The US Department of Energy (DOE) is providing $59 million to accelerate biofuels production for the transportation sector, expected to fund between four and 20 projects.
The “Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries” funding opportunity announcement is intended to advance biorefinery development, as well as projects to improve feedstocks for biofuels. Projects will support the production of renewable diesel and aviation, marine, and rail fuel.
“Energy harnessed from plants and waste presents a huge opportunity to reduce emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as aviation, rail, and shipping, while supporting high-quality jobs across rural America,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in a press release.
“DoE’s investment in biofuels is a key component of the Biden Administration’s effort to support clean energy technologies that increase our energy independence and move us closer to a net-zero carbon economy.”
The department said biofuel is helpful in hard-to-decarbonize sectors in which electrification is not effective. Biofuel can be used in higher energy densities for marine and aviation sectors.
The funding opportunity, which aims to reduce costs and technical risks of biofuels, also supports the DoE’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge goal to enable the production of three billion gallons of SAF annually by 2030, and 35 billion gallons annually by 2050.
This would meet 100 percent of US aviation fuel demand.
For more information visit www.energy.gov
