It is to invest some $131mn on 33 R&D projects aimed at advancing the wide-scale deployment of carbon management technologies. The projects will address the technical challenges of capturing CO₂ from power plants and industrial facilities or directly from the atmosphere, and assess potential CO₂ storage sites, increasing the number of sites progressing toward commercial operation.

According to the DOE, ‘both carbon capture and carbon removal have the potential to eliminate hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO₂ pollution per year’.

A number of the CO₂ removal projects support the cost and performance goals of the DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot initiative, which calls for innovation in pathways that will capture carbon from the atmosphere and permanently store it at meaningful scales for less than $100/net tCO₂e. The projects will look specifically at assessing potential resources for mineral carbon storage, where the CO₂ becomes permanently stored as a solid mineral through a chemical reaction.

Boosting biofuels development
A further $118mn will fund 17 projects looking to accelerate the production of sustainable biofuels to meet US transportation and manufacturing needs. The selected projects, located at universities and private companies, will drive the domestic production of biofuels and bioproducts by advancing biorefinery development, from pre-pilot to demonstration, to create sustainable fuels that reduce emissions associated with fossil fuels.

The project will contribute to meeting the DOE’s goal of achieving cost-competitive biofuels and at least a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.

‘Biofuels are a versatile tool because they have the immediate potential to power our ships, trains, airlines and heavy-duty vehicles – a huge contributor to total carbon emissions – with a significantly reduced carbon footprint,’ commented US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M Granholm. ‘DOE investments are helping to build out a domestic bioenergy supply chain that increases America’s energy independence, creates jobs and accelerates the adoption of cleaner fuels for our transportation needs.’

The funded projects will support the recently unveiled US National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonisation strategy which aims to cut all GHGs emissions from the US transportation sector by 2050, as well as the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge goal of enabling the production of 3bn g/y of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030 and 35bn g/y by 2050.

Focus on hydrogen
Lastly, up to $47mn is to finance the development of affordable clean hydrogen technologies, advancing the DOE’s Hydrogen Shot goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1/kg within a decade. ‘Achieving these cost reductions will accelerate the use of clean hydrogen across multiple sectors, strengthening our energy security while supporting President Biden’s ambitious goals of a 100% clean electric grid by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by 2050,’ noted Granholm.

The funding will focus on the research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of key hydrogen delivery and storage technologies as well as affordable and durable fuel cell technologies. The latter will concentrate particularly on applications for heavy-duty trucks, to reduce CO₂ emissions and eliminate exhaust emissions that are harmful to local air quality.