The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA; Washington, D.C.; www.usda.gov) today announced five major grants that focus on developing biomass-derived fuels, in part for aviation. The research and development awards, which total $136 million over five years, are part of the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Regional Coordinated Agricultural Project, which seeks to establish regional systems for the sustainable production of bioenergy and bio-based products.
Among the five grants is a $40-million award to a consortium led by the University of Washington (Seattle, Wash. www.washington.edu) and that includes ZeaChem Inc. (Lakewood, Colo.; www.zeachem.com), GreenWood Resources Inc. (Portland, Ore.; www.greenwoodresources.com) and a group of other universities.
ZeaChem is commercializing a process for producing ethyl acetate, ethanol and other chemicals from poplar-tree biomass, and will lead demonstration trials for production of bio-based jet fuel and gasoline at its 250,000 gal/yr biorefinery in Boardman, Ore. In part, the company will use the grant to develop an alcohol-to-jet-fuel process, which will utilize existing technology from the petroleum refining industry, ZeaChem CEO Jim Imbler indicated in a conference call Sept. 28. The first volumes of bio-based jet and diesel fuels will be produced in test quantities in 2013, and bio-based gasoline will follow in 2015, ZeaChem says.
Other grants include a $40 million award to convert closed timber mills into bioenergy development centers; and a $25 million award to develop a regional biomass production system for transportation fuels derived from native perennial grasses, such as switchgrass.