WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, Steven Chu, has announced the investment of nearly US$80 million under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act for advanced biofuels research and fuelling infrastructure that will help to support the development of a clean sustainable transportation sector.

The newly-announced selections – two biofuels consortia for up to $78m to research algae-based – are part of the Department’s continued effort to spur the creation of the domestic bio-industry while creating jobs.

“Advanced biofuels are crucial to building a clean energy economy,” said Secretary Chu. “By harnessing the power of science and technology, we can bring new biofuels to the market and develop a cleaner and more sustainable transportation sector. This investment will help spur the creation of the domestic bio-industry, while creating jobs and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”

Biofuels consortia

Two cross-functional groups will seek to break down crucial barriers to the commercialisation of algae-based and other advanced biofuels – such as ‘green’ aviation fuels, diesel, and petrol – that can be transported and sold using the existing fuelling infrastructure. The selected projects comprise leading scientists and engineers from universities, private industry, and government, and will facilitate sharing expertise and technologies.

The two consortia selected for funding are:

1. National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels & Bioproducts (NAABB) ($44 million) – Led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre (St. Louis, Missouri), NAABB will develop a systems approach for sustainable commercialisation of algal biofuel (such as renewable petrol, diesel, and jet fuel) and bio-products.

NAABB will integrate resources from companies, universities, and national laboratories to overcome the crucial barriers of cost, resource use and efficiency, ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, and commercial viability. It will develop and demonstrate the science and technology necessary to significantly increase production of algal biomass and lipids, efficiently harvest and extract algae and algal products, and establish valuable certified co-products that scale with renewable fuel production.

Co-products include animal feed, industrial feedstocks, and additional energy generation. Multiple test sites will cover diverse environmental regions to facilitate broad deployment.

2. National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC) (up to $33.8 million) – Led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington State, the consortium will conduct cutting-edge research to develop infrastructure-compatible, biomass-based hydrocarbon fuels.

The result will be a sustainable, cost-effective production process that optimises the use of existing refining and distribution infrastructure. NABC will investigate a variety of process strategies and down select to those closest to larger scale demonstration. It plans to further develop these strategies to deliver a pilot-ready process, with full lifecycle analysis to measure the environmental benefits.

Nine states

Collectively, these consortia will be matched by private and non-federal cost-share funds of more than $19m for total project investments in excess of $97m.

Additionally, Secretary Chu has announced the selection of eight infrastructure projects to receive up to $1.6m to support expanded fuelling infrastructure for ethanol blends. The projects announced will expand ethanol blends infrastructure at existing retail fuelling locations in nine states: Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

The projects plan to install E85 pumps, retrofit existing pumps to dispense E85, and install blender pumps that offer ethanol blends up to 85% at more than 60 stations. Collectively, the projects propose creating at least 45 E85 dispensers and 16 blender pumps along key driving corridors and areas with high concentrations of flexible fuel vehicles. 

The infrastructure projects will be matched with $3.9m in non-federal cost-share funds, for total projects investments of $5.5m. For a complete list and project descriptions of the newly announced awards, visit www.doe.gov

NREL to lead the charge

NREL Deputy Laboratory Director for Science & Technology, Robert McGrath, said: "Securing this leadership role with the NABC demonstrates the DoE's confidence in NREL's biofuels expertise, and is a significant achievement for biomass programme manager Tom Foust and his team."

NREL Associate Director for Renewable Fuels & Vehicles, Dale Gardner, added: "Biofuels must be compatible with the country's engines, pipelines, and refineries to play a substantial and effective role in reducing carbon emissions and reducing oil imports. DoE’s investment will allow NREL and the consortium to systematically identify and develop commercially sustainable biofuels from renewable sources for this crucial energy supply."

The NABC will spend about a year investigating six process options, including fermentation, catalytic conversion, catalytic fast pyrolysis, hydropyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, and low-cost one-step syngas-to-distillates.

One or two of these processes will be selected for larger-scale demonstration over the subsequent two years. The NABC plans to further develop these strategies to deliver a pilot-ready process, with full lifecycle analysis to measure the environmental benefits.

Other members of the consortium include Albemarle Corporation, Amyris Biotechnologies, Argonne National Laboratory, BP Products North America Inc., Catchlight Energy LLC, Colorado School of Mines, Iowa State University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Pall Corporation, RTI International, Tesoro Companies Inc., University of California–Davis, UOP LLC, Virent Energy Systems, and Washington State University

Collectively, these partners will contribute $8.4m of non-federal cost-share contributions, bringing the total NABC project size to $42.2m.

NREL is the DoE's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. It is operated for DoE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. More at www.nrel.gov