DOE to award $90M in funds for pilot/demonstration biorefinery projects

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Important news for the biorefining sector in USA, specifically for those companies currently focused on the scale-up and validation of novel process technologies. DOE has been funding biorefinery technology development projects through BETO since 2002 to reduce dependence on imported oil and spur the creation of the domestic bioindustries. Now, after the announcement of intention issued on April 15th (already reported by the blog, see previous post), it has just published a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Project Development for Pilot and Demonstration Scale Manufacturing of Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biopower (PD2B3)” on the EERE Exchange.

With the information of the official document, it is possible to fill out the summary about the FOA that was brought forward in the previous post.

Goal and scope: identify, evaluate and select applications proposing project development and execution plans for the manufacture of advanced biofuels, bioproducts, refinery compatible intermediates or biopower in a pilot or demonstration scale Integrated Biorefinery (IBR).

Phases of the projects:
1. Design (24 months). Some key outcomes: FEL design, Project Management Plan (PMP), Risk Mitigation Plan (RMP), Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA).
2. Construction / Operation (36 months).
Only projects selected and awarded under Phase 1 will be allowed to participate in the down-select review prior to Phase 2.

Topic areas:
1. Pilot scale production of biofuels from high impact cellulosic, algal or biogas feedstocks. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 1 dry metric ton per day or equivalent throughput of algal biomass or biogas.
2. Demonstration scale production of biofuels from high impact cellulosic, algal or biogas feedstocks. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 50 dry metric ton per day or equivalent of algal biomass or biogas. Bioproducts and biopower are only allowed as co-products from the facility.
3. Production of biopower or biofuels from biosolids and other allowable waste streams. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 1 dry metric ton per day. Bioproducts are also allowed as co-products from the facility.
Notes:
- All Topic Area 1 and 2 applications must propose an advanced biofuel (or combination of them) as the primary salable product containing at least 50% of the biogenic carbon when leaving the facility. Bioproducts and biopower are only allowed as co-products from the facility.
- “High Impact Feedstock” is defined as a feedstock that is domestically available and has the agronomically and ecologically sustainable ultimate availability potential of at least 50 million dry metric tons of cellulosic biomass per year.
- Applications may also address strategies to produce an intermediate that would further be upgraded to fuels and products in an existing petroleum refinery.

Estimated funding: $90 million. $38 million for Phase 1 and the remaining $52 million for Phase 2. An additional $128 million may be available for Phase 2 awards (subjected to future Congressional appropriations).
- Forecast for Phase 1:
Topic Area 1: 5-10 awards with an average award amount of $2 million.
Topic Area 2:  2-4 awards with an average award amount of $4 million.
Topic Area 3: 1-2 awards with an average award amount of $2 million.
- Forecast for Phase 2:
Topic Area 1: 2-5 awards with a maximum award amount of $15 million.
Topic Area 2:  1-2 awards with a maximum award amount of $45 million.
Topic Area 3: 1 award with a maximum award amount of $2 million.

Pilot and demostration production is an essential step in the product development cycle and require huge investments to cover infrastructure, equipment and highly specialized multi-disciplinary personnel. This call will support those key activities to transform laboratory prototypes into commercial facilities with a realistic approach. In my opinion, this is a good way forward for biorefining sector to blossom.

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