Energy Department Awards $6 Million to Advance Cost-Competitive Biofuels

The Energy Department today announced $6 million for two projects to develop next generation biofuels that will help drive down the cost of producing gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels from biomass.  The research and development projects, located in California and North Carolina, will focus on lowering production costs by maximizing the renewable carbon and hydrogen from biomass that can be converted to fuels and improving the separation processes in bio-oil production to remove non-fuel components.  These projects are a part of the Energy Department’s continued effort to develop technologies that will enable the production of clean, renewable and cost-competitive drop-in biofuels at $3 per gallon by 2017.

• SRI International of Menlo Park, California will receive $3.2 million to produce a bio-crude oil from algal biomass that will maximize the amount of renewable carbon recovered for use in fuel and reduce the nitrogen content of the product in order to meet fuel quality standards.
• Research Triangle Institute (RTI) of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina will receive $3.1 million to maximize the biomass carbon and energy recovery in a low pressure process, therefore lowering production costs, to produce a bio-crude oil that can be efficiently upgraded into a finished biofuel.

The Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy accelerates development and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality. Learn more about EERE's work with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in biofuels and conversion technologies.