Transformational Science Fueling America’s Future

The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE)  Office of Science is establishing and operating three new Bioenergy Research Centers to accelerate basic research in the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.

The mission of the Bioenergy Research Centers will lie at the frontier between basic and applied science, and will maintain a focus on bioenergy applications. These Centers aim to identify real steps toward practical solutions regarding to the challenge of producing renewable, carbon-neutral energy. At the same time, the Centers will be grounded in basic research, pursuing alternative avenues and a range of high-risk, high-return approaches to finding solutions. To some degree, one key to the Centers’ success will be their ability to develop the more basic dimensions of their research to a point that can easily transition to applied research.

To bring the latest tools of the biotechnology revolution to bear to advance clean energy production, the Centers will be supported by multidisciplinary teams of top scientists.  A major focus will be on understanding how to reengineer biological processes to develop new, more efficient methods for converting the cellulose in plant material into ethanol or other biofuels that serve as a substitute for gasoline.  This research is critical because future biofuels production will require the use of feedstocks more diverse than corn, including cellulosic material like agricultural residues, grasses, poplar trees, inedible plants, and non-edible portions of crops.

The Centers will bring together diverse teams of researchers from 18 of the nation’s leading universities, seven DOE national laboratories, at least one nonprofit organization, and a range of private companies.  All three Centers are located in geographically distinct areas and will use different plants both for laboratory research and for improving feedstock crops.

The Department’s three Bioenergy Research Centers include:

· The DOE BioEnergy Science Center led by the DOE’s Oak Ridge   National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Center Director   will be Martin Keller, and collaborators include: Georgia Institute of   Technology in Atlanta, Georgia; DOE’s National Renewable Energy   Laboratory in Golden, Colorado; University of Georgia in Athens,   Georgia; Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire; and the   University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

· The DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center will be led by the   University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, in close   collaboration with Michigan State University in East Lansing,   Michigan. The Center Director will be Timothy Donohue, and other   collaborators include: DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory   in Richland, Washington; Lucigen Corporation in Middleton,   Wisconsin; University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida; DOE’s Oak   Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Illinois State   University in Normal, Illinois; and Iowa State University in Ames,   Iowa.

· The DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute will be led by DOE’s Lawrence   Berkeley National Laboratory. The Institute Director will be Jay   Keasling, and collaborators include: Sandia National Laboratories;   DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; University of   California - Berkeley; University of California - Davis; and Stanford   University in Stanford, California.

In August 2006, the DOE Office of Science issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement for the DOE Bioenergy Research Centers and published a White Paper about the Centers. Initially, DOE announced it planned to create two Bioenergy Research Centers; provision for a third Center was included in the 2008 fiscal year DOE Office of Science budget request.

The proposal deadline for the funding opportunity was February 1, 2007. Universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms were eligible to compete for an award to establish and operate a DOE Bioenergy Research Center.  Awards, based on evaluation by scientific peer review, will be announced during the summer of 2007.  The centers are expected to begin work in 2008 and will be fully operational by 2009. 

The announcement of the DOE Bioenergy Research Centers initiative culminated a six-year-long effort by the DOE Office of Science to lay the foundation for breakthroughs in systems biology for the cost-effective production of renewable energy.

In July 2006, DOE’s Office of Science issued a joint biofuels research agenda with the Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy titled Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol. The report provides a detailed roadmap for cellulosic ethanol research, identifying key roadblocks and areas where scientific breakthroughs are needed.

DOE began supporting pioneering research on microbes and microbial communities in 2000, with the objective of tapping microorganisms’ powerful and diverse capabilities to produce renewable energy, clean up the environment and manage atmospheric carbon.  This research has been supported by the Genomics:GTL program in the Office of Science.  Since initiating the Human Genome Project in 1986, DOE has played a major role in advancing modern biotechnology, and the department’s recent research on microbes for energy production builds on those advances.