Located in eight states, the DoE said the projects would create good-paying jobs, support rural economies and encourage participation of underserved communities, all while putting the United States on a path to a clean and equitable energy economy.
“These critical investments represent DOE’s commitment to tackling the most challenging clean energy problems,” said Alejandro Moreno, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
“These projects have the potential to drastically reduce barriers to producing clean, sustainable biofuels and can jumpstart innovation in the clean energy bioeconomy.”
The selected projects support DOE’s investment in the development and production of biofuels and innovation and growth in agricultural industries and will help meet the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge goal of producing 35 billion gallons of low-GHG emission SAF made from domestic biomass and waste resources annually by 2050.
Currently, most biofuels are made from feedstocks such as corn grain and agricultural residues, forestry residues, and solid and wet waste streams. To meet the growing demand for SAFs and other low-carbon biofuels, affordable feedstocks sources must be developed, said the DoE.
The selected projects will address critical bioenergy needs through two topic areas:
- Improving the production of environmentally sustainable and low-carbon feedstocks for bioenergy through climate-smart agricultural practices, and
- Developing algae crop protection methods and strategies for algae cultivation systems.
The following projects were selected:
Aequor's Algal Crop Protection Treatment
This project will test and develop treatments to prevent algae crop productivity loss caused by pests.
$1,600,000
Arizona State University
Mesa, Arizona
(85287-6011)
Secretome and Exometabolome Effects on Algal Media and Grazing "SEAMAG”
This project will test the effects of media components and recycling on the instability of algal cultures caused by pests.
$2,000,000
Corteva Agriscience
Johnston, Iowa (50131-0256)
Feedstocks for Advanced Biofuels from Perennial Ground Cover Systems: FAB-PGCs
This project seeks to reduce the carbon intensity of corn stover by growing perennial groundcover (PGC) crops in between the rows of corn, thereby decreasing nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and increasing soil carbon storage.
$3,404,663
Ginkgo Bioworks
Boston, Massachusetts (02210-2383)
Integrated pest management-inspired approach to algal crop protection based on laboratory evolution and engineered antimicrobial peptides
This project will develop antimicrobial peptides to treat for algae pests and pathogens in in real-world conditions at industrially relevant scales.
$1,390,144
Global Algae Innovations
Lihue, Hawaii
(96766-8415)
Combined Biological and Chemical Pest Management in Outdoors Algal Cultivation Ponds
This project will generate microbiota datasets and develop new treatments to support an improved crop protection strategy that proactively maintains a healthy culture and prevents periods of low productivity.
$1,750,000
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces,
New Mexico
(88003-8002)
Anti-Virulence Approaches to Treat Algal Crops (AVATAC)
This project will identify antivirulence molecules that will be tested against bacterial pathogens of multiple relevant algal strains.
$2,000,000
Research Foundation for SUNY on behalf of the University at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
(14260-1660)
Preventing Culture Crash Trajectories through Pre-Emergent Pest Detection and Process Control in Mixed Microalgae Cultivation
This project will develop monitoring and process control strategies to mitigate the impact of pests in mixed algal cultures grown for wastewater treatment.
$1,999,791
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
(37996-4514)
Biochar Enhanced Ecosystem Services for Energy Crop Systems in the Southeast
This project seeks to reduce the fertilizer requirement for growing two bioenergy crops (miscanthus and biomass sorghum) in six locations in the southeast United States via application of biochar and poultry litter, which itself will help to trap additional soil carbon, lower N2O emissions, and reduce the overall carbon intensity of this feedstock supply chain.
$4,551,944
