Ohio Ag Connection - DOE Announces $97 Million for Bioenergy Research

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DOE Announces $97 Million for Bioenergy Research
Ohio Ag Connection - 08/03/2020

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $97 million in funding for 33 projects that will support high-impact technology research and development to accelerate the bioeconomy. These projects will improve the performance and lower the cost and risk of technologies that can be used to produce biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts from biomass and waste resources.

"Advancements made in bioenergy technologies will help expand America's energy supply, grow our economy, and enhance our energy security," said Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes. "These projects will ensure the United States' leadership across all segments of the growing global bioeconomy, and allow us to provide U.S. consumers and businesses more homegrown energy choices for their fuels and products."

The selected projects will address a variety of research and development areas, including:

- Scale-up of bench applications to reduce scale-up risks for biofuel and bioproduct processes;

- Waste to energy strategies including strategies for municipal solid waste, wet wastes, like food and manures, and municipal waste water treatment;

- Cost reduction of algal biofuels by improving carbon efficiency and by employing direct air capture technologies;

- Quantification of the economic and environmental benefits associated with growing energy crops, focusing on restoring water quality and soil health;

- Development and testing of low-emission, high-efficiency residential wood heaters;

- Innovative technologies to manage major forms of urban and suburban waste, with a focus on using plastic waste to make recycled products and using wastes to produce low-cost biopower; and

- Scalable CO2 electrocatalysis technologies.

The University of Cincinnati in Ohio will receive $2,089,767 for "High Precision Sorting, Fractionation, and Formulation of Municipal Solid Waste for Biochemical Conversion." NTRE Tech LLC of North Canton will receive $2,431,050 for "Advanced Low-Emission Residential Fluid-Bed Biomass Combustor." The Ohio State University will receive $2.5 million for "Simulation-Driven Design Optimization and Automation for Cordwood-Fueled Room Heaters."

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