The U.S. Department of Energy announced awards totaling $142 million for small businesses through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II funding. Across DOE, 123 projects in 34 states received funding to pursue clean energy research and development projects. The average Phase II award is $1.1 million for a period of two years.

The SBIR/STTR selected projects include six projects funded through DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). The BETO funded projects cover the following topics; community-driven agricultural decarbonization, low-carbon liquid biofuels for the aviation, maritime, rail, and medium-to-heavy duty transportation sectors, workforce development, ocean plastics upcycling, and improving plastics compatibilization.

Located across six states, two selected businesses are woman-owned companies, two are in socially and economically disadvantaged areas, two are first-time Phase II SBIR/STTR awardees, and one business is located in a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Zone.

BETO's selected projects include:

• Blue Biofuels, Inc. (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) - Development of a New Lignocellulosic Sugar Production Technology (Cellulose-To-Sugar) as a Pathway for Producing Novel Liquid Low-Carbon Bioethanol.
• iZen ai, Inc. (Union City, CA) - Skill in a Flash (Workplace-aligned eLearning platform for rural and underserved communities and businesses)
• RiKarbon, Inc. (Newark, DE) - Upcycling Ocean-based Plastics for Sustainable Feedstock Supply Chain
• RockyTech, Ltd. (Boulder, CO) - Polyolefin Compatibilization through Dynamic Covalent Crosslinking
• Simonpietri Enterprises, LLC (Honolulu, HI) - Low-Carbon Fertilizer Production from Tropical Biomass Gasification
• WeNeW Carbology, LLC (Charlottesville, VA) - Farmyard Biorefinery: Diesel Production from Stranded Biomass

Learn more about each BETO SBIR/STTR project and visit BETO’s funding announcement page for other upcoming funding opportunities.

The SBIR/STTR U.S. federal programs were created by Congress to stimulate the commercialization of technological innovation and research and development using small businesses. More information is available on the Office of Science SBIR/STTR website.