The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management's Hydrogen with Carbon Management (HCM) Program sponsors and conducts research on the development and use of carbon-neutral or net-negative carbon emission energy systems and associated technologies. The HCM program’s efforts are an integral part of the DOE's Hydrogen Shot, with a goal of reducing clean hydrogen costs by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram within 1 decade (1-1-1), while expanding employment of the U.S. energy workforce. Gasification of alternative or non-traditional feedstocks such as biomass and wastes to produce clean hydrogen with genuine net-zero to net-negative carbon emissions performance is of continued interest. Challenges remain with exclusive use of non-traditional feedstocks in gasification systems faced with the ambitious Hydrogen Shot goals.
DOE is offering potential funding via this FOA for development of innovative gasification designs/systems for converting alternative feedstocks into syngas to enable the low-cost production of clean hydrogen. The program is motivated by the unique potential of carbon capture-friendly oxygen-blown gasification processes to convert solid mixed biomass and waste feedstocks to clean hydrogen, which is useful as a decarbonized energy carrier and for synthesis of decarbonized transportation fuels, chemicals, electricity, and other useful products. Specifically, Research and Development (R&D) towards demonstration of entrained flow gasification and fluidized bed technologies is sought.
Alternative feedstocks are defined as biomass or biomass wastes, municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial wastes, carbonaceous waste materials (e.g., plastics wastes), or any combination of the components above. These feedstocks have different reactivities and other properties that face challenges not well understood from the available gasification knowledge base. These technical issues and challenges include:
• Feeding issues—Non-uniform feedstocks with diverse physical characteristics and chemical compositions.
• Low mass density—Compounds feeding issues.
• Low energy density—Larger amounts needed compared to other fuels compounding feeding issues.
• Limited availability—Decays over time (half-life varies from one to 20 years, depending on species), requires large amounts of land to create, seasonal availability.
• High corrosivity—Ammonia, alkaline compounds in ash damage downstream components.
These issues limit the use of biomass as a primary feedstock, especially for mid- to large-scale applications, as is in the United States, which does not host large-scale biomass gasification projects—though small-scale biomass gasification demo projects currently exist worldwide.
Sign Up 
