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At least one of the recipients of the Department of Energy renewable fuels and chemicals grants awarded in December 2009, plans on commercializing a proprietary process based in part on technology licensed from Rentech, Inc. (RTK: NYSE AMEX). Clearfuels Technology, Inc. (private) is getting $23.0 million from the EPA to produce renewable diesel and jet fuel from woody biomass at the company’s facility near Commerce City, Colorado.

The January 19, 2010 post “Syngas to Diesel” mentioned Clearfuels Technology, Inc. (private) one of the recipients of the Department of Energy renewable fuels and chemicals grants awarded in December 2009. Clearfuels is getting $23.0 million from the EPA to produce renewable diesel and jet fuel from woody biomass at the company’s facility near Commerce City, Colorado. Clearfuels must come up with another $13.4 million in matching funds.

One of the biggest winners in the Department of Energy (DOE) renewable fuels and chemicals grant award bonanza in December 2009, was BioEnergy International, LLC (private) based in Quincy, Massachusetts. The company is a self-described science and technology developer of next-generation biorefineries for the production of bio-based chemicals and fuels. The company claims to have a proprietary biocatalyst technology that can be used effectively with renewable feedstocks.

The bankers in Silicon Valley have nothing to hold over the politicos in Washington, DC. Earlier this month the Department of Energy made nineteen grants to renewable energy companies and researchers. The $564 million in grants comes from the 2008 Stimulus Bill and represents a material investment in renewable energy development as well as economic stimulus. The first thing you will notice about the list below is that these biomass developers are using non-food feedstocks. One project even proposes to modify a corn-based ethanol plant to waste vegetation.

Early on in the series on Department of Energy grants to promote renewable fuels and chemicals we profiled BioEnergy International, LLC (private) based in Quincy, Massachusetts. See the January 12, 2010 post “Bio-Bonanza.” The company was awarded a $50.0 million grant from the DOE to product succinic acid from sorghum at a plant in Lake Providence, Louisiana.

You would be wrong, if you thought after over a dozen posts in this series on the Department of Energy grants for renewable fuels projects that the DOE would eventually get its fill of ethanol. The DOE spread some of the “green” joy to ZeaChem, Inc., a private ethanol producer in Boardman, Oregon. The $25.0 million grant must be matched by $48.4 million from ZeaChem.

Research houses have also been the beneficiaries of the Department of Energy renewable fuels grants. The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) was awarded $2.5 million to help pay for preliminary engineering design for a “novel” process that will produce green gas using woody biomass or algae. GTI must match the grant with $625,000 of its own resources.

It’s become cliché to say that the United States is addicted to oil. I’ll make no effort to refute the claim because it’s true. It’s an expensive habit, too. The upshot, however, has been the explosion of interest in renewable energy sources. Last year, investors poured a record $71 billion into the alternative energy space. And billions more funnel in every day.

Chandler technology park to draw corporate headquarters, renewable energy companies - A 150-acre technology park along Chandler’s Price Corridor that will soon be developed for corporate headquarters and bioscience and renewable energy expansions is already piquing the interest of companies.