DOE awards $41M to 14 projects for renewables-to-liquids technologies

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $41 million to develop technologies that harness renewable energy sources like wind and solar to produce liquids for sustainable fuels or chemicals.

These Renewables-to-Liquids (RtL) projects produce liquid fuels that can be transported and stored as easily as carbon-intensive liquids like gasoline or oil.

“With today’s announcement, the Department of Energy charges forward on its mission of finding and elevating new technologies to ensure that the United States remains innovative and energy independent,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “Renewables-to-liquids fuel production has the potential to boost the utility of renewable energy all while helping to lay the groundwork for the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of creating a clean energy economy.”

The $41 million was awarded to 14 different projects. The selected project teams will develop systems that operate at a renewable energy production site, using its electricity, carbon dioxide, and water to create liquids that can be used as renewable fuels or as replacements for conventional fuels. The clean energy can then be used throughout the United States for a variety of purposes.

Some of the projects that were selected include:

• Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, which will work on an electrochemical reactor that responds quickly to dynamic changes in renewable energy to work with direct air capture systems that produces syngas for hydrocarbon production. The award amount is $1,970,200.
• HeatPath Solutions in Lewis Center, Ohio, which will develop a new way to synthesize methanol that works dynamically with intermittent electricity from renewables to create a new path for on-site production and collection of methanol from modular reactors operating at modest temperatures and pressures. The award amount is $4,000,000.
• Susteon in Cary, NC, which seeks to develop a process to produce kerosene-range hydrocarbons using carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and renewable electricity. Susteon seeks to supply a new technology platform for the production of aviation fuels and other valuable fuels and chemicals. The ward amount is $4,999,500.

The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will manage these projects through its Grid-free Renewable Energy Enabling New Ways to Economical Liquids and Long-term Storage (GREENWELLS) program.

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