The Carbon Conversion Program focuses on cutting-edge oil, natural gas, and coal by-product conversion. The program funds research, development, and demonstration for the critical technical challenges associated with the cost-effective and selective upgrading of oil, natural gas and coal by-products to facilitate U.S. leadership in energy innovation. Activities will focus on enabling early-stage conversion technologies and overcoming fundamental barriers to real-world operations.
The Carbon Conversion program will bolster domestic energy security and resilience via oil, natural gas, and coal-derived fuels and chemicals, while also generating an opportunity for new export markets for oil, natural, gas and coal-derived products.
The Carbon Conversion Program is currently supporting the following technologies, categorized by the conversion mechanism:
- Mineralization pathways focus on thermodynamically favorable processes where carbon dioxide mineralizes with alkaline reactants to produce inorganic products like bicarbonates, synthetic aggregates, and other building materials.
- Biological pathways leverage agriculture, fermentation, and genetic engineering expertise to convert carbon dioxide into products via microorganisms, including algal systems and non-photosynthetic microbes.
- Catalytic pathways utilize thermochemical, electrochemical, photochemical, reactive capture, and plasma-assisted approaches to transform carbon dioxide into synthetic fuels, chemicals and products.
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Last Updated: September 19, 2025