Q&A
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or those familiar with the “Billion Ton” study, the Biomass Program under the U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program should ring a bell. The Biomass Program has been responsible for many important research and development breakthroughs in the area of biomass conversion to fuels. The U.S. DOE grant funding for commercial-scale biorefineries and the 10 percent validation plants; a series of grants for cellulase and hemicellulase development; funding for advancements in thermochemical processing; and the report titled “Effects of Intermediate Ethanol Blends on Legacy Vehicles and Small Engines,” are all products of the Biomass Program. Valri Lightner, formerly the strategic planning designated federal officer for the program and now acting director, spoke with Biomass Magazine shortly after President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Q: I think the question on everyone’s mind is how is the Obama administration is going to affect the Biomass Program? A: I think time will tell on that. It appears that he supports renewable energy, biofuels and the work we’re doing in the biomass program as part of that, and the program continues to have bipartisan support, so we’re expecting we’ll continue getting support.
that would enable those technologies to compete with those in place so those goals can be met. There are different analyses that can be done— inclusion of different policy incentives and scenarios that enable different numbers. The numbers did fall a little short but they weren’t too far off the mark from the RFS.
Q: Recently the Energy Information Administration predicted that the U.S. would likely fall short of its aggressive biofuels targets under the new renewable fuels standard, commonly referred to as RFS2. What is the Biomass Program doing to ensure those goals are met? A: We’re mainly focused on next-generation technologies—for the advanced biofuels portion of the renewable fuels standard goals. Our program is focused on doing the research, development and demonstration to drive down the cost
Q: One of the program’s goals is to make cellulosic ethanol cost competitive by 2012. Do you think this is something that can still be done? A: Let me just clarify what that goal is. That is a research and development goal, based on pilot-scale and bench-scale data put into a model projected to get to commercial scale, so we don’t think we’ll have commercial facilities operating and producing advanced biofuels at $1.33 a gallon by 2012. But we do expect to have research that shows if you projected the scale and integrated,
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