Funding-DOE Demonstration of Integrated Biorefinery Operations grants; deadline April 30, 2009

Agency: Golden Field Office

Description:

The intent of the FOA will be to select integrated biorefinery projects that have the necessary technical and economic performance data that validates readiness for the next level of scale up. In general, _integrated biorefineries_ employ various combinations of feedstocks and conversion technologies to produce a variety of products, with the main focus on producing biofuels. Co- or by-products can include chemicals (or other materials) and heat and power. For the purpose of this FOA, the term _integrated biorefinery_ is a facility that uses a feedstock meeting the requirements described in this FOA to produce a biofuel as the _primary product_ (as discussed below) and may produce other products including chemicals (or other materials) and heat and power. These integrated biorefineries would produce, as their primary product, a liquid transportation fuel to support meeting the advanced biofuels portion of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) and as further discussed below. DOE encourages applications that propose novel or breakthrough technologies and those that include appropriate collaboration between and among industry, academia, and DOE National Laboratories, FFRDCs (Federally Funded Research and Development Centers) or other government-funded facilities. The FOA has two topic areas described below. Each topic area is related to beneficial use of renewable biomass for the production of liquid transportation biofuel(s) that is/are a replacement for fossil derived liquid transportation fuels. Biobased chemicals and substitutes for petroleum-based feedstocks and products may be included as part of the integrated biorefinery process, provided that they are not the primary product and the application demonstrates that they have credible economics to improve the viability of the proposed biorefinery. An eligible biofuel must be the primary product of the project proposed in the application. The _primary product_ is the commodity to be offered for sale resulting from the operation of the integrated biorefinery that produces the highest total energy output as measured in British Thermal Units. The total energy output is not based on the energy per unit of product but rather the production rate of the product multiplied by its energy per unit. For the purpose of the FOA, the fuels must be liquid at standard temperature and pressure. Applicants should note that the technology for producing heat and power by conventional means is an established technology, and this FOA is designed to address the high technical risks associated primarily with converting biobased feedstocks to biofuels rather than heat and power. Hence, for this FOA, applications that propose refineries producing heat and power as the primary product would be considered non-responsive. Projects may, however, propose producing heat and power using waste streams resulting from a biorefinery if the production of an eligible liquid transportation biofuel is the primary product. Each applicant may submit only one application to this FOA. This FOA contains two topic areas with the purposes of promoting flexibility for the applicants, encouraging competition, allowing for reasonable levels of scale up, and in recognition that the diverse technologies likely to be submitted may require different volumes to be technically feasible. Topic Area 1 Topic Area 1 requests applicants to operate an integrated pilot-scale biorefinery in order to validate the technology. For the purpose of this FOA, a pilot-scale biorefinery project is defined as a facility with a throughput of no less than one (1) dry tonne of feedstock per day. The proposed biorefinery must be located within the United States and use feedstock from a domestic source. The focus of this topic is to validate the performance of the proposed technology and obtain operational information, so, in lieu of constructing a new facility, the applicant may propose the use of an existing pilot-scale biorefinery. Applicants may propose constructing new facilities or modifications to an existing facility (including adding equipment or modules) where it is economically and technically advantageous to do so. Topic Area 2 Topic Area 2 requests that applicants design, construct and operate an integrated demonstration-scale biorefinery to validate the technology. The proposed demonstration-scale biorefinery must be designed and constructed for a throughput of at least fifty (50) dry tonnes of feedstock per day. The proposed biorefinery must be located within the United States and use feedstock from a domestic source. The objective of this topic is to support demonstration-scale projects that will validate key process metrics and provide continuous operational data at the scale needed to lower the technical risks associated with the development of a viable future commercial plant. The applicant may propose constructing a new facility or making modifications to an existing facility (including adding equipment or modules) where it is both economically and technically advantageous to do so.

Announcement Number:  DE-PS36-09GO99038

Closing Date:  Apr 30, 2009   

Link to Full Announcement

https://e-center.doe.gov/iips/faopor.nsf/UNID/63F9F91D2EA7865A85257527005EC91A?OpenDocument

Contact Information

iips_helpdesk@e-center.doe.gov
Hank Eggink
hank.eggink@go.doe.gov