Amendment 000001 - DE-FOA-0003371 - FY24 Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries.docx

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

FY24 Scale-Up of Integrated Biorefineries

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: DE-FOA-0003371 FOA Type: Mod 000001 Assistance Listing Number: 81.087

· Applicants must submit a Concept Paper by 5:00 p.m. ET on the due date listed above to be eligible to submit a Full Application.

· To apply to this FOA, applicants must register with and submit application materials through EERE eXCHANGE at https://eere-eXCHANGE.energy.gov, EERE’s online application portal.

· Applicants must designate primary and backup points-of-contact in EERE eXCHANGE with whom EERE will communicate to conduct award negotiations. If an application is selected for award negotiations, it is not a commitment to issue an award. It is imperative that the applicant/selectee be responsive during award negotiations and meet negotiation deadlines. Failure to do so may result in cancelation of further award negotiations and rescission of the selection.

· Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and System for Award Management (SAM) - Each applicant (unless the applicant is excepted from those requirements under 2 CFR 25.110) is required to: (1) register in the SAM at https://www.sam.gov before submitting an application; (2) provide a valid UEI number in the application; and (3) maintain an active SAM registration with current information when the applicant has an active federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a federal awarding agency. DOE may not make a federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable UEI and SAM requirements and, if an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time DOE is ready to make a federal award, DOE will determine that the applicant is not qualified to receive a federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a federal award to another applicant.

NOTE: Due to the high number of UEI requests and SAM registrations, entity legal business name and address validations are taking longer than expected to process. Entities should start the UEI and SAM registration process as soon as possible. If entities have technical difficulties with the UEI validation or SAM registration process they should use the HELP feature on SAM.gov. SAM.gov will address service tickets in the order in which they are received and asks that entities not create multiple service tickets for the same request or technical issue. Additional entity validation resources can be found here: GSAFSD Tier 0 Knowledge Base - Validating your Entity.

Modifications

All modifications to the FOA are [HIGHLIGHTED] in the body of the FOA.

· Updated Table 3 to align the Allowable Fuel Types with Table 1.

EERE T 540.117-01: Funding Opportunity Announcement

Template Version November 2023 Questions about this FOA? FY24BETOSCALE-UP@ee.doe.gov Problems with EERE Exchange? Email EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov Include FOA name and number in subject line.

Table of Contents

Questions about this FOA? FY24BETOSCALE-UP@ee.doe.gov Problems with EERE Exchange? Email EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov Include FOA name and number in subject line.

iv

Funding Opportunity Description

Background and Context

Background and Purpose

Building a clean and equitable energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050“ to the benefit of all Americans.[footnoteRef:2] The Department of Energy (DOE) is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D), and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of underserved communities. [2: Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” January 27, 2021.]

In support of these Administration priorities, the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) conducts research, development and demonstration (RD&D) activities to enable a diverse supply of renewable waste streams and biomass as well as cost-effective conversion technologies nationwide, emphasizing later-stage demonstration to accelerate deployment of biofuels and bioproducts. As part of a comprehensive strategy to decarbonize all modes of transportation, BETO is primarily focused on production of “drop-in” biofuels that serve hard-to-electrify transportation modes such as aviation, marine, rail, off-road, and heavy-duty trucks. The U.S. transportation sector overwhelmingly relies on petroleum, which supplies over 90 percent of its energy needs.[footnoteRef:3] Aviation, marine, and heavy-duty vehicles account for 37 percent of transportation energy use.[footnoteRef:4] These modes are projected to grow considerably faster than other modes and are more difficult to electrify, making drop-in biofuels a near-term option to reduce petroleum use and carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions. [3: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/transportation.php.] [4: Davis, Stacy C., and Robert G. Boundy. Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 39. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2020, https://doi.org/10.2172/1767864.]

This FOA supports high-impact technology RD&D to accelerate the bioeconomy via the production of low-carbon fuels for the aviation, marine, rail, and heavy-duty industries, and renewable chemical production with dramatically reduced lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to the petroleum incumbent. BETO is focused on RD&D to improve the performance and reduce cost of biofuel and renewable chemical production technologies and scale-up production systems in partnership with industry. By reducing cost and technical risk, BETO can help pave the way for industry to deploy commercial-scale integrated biorefineries and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors, such as the aviation industry. Under the current BETO vision, these biomass feedstocks will be developed for use in the production of renewable fuels and chemicals through a variety of conversion technologies. BETO is focused on developing and demonstrating technologies that are capable of producing low-carbon, cost-effective biofuels and products by 2030, via production pathways that can deliver at least 70% lower lifecycle GHG emissions than petroleum. BETO further aims to support the demonstration of 4-5 fully integrated biorefineries, thereby increasing the number of proven pathways to produce sustainable aviation fuels, as well as sustainable marine, heavy-duty truck, off-road vehicle, and rail fuels, by 2030.

This FOA continues BETO’s multi-year biorefinery scale-up strategy to fill the RD&D-to-industry pipeline as technologies are ready to scale, ultimately demonstrating feedstock conversion or production pathways to support commercialization of sustainable transportation fuels and renewable chemicals. The scale-up strategy utilizes a phased approach with a down-select between Phase 1: Verification and Design Basis Definition and Phase 2: Detailed Design, Construction and Operation of pilot- or demonstration-scale biorefineries.

Technology Space and Strategic Goals

The U.S. has the potential to sustainably produce enough renewable carbon resources to meet the demand for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), provide renewable alternatives for other hard to electrify modes, including marine, and a variety of carbon-based chemicals.[footnoteRef:5] The availability and cost of renewable carbon resources vary geographically; each resource type, such as agricultural waste, forestry waste, municipal solid waste, and purpose-grown energy crops, has its own unique technology challenges, market barriers and opportunities. BETO manages its RD&D portfolio with the goal of enabling the production of biofuels and bioproducts from the entire range of renewable carbon resources—demonstrating and supporting scale-up of the most viable, commercially-ready production systems, while continuing RD&D on new production pathways that will be essential to meeting long-term decarbonization goals. [5: U.S. Department of Energy. 2024. 2023 Billion‐Ton Report: An Assessment of U.S. Renewable Carbon Resources. M. H. Langholtz (Lead). Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ORNL/SPR-2024/3103. doi: 10.23720/BT2023/2316165.]

This FOA seeks applications to address the scale-up of promising technical pathways that produce cost-effective biofuels for aviation, marine, rail, off-road vehicle and heavy-duty trucks, and renewable chemicals. This FOA will fund the development, testing, and verification at engineering scale, of new technology and feedstock pathways for integrated biorefineries to reduce technology uncertainty through cost-shared pilot- and demonstration-scale biorefinery projects with industry. BETO will continue implementing its multi-year strategy to fill the technology-to-market pipeline as technologies are ready to scale, ultimately demonstrating enough feedstock-conversion variations, or production pathways, to support commercialization and meet the SAF Grand Challenge goal of 35 billion gallons per year SAF production by 2050.[footnoteRef:6] The major focus of the effort is to build demonstration-scale integrated biorefineries to de-risk technologies that will put the transportation sector on the trajectory for net-zero emissions by 2050. The successful scale-up and commercial deployment of these integrated biorefineries will contribute to decreasing CO2 emissions by 450 million metric tons (MMT) per year by 2050. [6: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/sustainable-aviation-fuel-grand-challenge]

Illustrative biofuel pathway progress is assessed annually by BETO using techno-economic analyses (TEA), which translate technology development into modeled gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) price improvements. These results, along with life cycle analysis (LCA) of energy and emissions and supply chain sustainability analyses, which estimate the environmental impact of improvements, are referred to by BETO as the state of technology. Figure 1 illustrates the TEA impact of technology development progress representing a significant reduction in the modeled Minimum Fuel Selling Price (MFSP) and projections of future improvements for one example technology pathway.

Figure 1: Illustrative biofuel pathway progress toward a cost competitive fuel (woody feedstocks via catalytic fast pyrolysis and upgrading pathway). [footnoteRef:7] [7: D. S. Hartley, D. N. Thompson, and H. Cai, Woody Feedstocks 2019 State of Technology Report (Idaho Falls, ID: Idaho National Laboratory, INL/EXT-20-57181, 2019), https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/Sort_21882.pdf.]

Significant RD&D is still required to reach the ultimate trajectory of a cost competitive MFSP and to achieve the desired 70% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Topic Areas in this FOA seek to directly address the development of integrated processes, tested and verified at engineering scale, to reduce technological uncertainties and enable industry deployment.

This FOA also supports scale-up activities to produce organic chemicals and cost-advantaged bioproducts from biomass and waste feedstocks that can replace those currently derived from petroleum. The U.S. bulk chemicals industry accounted for 274 million metric tons (MMT) of CO2 emissions in 2020.[footnoteRef:8] This substantial carbon footprint can be broadly attributed to a combination of the fossil carbon input required in production as well as the high energy requirements to convert that carbon to the targeted product.[footnoteRef:9] While other sectors of the economy can completely decarbonize at the point of end-use, most of the organics, petrochemicals, and polymer resins produced and used in the US today will remain carbon-based for the foreseeable future. These chemicals make up approximately 40% of the overall GHG footprint of the chemicals industry, and the use of alternative carbon feedstocks such as biomass, municipal solid waste, and CO2 provides an opportunity to not only reduce the carbon footprint of the input material but also a route to conversion strategies of that require less energy. Such technologies are the target of Topic Area 3 and are essential for achieving a net-zero economy by 2050. [8: DOE. 2022. “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap.” September 2022. Pg. 59. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/Industrial%20Decarbonization%20Roadmap.pdf] [9: Nicholson SR et al., ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. 2023. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05417

Topic Areas 1 and 2 of this FOA will identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing project definition, development, and execution plans for the scaling of biofuel technologies to pilot-, or demonstration-scale plants to produce renewable fuels for aviation, off-road, marine, rail, and heavy-duty transportation modes. Topic Area 3 of this FOA supports scale-up activities to produce organic chemicals from renewable feedstocks. Detailed technical descriptions of the specific Topic Areas are provided in the sections that follow.

Teaming Partner List DOE is compiling a Teaming Partner List to facilitate the formation of project teams for this FOA. The Teaming Partner List allows organizations that may wish to participate on a project to express their interest to other applicants and explore potential partnerships.

The Teaming Partner List will be available on EERE eXCHANGE and will be regularly updated to reflect new teaming partners who provide their organization’s information.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: View the Teaming Partner List by visiting the EERE eXCHANGE homepage and clicking on “Teaming Partners” within the left-hand navigation pane. This page allows users to view published Teaming Partner Lists. To join the Teaming Partner List, submit a request within eXCHANGE. Select the appropriate Teaming Partner List from the drop-down menu and fill in the following information: Investigator Name, Organization Name, Organization Type, Topic Area, Background and Capabilities, Website, Contact Address, Contact Email, and Contact Phone.

DISCLAIMER: By submitting a request to be included on the Teaming Partner List, the requesting organization consents to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating the Teaming Partner List, DOE is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. DOE will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any applicants or requesting organizations for the development of such information.

Topic Areas

1. Scale-up of Bioenergy Technologies Overview

Significant progress has been made in the biofuels industry through both government and private sector RD&D over the last 10 years; some technologies are now ready for scale-up to support their ultimate commercialization. BETO recognizes that the availability of financing for first-of-a-kind process systems can be a barrier to the commercialization of advanced biofuels. Pilot- and demonstration-scale facilities are key to ensuring that commercial biorefineries are successful. BETO is looking for bioenergy FOA applicants that are ready to move their technologies from the laboratory to the pilot and demonstration stages and eventually commercialization.

Based on lessons learned from previous pilot, demonstration, and pioneer integrated biorefineries, BETO’s scale-up strategy will:

· Allow projects to be funded at either the pilot or demonstration scale.

· Require that projects have the data to show they have completed the previous stage successfully. BETO will accept this data from either a previous BETO-funded demonstration or a self-completed biorefinery plant operation performed by the recipient.

· Provide a consistent scale-up funding opportunity subject to future appropriations and the availability of funds to decrease the uncertainty surrounding bioenergy technologies in industry.

This continuing scale-up strategy includes a multi-faceted approach in partnership with the private sector, the DOE national laboratories, and academia, which brings together the following elements:

· Focus on the RD&D of sustainable aviation fuel[footnoteRef:10], heavy-duty truck[footnoteRef:11] fuel, sustainable marine fuel[footnoteRef:12], off-road vehicle fuel[footnoteRef:13], sustainable rail fuel[footnoteRef:14] and renewable organic chemicals; [10: See Glossary (Appendix J) for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) definition as it pertains to this FOA.] [11: See Glossary (Appendix J) for heavy-duty truck definition as it pertains to this FOA.] [12: See Glossary (Appendix J) for sustainable marine fuel definition as it pertains to this FOA. ] [13: See Glossary (Appendix J) for off-road vehicle fuel definition as it pertains to this FOA] [14: See Glossary (Appendix J) for Sustainable rail fuel definition as it pertains to this FOA.]

· Provision of opportunities for pilot- and demonstration-scale projects;

· Allowance for renewable fuels that are not liquid at standard temperature and pressure; e.g, liquefied petroleum gas ( LPG) or renewable natural gas (RNG);

· Inclusion of opportunities for a variety of feedstocks including traditional agricultural and forestry wastes, other lignocellulosic feedstocks, algae, organic wet waste, sorted municipal solid waste, food waste, biogas, grain starch, oilseed crops, waste carbon dioxide (CO2), and CO2 by direct air capture. Reference Appendix E for a full list of acceptable feedstocks for each Topic Area. Any application or project proposing the use of any feedstock source not included in Appendix E is not of interest under this FOA and will not be considered.

· Leveraging the existing infrastructure, supply chains, and resources from adjacent industries, including but not limited to first-generation biorefineries, petrochemical production, and pulp and paper production; and

· Encouraging the development and use of predictive models and high-performance computing as tools to lower risk and accelerate scale-up of biotechnologies.

The goal for this work is to help speed the uptake and commercialization of these technologies by the private sector.

To reach that goal, the FOA will fund projects at various levels of technology readiness from pilot to demonstration scale, jointly ranging from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 to 7. BETO is focused on funding these larger-scale applications with the goal of providing a path to the construction and commissioning of four to five demonstration-scale renewable-fuel-producing biorefineries by 2030. Of particular interest are those proposing technologies that support fuels for sustainable aviation, marine, rail, off-road and heavy-duty transportation modes (as opposed to light-duty vehicles); CO2 conversion; waste and underutilized carbon feedstocks[footnoteRef:15]; and novel process technologies at the pilot and demonstration scales that leverage existing first-generation biorefinery assets and infrastructure. [15: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/waste-energy]

BETO anticipates the availability of $12,000,000 to fund Topic Areas 1, 2 and 3, collectively (reference Section II.A.I). This includes only the verification and preliminary design of pilots and demonstrations. (“Phase 1” of the projects, as described below). Selections may be made from only one Topic Area or multiple Topic Areas, depending on the Applicant pool and the outcome of the evaluation process.

Topic Area 1: Pilot Scale-up of Integrated Biorefineries – Phase 1 Preliminary Design and Phased Construction

Topic Area 1 will identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing project definition, development, and execution plans for the scaling of pre-pilot biofuel and bioproduct technologies to pilot scale, including only the following activities:

· the manufacturing of sustainable aviation fuel, heavy-duty truck fuel, off-road vehicle fuel, sustainable marine fuel, and/or sustainable rail fuel;

· fuels may be liquid or gaseous at standard temperature and pressure;

· novel process technologies that leverage existing first generation, grain starch, biorefinery assets and infrastructure; and/or

· novel process technologies that leverage U.S.-produced, oilseed crops (see Appendix E) that meet all other metrics of Topic Area 1, including achieving at least 70% GHG reductions. This activity may include the utilization of oil-seed cover crops, the co-processing of intermediates and oilseed oils, blending of SAFs from various feedstocks, among other innovative concepts.

Topic Area 1, Pilot Scale-up of Integrated Biorefineries – Phase 1 Preliminary Design and Phased Construction, is intended for projects that have all prior-scale data and are ready to design a pilot facility. Projects selected under Topic Area 1 may have an opportunity to construct and operate their designed pilot facility based on the down-select process described below.

Topic Area 1 will provide the ability for pre-pilot technologies to scale to pilot scale. Pilot-scale facilities developed under Topic Area 1 must produce, at the plant’s rated capacity, a minimum quantity of 20,000 gallons per year of liquid biobased hydrocarbon fuel for aviation, marine, rail, off-road, or heavy duty applications.

Scaled-up and integrated operations of these process technologies are essential to enable the industry to build future demonstration-, pioneer-, and commercial-scale facilities. Successfully scaling and operating process technology is critical for biotechnologies to remain a significant near-term decarbonization pathway.

Applications submitted under Topic Area 1 must meet a minimum neat biofuel throughput of 20,000 gallons per year equivalent. Proposed technologies must meet 70% GHG reduction relative to the petroleum-derived alternative. Although 70% GHG reduction is the minimum allowable, applications with greater GHG reductions are highly encouraged and may receive preference by way of a Program Policy Factor (section V.C.i). The minimum baseline technology readiness level for projects submitted under this topic is TRL 5 with a maximum of TRL 6 at the conclusion of the project. Minimum requirements for Topic Area 1 are shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Topic Area 1 Project Minimum Requirements*

Fuel Type[footnoteRef:16] [16: See Glossary (Appendix J) for the definitions of fuel types pertaining to this FOA.]

Sustainable aviation fuel, heavy-duty truck fuel, sustainable marine fuel, off-road vehicle fuel, and/or sustainable rail fuel.

Allowable Feedstocks[footnoteRef:17] [17: see Appendix G for feedstock definitions]

Lignocellulosic Feedstocks, Algae, Organic Wet Waste, Sorted Municipal Solid Waste, Food Waste, Biogas, Grain Starch, Oilseed Crops, C&D Waste, Waste CO2, and CO2 by Direct Air Capture

*Applications submitted under Topic Area 1 must reflect the minimum requirements indicated in this table as the expectation for an eventual facility that may be constructed and operated in Phase 2, subject to the application’s down-selection from Phase 1.

Given the high cost and complexity of pilot-scale projects, selected applicants in Topic Area 1 will undergo a phased approach as depicted below in Table 2: Topic Area 1 Award Structure. Phase 1 will consist of a 24-month “Verification & Design Basis Definition” phase to verify prior-scale data and readiness to proceed. Up to $3,000,000 of federal funds will be made available for each selected Phase 1 project. A minimum of 50% cost share is required for Phase 1. DOE will conduct a down-select review between Phase 1 and the final design/construction/operation phase (Phase 2), also referred to as Critical Decision (CD) 2.[footnoteRef:18] The down-select decision will be made by DOE at the completion of the 12 to 24-month Phase 1 period. Project performance in Phase 1, as well as portfolio balance, availability of funds, and other factors, will be considered in the down-select process. Please see Appendix I – Preliminary Design Requirements for a list of the criteria upon which EERE will evaluate Phase 1 projects. Only projects selected by DOE as a result of the down-select process will be eligible to receive additional Phase 2 funding, subject to future appropriations and availability of funds and be permitted to proceed into the 36-60 month design/construction/operation phase (Phase 2). [18: https://www.directives.doe.gov/directives-documents/400-series/0413.3-BOrder-b/@@images/file]

Table 2: Topic Area 1 Award Structure – Preliminary Design and Phased Construction

Phase 1 – Verification & Design Basis Definition (12 - 24 Months)

Go/No-Go Review of Verification outcome

Down-select (CD-2) Approve project scope and begin design (Subject to future appropriations and availability of funds)

Phase 2 – Final Design, Construction, Operation (36-60 Months)

Go/No-Go (CD-3) Review to approve start of construction

Go/No-Go (CD-4) Performance test to verify readiness to begin operations

Applications should consider Phase 2 (Final Design, Construction, Operation) pilot -scale projects on the order of $15,000,000 of federal funds plus a minimum of 50% Applicant cost-share when developing their Phase 1 applications. Only Phase 1 funds will be obligated at time of initial award. Selection for a Phase 1 award does not guarantee a Phase 2 award. Phase 2 funds are subject to future appropriations and availability of funds, which may be obligated to successful Phase 2 awards only in the event that a down-select occurs (see section VI.C.).

Topic Area 1 Phase 1 Deliverables

At the end of Phase 1, a full design package and other project deliverables will be reviewed and verified by DOE and its Independent Engineer. The full design package includes items such as Process Design Basis Documents, Process Flow Diagrams, Mass and Energy Balances, budgetary estimates, and schedules. A complete list of design package elements and other Phase 1 requirements is found in Appendix I.

Topic Area 1 Initial Project Verification

All Topic Area 1, Phase 1 projects will be subject to an initial verification effort to review their baseline and proposed targets and will result in a Go/No-Go decision (see Section VI.B.xv). The verification will require that the selected applicant conduct a performance test of the process proposed in its application. The performance test will require that the selected applicant reproduce data sets commensurate to the prior-scale work presented in the application. The prior-scale data sets must be provided to DOE or its representatives (such as an Independent Engineer), for review in support of the verification effort. The outcome of this performance test will be a primary component of the Go/No-Go decision. Applicants must include this task within their proposed scope, schedule, and budget. It is anticipated that the initial verification can take up to six months; Applicants must include this task in their schedule as Budget Period 1.

Note: Applicants will be required to execute the appropriate Conflict of Interest and Non-disclosure Agreements (COI/NDA) with DOE’s representatives immediately after negotiation and execution of an award. Failure to execute the COI/NDAs in a reasonable amount of time to enable the verification review will result in a ‘No-Go’ decision. with respect to the initial verification of Phase 1. Projects that receive a ‘Go’ decision at the conclusion of the initial verification effort and proceed to Budget Period 2 will also be subject to a final verification review as part of the down-select process prior to Phase 2.

Topic Area 1 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Considerations

All Topic Area 1 project activities will be subject to NEPA review. Applicants must account for NEPA-related efforts in the project scope, schedule, and budget. Phase 1 of each award will be limited in scope, as it will focus only on project development and design activities related to future pilot- or demonstration-scale integrated biorefineries. Under Phase 1, limited modifications to existing facilities to complete the prior scale data set may be allowed; construction of new facilities will not be allowed.

Any construction activities will be restricted to Phase 2. DOE will complete additional NEPA review and NEPA determination for Phase 2 activities. See SectionVI.B.vi for additional information on NEPA requirements. It should be noted that new construction or significant modification of an existing facility will likely trigger an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement. Proper budgeting and scheduling must be accounted for within the proposed project’s application.

Topic Area 1 Additional Financial Requirements

If selected through DOE’s down-selection process, award recipients will be required to demonstrate their financial readiness to proceed into Phase 2. This includes demonstrating the ability to provide all required cost share and contingency funds reserve (see below) prior to entering into Phase 2 of the project. Recipients are required to secure all cost share and contingency prior to proceeding into Phase 2. Throughout the award life cycle, DOE will review and monitor the financial capability of the Recipient and other key organizations within the project team, such as parent companies or cost share providers. DOE may also conduct pre-award accounting system audits, financial capability reviews, or reviews of financial or compliance audits.

A contingency funds reserve is required for all Phase 2 activities. DOE experience and industry best practice show that a minimum of 25% of Total Project Cost (federal share and cost share) for Phase 2 Costs is necessary to allow the project to continue when unexpected expenses are encountered. Award recipients must demonstrate that they can meet the financial needs of Phase 2 of their project when submitting a continuation application. The continuation application (see Section VI.B.xv) for Phase 2 must include documentation showing that the Recipient has access to this minimum 25% required contingency. Contingency funds must be: (a) liquid, (b) immediately available, and (c) unrestricted funds dedicated exclusively to the project for the purpose of mitigating project performance baseline risk. The contingency funds reserve is in addition to Total Project Costs and cannot count towards cost share, until expended. If expended, the contingency will not result in reimbursement by DOE above the total federal share approved in the award. DOE highly discourages selected applicants from reducing scope to comply with the contingency funds reserve requirement.

Topic Area 1 Specific Requirements

The following requirements must be addressed in the application and the strength of the applicant’s discussion will be evaluated by the independent technical review panel for engineering and scientific merit (see evaluation criteria in Section V.A.ii.):

· Projects must meet or exceed all minimum metrics listed above in Table 1: Topic Area 1 Project Minimum Requirements* as the expectation for an eventual facility that may be constructed and operated in Phase 2, subject to the application’s down-selection from Phase 1.

· Applications submitted under Topic Area 1 must utilize an allowable feedstock as defined in Table 1 and Appendix E.

· Applications submitted under Topic Area 1 are required to participate in the Verification Process as described in Section I.C.

· Applications must contain techno-economic and life cycle analyses (TEA and LCA) that relate the key technical parameters of the proposed technology described in the proposal application to achieving a cost competitive MFSP and GHG reduction targets. Previously achieved values, scales, and durations should be delineated from the values necessary to meet the targeted MFSP so that the level of technology advancement needed is clear.

· A Block Flow Diagram and Supplemental Data template are required as part of the application.

· Scale-up factors[footnoteRef:19] per unit operation[footnoteRef:20] can be no greater than 50x. [19: See Glossary (Appendix J) for scale-up factor definition as it pertains to this FOA.] [20: See Glossary (Appendix J) for unit operation definition as it pertains to this FOA.]

· All major equipment being utilized in the pilot must be based on the equipment that will be used in the eventual commercial facility. For example, if a fluidized bed will be utilized in the commercial scale a fluidized bed must be utilized in the pilot facility.

· Topic Area 1 allows for production of bioproducts as coproducts if essential for the overall economics of biofuel production. However, of all the carbon contained in the biofuels and coproducts, at least 50% must be in the biofuel(s). Higher percentages of utilizable carbon[footnoteRef:21] found in the biofuels may be prioritized by use of a Program Policy Factor (section V.C.i). [21: See Glossary (Appendix J) for utilizable carbon definition as it pertains to this FOA.]

· Renewable fuels must demonstrate a reasonable chance of receiving ASTM or other regulatory approvals as evidenced by substantial discussion in the narrative and inclusion of necessary tasks in the Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO).

· Applications proposing co-processing with an existing petroleum refinery must address how at least 50% of the biogenic carbon would be converted to a biofuel and how this would be measured, as evidenced by substantial discussion in the narrative and inclusion of necessary tasks in the SOPO.

· Applications cannot include greater than 10% of the total project budget for earlier stage RD&D (<TRL 5), including expenses for equipment, salaries, and supplies.

· Biofuels (and bioproducts) must be produced in the U.S.

Topic Area 1 Applications Specifically Not of Interest

· Those identified in Section I.D. of the FOA.

Topic Area 1 Special Deliverables

In addition to the deliverables required in the Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist, the following deliverables are required for awards made under Topic Area 1:

· Attendance and participation at the BETO Biennial Peer Review is required so that external subject matter experts can review project accomplishments and provide feedback to ensure optimal use of BETO funds.

· A publicly releasable final technical report describing how the technology would contribute to the BETO 2030 goal being cost competitive with petroleum-based fuels (model TEA for nth plant) with at least 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to petroleum derived fuels.

· Recipients will be required to provide input for DOE’s design cases (link to our latest State of Technology Report that discusses these design cases can be found at the link provided below) to refine the various program models (such as TEA and LCA) in an anonymous manner (permitting the data to be made publicly available).

· (https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/07/f76/beto-2019-state-of-technology-july-2020-r1.pdf)

All work under EERE funding agreements must be performed in the United States. See Section IV.K.iii. and Appendix C.

Topic Area 2: Demonstration Scale-up of Integrated Biorefineries – Phase 1 Preliminary Design and Phased Construction

Topic Area 2 will identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing project definition, development, and execution plans for the scaling of pilot biofuel and bioproduct technologies to demonstration scale, including only the following activities:

· the manufacturing of sustainable aviation fuel, heavy-duty truck fuel, off-road vehicle fuel, sustainable marine fuel, and/or sustainable rail fuel;

· fuels may be liquid or gaseous at standard temperature and pressure;

· novel process technologies that leverage existing first generation, grain starch, biorefinery assets and infrastructure; and/or

· novel process technologies that leverage US-produced, oilseed crops (see Appendix E) that meet all other metrics of the topic area, including achieving at least 70% GHG reductions. This can include the utilization of oil-seed cover crops, the co-processing of intermediates and oilseed oils, blending of SAFs from various feedstocks, among other innovative concepts.

Topic Area 2, Demonstration Scale-up of Integrated Biorefineries – Phase 1 Preliminary Design and Phased Construction, is intended for projects that have all prior scale data and are ready to design a demonstration-scale facility. Projects selected under Topic Area 2 may have an opportunity to construct and operate their designed pilot facility based on the down-select process described below.

Topic Area 2 will provide the ability for proven, integrated pilot technologies to scale to demonstration scale. Demonstration scale facilities developed under Topic Area 2 must produce at the plant’s rated capacity, a minimum quantity of 1,000,000 gallons per year of liquid biobased hydrocarbon fuel for aviation, marine, rail, or heavy-duty applications.

Scaled-up and integrated operations of these process technologies are essential to enable the industry to build future demonstration, pioneer, and commercial scale facilities. Successfully scaling and operating process technology is critical for biotechnologies to remain a significant near-term decarbonization pathway.

Applications submitted under Topic Area 2 must meet a minimum neat biofuel throughput of 1,000,000 gallons per year equivalent. Proposed technologies must meet 70% GHG reduction relative to the petroleum-derived alternative. Although 70% GHG reduction is the minimum allowable, applications with greater GHG reductions are highly encouraged and may receive preference by way of a Program Policy Factor (section V.C.i). The minimum baseline technology readiness level for projects submitted under this topic is TRL 6 with a maximum of TRL 7 at the conclusion of the project. Minimum requirements for Topic Area 2 are shown in Table 3 below:

Table 3: Topic Area 2 Minimum Requirements

Fuel Type[footnoteRef:22] [22: See Glossary (Appendix J) for fuel renewable definitions pertaining to this FOA. ]

Sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel, heavy-duty truck fuel, sustainable marine fuel, off-road vehicle fuel and/or sustainable rail fuel

Allowable Feedstocks[footnoteRef:23] [23: see Appendix G for feedstock definitions]

Lignocellulosic Feedstocks, Algae, Organic Wet Waste, Sorted Municipal Solid Waste, Food Waste, Biogas, Grain Starch, Oilseed Crops, C&D Waste, Waste CO2, and CO2 by Direct Air Capture

*Applications submitted under Topic Area 2 must reflect the minimum requirements indicated in this table as the expectation for an eventual facility that may be constructed and operated in Phase 2, subject to the application’s down-selection from Phase 1.

Given the high cost and complexity of demonstration-scale projects, selected applicants in Topic Area 2 will undergo a phased approach as depicted in Table 4 below. Phase 1 will consist of a 24-month “Verification & Design Basis Definition” phase to verify prior-scale data and readiness to proceed. Up to $3,000,000 of federal funds will be made available for each Phase 1 project. A minimum of 50% cost share is required for Phase 1. DOE will conduct a down-select review between Phase 1 and the final design/construction/operation phase (Phase 2), also referred to as Critical Decision (CD) 2.[footnoteRef:24] The down-select decision will be made by DOE at the completion of the 24-month Phase 1 period. Project performance in Phase 1, as well as portfolio balance, availability of funds, and other factors, will be considered in the down-select process. Please see Appendix I – Preliminary Design Requirements for a list of the criteria upon which EERE will evaluate Phase 1 projects. Only projects selected by DOE as a result of the down-select process will be eligible to receive additional Phase 2 funding, subject to future appropriations and the availability of funds, and be permitted to proceed into the 36-60 month design/construction/operation phase (Phase 2). [24: https://www.directives.doe.gov/directives-documents/400-series/0413.3-BOrder-b/@@images/file]

Table 4: Topic Area 2 Award Structure – Preliminary Design and Phased Construction

Phase 1 – Verification & Design Basis Definition (12 - 24 Months)

Go/No-Go

Down-select (CD-2) Approve project scope and begin design (Subject to future appropriations and availability of funds)

Phase 2 – Final Design, Construction, Operation (36-60 Months)

Go/No-Go (CD-3)

Go/No-Go (CD-4)

Applications should consider Phase 2 (Final Design, Construction, Operation) projects on the order of $100,000,000 of federal funds plus a minimum of 50% applicant cost-share when developing their Phase 1 applications. Only Phase 1 funds will be obligated at time of initial award. Selection for Phase 1 award does not guarantee a Phase 2 award.