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By Lynn L. Bergeson On April 4, 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a funding opportunity for 2018 through Binational Industrial Research & Development (BIRD) Energy, a joint U.S.-Israel industrial research and development (R&D) program for renewable and energy efficiency technologies. To qualify for BIRD energy funding, a project must include: R&D cooperation between two companies or cooperation between a company and a university/research institution (one from...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On February 25, 2018, the University of Illinois announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded a $10.6 million grant for the Renewable Oil Generated with Ultra-productive Energycane (ROGUE) project.  The project is a collaborative effort between researchers from the University of Illinois, Brookhaven National Lab, University of Florida, and Mississippi State University.  ROGUE aims to transform sugarcane and Miscanthus into sustainable sources of...

By Kathleen M. Roberts The DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is hosting an Advanced Algal Systems Listening Session from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. (PDT) on June 13, 2018, in Seattle, Washington.  During the listening session, BETO will seek feedback from experts in algal biology, cultivation, and conversion on ways to address near-term research and development barriers and opportunities for cost-competitive algal biofuels and bioproducts.  The discussion will focus on...

By Kathleen M. Roberts Researchers at the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are seeking responses to a survey on biorefinery operations.  Yimin Zhang, an environmental engineer at NREL, and Marshall Goldberg, a subcontractor for NREL, developed the brief survey to improve the NREL’s understanding of the next generation biofuel industry and its contribution to the local, state, and national economy.  Industry stakeholders in the planning, construction, or...

By Kathleen M. Roberts On February 15, 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the release of the Co-Optimization of Engines & Fuels (Co-Optima) report titled Fuel Blendstocks with the Potential to Optimize Future Gasoline Engine Performance (Fuel Blendstocks report), along with the companion report on Efficiency Merit Function for Spark Ignition Engines.  The Fuel Blendstocks report identifies eight blendstocks that have the potential to improve gasoline...

By Kathleen M. Roberts Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) announced the development of a method to create a supertough renewable plastic with improved manufacturability.  The method involved the addition of a small amount of silanes to polylactic acid (PLA), a bioplastic commonly used in packaging, textiles, biomedical implants, and 3D printing.  The new bioplastic demonstrated improved tensile strain and tensile toughness, without a loss in tensile strength and...

By Kathleen M. Roberts On February 6, 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the release of its 2017 Project Peer Review Report.  The report contains recommendations provided during the March 2017 Project Peer Review.  The biennial Peer Review process aims to gather feedback and recommendations from stakeholders on BETO’s research and development portfolio to help BETO identify the most efficient and effective ways to...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the availability of presentations from its Advanced Development and Optimization (ADO) Workshop.  As previously reported in the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG­®) blog post DOE Advanced Development And Optimization Workshop, the workshop took place at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on December 12-13, 2017. ...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On January 19, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced the availability of up to $6 million in funding to support research in plant feedstock genomics for bioenergy.  Support is provided in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) through the Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy program, which aims to improve...

DOE, “Researchers Find Bioenergy Crops Provide Critical Ecosystem Services” Anellotech, “Anellotech Announces Commencement of Key R&D Program at TCat-8®” Co.Design, “The Creators Of This Algae Plastic Want To Start A Maker Revolution” Financial Express, “Eco-Friendly Method Turns Raw Biomass Into High Value Chemicals”...

By Kathleen M. Roberts On December 14, 2017, General Automation Lab Technologies (GALT) announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) a three year $3.5 million grant to improve the growth and efficiency of biofuel-producing algae.  LLNL and GALT will collaborate on the project, which also aims to reduce wasted byproducts of photosynthesis by targeting microbiomes that can more efficiently recycle it back to carbon dioxide...

By Kathleen M. Roberts On December 11, 2017, the Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium (FCIC) announced its intent to issue a Directed Funding Opportunity (DFO) aimed at accelerating innovation and adoption of new practices and technologies to determine the root cause of biomass handling failures and designing solutions.  FCIC is a collaborative network of eight DOE national laboratories dedicated to understanding and addressing technical risks in developing and scaling up biomass...

By Kathleen M. Roberts On December 13, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the availability of up to $100 million in funding to support innovators through early-stage research and development (R&D) projects focused on technologies to transform the nation’s energy system.  The funding will be provided through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) OPEN funding opportunity.  OPEN funding opportunity announcements (FOA), which are typically...

On November 30, 2017, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) published a supplement to the President’s 2018 budget.  The supplement also serves as NNI’s annual report and summarizes the progress made in achieving NNI’s goals, the research and development (R&D) activities and plans of the participating agencies, and the agency investments in each program component area.  The President’s 2018 Budget requests $1.2 billion for the NNI, “a...

By Kathleen M. Roberts DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is hosting an Advanced Development and Optimization (ADO) Workshop on December 12-13, 2017, in Golden, Colorado.  At the workshop, BETO intends to discuss how the new ADO program area can best serve stakeholders in developing the bioenergy industry, and to raise awareness of existing assets from past investments and discuss future needs and opportunities for maximizing these assets’ value.  The ADO...

By Kathleen M. Roberts On November 27, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an announcement for its second funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for fiscal year (FY) 2018.  The Phase I Release 2 FOA will provide funding for innovations that address multiple research and development programs throughout DOE, including the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On November 1, 2017, DOE, along with Israel’s Ministry of Energy (MOE) and the Israel Innovation Authority, awarded $4.8 million in funding to five Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Energy projects.  The five projects represent the ninth selection of BIRD Energy projects and span the fields of hydrogen storage, advanced biofuels, sustainable transportation, and energy efficiency.  Despite the diversity among the topic areas, all...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) is hosting an Advanced Development and Optimization (ADO) Workshop on December 12-13, 2017, in Golden, Colorado.  At the workshop, BETO intends to discuss how the new ADO program area can best serve stakeholders in developing the bioenergy industry, and to raise awareness of existing assets from past investments and discuss future needs and opportunities for maximizing these...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On October 25, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) published a notice in the Federal Register regarding an open meeting of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee.  The meeting will take place November 15-16, 2017, in Washington D.C., and will focus on developing advice and guidance that promotes research and development (R&D) for the production of biobased...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On October 17, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy issued a $26 million funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for cost-shared research and development projects that support the DOE Carbon Capture Program’s goal of broad, cost-effective carbon capture deployment.  The Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies FOA consists of two areas of interest, specifically: Development of novel...