‘Biofuels made from feedstock’ have become dirty words quicker than British Airways Terminal 5. Strangely enough, however, pyrolysis has not. Which is funny, when you consider it the word pyrolysis sounds like an STD that might involve weeping sores.

Despite Greenbang’s fevered imagination, pyrolysis is no STD. What it is, however, is a process that uses heat to chemically break down biomass and a process that’s got the US Department of Energy scrabbling for its wallet.

The DoE has announced it’s got $7m up for grabs over two years for anyone doing some R&D in converting non-food biomass (quite possibly underlined in red with a few exclamation marks by the department) into biofuels.

Here’s more from the wonks involved:

Today’s FOA seeks to solicit applications for projects that can improve the conversion of biomass to advanced biofuels via pyrolysis – a process that uses heat to chemically decompose the lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose of biomass materials. DOE anticipates selecting up to five to seven projects under this announcement and will require a minimum of 20 percent cost share from applicants. The research aims to lower the production costs of bio-oils and expand the suite of biofuels produced and available in the United States.

• Biomass heaters could heat homes, cut CO2
• Coffee beans hold secret to better biofuels
• Fungus: the secret of better biofuels?
• Shell, CHOREN take wraps off “world first” biofuels plant
• Kiwis: future forests answer to all energy needs
• US DoE, VCs take entrepreneurs and biofuels under their wing
• US earmarks $510m for biofuels, seeks matching private investment
• OriginOil takes algae process to commercialisation
• Energy revolutions: No overnight delivery
• Low-tech reactor converts wastes into clean fuels