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New Assessment Shows That America’s Abundant Supply of Renewable Resources Can Produce Enough Sustainable Aviation Fuel to Exceed Projected 2050 Market Demand

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released the 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23), which shows that the U.S. could triple its production of biomass to more than 1 billion tons per year. The report—the fourth in a series of assessments of potential biomass resources in the United States since 2005—finds that 1 billion tons of biomass could satisfy over 100% of the projected demand for airplane fuel in the country, allowing the U.S. to reduce emissions in the aviation industry with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Computational Science Center are hard at work enabling the conversion of biomass to fuels and products at industrial scale. Computational tools can model biomass conversion at scales ranging from small lab beakers to biorefineries, which can help accelerate and de-risk the newest technology developments.

The U.S Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are launching the next phase of Waste-to-Energy Technical Assistance. For 2024, program eligibility has been expanded to include state governments, and the program’s scope now includes additional waste resources.

Apply today to help your students participate in the renewable energy transformation! The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will offer a free workshop for faculty May 15 – 17, 2024, to help cultivate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career pathways for college students.

A multidisciplinary approach has enabled a research team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to quantitatively define the relative positioning and arrangement of the polymers in Populus wood, and to create a computer model that details the findings.