B&C® Biobased and Sustainable Chemicals Blog

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced its 2021 call for nominations for the ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering (SC&E) Lectureship Awards. The awards will recognize the contributions of early career investigators from around the world who are doing exceptional research impacting sustainability, green chemistry, or green engineering. One award recipient will be chosen from three regions: the Americas, Europe/Middle...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On July 14, 2020, DOE EERE announced that it will fund approximately $53 million to 49 new SBIR and STTR R&D projects. The selected projects will receive Phase II Release 2 grants for principal R&D efforts based on the technical feasibility demonstrated in Phase I projects. Phase II awards range up to $1,500,000 for two years. Further information about the awardees can be found here....

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On July 13, 2020, DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs Office (SBIR/STTR Programs Office) issued topics for its FY 2021 SBIR/STTS Phase I Release 1 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). The topics are available online. DOE participating program offices include the Office of Science’s (SC) Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Office...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On July 10, 2020, DOE EERE announced that it has selected eight projects totaling more than $5 million to conduct R&D needed to accelerate the U.S. biomanufacturing sector. These projects are a part of the Agile BioFoundry (ABF) consortium and will leverage National Laboratory capabilities to address challenges in biomanufacturing. Each of these ABF selected projects has been invited to collaborate with National Laboratory research facilities to conduct their...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On July 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced its solicitation for comments and feedback on recommendations to update the List of Bioengineered Foods as it pertains to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. Comments are due by August 24, 2020....

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On August 4, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced the rates for biosimilar user fees for fiscal year (FY) 2021. The fees assessed are used by FDA for certain activities in connection with biosimilar biological product development, review of applications for approval of biosimilar biological products, and approval of product applications. The established fees will apply from October 1, 2020, through...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. On July 20, 2020, DOE announced that approximately $64 Million in funding for 18 projects to advance the H2@Scale vision. H2@Scale is a concept that explores the potential for wide-scale hydrogen production and utilization in the United States to enable resiliency of the power generation and transmission sectors while aligning diverse domestic industries, competitiveness, and job creation. Funded through DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. On July 23, 2020, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed by the U.S. Senate; it includes the bipartisan Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019, led by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and co-sponsored by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Introduced to the Senate in December 2019, the Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On August 4, 2020, U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) voted against Mark Menezes, who is nominated to become Deputy Secretary of Energy. In a statement, both Senators said that “[g]iven the uncertainty with the ‘gap year’ small refinery waivers, the wasted time and resources to score the waivers again, the lack of transparency in the entire process, and most importantly, the toll this has taken on Iowa’s...

On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report on its audit to determine whether the Safer Choice program effectively meets its goals and whether the program achieves quality standards through its product qualification, renewal, and required audit processes.  OIG states that EPA’s Safer Choice program does not have formal goals included in the fiscal year (FY) 2018-2022 EPA Strategic Plan, and the program has not reported...