Location: Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research
Project Number: 8072-30600-003-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Jun 4, 2025
End Date: Jun 3, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Develop Renewable Chemicals, Fuels (Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Marine Fuels) and Materials from Pyrolysis-oils, Bio-chars, and Food Waste.
Objective 2: Develop Methods for Production of Industrial Carbon Products from Agricultural Biomass.
Objective 3: Develop Methods for Electrification of Biomass Conversion Processes with Microwave Heating.
Objective 4: Produce Fuels (Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel, and Sustainable Aviation Fuel) and Co-Products from New Lipid Feedstocks.
Approach:
The production of fuels, chemicals, and materials from agricultural feedstocks promises to benefit U.S. producers and the rural economy. However, new outlets for agricultural residues are needed to realize their potential and sustain the bioeconomy. The proposed project seeks to advance the bioeconomy by developing a suite of biorenewable products from abundant yet hard-to-valorize agricultural feedstocks – namely lignocellulosic biomass, food loss and waste, and low-value lipids via thermocatalytic conversion. Bio-crude oils production from collection or conversion of these resources via pyrolysis or liquefaction technologies has been developed, but the bio-crudes have found little commercial adoption due to their instability and recalcitrance to standard refining technologies. New short to medium-term outlets are needed for bio-crudes, waste lipids, and bio-chars to derisk the development of commercial thermochemical facilities. This project seeks to advance these technologies by developing a suite of new products from the intermediate bio-crudes, waste lipids, and bio-chars, opening new markets for thermochemical biorefinery products while addressing areas of high priority for USDA and the U.S. government. These include reducing food loss and waste, producing sustainable aviation fuels, marine fuels, biodiesel, renewable diesel, and industrial carbons for the manufacturing sector and mitigation of PFAS pollution. Additionally, the project seeks to convert biomass to bio-crude oil and bio-char via microwave technologies, increasing efficiency in the biorefinery process. This project will benefit commercial entities seeking to develop thermochemical biorefineries and agricultural producers looking for outlets for their residues.