Author: US DOE EERE Staff   9/12/2024    EERE

Bioenergy Technologies Office

FOA NUMBER: DE-FOA-0003371
FUNDING AMOUNT: $12 million
CONCEPT PAPERS DUE DATE: 11/7/2024, 5 p.m. ET
APPLICATIONS DUE DATE:
1/16/2025 at 5 p.m. ET
WEBINAR: 10/2/2024, 11 a.m. ET

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. The FY24 Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries funding opportunity 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. 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.

This funding opportunity supports the interagency SAF Grand Challenge to produce 3 billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030. Additionally, this FOA supports DOE’s Clean Fuels & Products Shot™ goal of meeting 50% of projected demand for maritime, rail, off-road, and carbon-based chemicals with sustainable carbon resources.

Selected projects will focus 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 emissions from these hard-to-decarbonize sectors.

Topic Areas include Phase 1 preliminary design and phased construction of:

• Topic Area 1: Pilot-Scale Integrated Biorefineries
• Topic Area 2: Demonstration-Scale Integrated Biorefineries
• Topic Area 3: Scale-Up of Organic Chemical Pathways

BETO anticipates awarding multiple financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements under this FOA, lasting approximately 24 months for Phase 1 projects.

The FOA concept paper deadline is 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 7, 2024, and full applications are due at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 16, 2025. An informational webinar for potential applicants will be held on Oct. 2, 2024, at 11 a.m. ET.

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