The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has announced up to $13 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) projects under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001849, Novel Methods for Making Products from Carbon Dioxide or Coal.

The Office of Fossil Energy seeks to develop novel, marketable products using carbon dioxide (CO2) or coal as a feedstock.  Projects are sought for technologies that show: a positive life-cycle analysis; the potential to generate a marketable product; and significant advantages when compared to traditional products.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage the projects. There will be three areas of interest as follows:

AOI 1: Lab-Scale CO2 Conversion – selected projects under this AOI will develop novel abiotic methods at the lab scale to convert CO2 into marketable products. Projects should use synthetic flue gas for the testing of novel concepts. Abiotic conversion approaches may include catalytic and chemical conversion using thermal, electrical, and solar energy sources to drive the reactions toward intermediary products or directly to valuable products.

AOI 2: Field-Scale CO2 Conversion – selected projects under this AOI will focus on the conversion of CO2 at the field scale, with or without other feedstocks, to valuable products using abiotic or biotic approaches. Projects should use actual CO2 from coal combustion to produce the novel product. Biotic approaches may include algae, bacteria, or enzymes that can use CO2 to produce fuels, valuable chemicals, or advanced materials.

AOI 3: Coal Beneficiation Pilot Plant Testing – selected projects under this AOI will focus on advancing R&D at an existing pilot facility that processes nominally 3 tons of coal per day, using at least two ranks of coal, to produce an upgraded coal product and value-added by-products. Testing data must be incorporated into an economic analysis that indicates how many product streams can be produced and at what price. Applicants must also produce a market analysis comparing products by coal rank and a technology gap analysis that shows what R&D is needed to commercialize the technology.