale facilities developed under Topic Area 2 must produce, at the plant’s rated capacity, a minimum quantity of 1 million gallons per year of liquid or gaseous biobased hydrocarbon fuel for aviation, marine, rail, or off-road applications.
*The biofuels being produced by the proposed technology for both Topic Areas 1 and 2 must be SAF, heavy-duty truck fuel, off-road vehicle fuel, sustainable marine fuel, and/or sustainable rail fuel that achieve a minimum of 70% reduction in life cycle GHG emissions relative to the petroleum-based fuels being displaced.
Topic Area 3: Scale-Up of Organic Chemical Pathways: Phase 1 Preliminary Design and Phased Construction
Topic Area 3 intends to identify process technologies that have performed and validated all prior-scale experimentation and are ready to design a pilot- or demonstration-scale organic chemical production facility that converts renewable feedstocks into organic chemicals that (a) displace their incumbent fossil-derived counterparts and (b) achieve a minimum of 85% reduction in life cycle GHG emissions. Topic Area aims to address organic chemicals with a current U.S. production volume >0.5 million short tons or justify the ability for the technology to have broader decarbonization potential within the chemicals sector.
These Topic Areas contribute to BETO’s multi-year biorefinery scale-up strategy to fill the RD&D-to-industry pipeline as technologies are ready to scale, ultimately demonstrating feedstock conversion or production pathways to support commercialization of sustainable transportation fuels and renewable chemicals. BETO anticipates awarding multiple cooperative agreements as financial assistance under this FOA, lasting approximately 24 months for Phase 1 projects.
Key Dates
The FOA concept paper deadline is 5:00 p.m. ET, on November 7, 2024, and full applications are due at 5:00 p.m. ET, on January 16, 2025. More information on this funding opportunity and how to apply can be found on EERE Exchange. Additional information on the FOA and applicant eligibility is also available here. An informational webinar for potential applicants will be held on October 2, 2024, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET. Visit BETO’s funding announcement page for other upcoming funding opportunities.
Originally shared by the USDOE Bioenergy Technologies Office.