DOE Funds Renewable Chemicals and Algae R&D Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced their intent to award funding to support high-impact research and development (R&D) projects in two priority areas: Sustainable Propane and Renewable Chemicals and Algae Systems Cultivation and Pretreatment.

The anticipated Sustainable Propane and Renewable Chemicals (SPARC) funding opportunity will support R&D of domestic chemicals and fuels from biomass and waste resources to help ensure domestic supply chain security, support rural economic growth, and increase national competitiveness in biotechnology and biomanufacturing. The anticipated Maximizing Yield from Algae Systems (MASY) funding opportunity will support applied algae systems R&D to increase affordable production rates of biofuels and bioproducts.

The United States is the world’s second-largest producer of chemicals. The chemical industry is also critical to domestic manufacturing, with more than 96% of U.S. goods manufactured using products from the chemical industry and the industry directly employing more than 500,000 people, making it critical to the U.S. workforce. Additionally, 4.2% of U.S. households and 7.8% of Midwestern households use propane or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as their primary heating fuel, with rural households using 80% of domestic propane consumption.

Producing chemicals and propane/LPG from domestic renewable feedstock resources helps strengthen domestic supply chains, promotes sustainable industry growth through improved energy efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately reduces household energy costs.

Algae is an abundant and renewable biofuel source with unique properties that can be converted into biofuels and bioproducts that can reduce net emissions from domestic transportation and industry. While algae systems can be highly productive, technical barriers exist that limit the expansion of algae as a domestic bioenergy feedstock. MASY funding opportunities will address these challenges by focusing on algae system cultivation and pretreatment R&D to advance the affordable and reliable development of innovative algae technologies that can support algae developers in bringing these new bioproducts to market. Potential MASY NOFOs could include up to $10 million in federal funding and are expected to be issued in January 2025.

Funding opportunities in both programs support government-wide goals of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Fuels and Products Program and the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Grand Challenge. They also align with BETO’s strategic goals to produce fuels and chemicals from domestic biomass resources and advance algae systems to grow domestic energy supply chains, expand access to renewable feedstocks, and support the U.S. bioeconomy.