Biobased Products News and Policy Report – Update from Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

By /

 

Federal

DOE Announces Funding Opportunity To Address Plastics Recycling

On November 8, 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that $12 million will be available in funds for new projects to support research and development (R&D) and education and workforce development to increase plastics recovery, recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing. Designed for U.S. manufacturers, 12 to 18 exploratory and full R&D projects and four to eight education and workforce development projects will be funded by DOE’s Reducing Embodied Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Manufacturing Institute. REMADE was founded in 2017 in partnership with DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Advanced Manufacturing Office. The REMADE Manufacturing Institute aims to enable early-stage applied R&D of technologies that could dramatically reduce embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from industrial-scale materials production and processing. This particular opportunity will focus on projects that align with REMADE’s research focus areas:

  • Development of novel manufacturing and recycling technologies to increase secondary feedstock use by 20 percent without loss of properties or performance;
     
  • Design of alternatives to increase recovery, recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing of products at the end of their life cycles;
     
  • Development of technologies to separate and recover specific polymers and metal in e-waste materials;
     
  • Technological advancements to remove pigments from polymers; and
     
  • Provision of cutting-edge training in recycling for the American workforce and in support of the development of a new REMADE professional certificate program.
     

REMADE is currently accepting letters of intent, which are due today. Full proposals are due on December 18, 2019. Further submission information is available on REMADE’s website.

DOE Announces SBIR/STTR Phase I Release 2 Funding Opportunity

On November 12, 2019, DOE published a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for topics for its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I Release 2 funding. Participating in this FOA are the following DOE program offices:

  • Office of Cyber Security, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER);
     
  • Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (NNSA);
     
  • Office of Electricity (OE);
     
  • EERE;
     
  • Office of Environmental Management (EM);
     
  • Office of Fossil Energy (FE);
     
  • Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES);
     
  • Office of High Energy Physics (HEP); and
     
  • Office of Nuclear Energy (NE).
     

Interested applicants may register for one or more of DOE’s FY 2020 Phase I Release 2 SBIR/STTR Topics webinars. Presented by DOE Topic Managers, a series of three 90-minute webinars will be available:

For those unable to participate in the live webinars, they will be recorded and made available online.

In addition to the aforementioned webinars, a fourth one will be held to discuss the FOA and application process. This webinar will be held on December 19, 2019.

EPA Holds Webinar on Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Program

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019, at 3:00 p.m. (EST), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a webinar on the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Program.  Participants learned about applying for the 2020 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards.  The webinar presentation covered award eligibility, the application process, and evaluation criteria.  There were also questions from the webinar participants.

As reported in Bergeson & Campbell’s (B&C®) September 20, 2019, blog item, EPA is now accepting nominations for the 2020 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards for companies or institutions that have developed a new process or product that helps protect public health and the environment. EPA defines green chemistry as the design of chemical products and processes that reduce both the generation and use of chemicals that are hazardous to the environment and people’s health. Nominations for innovative technologies featuring the design of greener chemicals and products, greener chemical syntheses and reactions, or greener chemical processes are due to EPA by December 31, 2019. EPA anticipates giving awards to outstanding green chemistry technologies in five categories in June 2020.

EPA Announces New Web Pages Providing New Chemical Notices Receipt Information

EPA announced on November 13, 2019, that it published “new, easily-searchable” web pages displaying information on:

EPA notes that it is required to publish information pertaining to new chemical submissions under TSCA Section 5. EPA states that historically, these data have been, and will continue to be, made available monthly in the Federal Register via www.regulations.gov. According to EPA, the new web pages “are a much easier way for the public to access information about new chemical submissions.” The web pages provide information, such as the date the notice was received by EPA, the case number, and the chemical substance identity (to the extent that such information is not subject to a confidential business information (CBI) claim. EPA states that it will update the web pages monthly.

Other News
 

■ Retail Gazette, “Weird Fish the 1st UK Retailer to Launch Grass Paper Bags”
 
■ TheScientist, “CRISPR-Edited T Cells Used in Cancer Patients for the First Time in the US”
 
■ dezeen, “Charlotte McCurdy Creates “Carbon-Negative” Raincoat from Algae Bioplastic”
 
■ Santa Barbara News-Press, “UCSB Chemical Engineer Looks at Microbes Found in Herbivores’ Guts to Turn Plant Waste into Fuel”
 
■ MPRnews, “Fargo Scientists Search for Next Generation of Plant-Based Plastics”
 
■ recycling today, “Ravago, Neste Partner to Chemically Recycle Plastic”
 

Biobased and Renewable
Products Advocacy Group
2200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite 100W
Washington, D.C. 20037
(202) 833-6580
www.braginfo.org