Department of Energy awards $33.8 million for enzyme projects in cellulosic ethanol

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $33.8 million in research grants to four cellulosic ethanol projects in California and New Jersey. The four-year research grants come from a $1 billion fund the DOE established to finance cellulosic ethanol research. The grants are for projects researching advanced enzymes for converting cellulose into sugars.

Industry will add another $37 million to the research effort. Grants were awarded to DSM Innovation Center, Genencor, Novozymes and Verenium. The latter three are based in California, while DSMN is based in New Jersey.

The US Energy Department most recently awarded $114 million in grants to cellulosic ethanol projects in Missouri, Oregon, Colorado and Wisconsin. The demonstration projects were proposed by ICM, for a plant in in St. Joseph, Missouri; Lignol Innovations, for a plant in Commerce City, Colorado; Pacific Ethanol, for a plant in Boardman, Oregon; and Stora Enso North America for a plant in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Pacific Ethanol received $24.32 million, while the others received $30 million.Last February, the Department of Energy awarded $385 million to six cellulosic ethanol projects. They were Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, for a facility in Colwich, Kansas; ALICO Inc., for a facility in LaBelle, Florida; BlueFire Ethanol, for a facility located in Corona, California; POET, for their “project liberty” facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa; Iogen Biorefinery Partners, for a facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Range Fuels, for a facility in Soperton, Georgia.

Overall, at least four US government departments are funding biofuel research.

The Department of Defense has issued a wide-ranging set of RFPs related to the use of biodiesel in support fleet as well as in vehicles and craft used in military operations. The US Defense Department is the world’s single-largest consumer of petroleum-based diesel. Algae-based biodiesel is reportedly a product of intense scrutiny at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA). Biofuels Digest sources say that both biodiesel and biocrude, or synthetic crude oil, are being investigated for their potential to give stealth-enabled aircraft a more difficult-to-detect heat signature.

The Department of Agriculture most recently granted $425,000 to esearchers at Washington University for a pilot butanol project. The university’s International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability is using microbes to produce butyrate from corn kernels. Butyrate can be fermented into butanol.

The US Department of Transportation awarded $435,000 in grants to develop improved conversion rates for cellulosic biomass into ethanol. The DOT awarded the four-year grants to a University of Wyoming team, which received $50,000 in matching funds from the UW School of Energy Resources.

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