The University of Maine System (UMS) received a $10,000,000 five-year federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) program to advance technologies that co-produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and fish feed ingredients from low-grade woody biomass.
Key objectives of the project include: 1) developing AI-based models to optimize hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) processes for converting woody biomass into SAF, 2) coproducing fish feed protein ingredients from wood-derived sugars, and 3) increasing workforce diversity in the bioeconomy. UMS is partnering with the University of Massachusetts Lowell on modeling the HTL process using AI approaches. Integrated Learning Innovations, Inc. is also providing external evaluation services for the overall project.
The project aims to unlock additional income streams for forest owners, reduce the carbon footprint of the U.S. aviation industry, and minimize the ecological impact of aquaculture by decreasing reliance on wild-caught fish as feed. This work aligns with the U.S. government's goals of producing 3 billion gallons of SAF annually by 2030 and meeting 100% of the aviation sector's jet fuel demand with SAF derived from renewable feedstocks by 2050.