Key Publications
This page contains a table that organizes the names and publication dates of the Bioenergy Technologies Office's key research and development portfolio documents, providing succinct descriptions of each document, and sorting them by category: fact sheets and summaries; design reports/case studies; and plans, roadmaps, and reports. Scroll through the table and read the descriptions to find the publication that best fits your needs.
| Publication Name | Description | Date of Publication |
|---|---|---|
| FACT SHEETS AND SUMMARIES | ||
| Office Overviews and Investments Summaries The Bioenergy Technologies Office works with industry, academia, and our national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies. Through research, development, and demonstration efforts geared toward the deployment of first-of-a-kind integrated biorefineries, the Office is helping transform the nation's renewable and abundant biomass resources into cost competitive, high performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower. For more information on individual Bioenergy Technologies Office projects, please see the Projects Fact Sheet page. |
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Replacing the Whole Barrel To Reduce U.S. Dependence on Oil |
This overview provides highlights of the DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office's major research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities to advance biomass conversion, technology integration in biorefineries, and supply logistics to provide a secure, sustainable supply of advanced biofuels. | |
| American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Bioenergy Technologies Office Investments |
A summary of the Office's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act portfolio that includes conversion and sustainability R&D, integrated biorefinery, and infrastructure projects. | |
| Growing America's Energy Future: Renewable Bioenergy |
An overview of how DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office is accelerating the development of a sustainable U.S. bioindustry to improve our nation's energy security, stimulate the economy, and reduce climate impacts. | |
| Biomass Basics: The Facts About Bioenergy |
An explanation of what biomass is and how it can be used. | |
| Feedstocks/Sustainability The success of the U.S. bioindustry depends, to a large degree, on the quantity and quality of biomass available, and on the industry's ability to cost-effectively utilize biomass for energy production. These documents delineate our feedstock production, logistics, and sustainability activities. |
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| Feedstock Supply and Logistics: Biomass as a Commodity |
A summary of our resource assessment activities, feedstock trials, and harvest, storage, handling, and transport activities to support biomass feedstock development and use. | |
| Our Commitment to Bioenergy Sustainability |
An overview of how the Bioenergy Technologies Office and its partners combine advanced analysis with applied research to understand and address the potential environmental, economic, and social impacts of bioenergy production. | |
| Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework |
An overview of an online collaboration and geospatial analysis tool that allows researchers, policymakers, and private industry to explore and engage the latest bioenergy research. | |
| Conversion Technologies The Bioenergy Technologies Office focuses its conversion activities on two routes: biochemical and thermochemical. These efforts focus on technologies and processes that can reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of producing biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower. These documents provide information about the steps involved in biochemical and thermochemical conversion and highlight Office activities in conversion and efforts to achieve improvement. |
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| Biochemical Conversion: Using Hydrolysis, Fermentation, and Catalysis to Make Fuels and Chemicals |
An overview of the Office's collaborative projects to improve processing routes for biochemical conversion, which entails breaking down biomass to make the carbohydrates available for conversion into sugars. | |
| Thermochemical Conversion: Using Heat and Chemistry to Make Fuels and Bioproducts |
An overview of the Office's collaborative projects exploring thermochemical conversion processes that use heat and chemistry to convert biomass into a liquid or gaseous intermediate. | |
| Process Design and Economics for Biochemical Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol | Description of one potential biochemical ethanol conversion process, conceptually based upon core conversion and process integration research at NREL.The overarching process design converts corn stover to ethanol by dilute-acid pretreatment, enzymatic saccharification, and co-fermentation. | |
| Integrated Biorefineries The Bioenergy Technologies Office's investment in integrated biorefineries at the pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale constitute a cornerstone of the Office. Our projects employ various combinations of feedstocks and conversion technologies to produce a variety of biofuels, as well as by- or co- products that include chemicals, heat, and power. The March 2010 overview document, "Economy Through Product Diversity: Integrated Biorefineries", provides information on project locations and details such as feedstocks and technologies used as well as the products IBRs intend to generate. |
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| Integrated Biorefineries: Biofuels, Biopower, and Bioproducts |
An overview of integrated biorefineries and Bioenergy Technologies Office's efforts to develop, build, operate, and validate integrated biorefineries on various scales. A crucial step in developing this industry is to establish integrated biorefineries capable of efficiently converting a broad range of biomass feedstocks into affordable biofuels, biopower, and other bioproducts. | |
| Economy Through Product Diversity: Integrated Biorefineries |
A summary of the integrated biorefinery concept, the Bioenergy Technologies Office's related activities and challenges, and specific biorefinery projects funded through the Office. | |
| New Office Initiatives The Bioenergy Technologies Office continually evaluates its portfolio in an effort to foster the growth of emerging technologies and explore new pathways toward sustainable, renewable energy. These documents provide information about Office activities in these areas, which include biopower and algae. |
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| Biomass Cookstoves Technical Meeting: Summary Report | Summary report of two-day Biomass Cookstoves meeting covering the research challenges, pathways, and key contexts identified for: (1) Combustion and Heat Transfer; (2) Materials; (3) Controls, Sensors, and Fan Drivers; and 4) Testing Protocols, Field Validation, and Product Design. | |
| Bioindustry Creates Green Jobs |
A summary of how the Bioenergy Technologies Office's development of advanced technologies and realworld solutions support green job creation and retention. | |
| Biopower |
A summary of information on Bioenergy Technologies Office's planned way forward in R&D and focus on improving efficiencies and overcoming barriers in generating electricity and thermal energy from biomass. | |
| Algal Biofuels |
An overview of how algal biofuels are generating considerable interest, and represent promising pathways to potentially help meet the biofuel production targets set by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. | |
| DESIGN REPORTS/CASE STUDIES | ||
| Design reports and case studies provide a range of more in-depth information about biomass technologies. Elements of these documents include process designs, technoeconomic evaluations, state of technology assessments, and cost and production targets, as well as many other key resources, data, and information. | ||
| Design Case Summary: Production of Mixed Alcohols from Municipal Solid Waste via Gasification |
This case study establishes cost targets for converting MSW to ethanol and other mixed alcohols via gasification. It highlights the liquid fuel synthesis process and an analysis of capital and operating costs | |
| Design Case Summary: Production of Gasoline and Diesel from Biomass via Fast Pyrolysis, Hydrotreating, and Hydrocracking |
This case study takes a look at the current state of conversion technologies in an effort to determine where improvements need to take place in the future. This design case is the first to establish detailed cost targets for the production of diesel and gasoline blendstock from biomass via a fast pyrolysis process. | |
| Thermochemical Design Report: Thermochemical Ethanol via Indirect Gasification and Mixed Alcohol Synthesis of Lignocellulosic Biomass |
This process design and technoeconomic evaluation addresses the conversion of biomass to ethanol via thermochemical pathways that are expected to be demonstrated at the pilot-unit level by 2012. | |
| Biochemical Design Report: Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol Process Design and Economics Utilizing Co-Current Dilute Acid Prehydrolysis and Enzymatic Hydrolysis for Corn Stover |
This design report focuses on potential process designs and estimates the economics of each process related to the development of ethanol from lignocellulosic feedstocks as an alternative to conventional petroleum-based transportation fuels. | |
| PLANS, ROADMAPS, AND REPORTS | ||
| Design reports and case studies provide a range of more in-depth information about biomass technologies. Elements of these documents include process designs, technoeconomic evaluations, state of technology assessments, and cost and production targets, as well as many other key resources, data, and information. | ||
| Bioenergy Technologies Office Multi-Year Program Plan | This regularly updated plan details the Office's strategic and performance goals, targets, activities and milestones across the biofuels supply chain that are designed to help achieve national goals and support EERE's priorities for energy. | |
| 2011 Bioenergy Technologies Office Peer Review Report | This document summarizes the recommendations and evaluations provided by an independent external panel of experts at the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office's Peer Review meeting. | |
| U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry |
This analytical report is an update to the 2005 study, as well as an effort to address the 2005 report's shortcomings. This report expands on the original report to include a spatial, county-by-county inventory of potentially available primary feedstocks; price and available quantities (e.g., supply curves) for the individual feedstocks; and a more rigorous treatment and modeling of resource sustainability. |
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| Biopower Technical Strategy Workshop Summary Report | This report summarizes the results of a December 2009 Workshop sponsored by the DOE/EERE Bioenergy Technologies Office. The workshop was convened to identify and discuss challenges to the expanded use of biopower and the possible solutions, including technology research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) as well as policies and other market transformation mechanisms. The report outlines those results in an effort to influence future Office efforts. | |
| U.S. Biofuels Industry: Mind the Gap |
This report was prepared is intended to provide an objective view of the evolving biofuels industry and many of its key participants. It is the second "Year in Review" report created for use by an intended audience of industry, investor, policy maker, and regulator stakeholders. This report covers the 2-year period of 2008-2009. | |
| Current State of the U.S. Ethanol Industry |
This study provides an overview of the state of the U.S. ethanol industry and to outline the major forces that will affect the development of the industry over the next decade. | |
| Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap |
This roadmap presents information from a scientific, economic, and policy perspectives that can support and guide RD&D investment in algal biofuels. While addressing the potential economic and environmental benefits of using algal biomass for the production of liquid transportation fuels, the Roadmap describes the current status of algae RD&D. | |
| Effects of Intermediate Ethanol Blendson Legacy Vehicles and Small Non-Road Engines, Report 1 |
This report provides the results of the U.S. Department of Energy's test program to evaluate the potential impacts of intermediate ethanol blends on legacy vehicles and other engines. | |
| Breaking the Chemical and Engineering Barriers to Lignocellulosic Biofuels: Next Generation Hydrocarbon Biorefineries |
TThis roadmap outlines a number of novel process pathways for biofuels production based on sound scientific and engineering proofs of concept demonstrated in laboratories around the world. This report was based on the workshop of the same name held June 25-26, 2007 in Washington, DC. | |
| Top Value Added Chemicals fromBiomass - Volume II, Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Biorefinery Lignin |
This report evaluates lignin's role as a renewable raw material resource. Opportunities that arise from utilizing lignin fit into three categories: power, fuel and syngas (generally near-term opportunities); macromolecules (generally medium-term opportunities); and aromatics and miscellaneous monomers (long-term opportunities). | |
| Roadmap for Biomass Technologies in the United States |
This roadmap report represents the collective assessment of the Biomass Research and Development Board's Technical Advisory Committee, which is comprised of experts from industry and academia. It identifies research and policy measures needed for converting our nation's biomass resources into economically and environmentally desirable biobased fuels, power, and products | |
| Vision for Bioenergy and Biobased Products in the United States |
This vision, established by the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee, defines a set of achievable quantitative goals to help the United States transition from a fossil-fuelbased economy to a biobased economy. | |
| Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol: A Joint Research Agenda |
This roadmap presents findings from the Biomass to Biofuels Workshop, held December 7–9, 2005, which was convened by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Office of Science; and the Bioenergy Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The purpose was to define barriers and challenges to a rapid expansion of cellulosic-ethanol production and determine ways to speed solutions through concerted application of modern biology tools as part of a joint research agenda. | |
| Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply |
This analytical report aims to determine whether the land resources of the United States are capable of producing a sustainable supply of biomass sufficient to displace 30 percent or more of the country's present petroleum consumption – the goal set by the Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee in their vision for biomass technologies. Accomplishing this goal would require approximately 1 billion dry tons of biomass feedstock per year. | |
| Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass - Volume I, Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas |
This roadmap report identifies twelve building block chemicals that can be produced from sugars via biological or chemical conversions. The twelve building blocks can be subsequently converted to a number of high-value bio-based chemicals or materials. | |