Synthesis Gas to Liquid Fuels Validation

The summary for the Synthesis Gas to Liquid Fuels Validation grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Golden Field Office, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Synthesis Gas to Liquid Fuels Validation: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announces a notice of availability of funds for financial assistance addressing validation of technologies employed for eliminating various contaminants from synthesis gas generated by gasification of biomass. The goal is to maintain conversion catalyst performance viability for five years. This effort is crucial to identifying any remaining flaws in the technology while also providing confidence to the investment community that the technology is adequately robust and reliable. This is envisioned to be a three to four year effort which will finish up around the time investment capital will be needed for lignocellulosic ethanol plants. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is seeking applications to both validate the performance efficacy of existing biomass syngas cleanup technologies (Phase I) and demonstrate conversion of the cleaned syngas to liquid transportation fuels (Phase II). Specified performance targets must be achieved before the successful applicant(s) can proceed to the second phase where the cleaned syngas will be catalytically converted to liquid fuel. It is desirable to validate both the robustness and reliability of the technical approaches and also establish cost targets for producing clean syngas under realistic operating conditions. The integrated Process Development Unit (PDU) designed initially for gas cleanup, and (if successful) ultimately for syngas conversion, shall be sized (minimally) for a volume of syngas equivalent to a 20 kg/hr biomass throughput. Following successful demonstration of achieving required gas cleanup performance by passing a stage gate review, the same technology will be coupled to a liquid fuels synthesis train. The applicant will be required to design and fabricate a fuel synthesis reactor having a throughput that can accommodate the full stream from the syngas cleanup system. The reactor design will also be required to manage heat generation during fuel synthesis. Following fabrication the reactor will be integrated with the gas cleanup system to determine cost and yield data for production of liquid fuels. The data will then be used to establish overall production costs for the targeted liquid fuel. Building upon established and demonstrated scientific principles, successful applications shall clearly describe the potential advantage(s) of the proposed process unit operations (both cleanup and synthesis) with respect to performance over commercially available technologies. This must be demonstrated by laboratory testing of sufficient scale and in a completely integrated fashion. Funds under this announcement are not intended for development of new gas cleanup technologies but can only be used for design, fabrication and optimized process operation of existing technology in an integrated fashion. Funds are also not intended, and cannot be used for, development of gasifier technology to generate the syngas to be cleaned and converted. Catalyst development for conversion of the syngas to liquid fuels is also prohibited under this FOA. If the applicant does not have gasification or conversion catalyst capabilities within their own organization, they would be expected to partner with someone else who has this capability. Applications for this Funding Opportunity Announcement must be accessed, completed, and submitted through Grants.gov at http://www.grants.gov to be considered for award. Questions regarding the content of the announcement should be submitted through the Submit Question feature of the DOE Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) at http://e-center.doe.gov.