Department of Conservation Awards Forest Biomass to Advanced Biofuels Projects

The California Department of Conservation ((DOC) has approved grants to five BAC members to conduct the environmental planning and permitting for projects to convert forest waste to carbon negative biofuels including hydrogen and bio-oil. The projects will also include either biochar production or carbon capture and storage (CCS) to ensure that the fuels are carbon negative on a lifecycle basis.

The DOC grants are just the first round of funding that the agency will provide for advanced biofuels produced from forest waste (material that is removed for wildfire mitigation or forest health). The second round of funding will provide much larger grants for the facilities themselves.

The first rounds of DOC grants include:

Arbor Energy – will convert forest waste to hydrogen with CCS

Biogas Energy – will convert forest waste to bio-oil and biochar

Mote – will convert forest waste to power and transportation fuels with CCS

Sierra Institute – will convert forest waste to hydrogen with CCS

Yosemite Clean Energy – will convert forest waste to hydrogen

For more information about the grants and DOC’s forest biomass to carbon negative biofuels program, click here.