Office: Resource Sustainability
FOA number: DE-FOA-0002619
Download the full funding opportunity: FedConnect
Funding Amount: $30 million
Background Information
On July 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) announced nearly $10 million for two projects that will help lower the costs and reduce the environmental impact of producing rare earth elements and other critical minerals and materials from coal, coal wastes, and coal by-products. Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the selected projects will help meet the growing demand for critical minerals and materials in the United States, while reducing our reliance on foreign supply chains. Rare earth elements and other critical minerals and materials are incorporated into many products, including U.S.-manufactured clean energy technologies—such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells—that are advancing President Biden’s historic climate agenda.
The United States currently imports more than 80% of its rare earth elements, but rare earth elements naturally occur all around us, including in our domestic coal, coal wastes, and coal by-products, which comprise more than 250 billion tons of coal reserves, over 4 billion tons of waste coal, and about 2 billion tons of coal ash. DOE seeks to harness secondary and unconventional resources to help build a sustainable domestic supply chain to support U.S. economic growth, clean energy deployment, and national security.
This funding is provided from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Section 41003(b).
Selectees
The two projects selected for negotiation are designed to conduct advanced laboratory and bench-scale testing to improve the economic viability of rare earth element and critical minerals and materials separation and refining technologies. The projects will use secondary and unconventional coal-based resources to produce rare earths and critical minerals and materials for use in clean energy, national defense, and/or commercial commodity products and equipment:
Selectees include:
- California Institute of Technology
- University of Utah
A detailed list of the selected projects can be found here.
A detailed list of the selected projects announced on April 23, 2024 can be found here.
Key Dates
| NOI Issue Date: | 04/24/2023 |
| FOA Issue Date: | 08/21/2023 |
| Submission Deadline for Full Applications: | 11/3/2023 at 11:59 PM ET |
| Expected Date for DOE Selection Notifications: | April 2024 |
Additional Information
- Download the full funding opportunity on FedConnect.
- All applicants must register and apply on Grants.gov and submit questions through FedConnect
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Last Updated: July 17, 2024