EPA has provided funding to the Department of Energy (DOE) to implement the advanced biofuels investments under IRA Section 60108(b). Potential applicants are advised to read the FOA carefully. The EPA’s RFS program administers biofuel requirements for current commercial-scale activities, while BETO supports research in next-generation activities. To evaluate the lifecycle impact of a commercial-scale refinery, EPA’s RFS program defines a fuel pathway as a specific combination of (1) feedstock, (2) production process, and (3) fuel type. This FOA is intended to support EPA’s RFS program and is different in allowable feedstocks and allowable primary fuels, among other things, compared to other recent BETO FOAs. All full applications must use the Block Flow Diagram and Supplemental Data document to show the potential lifecycle greenhouse gas emission to demonstrate the application is supporting advanced biofuels (see Section IV.D.xix.).
Building a clean and equitable energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. This FOA will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050 to the benefit of all Americans. For over a decade, EPA’s RFS program has helped develop the market for advanced biofuels, including the current production of billions of gallons of biomass-based diesel and renewable natural gas. These fuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% compared to the petroleum fuels they replace. As shown in the RFS Program: Standards for 2023-2025 final rule,3 the RFS continues to expand by increasing renewable volume obligations and reducing the number of small refinery exemptions, while monitoring how renewable fuel production impacts the environment, national energy security, national infrastructure, the cost of fuels to consumers, and the impacts on job creation, agricultural commodity prices and supplies, rural economic development, and food prices.4 There is a need for more feedstocks and conversion technologies to enable more advanced biofuels with the lowest cost of production and the greatest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. DOE is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D), and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of underserved communities. This FOA will support the Biden Administration’s action items to produce 3 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) per year and reduce aviation emissions by 20% by 2030 towards unlocking the potential for a fully zero-carbon aviation sector by 2050.
In support of these Administration priorities, BETO focuses on developing technologies that convert domestic lignocellulosic biomass and renewable organic waste resources into affordable low-carbon biofuels and bioproducts that significantly reduce carbon emissions on a life-cycle basis as compared to equivalent petroleum-based products. These bioenergy technologies can enable a transition to a clean energy economy, create high-quality jobs, and support rural economies. The research and development (R&D) activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection.
This FOA also supports high-impact technology R&D to accelerate the bioeconomy. BETO is focusing on applied RD&D to improve the performance and reduce the cost of biofuel production technologies and scale-up production systems in partnership with industry. By reducing cost and technical risk, BETO can help pave the way for industry to deploy commercial-scale integrated biorefineries and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors, such as the aviation industry. Additionally, this FOA will reduce risks in processing or co-processing biointermediates in legacy refinery infrastructure.
Deadlines:
- Required Concept Papers: March 22, 2024
- Full Applications: May 24, 2024
- Topic Area 1: Pre-pilot Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefinery Technologies
- Topic Area 2: Biointermediate Processing Toolbox
The proposed prime recipient and subrecipient(s) must be domestic entities. The following types of domestic entities are eligible to participate as a prime recipient or subrecipient of this FOA:
1. Institutions of higher education;
2. For-profit entities;
3. Non-profit entities; and
4. State and local governmental entities, and federally recognized American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native entities.
An entity may submit more than one Concept Paper and Full Application to this FOA, provided that each application describes a unique, scientifically distinct project and an eligible Concept Paper was submitted for each Full Application.
DOE expects to make a total of approximately $9,400,000 of federal funding available for new awards under this FOA, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. DOE anticipates making approximately 3 to 5 awards under this FOA. DOE may issue one, multiple, or no awards. Individual awards may vary between $0 and $2,000,000 for Topic Area 1 and $0 and $9,400,000 for Topic Area 2.