Office: Carbon Management 
FOA number: DE-FOA-0002400 
Download the full FOA: FedConnect 
FOA Amount: $19 million 

Background Information 

On September 12, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced up to $19 million in funding for research that will develop cutting-edge technology solutions to make clean hydrogen a more available and affordable fuel for electricity generation, industrial decarbonization, and transportation. The funding opportunity will focus on using hydrogen systems to convert various waste materials—such as biomass, plastics, common household garbage, and other wastes—into clean energy, supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of achieving a zero-carbon American power sector by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that can be used in a fuel cell or a gas turbine to create electricity with only water and heat as byproducts. Clean hydrogen can be produced from zero-emissions electricity generated by wind, solar, geothermal, and nuclear, as well as from conversion of leak-tight natural gas and sustainably sourced biomass or other waste materials combined with carbon capture and storage. However, currently more than 95% of the roughly 10 million metric tons of hydrogen produced in the United States comes from natural gas without the capture and geologic storage of carbon dioxide, which results in significant emissions. This is why advancing clean hydrogen production is important to help address climate change.

These projects support DOE’s Hydrogen Shot initiative, which seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in one decade to grow new, clean hydrogen pathways in the United States. 

The deadline to submit applications for this funding opportunity has closed.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include individuals, educational institutions, for- and non-profit organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments.

Areas of Interest

This funding opportunity announcement has three areas of interest:

• Advancing toward commercialization viable gasification energy systems that convert varied waste feedstock materials such as coal waste, biomass, waste plastics, municipal solid waste, and industrial waste into clean energy
• Improving the performance of gasification-based systems that use waste feedstock materials through wireless sensing technology
• Developing technology components that advance monitoring, detection, and security for integrated hydrogen-based systems with carbon capture

Funding

DOE expects to make up to 10 awards between $500,000 and $7,000,000 each with a minimum of a 20% cost-sharing from the awardees.

Key Dates

Past Awardees

The 19 awarded projects will focus on developing technologies that could help produce clean hydrogen at lower cost and with less energy; exploring ways to produce hydrogen using biomass, effluent waters from oil and natural gas development and production, and other wastes; and expanding options for safe and efficient hydrogen transport and storage across the nation.

Awardees include:

• Colorado School of Mines
• Institute of Gas Technology dba GTI Energy
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• North Carolina State University
• Oceanit Laboratories, Inc.
• Osmoses Inc
• Palo Alto Research Center Inc.
• Raytheon Technologies Research Center
• State University of New York on behalf of University at Buffalo
• Southwest Research Institute
• Susteon Inc.
• TDA Research Inc.
• The Ohio State University
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Wyoming
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

A detailed list of the selected projects from can be found here

A detailed list of the past awardees from August 2022 can be found here.

Since January 2021, FECM has invested nearly $80 million in 46 projects to explore new, clean methods to produce hydrogen and to improve the efficiency of hydrogen-fueled turbines.

Additional Information

Last Updated: November 27, 2023