DOE's $60M Alternative Fuels NOI Rewards Teams That Already Own the Steel. Three Topics, a November NOFO, and a Post-Funding Business Plan.

On October 14, 2026, the Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office (AFFO) announced that it intends to award up to $60 million under a forthcoming funding opportunity titled Leveraging Domestic Infrastructure and Resources to Unleash Alternative Chemicals, Fuels, and Feedstocks. The notice of intent is DE-FOA-0003648 on DOE's eXCHANGE portal. AFFO expects to release the full Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) in November 2026.

No applications are accepted under a notice of intent. What it does do is give applicants a head start of a few weeks, and the details in this one show who DOE expects to win. Applicants are expected to use relevant existing assets, and every applicant must submit a business and management plan showing how the facility keeps operating after DOE funding ends. This program is for teams that already own or control a site, a refinery unit, or a pipeline segment. It is not for teams that hope to build one.

The three topics

Topic 1: Biointermediate depots

Pilot sites that convert biomass and waste into liquid intermediates: sugars, bio-crudes, bio-oils, and chemical intermediates. Trade coverage of the NOI describes the target scale as 5 to 10 dry tonnes of feedstock per day. Eligible feedstocks are broad: corn stover, woody residues, other agricultural byproducts, algae, organic wet waste, municipal solid waste, used tires, non-recyclable plastics, and construction and demolition debris.

The design DOE wants validated is a hub-and-spoke model. Distributed depots near the feedstock densify and liquefy it, then ship the intermediate to a central refinery or biorefinery for upgrading.

This idea has a long history at DOE. Idaho National Laboratory and the former Bioenergy Technologies Office spent more than a decade developing "advanced feedstock supply system" and depot concepts. They were trying to solve the basic economics of biomass: it is bulky, seasonal, wet, and expensive to haul more than about 50 miles. Turning it into a stable liquid near the field addresses all four problems. What DOE hasn't had is pilot depots that prove the logistics work at meaningful throughput. This topic is meant to provide them.

Topic 2: Refinery integration

Technologies that let existing refineries and petrochemical plants produce commodity chemicals and fuels from alternative feedstocks at competitive cost. Examples include co-processing bio-crudes or waste-plastic pyrolysis oils with conventional crude, with research on catalyst life, product composition, and equipment compatibility.

These three variables have kept refiners from co-processing at higher blend rates. Oxygenated bio-oils and contaminant-laden plastic oils can deactivate hydrotreating catalysts, foul heat exchangers, and push product specs out of range. A refiner willing to provide a test unit and run data has the most valuable asset an applicant can bring to this topic.

Topic 3: Hydrogen and natural gas blending pilot

A pilot site to test hydrogen blended into natural gas distribution, assessing pipeline reliability, scalability, performance, durability, whether existing infrastructure can handle the blend, and workforce needs. Coverage reports a target of up to 30 percent hydrogen by volume, with a stretch goal of up to 80 percent.

Those are aggressive numbers. DOE's HyBlend research collaboration, launched in 2020 under the national labs, focused on materials compatibility and life-cycle questions at much lower blend levels. Most utility demonstrations in North America have stayed in the single digits to around 20 percent, because embrittlement in some pipeline steels and the tolerances of end-use appliances and meters become serious constraints. A 30 percent pilot on real distribution infrastructure would produce data the sector doesn't have. An 80 percent stretch target means this pilot is as much about finding where things fail as about proving a product.

What changed in AFFO's approach

AFFO sits within DOE's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation and carries forward the bioenergy and alternative-feedstock work that EERE's Bioenergy Technologies Office used to run. Three features of this NOI separate it from the classic BETO solicitation:

• Existing infrastructure, not new construction. The title says it plainly: Leveraging Domestic Infrastructure. DOE is betting that the fastest path to scale goes through refineries, pipelines, and agricultural supply chains that already exist.
• Fertilizer as an explicit outcome. The announcement links the program to strengthening the fertilizer supply chain. That frames hydrogen and bio-derived intermediates as agricultural inputs, not only energy products. Assistant Secretary Audrey Robertson's statement was aimed at "farmers, ranchers, and energy producers."
• A "new, streamlined application and review process." AFFO says it will hold a webinar on that process after the NOFO is released. Until it is published, don't assume the familiar concept-paper-then-full-application sequence. The ASPECT program from the same office (our analysis) used a concept paper, but a streamlined process may cut or compress that stage.

The program also cites the Unleashing American Energy executive order, which shapes how reviewers will read "merit." Domestic resources, affordability, and supply-chain resilience are now the evaluative lens. Decarbonization language is not.

What we don't know yet

The NOI refers applicants to the full eXCHANGE notice for eligibility and registration, and public coverage hasn't reported award sizes, number of awards, or cost share. Assume the following until the NOFO says otherwise:

• Cost share. Under Section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, DOE generally requires 20 percent non-federal cost share for research and development and 50 percent for demonstration and commercial application. Pilot sites near commercial scale could be classified as demonstrations. If so, the 50 percent level changes who can afford to apply. Have committed cost-share sources identified before November.
• Award count. $60 million across three topics, with the hydrogen pilot described as a single site, implies a small number of awards, probably fewer than ten. Treat it as a highly selective competition.
• University leads. Recent applied DOE solicitations, including ASPECT, have limited university primes. Universities should plan to be subrecipients on industry-led teams unless the NOFO says otherwise.

Preparation checklist for the next four weeks

1. Get on the Teaming Partner List. The NOI includes one. Feedstock aggregators, refiners, utilities, and technology developers should all register, because a complete team is the price of entry for every topic.
2. Document your existing assets. Make a one-page inventory of the site, unit, or pipeline segment you control, including permits, capacity, interconnections, and current use. "Uses relevant existing assets" will almost certainly appear in the merit criteria.
3. Draft the post-funding business plan now. It is unusual for DOE to require this up front. Show who buys the intermediate or blended gas, at what price, who runs the facility in year four, and what happens if DOE money stops early. Offtake letters count for more than projections.
4. For depots, secure feedstock. A 5-10 dry tonne per day pilot needs roughly 1,800 to 3,600 dry tonnes a year. Get letters from growers, municipalities, or waste haulers covering at least the project period.
5. For refinery integration, get a refiner commitment in writing. A letter that names the unit, the co-processing rate you will test, and the run-time commitment is the difference between a credible application and a lab project.
6. For hydrogen blending, line up the utility and the regulator early. Any blending above trace levels on a distribution system will involve the state public utility commission and pipeline safety regulators. Early engagement letters show the pilot can actually happen.
7. Line up the cost share. Plan for 20 percent and model 50 percent.

The bottom line

DE-FOA-0003648 is a relatively small program with a clear point of view. DOE wants to prove that refineries, pipelines, and agricultural residues the country already has can produce fuels, chemicals, and fertilizer inputs without new greenfield construction. The teams best placed to win already control an asset, have a commercial partner willing to put its own equipment and money at risk, and can show the pilot outlives the grant. If that describes your team, the weeks before the November NOFO are for paperwork, not research.

Granted will track the NOFO when it posts. Set an alert on Granted's grant search for DOE AFFO opportunities, and see our coverage of ASPECT, the office's companion chemical scale-up program.