There are a number of things happening right now that should be of interest to our Department of Energy Agriculture Industries of the Future/Biobased Products partners and stakeholders, and to people interested in bioenergy.

First of all, there are a number of federal solicitations for proposals that are opening up now or shortly, that may be of value to you in pursuing your areas of interest. Some of these apply directly or indirectly to biobased products and or bioenergy. Some are for applied research, while others are for very basic research. Summary information is presented here. The website is given for more detailed information.

The DOE OIT Forest Products Industry of the Future issued its FY 2003 solicitation on December 5, 2001. This solicitation targets four research areas: high value raw materials through sustainable forestry; gasification; fiber modification; and VOC and HAP emission technology. Although directed at the forest products industry, it presents a funding opportunity for biobased product industry companies and organizations whose research includes plant science (for sustainable forestry, agriculture), gasification, new forest-based composite materials, or sensors and computational models for greater efficiency in timber (biomass) harvesting and transportation. Proposals submitted must address at least one of the following areas as well as lead to substantial energy savings. The solicitation closes on April 15, 2002.

1. High Value Raw Material Supply through Sustainable Forestry: includes understanding and improving wood properties for higher quality, developing sensors and computational models for greater efficiency in timber harvesting and transportation, and identifying new products/processes based on novel wood properties produced through biotechnology
2. Significantly Reduced Manufacturing Costs: improvements in fiber bulk or surface characteristics through the technology areas of biotechnology, process improvement, genetic fiber modification, chemical or enzymatic fiber modification, mechanical fiber modification, new forest-based composite materials, fibrous fillers, and highly sensitive chemical and biological methods to prepare fiber supplies for paper manufacture
3. Environmental Performance: topics include the development of trees with reduced amounts of VOC and HAP precursors and production technologies that minimize VOC and HAP emissions
4. Energy Performance: within the gasification technology area, it includes fuels chemistry, containment, mill integration issues, process control and optimization, assurance and education, and field support.

This may be of interest to biobased product companies developing separation technologies that will be applicable to biobased and petrochemical production processes. Other areas that may crosscut petrochemical and biobased production include catalyst and reactor system technology and bioprocess technology.

Projects of most interest will show broad applicability and large energy savings. A minimum of three industrial chemical companies must be involved in the multidisciplinary team. Included in the "industrial chemical company" definition are private organizations that manufacture chemicals and allied products or provide products or services to such manufacturers. Raw material suppliers, equipment and technology suppliers, architectural and engineering companies, software and consulting firms, trade and professional associations, and research institutes that conduct a minimum of 10% of their business as, with, or for chemical industry manufacturers are also eligible. In addition, an industry cost share of 50% is required.

The Interagency Announcement of Opportunities in Metabolic Engineering program recently released its fourth out of five solicitations targeted at improving the understanding of metabolic pathways and metabolic engineering in living systems. Sponsored by Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation, this funding opportunity will make available up to $6 million for current research on altering metabolic pathways in an organism in order to better understand and utilize cellular pathways for chemical transformation, energy transduction, and supramolecular assembly. Although much work has been done on microbial organisms, research on plants, insects, and animals is also important.

Three areas of greatest interest include:

1. instrumentation, sensors, new analytic tools, and new experimental methods which facilitate the study of metabolic pathways, especially those technologies that allow the examination of individual cells;
2. quantitative and conceptual models integrated with experimental studies that better characterize the regulation and integration of complex, interacting metabolic pathways;
3. use of bioinformatics to deduce the structure, function, and regulation of major metabolic pathways. Proposals that could contribute to an expanded understanding of metabolic processes and/or a substantial broadening of their utilization are also welcome.