The US Department of Energy announced that its Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will build an advanced biofuels process development facility aimed at speeding the commercialization of advanced biofuels.
The new facility will allow government and private sector researchers to test innovative technologies. The facility–funded with nearly $18 million from the Recovery Act–will be a publicly available facility where researchers can integrate process steps and technology pathways, such as those being developed at DOE’s Office of Science Bioenergy Research Centers.
This facility will be the only one of its kind available for public use.
The Advanced Biofuels Process Development Unit (PDU) will provide universities, national laboratories, and industry partners
the opportunity to scale up promising processes discovered in their
laboratories.
Planned capabilities include unique pretreatment of biomass, enzyme
production, fermentation for the production of multiple biofuels, and
product purification in quantities sufficient for engine testing at
partner institutions.
“With this investment, we will vastly increase the capacity to test new
innovative approaches on a larger, integrated scale,” said Assistant
Secretary Zoi. "Scaling up these clean energy technologies is crucial
to addressing climate change and building a strong, domestic clean
energy economy.”
The PDU is scheduled to be fully operational by early 2011, and multiple possible sites for the facility are now being considered in the San Francisco East Bay region.
For more information visit DOE’s Biomass Program website at the link below.
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