Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2025
The Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2025 would broaden and modernize the federal financial assistance available under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to support biorefineries, renewable chemicals, and biobased products. The bill expands the scope to include advanced biofuels (notably ultra-low-carbon and zero-carbon bioethanol), as well as renewable chemicals and biobased products, and allows support for end-user products emerging from biomass. It creates a new grants program—in addition to loan guarantees—for pilot or demonstration-scale biorefineries aimed at proving the commercial viability of processes that convert renewable biomass into these products, with a focus on rural economies and domestic energy security. Key elements include a competitive grants process with a new, independent feasibility requirement (though waivable for proven technologies), a comprehensive project-scoring framework for grants, and explicit cost-sharing rules. The bill also earmarks funding for these activities (including a new Grants line of $40 million per year for 2025–2029) and modifies how the loan guarantees portion is funded (a percentage-based cap tied to the total funds made available for the year). Overall, the legislation seeks to accelerate deployment of biorefinery technologies, expand rural and economic development opportunities, and bolster domestic bio-based product supply chains.
Key Points
- 1Expanded scope and definitions: The act would redefine and widen the program to “develop advanced biofuels (including ultra-low-carbon and zero-carbon bioethanol), renewable chemicals, and biobased product manufacturing,” and would cover end-user products derived from these processes.
- 2New grants program for pilot/demonstration biorefineries: Grants would be awarded on a competitive basis to develop, construct, or retrofit pilot or demonstration-scale facilities that show the viability of converting renewable biomass into advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biobased products (in line with the new grants provisions).
- 3Independent feasibility review and waivers: For grants, a feasibility study by an independent third party would typically be required to determine technical/economic viability, but the Secretary may waive this requirement for proven or commercially available technologies.
- 4Grants selection criteria and scoring: A priority scoring system would be used to evaluate grant applications, considering factors such as market potential, private/non-Federal investment, use of new feedstocks or innovative methods, collaboration with producer associations, environmental and public health benefits, rural development impact, replicability, scalability, and for biofuels, domestic energy security.
- 5Cost-sharing rules: Grants could cover up to 60% of project costs. The non-Federal share may be cash or in-kind (material), with the in-kind portion not to exceed 30% of the non-Federal share.
- 6Funding structure and amounts: The bill adds a Grants component to the program and earmarks $40,000,000 per year for each fiscal year 2025 through 2029 to fund grants (the remainder of funds under the program would support loan guarantees as adjusted by the new rules).
- 7Loan guarantees framework adjustments: The amount available for loan guarantees would be tied to the total funds made available for the year under the program, specifically as 10% of that total, with other structural changes aligning to the new grant-inclusive approach. Feasibility studies for loan guarantees can also be waived under certain conditions.
- 8Legislative housekeeping and cross-references: The bill creates a new “grants” subsection and adjusts related subsections to reflect the addition of grants alongside loan guarantees; references to the new structure are updated (e.g., adding a subsection (k) for grants).