Biofuels are liquid fuels produced from renewable biological sources, including feedstocks such as plants and algae. The EPA reports that when responsibly sourced, U.S. biofuel production could help strengthen the rural economy, move the United States toward greater energy independence, and support domestic production of cleaner fuels.
On Jan. 8, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced funding of $6 million for three projects that will advance biofuel development. Funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, 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, the selected projects will support DOE’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge goals by developing biofuel technologies that use sustainable biomass and waste feedstocks. The funding will address advanced biofuels development through pre-pilot scale up of integrated biorefinery technologies.
The DOE and EPA selected the following projects:
Air Company Holdings, Brooklyn, New York – biogenic carbon dioxide to drop-in sustainable aviation fuel.
Erg Bio Inc., Dublin, California – demonstration of the ASPIRE feedstock flexible biomass deconstruction and conversion technology at the pre-pilot scale.
Terragia Biofuels, Hanover, New Hampshire – continuous conversion of corn stover to ethanol using engineered thermophilic bacteria.
According to an EPA press statement, these projects will provide industry with new technologies to meet the agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard Program requirements to reduce greenhouse gas 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 waste, the projects also align with DOE’s BETO 2023 Billion-Ton Report, an assessment of domestic renewable carbon resources that estimates the United States can sustainably provide 134 million tons of agricultural residues and 32 million tons of wet waste in the near term.
About the Author
Amanda Joshi | Managing Editor
Amanda Joshi has more than 18 years of experience in business-to-business publishing for both print and digital content. Before joining Chemical Processing, she worked with Manufacturing.net and Electrical Contracting Products. She’s a versatile, award-winning editor with experience in writing and editing technical content, executing marketing strategy, developing new products, attending industry events and developing customer relationships.
Amanda graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2001 with a B.A. in English and has been an English teacher. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and daughter, and their mini Aussiedoodle, Riley. In her rare spare time, she enjoys reading, tackling DIY projects, and horseback riding.
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