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This is the fourth in a series of articles describing biomass R&D activities within USDA and DOE, covering feedstock production, biomass conversion technologies, and development of biobased products, all of which are ultimately integrated into a biorefinery. This article focuses on biobased products. Product R&D at DOE and USDA mainly falls into three market sectors: transportation fuels, commodity chemicals and other materials, and combined heat and power.

Products currently produced from petroleum-based sources can be made instead from biomass. These biobased products are comparable to petroleum-based products in quality, quantity, and price. The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Office of the Biomass Program (OBP); the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Cooperative State, Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES); and the National Biomass Initiative work to promote the production and marketing of biobased products through research and development projects and procurement programs.

DOE/OBP Biobased Products R&D

In order to work towards achieving the goal of reducing dependence on foreign oil, the biobased products platform within OBP conducts R&D to create products that were formerly petroleum-based from biomass materials such as sugars and lignin. Specifically, OBP is interested in developing transportation fuels, commodity chemicals, and combined heat and power technologies for the utility market through the biological conversion of sugars, development of products from lignin, catalytic conversion of synthesis gas to valuable chemicals, and fermentation of synthesis gas to ethanol. These different processes will be combined into an integrated biorefinery to cost-effectively produce a variety of biobased products.

OBP has partnered with several national laboratories and with industry to conduct biobased products R&D. For example

• OBP partnered with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) to develop a biocatalyst to ferment L-arabinose, a component of the sugars found in corn fiber. This allowed a material previously thought of as a low-value byproduct to be used in the production of biobased products.
• A team from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the University of Utah, and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is developing a fuel additive from lignin.
• OBP and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently partnered to develop the Top Ten Products study. The study identified twelve building block chemicals produced from sugars that are most suitable to be converted into a number of high-value biobased chemicals and materials. The twelve chemicals were selected from over 300 candidates based on potential markets for the chemicals and products that can be created from them and on the technical complexity of the synthesis pathways.

For more information on the biobased products R&D being conducted by OBP and its partners, please visit http://www.eere.energy.gov/biomass/products_rd.html.

USDA Biobased Products R&D

The USDA’s biobased products R&D is conducted through CSREES. CSREES seeks to build a scientific knowledge base from which to use agricultural and forestry materials more fully and effectively in non-food biobased products. This is achieved through programs that support research, development, demonstration, and pre-commercialization activities. CSREES promotes research and development for biobased industrial products and bioenergy primarily through its Agricultural Materials Program, National Research Initiative, and Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR).

The Agricultural Materials Program provides both competitive and non-competitive funding for land-grant universities to conduct R&D on plant breeding and genetics, crop production, materials processing, and product development. Products include lubricants, energy, fibers, polymers, chemicals, and uses of agricultural waste. Specific projects have focused on the following: technologies for converting biomass to ethanol; development of functional fluids and greases from corn, soybean, and castor; the production of latex rubber from genetically modified sunflowers; and the production of energy from animal wastes.

The National Research Initiative funds R&D by land-grant institutions, state and local governments, universities, individuals, non-profit organizations, and industry to support the goals of Executive Order 13134 Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003.

The SBIR Industrial Applications Program promotes the use of biobased products by developing new or improved technologies leading to increased production of industrial, non-food products from agricultural materials. Examples of research subtopics include oils and lubricants, natural rubber, biofuels, specialty chemicals from starch, and new fiber crops.

Funding opportunities in this area are open only to small businesses. For more information on the biobased products R&D being conducted by CSREES, please visit http://www.csrees.usda.gov/ProgView.cfm?prnum=2332.

National Biomass Initiative Biobased Products R&D

The National Biomass Initiative funds an annual competitive Joint Solicitation sponsored by USDA and DOE. The 2004 Joint Solicitation included a technical topic area titled Biobased Products – Environmental and Economic Performance, in which five awards were granted. The DOE awarded one project in this area: the partnership of Rohm and Haas, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Eastman Chemicals, and the USDA Eastern Regional Research Center for their project on New Sustainable Chemistry for Adhesives, Elastomers and Foams. The USDA awarded four biobased products projects:

• Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., to develop a new membrane-based ethanol recovery technology;
• Mississippi State University’s Forest Products Department, to develop a biobased wood preservative;
• Technology Management Inc., to build and operate a modular proof-of-concept solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power generation system capable of generating up to 1kW of biopower from biomass or biofuels; and
• Watershed Research and Training Center, to support the design and early implementation phases of an innovative biomass utilization facility that will include development of stewardship contracts for public lands fuels reduction, a log sort yard, a small log processor, a post and pole operation, a value-added incubator and industrial park, and a wood-fired electrical generation plant.

For more details on the biobased products R&D being conducted through the National Biomass Initiative, please visit http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov/pdfs/Joint%20SolicitationTotalSelectedProposals.pdf.

Biobased Products Procurement Programs

The production of biobased products cannot be successful in displacing the use of petroleum-based products unless they can compete in the market. Both USDA and DOE conduct work to ensure that the federal government will serve as a market for biobased products. The USDA is in the process of developing the Federal Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program (FB4P), as ordered by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (FSRIA) of 2002. The details of the program are currently being developed by USDA, but in the interim it is implemented on a volunteer basis within the federal government. FSRIA defines a biobased product that is eligible for the procurement program as a product determined by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to be a commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) composed in whole or in significant part of biological products or renewable domestic agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and marine materials) or forestry materials. FB4P will require federal agencies to purchase biobased products, with the following exceptions: 1) the product is not reasonably available; 2) the product fails to meet performance standards; or 3) the products are available only at an unreasonable price. For more information on FB4P, please visit: http://www.biobased.oce.usda.gov/public/index.cfm.

Though required to procure biobased products under FB4P once it is fully implemented, DOE has begun its own program to get a head start on purchasing biobased products. The Buy Bio initiative trains procurement personnel, government credit card holders, and personnel involved with affirmative procurement to plan for biobased product purchases. DOE has partnered with the Biobased Manufacturers Association to establish the Biobased Supercenter, a website where federal employees can purchase biobased products. The Supercenter can be accessed via the following site: http://www.biobased.com/.

In the year 2000, approximately 2,026 trillion Btu of energy were consumed in the state of Tennessee. Nearly 70 percent of this total was generated from petroleum and coal (35 percent and 34 percent, respectively). Nuclear and hydroelectric energy accounted for 13 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Natural gas supplied almost 13 percent of the energy consumed in Tennessee, while biomass accounted for 55.3 trillion Btu, or about 2 percent of total consumption¹.

An estimated 22.2 million MWh of electricity could be generated using renewable biomass fuels in Tennessee. This is enough electricity to supply the annual needs of 67 percent of the state’s residential electricity customers. Biomass energy in Tennessee comes from a wide variety of sources such as: corn, soybeans, wheat, CRP, municipal solid waste (MSW), forest land, poultry, and livestock. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is currently working on several biomass projects, including co-firing biomass in coal-fired plants, and has been able to successfully co-fire coal with up to 20 percent wood fibers. They have also added shredded tires into its fuel mix at the Allen Fossil Plant, reducing the amount of old tires in landfills. In addition, TVA has been conducting research on the conversion of MSW to fuel ethanol².