The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) picked six to study biomass conversion technology and awarded Stevens Institute of Technology with a $1 million grant to support research and development into biomass conversion technologies. The grant was one of six awarded by the DoE to various higher-education institutions to develop their advanced biofuels projects. In total, the DOE will invest up to $4.4 million in these university projects for their research into how non-food feedstocks can be transformed into advanced biofuels.

The universities are required to invest an additional 20% of their own funding, which brings the entire investment into these six projects to $5.7 million. Stevens will receive its $1 million over the course of three years. The project will be led and executed by the New Jersey Center for MicroChemical Systems (NJCMCS) in partnership with BASF Catalysts LLC.

Professor Adeniyi Lawal's research project, Dual Layer Monolith ATR of Pyrolysis Oil for Distributed Synthesis Gas Production, plans to evaluate and demonstrate a novel microchannel reactor to reform pyrolysis oil into synthesis gas. The project intends to use the reactor and precisely controlled operating conditions to produce a high yield of synthesis gas using reduced energy.