US DoE offers USD 59m to advance biofuels production for aviation, shipping

The US Department of Energy (DoE) on Wednesday said it will provide USD 59 million (EUR 55m) to further the production of biofuels for hard-to-decarbonise sectors such as aviation, marine and rail.

The “Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries” funding opportunity is expected to fund between four and 20 projects, with concept papers due on July 8.

The focus is on applied research, development and deployment to enhance the performance and lower the cost of biofuel production technologies and scale-up production systems, potentially paving the way for commercial-scale integrated biorefineries.

“Energy harnessed from plants and waste presents a huge opportunity to reduce emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as aviation, rail, and shipping, while supporting high-quality jobs across rural America,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M Granholm.

The funding is in line with the department's goal of reaching a production of 3 billion gallons (11 billion litres) of sustainable aviation fuel a year by 2030 and 35 billion gallons a year by 2050, sufficient to cover all of US aviation fuel demand.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.934)

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