42 U.S.C. § 16232 — Bioenergy program

(a) Definitions. (1) "Biomass" means (A) any organic material grown to be converted into energy; (B) any organic byproduct of agriculture, including food-production and processing wastes, that can be converted into energy; or (C) any waste material that can be converted into energy, is kept separate from other waste, and comes from (i) forest-related sources such as mill residues, precommercial thinnings, slash, brush, or other nonmerchantable material, or (ii) wood waste materials, including waste pallets, crates, dunnage, and manufacturing and construction wood wastes (other than pressure-treated, chemically-treated, or painted wood), and landscape or right-of-way tree trimmings, but not municipal solid waste, gas from municipal solid waste breaking down, or commonly recycled paper. (2) "Lignocellulosic feedstock" means any portion of a plant or a coproduct from processing one, including crops, trees, forest residues, and agricultural residues not specifically grown for food, including barley grain, grapeseed, rice bran, rice hulls, rice straw, soybean matter, and sugarcane bagasse. (b) Program. The Secretary must conduct a research, development, demonstration, and commercial-application program for bioenergy, including (1) biopower energy systems; (2) biofuels; (3) bioproducts; (4) integrated biorefineries that may produce biopower, biofuels, and bioproducts; (5) cross-cutting research and development in feedstocks; and (6) economic analysis. (c) Biofuels and bioproducts. Working in partnership with industry and institutions of higher education, the goals of the biofuels and bioproducts programs are to develop (1) advanced biochemical and thermochemical conversion technologies capable of making fuels from lignocellulosic feedstocks that are price-competitive with gasoline or diesel, in either internal combustion engines or fuel cell-powered vehicles; (2) advanced biotechnology processes capable of making biofuels and bioproducts, with emphasis on developing biorefinery technologies using enzyme-based processing systems; (3) advanced biotechnology processes capable of increasing energy production from lignocellulosic feedstocks, with emphasis on reducing industry's dependence on fossil fuels in manufacturing facilities; and (4) other advanced processes enabling cost-effective bioproducts, including biofuels. (d) Integrated biorefinery demonstration projects. (1) The Secretary must carry out a program to demonstrate commercial application of integrated biorefineries, ensuring the demonstrations are spread out geographically. No single biorefinery demonstration may receive more than $100,000,000 under this subsection. In making awards, the Secretary must encourage (A) demonstrating a wide variety of lignocellulosic feedstocks; (B) commercially applying biomass technologies for various uses, including (i) liquid transportation fuels, (ii) high-value biobased chemicals, (iii) substitutes for petroleum-based feedstocks and products, and (iv) energy in the form of electricity or useful heat; and (C) demonstrating the collection and treatment of a variety of biomass feedstocks. (2) Within 6 months of August 8, 2005, the Secretary must solicit proposals to demonstrate advanced biorefineries, and select only proposals that (A) show the project can operate profitably without a direct federal subsidy after initial construction costs are paid, and (B) can be easily replicated. (e) University biodiesel program. The Secretary must establish a demonstration program to determine whether it is feasible to operate diesel-electric power generators, using biodiesel fuels with ratings as high as B100, at electric-generation facilities owned by colleges and universities. The program must examine (1) heat rates of diesel fuels with large quantities of cellulosic content; (2) how reliably various fuel blends operate; (3) performance in cold or freezing weather; (4) fuel stability after extended storage; and (5) other criteria the Secretary sets. Note: as published, this section has no subsection (f); the text moves directly from (e) to (g). (g) Biorefinery energy efficiency. The Secretary must establish a research, development, demonstration, and commercial-application program for increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption in operating biorefinery facilities. (h) Retrofit technologies for the development of ethanol from cellulosic materials. The Secretary must establish a research, development, demonstration, and commercial-application program on technologies and processes that let biorefineries that currently use only corn grain or corn starch to produce ethanol be retrofitted to accept a wider range of biomass, including lignocellulosic feedstocks.