In 2010, Verenium Corporation received EERE funds to operate a 1.4 million gallon per year demonstration plant in Jennings, Louisiana, to convert agricultural residues and energy crops to cellulosic ethanol. The project’s goal was to implement a technology that had been demonstrated in a laboratory at commercial scale. The plant produced ethanol from energy cane (a type of sugar cane used mainly as an energy crop) and bagasse (agricultural residue from sugar cane). The demonstration plant operated for 12 months and demonstrated considerable success in pretreatment processes and the use of enzymes. The project was successfully completed in September 2010. BP then acquired Verenium and continues to use the Jennings facility as a testing ground to improve the design of larger-scale biorefineries that BP may build in the near future.
The Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) works with a broad spectrum of industrial, academic, agricultural, and nonprofit partners across the United States to develop and deploy commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower from renewable biomass resources in America to reduce our dependence on imported oil.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) success stories highlight the positive impact of its work with businesses, industry partners, universities, research labs, and other entities.