DOE funds $1M in biofuel R&D collaborations between national labs and private sector

In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of four projects totaling $1 million to conduct cutting-edge applied research and development concerning the interaction between promising biofuels and combustion engines. The projects will leverage a range of National Laboratory capabilities as part of the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative, and aim to help bring these fuel-engine combinations closer to commercial adoption. The Co-Optima initiative provides American industry with the scientific knowledge needed to maximize vehicle performance and efficiency, leverage domestic fuel resources, and reduce life cycle emissions.

DOE awarded funding to the following projects:

• • Aramco Services Company (Houston, Texas), Marathon Petroleum Company (Findlay, Ohio), and Caterpillar (Peoria, Illinois) will work with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to identify bioblendstock characteristics (including carbon number and molecular structure) that will provide the best 87 anti-knock index gasoline for heavy-duty gasoline compression ignition engines.
• • The Coordinating Research Council (Alpharetta, Georgia) will work with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to develop an isotope ratio mass spectrometry method as a cost-effective means to identify renewable content in co-processed biomass- and fossil-derived fuels.
• • Cummins (Columbus, Indiana) will work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop a deeper fundamental understanding of how physical and chemical fuel properties affect mixing-controlled compression ignition combustion in medium-duty engines through computational fluid dynamics simulations. 
• • Shell (Houston, Texas) will work with ORNL and ANL to quantify how fuel volatility can be used to increase anti-knock performance, in order to increase engine efficiency and the use of biomass-derived fuels. 

Each awardee will receive up to $250,000 in National Laboratory assistance for experimental or computational projects that leverage innovative capabilities in the areas of bioblendstock fuel property, production, and combustion performance research. The projects will also focus on the impacts of adoption of co-optimized fuel-engine combinations. Each of the awardees has committed to a 20% cost share contribution.