The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and NETL have has announced up to $2 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development projects under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002376, Enabling Gasification of Blended Coal, Biomass, and Plastic Wastes to Produce Hydrogen with Potential for Net-Negative Carbon Dioxide Emissions.

This FOA seeks applications for the research and development of the co-gasification of coal with biomass and plastic wastes. The aim is to advance net-negative carbon technologies that can produce hydrogen or other high-value fuels, either as the sole product or as a co-product. Like coal, waste plastics are ideal feedstocks to blend with biomass due to their extremely high volatile matter and low moisture and ash content. As a result, the development of co-gasification technologies sought in this FOA will help alleviate concerns over potential feedstock availability and other operational issues.

The FOA focuses on one area of interest: Co-Gasification of Coal, Biomass, and Plastic Wastes for Production of Hydrogen and Fuels with Negative Carbon Potential. Projects that fall under this area of interest will concentrate on gasification to utilize coal, biomass, and plastic waste feedstocks to improve the cost, performance, reliability, and flexibility of net-negative carbon- emitting polygeneration technologies that will produce hydrogen and other hydrogen-based fuels.

Applications must be submitted by November 22, 2020. For more information, visit FedConnect.

The Office of Fossil Energy funds research and development projects to reduce the risk and cost of advanced fossil energy technologies and further the sustainable use of the Nation’s fossil resources. To learn more about the programs within the Office of Fossil Energy, visit the Office of Fossil Energy website or sign up for FE news announcements. More information about the National Energy Technology Laboratory is available on the NETL website.