In this planned funding opportunity, FECM intends to help build off of prior DOE (e.g., from Office of Science, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), and FECM) and private industry investments across the critical materials supply chain, from extraction, processing, refining, manufacturing, and recycling, as well as on investments in developing alternative materials or manufactured products with less supply vulnerability. FECM anticipates funding high impact applied research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) bench and pilot scale projects. This funding opportunity is looking to develop bench scale concepts in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2 to 4 range and to demonstrate processes on a continuous/semicontinuous bench scale before scaling up to pilot scale, at TRL 6. FECM supports rebuilding the U.S. leadership role in the economically viable, environmentally responsible extraction, separation, processing, refining, and recycling of critical minerals and materials (CMM). This supports the generation of sustainable, globally competitive U.S. domestic supply chains for onshore production of CMMs for commercial commodities, clean energy, and national defense industries. FECM also supports the Administration’s goals for zero-emission vehicles to comprise half of passenger car and light truck sales by 2030 of decarbonizing the electricity sector by 2035 and the economy by 2050. This program supports the goals of Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which established the Justice40 Initiative. Justice40 seeks to ensure that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities. Given that R&D projects on critical minerals could involve reuse and clean-up of former mining and oil field and other wastes we are particularly interested in the potential co-benefits to disadvantaged communities.
This Notice of Intent (NOI) describes a preliminary plan that will evolve during the FOA development process.
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