Joint BioEnergy lab to be located in Emeryville, CA; six research institutions join $600 million biofuels effort

In California, the Emeryville site of a new $135 million, 65,000 square foot biofuels lab at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) was announced.

The Emeryville lab will fuse the research efforts of UC-Berkeley, UC- Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Lawrence Livermore and Sandia. The new venture will be known as the Joint BioEnergy Institute, or JBEI.

The lab will be funded by the US Department of Energy, and also will benefit from a $500 million grant from BP. It will focus on cellulosic ethanol research including feedstocks such as rice straw, switchgrass and Arabidopsis, a plant in the mustard family. The lab will also research microbes found in the termite gut of the common termite, which assist in breaking down wood into edible sugars.

The move comes amongst other cooperative efforts involving national laboratories. Last week the LiveFuels Alliance, funded by Menlo Park-based LiveFuels and Sandia National Laboratories, was launched. The alliance will sponsor commercial biodiesel production from algae over the the next three years. The research effort will take advantage of the ‘Aquatic Species Program’ which researched high-oil algae cultivation for biodiesel production between 1978 and 1996 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

In Tennessee last month, The University of Tennessee is ready to voted to construct a pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in Vonore in conjunction with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

US Department of Energy awards $114 million to four cellulosic ethanol projects in Missouri, Colorado, Oregon and Wisconsin

In Washington, the US Energy Department awarded $114 million in grants to cellulosic ethanol projects in Missouri, Oregon, Colorado and Wisconsin. The demonstration projects were proposed by ICM, ...

ICM receives $30 million from Department of Energy; to lead multi-partner cellulosic ethanol project including Novozymes, VeraSun Energy, Sun Ethanol and NREL

In Kansas, ICM, one of the recent recipients of a $30 million DOE award for cellulosic ethanol research, said that its proposed St. Joseph, Missouri plant will utilize corn residues, including corn fi...

Biofuels researchers target termite gut enzymes as key to cellulosic breakthrough

The November issue of Nature profiles research on enzymes found in termite guts. The research is conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), the California Institut...

DOE announces $25.7 million in bioenergy funding for national labs

In Washington, the Department of Energy announced that the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will receive $13.1 million to upgrade equipment at the DOE Joint Genome Institute and $4 million for ne...

Joint BioEnergy Institute dedicated in California; $125 million DOE grant aims for “new, deliverable biofuels in the next five years”

In California, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman officially dedicated the Joint BioEnergy Institute, which brings together scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of ...

55 Mgy grain ethanol plant announced in Kern County, California; expandable to 220 Mgy multi-feedstock

In California, Global Fuels  announced a 55 Mgy grain ethanol plant that would ultimately be expanded to a multi-feedstock 220 Mgy. The plant would be constructed near Mojave in Kern County. The pr...