DOE's Bioenergy Research Centers drive biofuels industry forward
April 9, 2013 | By
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will fund its three Bioenergy Research Centers for an additional five years, subject to continued congressional appropriations. Each Center is funded at the rate of $25 million per year with the next five years focused on developing new lines of research and accelerating the transformation of scientific breakthroughs into new technologies that can transition to the marketplace. In 2007, the BioEnergy Research Center (BESC) led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in partnership with Michigan State University, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory were established by the DOE's Office of Science to accelerate fundamental research breakthroughs toward the development of advanced, next-generation biofuels. In their first five years, the Centers have achieved new approaches for engineering non-food crops for biofuel production; reengineering of microbes to produce advanced biofuels such as "green" gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel precursors from biomass; and the development of methods to grow non-food biofuel crops on marginal lands so as not to compete with food production. By investing in innovative approaches and technologies at the Bioenergy Research Centers, the biofuels industry will drive forward to grow the economy while reducing reliance on foreign oil. "Developing the next generation of American biofuels will enhance our national energy security, expand the domestic biofuels industry, and produce new clean energy jobs. It will help America's farmers and create vast new opportunities for wealth creation in rural communities," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a statement. For more: © 2013 FierceMarkets. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com |