WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $131 million for 33 research and development projects to advance the wide-scale deployment of carbon management technologies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. The projects will address technical challenges of capturing CO2 from power plants and industrial facilities or directly from the atmosphere and assess potential CO2 storage sites, increasing the number of sites progressing toward commercial operations.

As the U.S. economy moves toward a net zero carbon emissions future, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking to partner with states, local governments and public utilities or agencies to support the procurement and use of carbon conversion products. These efforts have been enabled by provisions included in Section 40302 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

Food processing company Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), with support from NETL, demonstrated an integrated system of processing carbon dioxide (CO2) and transporting it from an ethanol plant to the Mt. Simon Sandstone saline reservoir for permanent geologic storage. This is the largest demonstration of its kind in the United States and marks a crucial step forward in efforts to decarbonize the U.S. economy and power sector by 2050.

NETL and other U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) representatives toured six sites during four days in California where projects are being developed with the Lab’s oversight and support to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) and lower atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas.

NETL representatives recently attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the City Water, Light and Power (CWLP) plant in Springfield, Illinois, to celebrate the advancement of a large pilot carbon dioxide (CO2) capture project made possible with funding and project management support from the Lab. The project is led by the University of Illinois, in partnership with the Linde Group, BASF Corporation, Affiliated Engineers, Inc., Affiliated Construction Services, Inc., and Visage Energy.

Barbara Kutchko, Ph.D., a celebrated and award-winning NETL researcher who works to increase the safety and efficiency of oil and gas well operations around the world, will share her technical and personal perspectives with a new generation of young people as part of Penn State University’s Celebrating Women in Energy and Water Research seminar series in February.

NETL and the University of Pittsburgh have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore areas of cooperation in the field of novel sensors for infrastructure monitoring. Such sensors are essential to ensuring the optimum operation of existing and new energy technologies while driving economic development. “This MOU presents an exciting opportunity for both the Lab and our academic partners at Pitt to combine our strengths in pursuit of common goals,” said NETL’s David Alman, associate director, Materials Engineering & Manufacturing.

NETL-funded research on an approach to recycle hydraulic fracturing water using natural filtration and biogenic activity in specific layers of rock is attracting international attention with a “highly commended” recognition in a global competition sponsored by an acclaimed engineering organization.

An NETL specialist whose work significantly reduced the complexity of transferring the Lab’s technologies to the private sector and increased the number of agreements executed by 27% is being recognized as the “Rookie of the Year” by a prestigious national organization of more than 300 federal laboratories, agencies and research centers dedicated to increasing the impact of technology transfer for the benefit of the U.S. economy, society and national security.

Community leaders and water researchers can now access publicly available online datasets curated and processed by NETL to better understand the composition of energy-related wastewater streams. The data will help mitigate environmental risks and identify possible sources of valuable critical minerals (CMs).