The JO-carroll depot local redevelopment authority (LRA) seeks to assess the feasibility of a biofuels facility at the savanna industrial park (site), incorporating organic waste conversion and…

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) awarded Jo-Carroll Depot Local Redevelopment Authority a $4.5 million Project Grant under the Renewable Energy Research and Development program (CFDA 81.087) beginning September 1, 2025, and concluding December 31, 2026. The award funds a feasibility assessment for establishing a biofuels facility at the Savanna Industrial Park in Illinois that would convert dead standing timber and other organic waste feedstocks into renewable energy products via advanced bioconversion technologies such as gasification or anaerobic digestion to produce synthesis gas or renewable natural gas (RNG).

The primary deliverables include a comprehensive feasibility analysis evaluating the technical and logistical viability of sourcing, processing, aggregating, and transporting flood-damaged timber from Mississippi River pools and other identified feedstocks as a primary energy pathway for the facility. The project will generate a robust dataset documenting feedstock reliability, productivity metrics, and supply chain logistics that will support progression to commercial application and inform follow-on development in additional feedstocks, conversion technologies, and expanded product portfolios.

The JO-carroll depot local redevelopment authority (LRA) seeks to assess the feasibility of a biofuels facility at the savanna industrial park (site), incorporating organic waste conversion and other complementary technologies (project). Dead standing timber resulting from the 2019 flood along a range of mississippi river "pools" present a major navigational hazard if additional flooding moves them into the river, but also a very large potential feedstock supply. We will determine the suitability of collecting, transporting, and converting this feedstock, and other identified during the project, into SYN-gas or renewable natural gas (RNG) via a suitable bioconversion platform (e.g. gasification or anaerobic digestion), thereby determining the feasibility of the conversion of this feedstock as a primary energy pathway for the site. This determination of the feedstock as a reliable and productive energy source, as well as the logistics around sourcing, processing, aggregation and transportation, will provide a robust dataset that will form the basis of a move to commercial application. The dataset generated by the feasibility effort will not only impact the overarching project objectives listed below but will lead to follow-on development in other feedstocks, conversion technologies, and an expanded product portfolio.