[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 156 (Tuesday, August 13, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Page 40038]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17317]



[[Page 40038]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of FY 2019 BETO-Wide Request for Information (RFI)

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Request for information (RFI).

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on 
its Request for Information (RFI) number regarding FY 2019 Office of 
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Bioenergy Technologies 
Office (BETO) research priorities, as part of its annual planning 
process. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, 
academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other 
stakeholders to help ensure research areas are relevant, timely, 
appropriate for federal government funding, and aligned with 
Administration priorities.

DATES: Responses to the RFI must be received by September 6, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to submit comments electronically to 
[email protected]. Include FY 2019 BETO-Wide RFI in the subject 
of the title. Responses must be attached to an email. It is recommended 
that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., 
zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a 
Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 6 
pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic 
responses will be accepted. The complete RFI document is located at 
https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions may be addressed to: John 
Cabaniss, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585, 202-287-
5531, [email protected].
    Further instruction can be found in the RFI document posted on EERE 
Exchange.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: BETO is seeking information on the following 
4 topic areas:

Topic 1: Leveraging First Generation Bioethanol Production Facilities

    BETO is seeking information related to the development and 
integration of technologies that could increase the production of 
cellulosic fuels, cellulosic sugars, and chemicals from corn fiber. 
BETO, in coordination with DOE's Office of Fossil Energy (FE) is also 
seeking information about technologies to convert or activate gaseous 
carbon dioxide emitted from fermentation of corn-starch feedstocks, as 
well as other gaseous emissions from other biorefinery processes, into 
fuels and co-products.

Topic 2: Systems To Handle Commingled Food Waste Streams

    BETO is soliciting feedback to help understand the quantity, 
quality, and sources of generation of food waste in America, as well as 
options for converting that waste into value-added fuels, chemicals, 
and power.

Topic 3: Bridging Industry & Government To Publish Existing High-Impact 
Data

    BETO is seeking information regarding potential efforts to collect, 
and potentially pay for, existing high-quality bioenergy datasets that 
are underused or economically stranded in order to publish on 
established public databases and potentially bolster the growing 
bioeconomy with industrially relevant data across the supply chain.

Topic 4: Algal Biomass Feedstock Quality and Conversion Interface for 
Biofuels and Bioproducts

    BETO is seeking information on issues related to the interface 
between cultivation and conversion R&D to develop biofuels and 
bioproducts from algal biomass.
    The RFI is available at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.

Confidential Business Information

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person submitting information that 
he or she believes to be confidential and exempt by law from public 
disclosure should submit via email two well marked copies: One copy of 
the document marked ``confidential'' including all the information 
believed to be confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``non-
confidential'' with the information believed to be confidential 
deleted. DOE will make its own determination about the confidential 
status of the information and treat it according to its determination.
    Factors of interest to DOE when evaluating requests to treat 
submitted information as confidential include: (1) A description of the 
items; (2) whether and why such items are customarily treated as 
confidential within the industry; (3) whether the information is 
generally known by or available from other sources; (4) whether the 
information has previously been made available to others without 
obligation concerning its confidentiality; (5) an explanation of the 
competitive injury to the submitting person that would result from 
public disclosure; (6) when such information might lose its 
confidential character due to the passage of time; and (7) why 
disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on August 6, 2019.
Jonathan Male,
Director, Bioenergy Technologies Office.
[FR Doc. 2019-17317 Filed 8-12-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P