Project could spur jobs in rural America, lead to less
reliance of foreign oil
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) is partnering with Cobalt Technologies, U.S. Navy, and Show Me Energy
Cooperative to demonstrate that jet fuel can be made economically and in large
quantities from a renewable biomass feedstock such as switch grass.
“This can be an important step in the efforts to continue to
displace petroleum by using biomass resources,” NREL Manager for Bioprocess
Integration R&D Dan Schell said. “We’re converting biomass into sugars for
subsequent conversion to butanol and then to JP5 jet fuel.”