Bioenergy Technologies Office

The Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is committed to advancing the vision of a viable, sustainable domestic biomass industry that produces renewable biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower; enhances U.S. energy security; reduces our dependence on fossil fuels; provides environmental benefits; and creates economic opportunities across the nation. BETO’s goals are driven by various federal policies and laws, including the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). To accomplish its goals, BETO has undertaken a diverse portfolio of research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities, in partnership with national laboratories, academia, and industry.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23) is an assessment of renewable carbon resources potentially available in the United States. This report explores these resources in terms of quantity, price, geographical density and distribution, and market maturity. The BT23 also considers economic conditions, environmental constraints, market pull, and food supply and demand. The BT23 Report finds that the nation can sustainably produce from 1.1 to 1.5 billion tons per year of biomass, tripling current U.S. bioenergy production while still meeting projected demand for food, feed, fiber, conventional forest products, and exports. The BT23 Report quantifies national biomass production capacity from 60 resources, including wastes, forestry, agriculture, and algae. Each resource has different attributes and opportunities and can play a unique role in a national decarbonization strategy.

The Bioenergy Technologies Office is one of the 10 technology development offices within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. This Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) sets forth the goals and structure of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (the Office). It identifies the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D), and market transformation and crosscutting activities the Office will focus on over the next five years and outlines why these activities are important to meeting the energy and sustainability challenges facing the nation. This MYPP is intended for use as an operational guide to help the Office manage and coordinate its activities, as well as a resource to help communicate its mission and goals to stakeholders and the public.

Abstract Throughout the past two decades, numerous studies characterized the greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions and net energy balance of corn ethanol production in the USA . A wide range of reported values resulted from differences in the vintage of the data used to evaluate the ethanol conversion technology and the agricultural practices of corn production, which evolved substantially during the rapid growth phase of the industry. Methodological differences in life cycle assessments also caused the reported values to vary widely. With corn dry mills growing from 30% of total installed ethanol production capacity in 1990 to 80–90% from 2006 to 2011, we document the evolution of this industry using vintage‐specific data to analyze selected energy and environmental metrics, including GHG emissions, fossil energy use, direct land use, and GHG emissions reduction per hectare of land harvested for ethanol production. Our estimates indicate that production and use of corn ethanol emitted 44% fewer GHG emissions, consumed 54% less fossil energy and required 44% less land in 2010 compared to 1990 (on a life cycle basis). Our review and analysis point to strategies for reducing the carbon footprint of the corn dry mill industry by building on the progress already achieved. Using biomass (e.g. residues from corn production) for process heat or combined heat and power is one such strategy. Additional environmental benefits are projected from the adoption of integrated gasification combined cycle technology (using corn residues), which leads to energy‐self‐sufficient mills or net electricity producers depending on the power system configuration. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Abstract The aviation sector's commitments to carbon‐neutral growth in international aviation starting in 2020, and the desire to improve supply surety, price stability, and the environmental performance of aviation fuels, have led to broad interest in sustainable alternative jet fuels. Here, we use the system‐dynamics‐based biomass scenario model (BSM), focused on alternative jet fuel production capacity evolution, and the geospatially explicit Freight and Fuel Transportation Optimization Tool (FTOT), focused on optimal feedstock and fuel flows over the transportation system, to explore the incentive effects on alternative jet fuel production capacity trajectories and potential geospatial patterns of production and delivery in the USA. Scenarios presented here focus on readily available waste feedstocks (waste fats, oils and greases, municipal solid waste, and crop and forestry residues) and conversion technologies included in the ASTM D7566 synthesized aviation turbine fuels specification. The BSM modeling of possible deployment trajectories from 2015 to 2045 suggests that up to 8 billion gallons may be available by 2045 depending on the policies and incentives implemented. Both approaches suggest that 200 million to 1 billion gallons per year of alternative jet fuel production are possible in 2030 given multiple incentives and a favorable investment climate, and that capital costs and technology maturation rates will affect deployment of different fuel production technologies, and therefore the feedstocks needed. Further collaboration on these modeling approaches would reduce methodological blind spots while providing insights into future industry trajectories. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The motivations for and the value proposition of sustainable aviation fuels

Reductive etherification provides a pathway for creating low-carbon-intensity distillate fuel blendstocks and chemicals from biomass-derived alcohols and ketones. In this work, we examine the reductive etherification of representative model compounds, n-butanol and 4-heptanone, to form 4-butoxyheptane over size-controlled Pd nanoparticles supported on NbOPO4 through a combination of experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Reaction rate and selectivity trends from packed-bed reactions show that both the catalyst and support are needed to carry out the reaction and that reaction rates increase with increasing Pd particle size. The DFT calculations show that the reaction most likely proceeds via the formation of an enol intermediate on the support, which is subsequently hydrogenated on Pd. Furthermore, we rationalize the dependence of 4-butoxyheptane formation rates on Pd particle size by showing the energetic favorability of enol ether hydrogenation on low-index terrace sites (Pd(111) and (100)) compared to that on high-index step sites (Pd(110)).