KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Jan. 11, 2013 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $25 million to fund research and development of next-generation renewable energy and high-value biobased products from a variety of biomass sources. Vilsack made his announcement from a state-of-the-art bioindustrial facility at Renmatix headquarters.
"USDA's continuing investments in research and development are proving a critical piece of President Obama's strategy to spur innovation of clean bioenergy right here at home and reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Vilsack. "The advances made through this research will help to boost local economies throughout rural America, creating and sustaining good-paying jobs, while moving our nation toward a clean energy economy."
The projects announced today are funded by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, established in the 2008 Farm Bill. The funded research will help increase the availability of alternative renewable fuels and biobased products to diversify the nation's energy resources. The Department of Energy will make additional awards through this program. Each award was made through a competitive selection process.
Grant recipients are required to contribute a minimum of 20 percent matching funds for research and development projects and 50 percent matching funds for demonstration projects. Awardees must pursue projects that integrate science and engineering research in three areas: feedstocks development, biofuels and biobased products development, and biofuels and bioproducts development analysis.
For more on the bioenergy grants, visit www.nifa.usda.gov.
#30
For more news, visit www.agri-pulse.com.