The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will co-lead a new national program to develop advanced biofuels that are compatible with the nation’s existing hydrocarbon fuels infrastructure.
Known as the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC), NREL and
DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will lead cutting-edge
research to develop biomass-based hydrocarbon fuels that follow a
sustainable, cost-effective production. The fuels pursued will also be
so-called "drop-in fuels" meaning they will process and maximize the
use of existing refining and distribution infrastructure.
The $33.8 million in funding for this research effort comes as part of a larger package of biofuels investments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act announced today by Energy Secretary Steven Chu. (Read the DOE press release at the link below.)
"Biofuels must be compatible with the nation’s engines, pipelines and refineries to play a substantial and effective role in reducing carbon emissions and reducing oil imports," said NREL Associate Director for Renewable Fuels and Vehicles Dale Gardner. "The Department of Energy’s investment will allow NREL and the consortium to systematically identify and develop commercially sustainable biofuels from renewable sources for this critical 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 $8.4 million of non-federal cost share contributions, bringing the total NABC project size to $42.2 million.
Secretary Chu also announced $44 million in funding for the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB). Led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (St. Louis, Mo.), the NAABB will develop a systems approach for sustainable commercialization of algal biofuel and bioproducts.
Together, these two programs will be matched by private and non-federal cost-share funds of more than $19 million for total project investments of over $97 million.
NREL (www.nrel.gov) is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
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