DOE offering up to $54.4 million for tech to reduce carbon emissions 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has announced a new round of up to $54.4 million to promote carbon management strategies aimed at reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. 

The funding is geared toward the advancement of CO2 capture technologies from industrial and power generation output – or directly from the atmosphere – for transport to either permanent geological storage or conversion into useful products like fuels and other useful chemicals. These projects are part of the government’s wider efforts to address climate change and help achieve a nationwide zero-emission target of 2050. 

This sixth FECM Carbon Management funding opportunity announcement (FOA) supports the following areas of interest: 

• Reactive carbon capture approaches for point source capture or atmospheric capture with integrated conversion: This combines the processes of capturing carbon and its conversion into a useful product, curbing or eliminating the release of CO2 into the atmosphere.  

• Engineering-scale testing of transformational carbon capture technologies for natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plants: This focus area aims to evaluate methods under actual flue gas conditions to achieve carbon capture efficiency of at least 95%, with a CO2 purity level that’s also at least 95%, while also showing significant advancement toward reducing capture costs by 30 percent. 

• Engineering-scale testing of transformational carbon capture technologies in portable systems at industrial plants: The development and testing of novel portable systems will be carried out at locations including oil refineries, petrochemical plants, cement and lime factories, pulp mills, steel and iron facilities, and glass manufacturing plants. 

• Preliminary front-end engineering design (Pre-FEED) studies for carbon capture systems at existing (retrofit) domestic NGCC power plants: These Pre-FEED studies of advanced, commercial-scale carbon capture systems will be performed at existing NGCC power plants or combined heat and power facilities that use NGCC power generation. 

• Pre-FEED studies for carbon capture systems at hydrogen production facilities using coal, mixed coal/biomass or natural gas feedstock: These studies should advance commercial-scale carbon capture systems that separate at least 95% of CO2 from emissions at new or existing hydrogen production facilities using coal, natural gas, or mixed coal, biomass, municipal solid waste and unrecyclable plastic feedstocks. 

• Enhancing CO2 transport infrastructure (ECO2 Transport): Pre-FEED studies for multimodal CO2 transfer facilities: These studies will investigate the development of effective and flexible multimodal transportation infrastructure to transfer CO2 across regional and national transportation networks. 

Along with advancing these technologies, FOA applicants must consider and address the societal impacts of their proposed projects, focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility during the entire research and development process. They must also show how their projects are expected to ensure equitable access to benefits resulting from successful innovations. 

DOE expects to make up to 36 awards between $400,000 and $5 million each with a minimum cost share of 20% from awardees; proposals including a higher cost share could be eligible for higher amounts.  

Eligible applicants include individuals, institutions of higher education, for- and non-profit organizations, state and local governments, and tribal nations. Applications can only be submitted via Grants.gov and are due Oct. 14 by 8 p.m. ET. Any questions must be submitted via a registered FedConnect account. 

Awards are expected to be announced in February 2025. 

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash