BETO Accelerates Innovation to Advance the U.S. Bioeconomy

Emerging bioenergy technologies, including everything from clothing to plastics to fuels, are transforming the foundation of our lives. Through biotechnology and biomanufacturing, sustainable biomass across the United States can be converted into new materials and provide an alternative to petroleum-based production for fuels and products. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is doing its part to strengthen America’s bioeconomy and supply chain to support clean energy innovation.

The White House recently released the Biden-⁠Harris Administration’s Actions to Advance American Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Fact Sheet in response to a September 2022 Executive Order, known as the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative. Actions outlined also support the 2023 report, Bold Goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing: Harnessing Research and Development to Further Societal Goals. The President’s commitment to a clean energy economy has spurred $29 billion in public and private sector biomanufacturing investments for projects across the country since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.

The recently released White House fact sheet highlights BETO’s progress to support long-term success of the nation’s bioeconomy. Several BETO-funded projects across its bioenergy industry consortia and DOE national laboratory system are making an impact to enable substantial investments that translate scientific discoveries into commercial applications.

Decarbonizing the Transportation, Industrial, and Agricultural Sectors

The White House highlighted BETO’s successes through several investments, including DOE’s Clean Fuels & Products Shot™, the seventh initiative in the DOE Energy Earthshots™ portfolio, focusing on decarbonizing the fuel and chemical industry through alternative sources of carbon. BETO hosted a two-day virtual summit in April 2024 that gathered stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations to learn about the Clean Fuels & Products Shot’s objectives, progress, priorities, and future plans.

The Clean Fuels & Products Shot supports the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge and the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 through developing the sustainable feedstocks and conversion technologies necessary to produce crucial fuels and carbon-based products in sectors that are difficult to fully decarbonize.

The decarbonization of America’s transportation and industrial sectors depends on a significant increase in the production of renewable biomass for use in liquid fuel, bio-based chemicals, and other products. BETO’s actions to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s decarbonization goals align with the recently released 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23), which shows that the U.S. could sustainably triple its production of biomass to more than 1 billion tons per year, producing an estimated 60 billion gallons of low greenhouse gas liquid fuels.

Biomass resources, like energy crops, in a future mature market can provide more than 400 million tons of biomass per year above current uses. Funding announcements, such as the Regional Resource Hubs for Purpose-Grown Energy Crops, supportdriving research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of low-carbon-intensity, purpose-grown energy crops critical to accelerating a clean energy economy to produce bioproducts and biofuels.

White House Highlight’s BETO’s Support of Demonstration-Scale Biomanufacturing Facilities

Scaling up SAF is a priority for BETO, and the Biden-Harris Administration is highlighting BETO’s support of $151 million to scale technologies, including demonstration-scale biomanufacturing facilities to produce millions of gallons of low-carbon fuel annually.

LanzaJet, which has been supported by BETO since 2016, unveiled the Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Soperton, Georgia in January 2024, the world’s first ethanol-based alcohol-to-jet SAF commercial production plant. With the completion of this facility, LanzaTech, its subsidiary LanzaJet, Inc., and their partners, will produce 9 million gallons of SAF and 1 million gallons of renewable diesel in its first year of operations. In addition, the facility is expected to provide the local economy with an estimated $5 million in new wages and benefits, $70 million in annual economic activity, and an estimated 80 new jobs.
SAFFiRE Renewables, with support from DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), recently broke ground on its pilot plant in Liberal, Kansas, a facility designed to turn agriculture residue into a scalable biofuel business. Ultimately, ethanol made at the plant, which will be operated by Conestoga Energy, can be upgraded into SAF using LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet technology.

BETO’s Systems Development & Integration Program is focused on lowering the risk of bioenergy production technologies through verified proof of performance at the pre-pilot, pilot, and demonstration-scales. By investing in these technologies, projects will create good-paying jobs in rural and underserved communities and enhance education and training opportunities to build the bioenergy workforce.

BETO Partnerships to Spur Innovation

The White House has recognized BETO for its investments in biomanufacturing through its collaboration with DOE’s Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Office to provide $80 million to support research, and field trials for biomass and waste feedstocks including the MACRO: Mixed Algae Conversion Research Opportunity FOA. It will award up to $18.8 million to address research and development challenges in converting algae to biofuels and bioproducts that can decarbonize domestic transportation, industry, and communities. Other BETO-funded partnerships include:

The WASTE: Waste Analysis and Strategies for Transportation End-Uses FOA, in conjunction with the Vehicle Technologies Office, awarding up to $17.5 million in federal funding to develop cost-effective strategies for communities to sustainably manage and recover potential clean energy sources from their waste streams.
BETO is also advancing ambitious decarbonization targets for the maritime transportation sector, both domestically and internationally.
DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the American Bureau of Shipping are collaborating to accelerate clean energy development in the maritime shipping industry after signing a Memorandum of Understanding at Singapore Maritime Week in April 2024.
BETO is collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with a FOA entitled, “Inflation Reduction Act Funding for Advanced Biofuels,” for up to $9.4 million for the development of advanced biofuels.

These announcements build upon more investments and a wide range of actions that the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to increase U.S. biomanufacturing capacity. This includes DOE’s involvement in the National Bioeconomy Board (NBB), as mentioned on the White House Fact Sheet. Jeff Marootian, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for DOE’s EERE, is a NBB member representing DOE and BETO, leading actions to achieve a sustainable, safe, and secure American bioeconomy.

BETO Supports Career Pathways in Bioenergy

The bioeconomy is reliant on a viable workforce, a priority for BETO through educational workforce development programs:

The Bioenergy Research and Education Bridge (BRIDGES) Program, a bioenergy case study-based national laboratory education curriculum. Educators across the U.S. gathered at Argonne National Laboratory in May 2024 for a faculty workshopto learn how to incorporate BRIDGES into the classroom and increase awareness of clean energy careers.
BETO’s AlgaePrize 2023-2025 Student Competition promotes industry-driven education, training, and workforce development. This competition also encourages students to pursue innovative ideas for the development, design, and invention of technologies within the commercial algae value chain. Fifteen finalist teams from schools across the U.S. will present their research projects to a panel of judges during the AlgaePrize Competition Weekend, April 11-13, 2025, at NREL in Golden, Colorado.
The DISCOVR (Development of Integrated Screening, Cultivar Optimization, and Verification Research) Consortium supports career pathways through internship programs. The consortium of DOE national laboratories investigates the enhancement of algae productivity to accelerate the development of algal biofuels and bioproducts. DISCOVR hosted nine laboratory interns this fiscal year, including from underrepresented groups. Outreach activities included participation in DOE’s Reaching a New Science Workforce (RENEW) program and participation in various lectures and workshops at schools across the U.S.

BETO is committed to advancing renewable and sustainable energy sources to achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious clean energy and climate goals.

About the Author

Dr. Valerie Sarisky-Reed is the director of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). In this role, she manages efforts to improve performance, lower costs, and accelerate market entry of bioenergy technologies. She assists in overseeing strategic planning to meet aggressive goals covered by the BETO research and development budget of approximately $250M annually, working with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) national laboratories, academia, and industry.