Via U.S. Bioenergy Technologies Office.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) entitled, “Integrated Biorefinery Optimization.”

This FOA will support research and development to increase the performance efficiencies of biorefineries resulting in continuous operation and production of biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower at prices competitive with fossil-derived equivalents. This could be accomplished by improvements in ensuring reliable, continuous, robust handling and feeding of solid materials into reactors under various operating conditions; decreased capital and operating expenses by improved separation processes; production of higher-value products from waste or other undervalued streams; and analytical modeling of handling and feeding of solid materials into reactors.

Applications that address these challenging operations and convert woody biomass, agricultural residues, dedicated energy crops, algae, municipal solid waste, sludge from wastewater treatment plants, and wet wastes into biofuels, biochemicals, and bioproducts will be considered under this funding opportunity.