Topic areas for the “Bioenergy Technologies Office Scale-Up and Conversion” funding opportunity include high-impact biotechnology research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to bolster the body of scientific and engineering knowledge needed to produce low-carbon biofuels at lower cost. This investment will accelerate the deployment of bioenergy technologies and mobilize public clean energy investment in the biofuels, chemical, and agricultural industries, which can lead to new good-paying jobs across the bioenergy supply chain and increased investment in rural economies.
- Scale-up of Biotechnologies (up to $30.3 M):
Topic Area 1 of this FOA will fund projects at various levels of technology readiness including pre-pilot, pilot, and demonstration scale, jointly ranging from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to 7. BETO will identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing the scale-up of key process steps from lab scale unit operations to industrially-relevant piece(s) of equipment, as well as applications proposing project definition, development and execution plans for the scaling of pre-pilot technologies to pilot scale and/or demonstration scale. Of particular interest are those proposing technologies that support sustainable aviation and marine fuels, CO2 conversion, waste and underutilized carbon feedstocks, and novel process technologies at the pilot scale that leverage existing first generation biorefinery assets and infrastructure.
a. Scale-up: Pre-Pilot for Biofuels and Bioproducts
b. Scale-up: Pilot for Biofuels and Bioproducts
c. Scale-up: Demonstration for Biofuels and Bioproducts.
- Affordable, Clean Cellulosic Sugars for High Yield Conversion (up to $8.5 M):
The FOA also addresses production of inexpensive cellulosic sugars that are compatible with current organisms used to produce fuels and chemicals. While much progress has been made in this area, widespread availability of affordable cellulosic sugar continues to be a barrier to renewable fuel and product deployment.
- Separations to Enable Biomass Conversion (up to $8.0 M):
Separation technologies can represent a very significant part of the cost of any process. This topic area seeks to address both energy efficient separations technologies to isolate organic acids from anaerobic digestion systems, and provides an opportunity for industry and academic partners to work with DOE’s separations consortium to further develop lower cost, efficient separation processes and gather fundamental data to further improve separations.
a. Separations to Enable Biomass Conversion
b. Separations to Enable Biomass Conversion (Bioprocessing Separations).
- Residential Wood Heaters (up to $5.0 M):
This topic area will support the development and testing of low-emission, high efficiency, and cost competitive residential wood heaters
- Renewable Natural Gas (up to $9.6 M):
This topic area addresses production of inexpensive cellulosic sugars that also achieve the same conversion performance (by organisms or catalysts) as starch-derived sugars. Widespread availability of affordable cellulosic sugars continues to be a barrier to advanced biofuel and product deployment, and this FOA topic seeks to develop partnerships between cellulosic sugar providers and potential customers.
a. Renewable Natural Gas (R&D)
b. Renewable Natural Gas (Pilot Scale).
The application process will include two phases: a concept paper and a full application. Concept papers are due on April 30, 2021, and full applications are due on June 21, 2021.
For more information, visit the BETO Funding Opportunity page, the EERE Funding Opportunity Exchange, and Grants.gov.