DOE and USDA Award $25 Million for Biomass Initiative

July 16, 2004

DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on July 16th the selection of 22 projects that will advance their joint Biomass Research and Development Initiative. DOE will award more than $12 million to nine projects, and the USDA will award more than $13 million to 13 projects, for a total of nearly $25.5 million in government awards. Nearly all of the DOE-funded projects relate to gasification technologies, although one project is aimed at producing new chemical products from biomass. The USDA-funded projects address a variety of technologies, including studies of feedstock supplies and treatment options; testing a new technology for ethanol production; using liquid fuels derived from biomass to power a fuel cell; developing a small-scale, biomass-fired gas turbine; and producing high-purity hydrogen from farm animal wastes. Including the cost sharing of the private-sector partners, the total value of the projects is nearly $38 million. See the DOE press release, and for the complete details about the awards, see the 47-page compilation of project proposals (PDF 194 KB). Download Acrobat Reader.