NREL and Partners to Make Jet Fuel from Switchgrass

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy is collaborating with Cobalt Technologies, U.S. Navy, and Show Me Energy Cooperative to carry out a demonstration-scale jet fuel production from switch grass.

The collaborative project seeks to combine NREL's expertise in pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation with Cobalt's promising microorganisms to produce the butanol intermediate. Cobalt and the Navy will use their technologies to convert butanol into jet fuel at the NREL biorefinery pilot plant. Show Me Energy Cooperative will provide the switchgrass feedstock and a potential site for a new, larger biorefinery if the demonstration succeeds.

The project is part of the government's efforts to support renewable biofuels as a domestic alternative to power military and civilian aircraft and vehicles. It aims to demonstrate that the resulting bio-jet fuel from a non-food biomass can be a cost competitive alternative that meets military specifications, thus reducing the Department of Defense's dependence on fossil fuels.

If the test succeeds to show that the process is ready for commercial scale, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense will help private firms to build capacity for commercialization.