Friday 3 June 2022

US biofuels receives $59m boost to help decarbonise transport

The US Government is providing $59 million (£47.3m) to accelerate the production of biofuels and bio-products and help decarbonise the transportation and other hard-to-decarbonise sectors.

Projects focused on research, development and deployment to improve the performance and reduce the cost of biofuel production technologies and scale-up production systems will be supported.

The Department of Energy believes reducing the costs and technical risks can help pave the way for the biofuels industry to deploy commercial-scale integrated bio-refineries.

Marine and aviation require high energy densities to avoid frequent stops to refuel for long flights, international shipping routes and cross-country rail routes, making them hard to decarbonise.

While electrification is currently unable to meet these requirements, the DOE believes sustainable, energy-dense, liquid biofuels are becoming a “strong alternative” to address those needs.

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

“DOE’s investment in biofuels is a key component of the Biden Administration’s effort to support clean energy technologies that increase our energy independence and move us closer to a net zero carbon economy.”