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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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DOE OSTI2025

Microbial Design for a Developing Bioeconomy: Frontier Science for the Bioeconomy Workshop Series

The Microbial Design for a Developing Bioeconomy workshop report is one of a four-part Frontier Science for the Bioeconomy series hosted by the DOE Biological and Environmental Research program’s Biological Systems Science Division. The series defines frontiers of plant science, agriculture, synthetic biology, biobased materials, and environmental microbiome science that will unlock the promise of an innovative, resilient U.S. bioeconomy.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Plant Design for a Developing Bioeconomy Workshop Report: Frontier Science for the Bioeconomy Workshop Series

Recent advances in fundamental plant biology research, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence (AI) are unlocking powerful new capabilities in plant biodesign, offering unprecedented potential to reimagine plants as programmable platforms for resource-efficient production of bioenergy, biomaterials, chemicals, and more. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) convened the Plant Design for a Developing Bioeconomy virtual workshop on March 12 through 14, 2025, to bring together leaders across plant science, engineering, and computation to assess the current landscape and define a bold vision for future research. Discussions during the workshop built upon findings included in DOE’s Biological and Environmental Research (BER) workshop report Overcoming Barriers in Plant Transformation: A Focus on Bioenergy Crops (U.S. DOE 2024; genomicscience. energy.gov/plant-transformation). Participants identified critical knowledge gaps, technical barriers, and emerging opportunities in the design and engineering of plant systems to support a robust, resilient domestic bioeconomy aligned with DOE’s mission.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Resilient Crop Production for the Bioeconomy: Frontier Science for the Bioeconomy Workshop Series

A bioeconomy based on energy, chemicals, and bioproducts derived from nonfood crops promotes U.S. prosperity, energy independence, and national security. Crop productivity (i.e., yield) affects profitability for farmers, whereas biomass and seed oil quality affects profitability for biorefineries through the conversion efficiency of feedstock crops into energy, chemicals, and bioproducts. Scientific breakthroughs in plant genetics and genomics, ecological processes, bioprocessing, microbial engineering and design, and conversion technologies have improved the potential market viability of products derived from nonfood crops specifically cultivated as biomass and seed oil feedstocks. Improving understanding of a plant’s complex responses to withstand or recover from stress is crucial to maintaining feedstock yield and quality, particularly in challenging production zones. Stress may be related to biotic or abiotic (i.e., nonliving) environmental conditions that negatively affect plant growth, development, and productivity. Research and development to enhance the environmental resilience of feedstock crops will enable improved production by minimizing losses during stress and improving production on currently economically nonviable marginal lands.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Stepping into the Midwest Bioeconomy: Stakeholder Engagement and Geospatial Tools to Assist in Perennial Bioenergy Crop Decision Making and Entrepreneurship

This project, “Ecosystem Services and Farm Entrepreneurship Technical Assistance,” was a three-year project originally planned for FY22–FY24. Due to a late start and a few extensions, it is being completed in early FY25. This project explored opportunities to support the deployment of a bioeconomy with a circular, more sustainable supply chain. Using a tool developed by Argonne to identify agricultural areas suitable for use in the bioeconomy, we sought to create opportunities in the bioeconomy as biomass producers, bioenergy users, and environmental entrepreneurs. We proposed to focus at the beginning on enhancing the tool’s capabilities, while engaging with key stakeholders to improve and expand the tool’s functionality for all potential stakeholders in the bioeconomy. We believe that expanding our tools and technologies, coupled with conversations in agricultural spaces, will be needed as we continue to explore how best to offer farmers whole-of supply-chain opportunities to participate in the bioeconomy. Through this project we have continued to gain a better understanding of the ways in which farmers, landowners, bioenergy users, and environmental entrepreneurs may approach the bioeconomy. In addition, as we improve our analytic toolkit, we can continue to refine our communication and the ways in which we can valuate the bioeconomy. Refining these tools allows us to dive deeper into conversations around plausible policies and drivers for future bioeconomy investment and engagement by stakeholders. By working with farmers and agricultural landowners to enable a sustainable bioeconomy business model, enhance their energy options, and recover resources from their waste streams, this project directly responds to the Bioenergy Technology Office’s (BETO) priorities of building a resilient energy economy. It addresses BETO’s focus on fostering the development and adoption of energy technologies that enable the conversion of waste to energy, efficient land use, and robust job creation. By establishing a technical assistance program that develops capabilities and practices in agricultural areas to implement a bioeconomy future, this program will develop an important linkage between technology being developed at U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and the agricultural communities of the Midwest. This project focuses on farmers with lower productivity farmland. Because less productive lands create a more difficult revenue stream for conventional crops, these farmers may therefore be more open to alternative agricultural land management regimes. Consequently, the technical assistance program and the methodologies for targeting perennial bioenergy crop application on marginal land provide a distinct opportunity to engage with and invest in the bioeconomy in these economically stressed areas. Stakeholders in this project include farmers and landowners, local conservation organizations (NRCS, SWCS, etc.), universities, non-profit environmental and agricultural entities, farm consultants, environmental regulators, and industry, including the industries working on conversion technologies, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, and biochar generation, and the companies interested in trading or purchasing/supporting the valuation of ecosystem services (ES).

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Circular Bioeconomy Concepts—A Perspective

Circular economy concepts—including a circular bioeconomy—aim to transition the current, essentially linear, economic system to a more sustainable one. However, organizations and researchers currently define the circular economy concept differently, resulting in inconsistencies and difficulty in effectively implementing the framework. In this paper, we provide our perspective on the conceptual definitions of the circular economy, bioeconomy, and circular bioeconomy, outlining potential overlaps and differences and proposing a harmonized interpretation that stresses the importance of the carbon cycle. We conclude that the key goal of a circular economy is to slow, narrow, and close material resource loops, built on the foundation of renewable energy and non-toxic materials. Further, a sustainable bioeconomy goes beyond simply switching fossil resources with renewable, biological resources. It requires low-carbon energy inputs, sustainable supply chains, and promising disruptive conversion technologies for the sustainable transformation of renewable bioresources to high-value bio-based products, materials, and fuels. The bio-based circular carbon economy, in particular, stresses capturing atmospheric carbon via photosynthesis and exploiting this unique feature to the fullest extent possible. It sits at the intersection between the circular economy and the bioeconomy concept, resulting in a framework that focuses on closing the carbon cycle and stressing the opportunity to create an additional carbon sink capability in the technosphere by utilizing biogenic carbon for products and materials that are circulated in same or improved use cycles. Lastly, a sustainable circular bioeconomy transition will necessitate a set of consistent metrics that fit all products and industries.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

An agent-based modeling tool supporting bioenergy and bio-product community communication regarding cellulosic bioeconomy development

The emergence of the cellulosic bioeconomy requires not only adequate technological, economic, and policy advances, but also effective communication and coordination among the multiple stakeholders in the bioeconomy community. Aiming to facilitate stakeholder communication and collaboration for cellulosic bioeconomy growth, an agent-based model is developed as a community communication tool in this study. The tool simulates the behaviors and interactions of key stakeholders, as well as the responses and interactions between the stakeholders and biophysical, socioeconomic, and environmental conditions. The agent behavior rules are developed and validated based on behavior and economic theories and information attained from a stakeholder focus group study and a land use survey. A pilot study in a Central Illinois watershed shows stakeholder synergies, i.e., positive feedback loops across multiple stakeholders. The modeling tool's role in facilitating community communication is demonstrated via the focus group study. A comparison of policy scenarios suggests that the cellulosic bioeconomy development is fastest under a portfolio of policies combining the views of the multiple stakeholders. Critically, subsidy for small-scale bio-facilities is essential as it rapidly initializes an early market for cellulosic feedstocks and the adoption of Miscanthus. As a result, the communication tool is applied to bringing stakeholders and researchers together to develop shared visions, assess barriers, and explore solution portfolios to initialize and speed up the regional cellulosic bioeconomy.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

An economic perspective of the circular bioeconomy in the food and agricultural sector

Transforming the agri-food system from a “take-make-waste”, or linear production system, to a circular bioeconomy that reduces, recycles, recovers, reuses, and regenerates wastes and transitions from fossil to biobased fuels and products is being hailed as critical for meeting a growing population’s food and fuel needs in environmentally sustainable ways. While a transformation towards a circular bioeconomy is an appealing strategy to achieve multiple environmental goals, we argue that this strategy needs to go beyond a techno-centric focus and adopt an economic value-based lens to balance the desire for circularity with its costs, benefits, and distributional effects on society. This perspective analyzes the mechanisms that sustain the existing linear economy and proposes a novel social cost-benefit framework to determine the optimal level and path to circularity. We present five critical pathways to achieve a sustainable circular bioeconomy in a market economy consisting of decentralized decision-makers.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

The circular bioeconomy: a driver for system integration

Background: Human and earth system modeling, traditionally centered on the interplay between the energy system and the atmosphere, are facing a paradigm shift. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s mandate for comprehensive, cross-sectoral climate action emphasizes avoiding the vulnerabilities of narrow sectoral approaches. Our study explores the circular bioeconomy, highlighting the intricate interconnections among agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, technological advancements, and ecological recycling. Collectively, these sectors play a pivotal role in supplying essential resources to meet the food, material, and energy needs of a growing global population. We pose the pertinent question of what it takes to integrate these multifaceted sectors into a new era of holistic systems thinking and planning. Results: The foundation for discussion is provided by a novel graphical representation encompassing statistical data on food, materials, energy flows, and circularity. This representation aids in constructing an inventory of technological advancements and climate actions that have the potential to significantly reshape the structure and scale of the economic metabolism in the coming decades. In this context, the three dominant mega-trends—population dynamics, economic developments, and the climate crisis—compel us to address the potential consequences of the identified actions, all of which fall under the four categories of substitution, efficiency, sufficiency, and reliability measures. Substitution and efficiency measures currently dominate systems modeling. Including novel bio-based processes and circularity aspects might require only expanded system boundaries. Conversely, paradigm shifts in systems engineering are expected to center on sufficiency and reliability actions. Effectively assessing the impact of sufficiency measures will necessitate substantial progress in inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, primarily due to their non-technological nature. In addition, placing emphasis on modeling the reliability and resilience of transformation pathways represents a distinct and emerging frontier that highlights the significance of an integrated network of networks. Conclusions: Existing and emerging circular bioeconomy practices can serve as prime examples of system integration. These practices facilitate the interconnection of complex biomass supply chain networks with other networks encompassing feedstock-independent renewable power, hydrogen, CO 2 , water, and other biotic, abiotic, and intangible resources. Elevating the prominence of these connectors will empower policymakers to steer the amplification of synergies and mitigation of tradeoffs among systems, sectors, and goals.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Stakeholder engagement to address agribusiness concerns and opportunities: the circular carbon bioeconomy example

Effective stakeholder engagement in decisions about complex systems involving sustainable agribusiness requires substantial time and resources by both the managers involved in a supply chain and their stakeholders. Therefore, it is important to understand how to design and implement business strategies that integrate stakeholder perspectives as the project develops. The objective of this article is to explore how actors interested in sustainable and resilient agribusinesses can effectively involve stakeholders in supporting strategies to advance a circular carbon bioeconomy. We consider an approach for stakeholder engagement based on six principles: diversity, listening, value, trust, accountability, and flexibility/ adaptability. Practical means for agribusinesses to apply the six principles to the circular carbon bioeconomy are discussed along with challenges encountered when applying them. Managerial choices and engagement designs and practices are specific to each type of agribusiness. Employing this approach can help project developers prioritize, prepare, and sustain stakeholder engagement, and build local capacities for continual improvement and informed decisions aligned with more sustainable business strategies.

Dale, Virginia [University of Tennessee, Knoxville↗
DOE OSTI2026

Simulating competition in the US bioeconomy to produce hard‐to‐electrify transportation fuels using limited biomass resources

This study presents a novel bioeconomy optimization framework, BiOpt, designed to address critical questions regarding the strategic use of limited US biomass resources for biofuel production. By integrating detailed techno-economic analyses, life cycle assessments, and resource assessment data, BiOpt optimizes resource distributions across competing technologies to maximize economic performance and/or minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Using feedstock scenarios from the 2023 Billion Ton Study, the analysis explores optimal biomass allocations across sustainable aviation fuel, diesel, and marine biofuel conversion pathways given varying production targets and policy incentives. Results demonstrate distinct feedstock preferences and pathway utilizations when prioritizing economic returns vs. emissions reductions. For instance, fats, oils, and greases were highly favored in cost-optimized scenarios, while low-carbon feedstocks such as wet waste dominated greenhouse gas-minimized strategies. The findings underscore the pivotal role of policy incentives and technological advances in shaping biofuel supply chains and provide actionable insights for scaling sustainable biofuel production to decarbonize hard-to-electrify sectors. This framework offers a robust tool for policymakers and stakeholders to evaluate biofuel strategies that balance energy output, economic viability, and environmental impact.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Spatial Optimization of Multiscale Biorefinery Deployment for a Diversified Bioeconomy in the United States

Strategic biorefinery siting is critical for a diversified bioeconomy, yet industry, policy, and research often focus on either large-scale biofuel plants or smaller-scale specialty bioproduct facilities, with limited coordination across scales. We address this gap by modeling biorefinery deployment spanning a 28-fold difference in capacity. We developed an open-source, spatially explicit framework integrating techno-economic analysis with logistics and refinery cost surrogate models to evaluate multiscale miscanthus-derived biorefineries across the rainfed U.S. for the production of ethanol, succinic acid, lactic acid, potassium sorbate, and acrylic acid. Overall costs change little as feedstock density increases, while transport distances decrease by ∼30 to 67% (∼100 km) and siting flexibility improves. Specifically, a 5-fold feedstock density increase (2% to 10% of suitable land) reduces minimum selling prices by <10% (e.g., 0.27 USD·gal –1 for ethanol). This limited economic sensitivity suggests dense planting is not required for competitive deployment, particularly for smaller-scale facilities. Representing collection areas as irregular rather than circular expands the feasible space under low-density scenarios. While large-scale refineries anchor regional supply chains, smaller facilities retain spatial flexibility even when large refineries are established. These findings highlight the importance of spatial representation and multiscale coordination for robust, regionally tailored biomanufacturing networks to advance renewable carbon integration without extensive land conversion.

biorefinery siting↗
DOE OSTI2022

Comparing in planta accumulation with microbial routes to set targets for a cost-competitive bioeconomy

Plants and microbes share common metabolic pathways for producing a range of bioproducts that are potentially foundational to the future bioeconomy. However, in planta accumulation and microbial production of bioproducts have never been systematically compared on an economic basis to identify optimal routes of production. A detailed technoeconomic analysis of four exemplar compounds (4-hydroxybenzoic acid [4-HBA], catechol, muconic acid, and 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid [PDC]) is conducted with the highest reported yields and accumulation rates to identify economically advantaged platforms and breakeven targets for plants and microbes. The results indicate that in planta mass accumulation ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 dry weight % (dwt%) can achieve costs comparable to microbial routes operating at 40 to 55% of maximum theoretical yields. These yields and accumulation rates are sufficient to be cost competitive if the products are sold at market prices consistent with specialty chemicals ($20 to $50/kg). Prices consistent with commodity chemicals will require an order-of-magnitude-greater accumulation rate for plants and/or yields nearing theoretical maxima for microbial production platforms. This comparative analysis revealed that the demonstrated accumulation rates of 4-HBA (3.2 dwt%) and PDC (3.0 dwt%) in engineered plants vastly outperform microbial routes, even if microbial platforms were to reach theoretical maximum yields. Their recovery and sale as part of a lignocellulosic biorefinery could enable biofuel prices to be competitive with petroleum. Muconic acid and catechol, in contrast, are currently more attractive when produced microbially using a sugar feedstock. Ultimately, both platforms can play an important role in replacing fossil-derived products.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Next Generation Feedstocks for the Emerging Bioeconomy

The Next Generation Feedstocks for the Emerging Bioeconomy project, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was designed to accelerate the development of sustainable, cost-competitive biomass feedstocks that can be grown on marginal lands, which are not suitable for row crop production. By focusing on advanced bioenergy-type switchgrass cultivars and related perennial grasses, the project directly supported the U.S. “Billion-Ton Vision,” which aims to expand biomass production to displace fossil fuels while providing environmental and economic benefits. The project improved understanding of perennial bioenergy crop performance at a large scale in marginal environments.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

BETO 2021 Peer Review - WBS 4.1.2.32: Bioeconomy Scenario Analysis

The Bioeconomy Scenario Analysis project uses systems thinking and analysis to assess current and/or prospective techno-economics, research and development, deployment strategies, policy, and market conditions and their impact on the potential development trajectories of the bioenergy industry over time. Results from this project include identification of opportunities and constraints to industrial development, quantification of multiple metrics (energy, economic, environmental) and informing researchers, decision makers, and industry of the steps needed for a sustainable, nationwide biofuels industry. Analyses from this project enable the creation of a bioenergy industry by (1) inciting policy-makers to explore scenarios for nationwide biofuels production, identifying policy actions consistent with pathways for growth; (2) improving industry’s understanding of industry growth potential under different technology and investment conditions, better targeting their development efforts; and (3) providing universities and other interested stakeholders with tools and analyses that can be adapted to meet research and teaching objectives, connecting students with careers that build the industry. One of the many modeling tools used in this project, the Biomass Scenario Model (BSM) is a publicly-available, unique, validated, state-of-the-art, award-winning, fourth-generation model of the domestic biofuels supply chain which explicitly focuses on how and under what conditions biofuel technologies might be deployed to contribute to the U.S. transportation energy sector. We use models like the BSM to examine the implications of policies and incentives as well as their potential side-effects. The BSM uses a system-dynamics simulation to model dynamic interactions and transitions across the supply chain; it tracks the deployment of biofuels given industrial learning and the reaction of the investment community in the context of land availability, projected oil markets, consumer demand for biofuels, and government policies over time. Under expected market conditions, analyses using the BSM suggest that the biofuels industry may require significant external actions in the early years to thrive. Interventions that accelerate the industrial learning process (e.g. operation of pre-commercial and commercial facilities) have been identified as having strong influence in starting the growth of a commercial biofuel industry. Policies which are coordinated across the whole supply chain in BSM foster the growth of the biofuels industry and production of tens of billions of gallons of biofuels may occur under sufficiently favorable conditions.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Bioeconomy Scenario Analysis

The Bioeconomy Scenario Analysis (BSA) project uses systems thinking and analysis to assess how techno economics, research and development, deployment strategies, policy, and market conditions affect the potential development trajectories of the developing bioenergy industry. This project informs researchers, decision makers, and industry by identifying opportunities for and constraints to industrial development and quantifying important industry metrics (e.g., energy, economic, environmental) towards a sustainable domestic bioenergy system. One of the tools used in this project, the Bioenergy Scenario Model (BSM) is a publicly-available, unique, validated, state-of-the-art, award-winning, fourth-generation model of the domestic biofuels supply chain which explicitly focuses on how and under what conditions biofuel technologies might be deployed to contribute to the U.S. transportation energy sector. Analysis products from this effort enable the development of the bioenergy industry by (1) encouraging policy-makers to explore multiple levers simulating outside impacts on biofuels production, identifying policy actions; (2) improving industry's understanding of growth potential under different market conditions, better targeting their development efforts; and (3) providing universities and other interested stakeholders with analysis tools and analyses that can be adapted to meet research and teaching objectives, thus connecting students with careers that build the industry.

bioenergy↗
DOE OSTI2026

Feedstock Choices for Advancing the Bioeconomy in the US and Policy Implications

Biomass feedstocks will be critical for scaling up the bioeconomy in the United States to meet multiple demands for biofuels, sustainable aviation fuel, bioproducts, and biochemicals. There is a wide range of choices of feedstocks, including a variety of dedicated energy crops and crop residues. There are substantial differences in the yields, costs of production, and carbon intensity of these feedstocks and for each feedstock across locations. These feedstocks also differ in the trade-offs they offer among multiple environmental impacts. We discuss the economic factors that will influence the production of these feedstocks and the implications of alternative biofuel and low-carbon policies for the mix of feedstocks that will be incentivized.

Khanna, Madhu (ORCID:0000000349944451)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Matching diverse feedstocks to conversion processes for the future bioeconomy

A wide variety of wasted or underutilized organic feedstocks can be leveraged to build a sustainable bioeconomy, ranging from crop residues to food processor residues and municipal wastes. Leveraging these feedstocks is both high-risk and high-reward. Converting mixed, variable, and/or highly contaminated feedstocks can pose engineering and economic challenges. However, converting these materials to fuels and chemicals can divert waste from landfills, reduce fugitive methane emissions, and enable more responsible forest management to reduce the frequency and severity of wildfires. Historically, low-value components, including ash and lignin, are poised to become valuable coproducts capable of supplementing cement and valuable chemicals. Here, we evaluate the challenges and opportunities associated with converting a range of feedstocks to renewable fuels and chemicals.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗