Four Berkeley Lab projects, including a project at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), were awarded $1 million from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) to further collaborative research with industry partners on biofuels, bioproducts, energy microgrid technology, and renewable energy technology.
A team at JBEI was awarded funding for research on producing a new aviation biofuel precursor from cellulosic biomass.
In this project, Taek Soon Lee’s team at JBEI and Novozymes in Franklinton, NC, will combine their state-of-the-art technologies to cost-effectively produce a very promising biologically derived aviation biofuel precursor, isoprenol, from sustainable lignocellulosic biomass. Isoprenol is an intermediate for 1,4-dimethylcyclooctane (DMCO), which has been identified by the U.S. Navy as a promising aviation biofuel. DMCO has multiple performance advantages over Jet-A1, enabling jets to carry more passengers and/or freight per gallon using existing airframes, and to operate engines at higher temperatures and pressures for improved efficiency of new aircraft engines. The project was awarded $250,000 by the TCF.
The Technology Commercialization Fund program managed by the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) offers an opportunity for private industry to partner with DOE’s national labs to advance lab-developed energy technologies and intellectual property toward commercialization. TCF projects require that half of all project costs come from non-federal sources, including industry. More than $33 million was awarded to a total of 82 projects in this FY20 TCF round. Read DOE’s announcement listing all TCF recipients.