Photo Credit: Joanna Schroeder

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is calling for input to achieve its Bioeconomy vision set forth in its “Growing the Billion-ton Bioeconomy” report. The DOE is seeking ideas from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies and other stakeholders that would enable the country to meet the goals of the report. In particular, they are looking for input about specific aspects in the development of large-scale supply systems and technologies that will supply up to a billion dry tons of biomass feedstocks for multiple uses. The goal of this Request for Information (RFI) is to develop the components of processing and handling (unit operations) of biomass and demonstrate the viability of Advanced Feedstock Supply Systems (AFSS) on-scale in the future.

The RFI categories include:

• Preprocessing technologies
• Quality management
• Strategies for mobilizing a billion tons of biomass resources

The DOE says existing feedstock supply systems are not adequate to reliably provide high-quality feedstock at the increasing volumes demanded over the next few decades; therefore, new logistics and processing technologies and systems are needed to address these challenges to support a growing biomass-derived industry and bioeconomy. DOE cites that adaptation of current systems and the development of new technologies and approaches are needed to overcome the barriers associated with the collection/harvest, storage, preprocessing, and transportation of increasing volumes of biomass annually. Higher biomass demands at greater quality require more innovative approaches to supply feedstock from across the U.S.

Click here to view the full RFI. Responses must be received no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 30, 2016.