New York-based Air Company Holdings was awarded $2 million to support a project focused on the use of biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The funding supports plans to scale up a CO2 hydrogenation reactor, with a focus on catalyst yields and overall reactor flow scheme. The CO2 hydrogenation reactor is part of the company’s process for converting biogas waste CO2 into SAF. As part of the project, Air Company Holdings will generate SAF samples to be used in an ASTM International qualification program.
California-based Erg Bio Inc. was also awarded $2 million to develop the advanced solvent pretreatment for integrated biorefineries (ASPIRE) technology, which uses distillable solvents at moderate temperatures and pressures that are integrated with a consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) host that secretes the saccharolytic enzymes that liberate sugars and then ferment those sugars into ethanol. According to the DOE, the technology has demonstrated high fermentable sugar release efficiencies from mixed woody feedstocks, agricultural residue mixtures, sorghum bagasse, and sugarcane bagasse with a more than 99% solvent recovery rate at the laboratory scale.
Finally, New Hampshire-based Terragia Biofuels was awarded $2 million to support a project that aims to advance corn stover conversion to ethanol via CBP with engineered thermophilic bacteria. Key objectives of the project include implementing CBP at industrially relevant solids loading using continuous processing and developed bacterial strains, demonstrating a ≥ 2-fold reduction in reaction time with cascade continuous operation, operating at a 0.5 dry ton per day pilot scale, projecting favorable economics with technoeconomic analysis, and leading activities aimed at promoting understanding of the bioeconomy, biofuels, and related workforce development.
