Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced up to $96 million in federal funding for projects that will develop point-source carbon capture technologies for natural gas power plant and industrial applications capable of capturing at least 95 percent of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions generated. FECM’s two decades of support for advancing carbon capture technology for coal-fired power plants has led to more than 20 successful pilot-scale projects, in addition to a demonstration-scale project capable of capturing and storing roughly one million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO₂) per year. Similar support for carbon capture in the natural gas power and industrial sectors, such as cement and steel, have yet to reach pilot or demonstration-scale progress, motivating the present emphasis on enabling development in these sectors. This investment will help enable similar technological advancement and cost transparency, which will be required for widescale deployment. Evaluating the potential for commercial deployment of these technologies in the power and industrial sectors will help advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, and a net-zero greenhouse gas economy by 2050.

“The recent development of next-generation carbon capture technologies, targeted to be commercially ready by 2025, has reduced the projected costs for carbon capture in power generation applications,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of FECM Dr. Jennifer Wilcox. “To meet the United States’ carbon management goals, it is critical to accelerate the demonstration of these technologies at existing industrial sites and power plants to prove commercial viability of carbon capture at higher capture efficiencies.”

This funding opportunity, administered through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), will support projects to develop and test transformational carbon capture materials, equipment, processes or a combination thereof for applications in natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power generation and the industrial sector. Other projects will perform front-end engineering design studies for industrial plants and NGCC power plants integrated with carbon capture systems.

Projects will be selected under four areas of interest:

• Carbon Capture R&D: Laboratory-Scale Testing of Highly Efficient Materials for NGCC Plants
• Engineering-Scale Testing of Transformational Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Technologies for NGCC Power Plants
• Engineering-Scale Testing of Transformational Carbon Capture Technologies for Industrial Plants and Waste-to-Energy Plants
• Front-End Engineering Design Studies for Carbon Capture Systems at Existing (Retrofit) Domestic Industrial Facilities and Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) Power Plants

These investments help lay the foundation for future projects that demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of carbon capture technologies. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will provide additional resources to help scientists, researchers and industry demonstrate meaningful breakthroughs in carbon reduction and removal technologies, prove them out at scale and further accelerate the deployment of climate solutions and good-paying jobs for the United States.

Read the full funding opportunity announcement and areas of interest here.

FECM funds research, development, demonstration and deployment projects to decarbonize power generation and industrial sources, to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to mitigate the environmental impacts of fossil fuel use. Priority areas of technology work include point-source carbon capture, hydrogen with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, critical mineral production and carbon dioxide removal. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements and visit the NETL website.