Department of Energy announces biofuels funding

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $118 million in funding for 17 projects the DOE says will “accelerate the production of sustainable biofuels for America’s transportation and manufacturing needs.”

Among the 17 companies or entities receiving funding are Illinois-based LanzaTech, whose technology is designed to convert green waste to aviation fuel, and the North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute, which is exploring turning corn stover (stalks and leaves) into aviation fuel.

“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,” says DOE Secretary 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.”

The DOE says it is attempting to advance markets for fuels “made from widely available domestic feedstocks” to “eventually create millions of gallons low-carbon fuel annually.” The department says the 17 projects funded “focus on technologies including anaerobic digestion, conversion of cellulosic sugars to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), catalytic biorefining” and other conversion methods.

LanzaTech also is involved in a University of Utah effort researching how to “produce syngas suitable for the production of SAF [showing] that liquifying lignocellulosic biomass and sorted municipal solid waste (MSW] by pyrolytic liquefaction” is possible.

The DOE award amounts range from $500,000 to $80 million, with most of the 17 projects “receiving at least $2 million,” according to the department.