Paydirt! BETO, VTO award $12.9M for advanced biofuels, waste-to-energy as 2025 gets underway

The project team plans to scale up a CO2 hydrogenation reactor, with special focus on catalyst yields and overall reactor flow scheme. This information will be critical for estimating and planning capital expenditures and equipment. The CO2 hydrogenation reactor is part of the selectee’s process for converting biogenic waste carbon dioxide into 100% drop-in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Pre-screening testing showed that the SAF can meet compositional requirements and other physical properties of conventional jet fuels. As part of the project, the selectee will generate SAF samples to be used in an ASTM International qualification program.

This project team will develop the Advanced Solvent Pretreatment for Integrated Biorefineries (ASPIRE) technology which has demonstrated high fermentable sugar release efficiencies from mixed woody feedstocks, agricultural residue mixtures, sorghum bagasse, and sugarcane bagasse with >99% solvent recovery rate at the laboratory scale. The ASPIRE process uses distillable solvents at moderate temperatures and pressures that are integrated with a CBP host that secretes the saccharolytic enzymes that liberate sugars and then ferment those sugars into ethanol.

The project team aims to advance corn stover conversion to ethanol via consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) with engineered thermophilic bacteria. Key objectives include: implementing CBP at industrially-relevant solids loading using continuous processing and developed bacterial strains, demonstrating a ≥ 2-fold reduction in reaction time with cascade continuous operation, operating at a 0.5 dry ton per day pilot scale, projecting favorable economics with technoeconomic analysis, and leading activities aimed at promoting understanding of the bioeconomy, biofuels, and related workforce development.

This project will assess the environmental and economic feasibility of converting methane from dairy manure into hydrogen. The study will instead assess various hydrogen production pathways, including steam methane reforming and electrolysis.

This project will evaluate the establishment of primary and secondary materials recovery facility infrastructure to enable more efficient municipal solid waste separations and eventual conversion to fuels (renewable natural gas, methanol, and hydrogen).

This project will evaluate a closed-loop system to produce renewable natural gas, electricity, and/or hydrogen from agricultural food processing waste within a 100 mile radius. The project will test seasonal and geographic blends to inform economic and environmental analysis.

This project will perform a waste audit from a 75-mile radius to evaluate co-digestion to renewable natural gas. The project is testing a new anaerobic digester technology to evaluate the benefits a lower-energy mixing approach.

The project will assess a system to produce fuel-cell quality hydrogen from organic waste at three locations: the Fair Oaks Dairy in Indiana, I-80 truck stop in Iowa, and a dairy cooperative in Wisconsin. The project will analyze a variety of impacts including generation of fertilizer as a co-product, air quality, job creation, and diversification of farm revenue.

This project will investigate the feasibility of capturing waste at Wastewater Treatment Facilities in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and converting it into renewable fuels such as biogas, renewable natural gas (RNG), and hydrogen. 25 candidate wastewater treatment sites have been identified and this project will identify the individual transportation fuel use cases (biogas, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen) for each site.

This project will evaluate resource potential and technical feasibility of converting wastewater residuals to hydrogen for use in the County’s regional bus fleet. The project will also complete a siting analysis for an in-county organics processing facility

This project will perform a waste analysis of 44 New Jersey higher education campuses and perform a cost-benefit analysis of using the waste-derived fuels for on-site fleet usage versus utilizing food waste recycling facilities versus business as usual practices. The project will also establish a verified emissions reductions tracking system.

This project proposes to design a system that collects biogas and biosolids to generate clean hydrogen. The proposed approach will use on-site biochar as a catalyst for reforming to reduce capital and operating costs and to enable more modular biogas reforming technologies. The project will design a 1-2 ton of biosolids/day system capable of producing 100 kg/day of fuel cell grade hydrogen.