The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy intends to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a funding opportunity announcement (FOA),“Targeted Algal Biofuels and Bioproducts.”

BETO’s 2019 projected state of technology for the cost of algal biofuels is modeled at about $7 per gallon gasoline gallon equivalent, without valuable co-products such as animal feed or commodity chemicals. This FOA seeks to improve the value proposition for algal biofuels by employing multi-disciplinary consortia to produce algae bioproduct precursors (alongside fuel components), as well as single-investigator or small-team technology development projects focused on crop protection and CO2 utilization technologies for improving biomass productivity. BETO hopes these strategies will enable a 30–50% cost reduction for algal biofuels.

It is anticipated that this FOA will be posted to EERE Exchange September 2014. To see the full notice of intent, visit the EERE Exchange website.