New Notice of Intent for the Scale-Up of Biofuel and Bioproduct Refineries Award

DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has published a notice of intent to issue a second Scale-Up FOA. This FOA, funded by BETO, will aim to accelerate the scale-up of biofuel and bioproduct biorefineries. This includes efforts for pre-pilot, pilot, and demonstration scale projects and will allow for both projects that are in the planning phase as well as those that already have a design package and are ready to construct.

Learn more about BETO funding opportunities. 

DOE Awards $127 Million to Bring Innovative Clean Energy Technologies to Market

DOE EERE will award $57 million to 53 projects by 51 American small businesses and entrepreneurs with phase II funding based on the initial success of their phase I awards. This includes follow-on awards to support projects closer to market.

Through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, the phase II awards support the research and development of innovative clean energy technologies toward commercialization. EERE phase II awards are awarded for a two-year project duration, with initial funding up to $1.1 million, and two potential follow-on awards of up to $1.1 million each.

There were six projects funded through BETO:

• Near Infrared Biomass Probe and Deployment Methods for Real-time, Field-based, Biomass Quality Measurement by ANTARES Group Inc. in Edgewater, MD
• Conversion of Biogas to Liquid Fuels on Superior Catalysts by NexTech Materials, Ltd. Dba Nexceris, LLC in Lewis Center, OH
• Removing Ammonia Contamination from Biogas Feedstock by Pancopia, Inc. in Hampton, VA
• Biorecovery of Nutrients from Municipal Wastewaters with Co-production of Biofuels and other Bioproducts by MicroBio Engineering in San Luis Obispo, CA
• Advancing Optical Imaging and Classification to Enhance Biodiversity Monitoring by OceanSpace, LLC in St. Petersburg, FL
• Upcycling Ocean-based Plastics for Sustainable Feedstock Supply Chain by RiKarbon, Inc. in Newark, DE.

Learn more about the project selections.

Single-Use Plastic Recycling (SUPR) Funding Opportunity Announcement

DOE announced an investment of up to $15.5 million for research and development to cut waste and reduce the energy used to recycle single-use plastics like plastic bags, wraps, and films. This funding, directed toward plastics recycling technologies, advances DOE’s work to address the challenges of plastic waste recycling and support the Biden Administration’s efforts to build a clean energy economy and ensure the U.S. reaches net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Topic areas include:

Novel Approaches to Recycle and Upcycle Films

• Applications are sought to develop novel degradation, upcycling and/or recycling pathways for post-consumer films.

Redesign of Multi-layer Films for Infinite Recyclability or Biodegradability

• Multi-layered films are often used to achieve a multitude of properties that are difficult to achieve with a single component. This topic seeks new materials that are infinitely recyclable or biodegradable and meet all the required properties to replace multi-layered films.

As part of the application, applicants are required to describe how diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives will be incorporated in the project.

Applications are now under review. Learn more about the topics on BETO’s website.

Top 13 Blendstocks Derived from Biomass for Mixing-Controlled Compression-Ignition (Diesel) Engines: Bioblendstocks with Potential for Decreased Emissions and Improved Operability

A new Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative report identifies the top 13 blendstocks created from waste or biomass for use in diesel fuel that could not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but could lower the total cost of ownership of diesel vehicles. The benefits stem from three key areas of improvement across diesel system operations:

• Less soot in engines, which reduces the complexity and expense of emissions control systems
• Improved hardiness in cold weather, with which some biodiesel engines struggle
• Higher cetane number, which eases blending into fuel refinery processes.

Download the Co-Optima report.

Webinar: Community Waste Management Technical Assistance Forum–Exploring Solutions to Convert Waste to Energy and Bioproducts; November 4, 2021, 1–2 p.m. ET

As communities work to reduce their emissions, many are exploring solutions to not only cut down on waste but to convert it to energy and other products.

In 2021, BETO and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance to 18 communities across the United States. Over the past several months, these partnerships explored a multitude of topics in conjunction with NREL experts, including resource assessment, economic trade-off analysis, technology evaluation, and many others.

BETO is hosting a forum with a panel of community experts involved in the partnerships to share updates about the program and plans for further technical assistance in 2022. The BETO forum will include a series of presentations from several partnering communities, followed by a Q&A session to hear about how various communities are looking to tackle their organic waste challenges and how NREL can aid in this planning.

Past Events

Conference: 2021 Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference; October 27–29, 2021

DOE EERE BETO presenters:

• Keynote address: Kelly Speakes-Backman, DOE EERE Acting Assistant Secretary
• Advanced Biofuels Summit; Jim Spaeth, BETO Program Manager, Systems Development & Integration
• Hot Technologies Panel; Jay Fitzgerald, BETO Chief Scientist discussed “DOE’s BOTTLE Consortium: Changing the Way We Recycle”
• Hot Technologies Panel; Beau Hoffman, BETO Technology Manager discussed “RNG and the SoCalGas/Electrochaea.”

Webinar: How DOE Is Supporting Small Businesses to Strengthen Community Partnerships and Workforce Development; October 21, 2021

DOE's BETO, Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), and SBIR/STTR programs provided a webinar to learn how DOE is working to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through the SBIR/STTR programs. Panelist discussions included an overview of the SBIR/STTR Programs and how to get involved; SBIR-wide efforts to increase DEI; SBIR Enhancement Effort; the recent DOE SBIR/STTR Programs, Phase II awards; award impact experienced by local community workforce development partnerships.

Co-Optima Capstone Webinars: Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines past, present, and future. What did we learn and where do we go next?; September 30, 2021

New Co-Optima knowledge and tools point the way to cleaner, more efficient engines. This webinar looked at the initiative’s accomplishments in the broader context of what might come next for internal combustion engine research in a rapidly changing world, factoring in increased vehicle electrification and a pressing need to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation.

Webinar: How ABPDU Is Training the Next Generation of Bioprocess Engineers; September 16, 2021

BETO hosted a webinar on how Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is partnering with the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) to train the next generation of bioprocessing engineers to enable the U.S. bioeconomy. A new college course taking place at LBNL’s Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU) aims to meet this need by providing students with hands-on experience with industry-relevant bioprocessing equipment.

Webinar: Sustainable Aviation Fuel Strategy at the Bioenergy Technologies Office; August 26, 2021

BETO hosted this webinar featuring Dr. Valerie Sarisky-Reed, acting director of BETO and Zia Haq, senior analyst at BETO. Topics discussed during this webinar included types of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstocks; benefits of SAF to farmers, the environment, and the aviation industry; job creation potential of SAF; BETO research, development, and demonstration on SAF technologies.

Co-Optima Capstone Webinar: What unconventional engine-fuel combinations show the greatest promise for efficiency improvements beyond current LD/MD/HD technologies?; August 26, 2021

Multiple unconventional combustion concepts offer substantial improvements in engine thermal efficiency. This webinar examined how changes to the composition and properties of future fuels could enable approaches such as multimode operation of LD SI gasoline engines and advanced compression ignition operation of MD and HD engines.