US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Bodman said: “This research will provide the next necessary step toward developing cellulosic biorefineries that can transform our transportation sector in a clean and cost-effective manner. As world demand for energy continues to grow, so too must our supply of clean, domestic sources of energy – and cellulosic biofuels provide a promising way to meet President Bush’s goal of displacing twenty percent of gasoline usage within the decade.” President Bush agreed with this in a statement with the EU last week at the EU-US summit.

In this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), DOE seeks projects that may include R&D to design, construct, and operate a 10% scale facility that would be a prototype of a full-scale commercial operation. The FOA will support demonstration projects that test key refining processes and provide operational data needed to lower the technical hurdles sometimes associated with financing a full-size commercial plant. These projects are expected to be operational within three to four years and will speed the adoption of new technologies to produce ethanol and other biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks.

More information:

Interested parties for the grants can apply until 14 August 2007. For more information on the FOA “Demonstration of Integrated Biorefinery Operations for Producing Biofuels and Chemical/Materials Products” (DE-PS36-07GO97003), visit: www.grants.gov.