The US Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture have announced USD 33 million in funding for research and development for biomass technologies. The funding is to push forward the development of new technologies and processes for producing biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products.
Both departments emphasized the need for the United States to be more independent on imported energy, and express hopes for the funded R&D projects will stimulate the expansion of the US biofuels industry. Additionally, the results of these efforts should also improve renewable fuel efficiency.
R&D efforts will be concentrated around three technical areas:
Feedstocks development
Biofuels and biobased products development
Biofuels development analysis
In order for a project to qualify for funding, it will have to include all three of the mentioned areas. The intention behind the integration of technical areas is meant to encourage collaboration, formation of consortia, provide insight into possible knowledge gaps, and accelerate the implementation of the methods and the science into the biofuel production processes. The pre-application process for this funding round is due on June 7, 2010, so all interested researchers should hurry with their proposals.
