The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will hold an informational webinar on April 16, 2024, on the recently released 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23), an assessment of renewable carbon resources potentially available in the United States. BETO notes that BT23 shows that the United States could sustainably triple its production of biomass to more than one billion tons per year and highlights the importance of diversifying...
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April 2, 2024
DOE Report Outlines How the United States Can Sustainably Produce More than One Billion Tons of Biomass Per Year
On March 15, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the release of the Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO) 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23), the fourth in a series of assessments of potential biomass resources available in the United States. BT23 provides estimates of biomass resource potential in response to market demand scenarios. According to DOE, BT23 finds that one billion tons of biomass could satisfy more than 100 percent of the projected demand for airplane...
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton On April 25, 2023, the Council of the European Union (EU) announced that it approved the conclusions on the opportunities of the bioeconomy in light of current challenges, with special emphasis on rural areas. Using biomass to produce food, materials, and energy can help boost rural communities, increase competitiveness, and combat many of the challenges facing the EU. According to the press release, in their conclusions,...
August 31, 2022
Canada Calls for Proposals to Establish Biomass Supply Chains
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton On August 25, 2022, Natural Resources Canada (NRC) announced a call for project proposals to support the establishment of biomass supply chains to ensure that a steady and usable supply of sustainable feedstock is available to clean fuel production facilities across Canada. According to NRC, as a component of the Clean Fuels Fund, this dedicated biomass call includes three project streams that are expected to enable...
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced on August 11, 2022, that a research team from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory investigated how potassium in biomass feedstocks poisons a catalyst. The researchers focused their study on potassium, a common alkali metal found in biomass feedstocks, since previous analysis of deactivated catalysts after catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of woody biomass...
February 9, 2022
DOE EERE BETO Issues Two RFIs On Biomass Conversion R&D
By Lynn L. Bergeson On February 1, 2022, DOE EERE BETO issued two new requests for information (RFI) on biomass conversion R&D and community organic waste programs. The RFI titled “Biomass Conversion Research, Development, and Analysis Programs” focuses on biomass conversion R&D and seeks to address improved robustness of microbial cells, catalytic processes, and state-of-technology analyses in the BETO research portfolio. Through this program, BETO is interested...
By Lynn L. Bergeson On December 29, 2021, the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr. Ryan Quarles, announced that eligible Kentucky companies can now apply to the state’s Renewable Chemical Production Program. This program provides tax credits for capital investment, job creation, and the production of more than 30 chemicals derived from biomass feedstocks. These chemicals are limited to building block chemicals with a biobased content percentage of at least 50 percent,...
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. First published last week, on November 25, 2019, the article titled “Consolidated Production of Coniferol and Other High-Value Aromatic Alcohols Directly from Lignocellulosic Biomass” has gained media attention across the globe. Given the finite geological oil reserves, the competition to identify alternative biobased and biorefinery processes continues to grow. According to the article, the aim in identifying such products is not...
By Lynn L. Bergeson On October 30, 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced open meetings of the Biomass Research and Development (R&D) Technical Advisory Committee. The first meeting is scheduled for November 19, 2019, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST), and the second meeting will take place on November 20, 2019, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (EST) in Washington, D.C. The purpose of...
By Lynn L. Bergeson On June 7, 2019, DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Office published in the Federal Register a notice requesting the nomination for candidates to fill vacancies on the Biomass Research and Development (R&D) Technical Advisory Committee. Nominations are being accepted until June 30, 2019, and require the nominee’s name, resume, biography, and any letters of support available. The Committee advises DOE and USDA points of contact with respect to...