WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced up to $17.5 million in funding to advance technologies that capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from industrial facilities and power plants and convert those CO₂ emissions into valuable products. Advancing the development of these technologies will help establish the foundation for a successful carbon capture and carbon conversion industry in the United States and will help meet the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious climate goals of achieving a carbon neutral power sector by 2035 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“Developing new and improved materials, equipment, and processes that recycle carbon emissions into value-added products is another important pathway to meeting President Biden’s climate goals,” said Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. “Advancing these technologies supports our broader decarbonization strategies, as well as more sustainable industrial practices that deliver economic opportunities and a healthier climate for U.S. communities and workers.”

Projects selected under this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will focus on two areas: 

• Advancing research and development to use CO₂ captured from sources such as industrial and power generation facilities, as well as from legacy carbon dioxide emissions captured directly from the atmosphere, to produce algae-derived value-added products. Applications must identify a specific end use for the algal product, such as animal or fish feed, biochar, fertilizer, building products, and polymers.
• Developing projects that advance oxygen-based approaches such as oxy-combustion and  chemical looping, which lead to reductions in CO₂ emissions associated with industrial production processes. Oxygen-based processes involve the use of oxygen rather than air to drive reactions essential to the generation of products. This type of system eliminates the introduction of nitrogen (from air) into the industrial process, generating gas streams composed only of water, CO₂, trace contaminants from the feed materials, and any other gas constituents that enter the product generation system. The high concentration of CO2 and absence of nitrogen in the gas streams simplifies separation of the CO2 for storage or beneficial use, providing the potential for oxygen-based processing to be a low-cost alternative for the manufacturing of industrial products combined with carbon capture and storage.

In addition to advancing these technologies, applicants to this FOA must address the societal considerations and impacts of their proposed projects, emphasizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility throughout the research and development process. Applications must explain how projects are expected to deliver equitable access to, and distribution of, benefits produced from successful technology innovations; incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; and understand the future workforce implications of the innovation. Projects selected under this opportunity will be required to develop and implement strategies to advance these priorities, and report on such activities and outcomes.

Read more details about this FOA here. All questions must be submitted through FedConnect; register here for an account. Visit our website to find resources on how to include equity and conduct community engagement in project plans.

FECM minimizes environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions across our economy. Priority areas of technology work include carbon capture, carbon conversion, carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide transport and storage, hydrogen production with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, and critical minerals production. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements and visit the National Energy Technology Laboratory website.