Office: Resource Sustainability
FOA number: DE-FOA-0003105
Download the full funding opportunity: FedConnect
Funding Amount: $150 million

Background Information

On September 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced up to $150 million to advance cost effective and environmentally responsible processes to produce and refine critical minerals and materials here in the United States. The funding will help meet the growing demand for critical minerals and materials while reducing our dependence on offshore supplies. Critical minerals and materials are key to manufacturing clean energy technologies—such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells—that will help America reach the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious climate goals. This funding opportunity will create good-paying jobs and support communities across the country that historically have depended on mining and energy production, advancing the Administration’s efforts to maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition in every community.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Mineral Information Center, the United States has over 50 different critical minerals. The U.S. is completely reliant on foreign sources for 12 of these minerals and more than 50% dependent on foreign sources for more than 30 of them. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will help to build a secure, sustainable domestic supply of critical minerals from a broad range of sources across the United States, including recycled materials, mine waste, industrial waste, and ore deposits.

This funding is provided from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Section 41003(c).

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include individuals, institutions of higher education, for- and non-profit organizations, state and local governments, and tribal nations.

Areas of Interest

This funding opportunity announcement has five areas of interest:

1. Critical Mineral and Material Supply Chain: Multiphase opportunity to develop technologies or process improvements along the critical mineral and material (CMM) supply chain n that minimize the use and content, or lead to more efficient use, of critical materials across the full supply chain.
   
   1A. Phase I: Research, development, and demonstration to develop a complete representative bench scale facility to produce CMMs from waste streams, impoundments, and conventional ore bodies that contain CMMs. The process or concept can be at any level of development but, must be able to be demonstrated on a continuous/semicontinuous basis by the end of Phase I.
   
   1B. Phase II: Pilot scale facility development and construction. Pilot scale facility must be built off a bench scale process(es) that has been demonstrated on a continuous/semicontinuous basis.
    
2. Value Added Products: Multiphase opportunity to develop value added products from a feedstock containing CMM
   
   2A. Phase I: Research, development, and demonstration to develop a complete bench scale facility to produce value added products from waste streams, recycled materials, impoundments, and conventional ore bodies that contain CMM. The process or concept can be at any level of development, but must be able to be demonstrated on a continuous/semicontinuous basis by the end of Phase I.
   
   2B. Phase II: Pilot scale facility development and construction. Pilot scale facility must be built off a bench scale process that has been demonstrated on a continuous/semicontinuous basis.
    
3. Next Generation Technologies: Bench scale development of novel, “next generation” technologies based on fundamental science discoveries that can be utilized in the production of critical materials. These technologies should focus on the optimization of cost, environmental emissions, and resource usage or intensity within extraction, production, separation, processing refining, alloying, manufacturing, or recycling technologies.
    
4. Alternative Materials: Potential multiphase opportunity to develop CMM alternatives and substitutes.
   
   4A: Phase I: Bench scale development of CMM alternatives or substitutes (excluding magnets and battery technologies) to increase robustness of domestic supply chains
   
   4B: Phase II: Pilot scale development of CMM alternatives or substitutes to reduce reliance on foreign supply chains.
    
5. Alternative Products: Potential multiphase opportunity to develop alternative energy technologies or improved designs of existing energy technologies, particularly technologies or designs that use materials that are abundant in the U.S. and/or not subject to supply restrictions.

Funding

DOE expects to make up approximately 25-30 new awards between $500,000 and $30,000,000 each with a minimum cost-sharing from the awardees.

Key Dates

Additional Information

• Download the full funding opportunity on FedConnect.
• All applicants must register and apply on Grants.gov and submit questions through FedConnect

Last Updated: September 7, 2023