DOE to make $110 million available for R&D on algae, drop-in fuels and sustainability; $20 million for E85 implementation;

In Washington, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the DOE will provide $110 million from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for fundamental  biomass research in sustainability, algae biofuels and drop-in fuels. The programs announced are:

Expand the resources available for sustainability research through the Office of Science Bioenergy Research Centers and establish a user-facility/small-scale integrated pilot plant ($25 million)

Create an advanced research consortium to develop technologies and facilitate subsequent demonstration of infrastructure-compatible biofuels through a competitive solicitation ($35 million)

Create an algal biofuels consortium to accelerate demonstration of algal biofuels through a competitive solicitation ($50 million).

In addition, the DOE said it would devote $20 million for ethanol research to optimize flex-fuel vehicles operating on high octane E85 fuel, evaluate the impact of higher ethanol blends in conventional vehicles, and upgrade existing refueling infrastructure to be compatible with fuels up to E85.

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