WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced up to $127.5 million in federal funding to support the development of carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture, removal, and conversion test centers for cement manufacturing facilities and power plants. Meeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 requires accelerating the responsible development and deployment of technology to capture CO₂ emissions from industrial operations and power generation and to remove CO₂ directly from the atmosphere. However, the energy and capital cost associated with state-of-the-art carbon capture systems is a barrier to wide deployment. This effort supports the establishment of test centers to cost-effectively research and evaluate carbon capture, removal, and conversion technologies in an industrial/utility environment.

“Carbon capture and storage is one of our critical pathways for significantly reducing domestic and global carbon dioxide emissions,” said Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. “Investments in test centers will help reduce costs, minimize environmental risks, scale up carbon capture, removal, and conversion processes to commercial scale, and ultimately help reduce carbon pollution.”

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will support three areas of focus: 

• Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Center at an Electric Generating Unit will focus on providing post-combustion flue gas testing capabilities representative of domestic coal and/or natural gas-based power systems. 
• Enabling Capital Improvements at Existing Carbon Capture Test Facilities will focus on providing enhanced capabilities and infrastructure improvements at existing flue gas testing centers representative of domestic fossil-based power systems. 
• Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Technology Test Center at a Cement Manufacturing Facility will focus on providing flue gas testing representative of domestic cement manufacturing facilities.

Projects selected under this funding opportunity will support testing facilities that will further advance technologies to capture and convert CO₂ into products from utility and industrial sources or remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. This research will enable economical and environmentally sustainable carbon management.

Read more details of this FOA here. All questions must be submitted through FedConnect; register here for an account. The application deadline is October 31, 2024 at 5:00 PM ET.

FECM minimizes environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions across the U.S. 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.