US DOE announces carbon dioxide products funding

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced approximately US$6.7 million in federal funding for cost-shared projects that will develop technologies that use carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants to produce products. DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy is seeking these projects as part of the Department’s Carbon Storage programme.

Carbon capture and storage is a key component of national efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change.

The new funding opportunity announcement (FOA) focuses on securing applications for projects that will develop CO₂ using technologies that produce useful products at lower cost than currently available technologies, without generating additional greenhouse gas emissions. Awards made from the FOA will validate the concept, estimate the technology cost, and demonstrate that the carbon lifecycle of the products can offer a true carbon reduction.

The funding opportunity announcement, entitled Applications for Technologies Directed at Utilising Carbon Dioxide from Coal Fired Power Plants, has three areas of interest:

Biological based concepts for beneficial use of CO₂: This topic area is focused exclusively on the biological utilisation of CO₂ contained in flue gas exiting a desulfurisation unit (prior to entering a downstream CO₂-capture and -purification unit). Projects will address key technical barriers to improve the technical and economic feasibility of biological CO₂ utilisation and address the challenges associated with integrating biological CO₂ utilisation processes with coal-fired power plants.

Mineralisation concepts using CO₂ with industrial wastes: The objective of this topic area is to support technology development for innovative concepts that utilize CO2 to react with industrial wastes, such as tailings from mining operations, and stabilise the CO₂ in mineral form, resulting in salable products and/or recovery of valuable minerals or chemicals from these waste materials.

Novel physical and chemical processes for beneficial use of carbon: Projects in this topic area will demonstrate innovative concepts for beneficial use of CO₂ via novel physical and/or chemical conversion processes, including high-energy systems and nano-engineered catalysts that can transform CO₂ into valuable products and chemicals while significantly reducing energy demand for the conversion process.

Edited from press release by Angharad Lock

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/30082016/us-doe-announces-carbon-dioxide-products-funding-2332/