Deadline: 31 August 2018

Applications are now open for the Sustainable Biofuels Innovation Challenge (IC#4) by Mission Innovation India Unit, set up by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.

The purpose of developing a Sustainable Biofuels Joint call is to develop ways to produce, at scale, widely affordable, advanced biofuels for transportation and industrial applications. Also, the purpose is to conduct research, development and demonstration (RD&D) to foster technology innovations that are technically feasible, robust and cost-effective. It is expected to evolve technologies and develop methodologies and business models tunable to local as well as at global needs

The objective of this Call is to undertake Joint Research &Development with member MI countries in the field of advanced sustainable Biofuels, which can be produced from non-food biological materials. Production of low cost high performance Enzymes and yeasts are essential for reducing the production costs of Biofuels. Exchange of best practices in feedstocks including, collection, handling, transport and pre-treatment practices and integrated bio refinery projects need extensive R&D. The technology developed must be scalable and cost effective in long run.

Identified Research Priorities

• Research and improve upon technology for production of sustainable Advanced Biofuels from agricultural residues leading to cost reduction in project capital and operations
• Use of MSW for CNG/Methanol
• LCA for production of biofuels for environmental impact assessment
• Development and demonstration of biorefinery with high value by products
• Microbial fermentation of waste material for advanced biofuel production
• Production of low cost high performance enzymes and yeasts for biofuel/bio-products including genetic manipulations.
• Advanced methods for improvements of biological feedstocks
• Lignin valorization
• Production of advanced biofuels like biobutanol, biohydrogen, drop-in fuels, bio-jet fuels, hydrocarbons etc using synthetic and systems biology approaches.
• Heterotrophic algal production from waste stream.

Funding Information

• Total Funding Size: US $ 5 million or equivalent in local currency of participating MI country
• Floor limit: US $ 0.2 million
• Ceiling limit: US $ 1 million

Eligibility Criteria

• The proposals have to be led by qualified researchers/ professionals from Science, Technology and Engineering disciplines working in regular position at Indian institutions drawn from academia and public funded R&D laboratories. DSIR recognized industrial R&D units can jointly apply with academia for funding with matching grant.
• The institutions/industries of Mission Innovation (MI) member countries are welcome to join the partnership with the lead Indian institute / organization to carry out collaborative work. While there is no restriction on upper number of participating MI countries (including European Union), participation of at least one organization (institution/industry/researcher) from MI country is mandatory.
• The funding under this call will be provided to successful Indian researchers / Institutes who are expected to draw common R&D programs in the listed areas with researchers/ institutes of MI member countries. The MI member countries are encouraged to take part in this call by providing financial support to their researchers / institutes. The proposals under the EU’s Research Framework Programme Horizon 2020 (LC-SC3-RES-22-2018) are also eligible to apply. Lead Indian PI submitting this LOI proposal shall need to identify and contact researcher/institute from MI countries for their interest and participation in this programme.

How to Apply

A Soft copy (MS Word) should be e-mailed at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit Sustainable Biofuels Innovation Challenge.