The US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has published a notice of intent (DE-FOA-0002637) to issue a second “Scale-Up” Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) (DE-FOA-0002638). This FOA, funded by the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), will aim to accelerate the scale-up of biofuel and bioproduct biorefineries.

This includes efforts for pre-pilot, pilot and demonstration scale projects and will allow for both projects that are in the planning phase as well as those that already have a design package and are ready to construct, including previously funded awards that were selected under previous FOAs for design work.

Earlier this year, BETO solicited applications for the first Scale-Up FOA which was targeted towards applicants who still needed to assemble design packages. Eleven projects were selected for awards in the Scale-Up topic areas of that FOA, totaling more than $33 million. (Earlier post.)

The new, upcoming FOA will cover two BETO Programs: Advanced Algal Systems and Systems Development and Integration. All topic areas support ETO’s Program Goal to achieve $2.50/gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) Minimum Fuel Selling Price (MSFP) and at least a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (vs. petroleum baseline) by 2030.

This FOA will support high-impact R&D focusing on the production of low-GHG fuels for the aviation industry, the long-haul trucking sector, and marine industries by soliciting proposals to scale-up promising technologies.