The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it is investing up to $6bn for 33 projects across more than 20 states.
The investment is to decarbonise energy-intensive industries, reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions, support good-paying union jobs, revitalise industrial communities, and strengthen the nation’s manufacturing competitiveness.
The 33 projects will be funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
The projects will focus on the highest emitting industries where decarbonisation technologies will have the greatest impact, including aluminium and other metals, cement and concrete, chemicals and refining, iron and steel, and more.
Together, the projects are expected to reduce the equivalent of more than 14 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 3 million gasoline-powered cars.
Many of the projects will deploy first-in-the-nation emissions-reducing technologies that have the potential for sector-wide adoption and transformation, multiplying the magnitude of the emissions cuts and supporting the future of US manufacturing.
The projects will focus on the highest emitting industries
This announcement is the largest investment in industrial decarbonisation in American history, helping to position American manufacturers and workers to lead the global clean energy economy.
US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, said: “DOE is making the largest investment in industrial decarbonization in the history of the US.”
“These investments will slash emissions from these difficult-to-decarbonize sectors and ensure American businesses and American workers remain at the forefront of the global economy,” Granholm concluded.
Decarbonising energy and emissions-intensive industries
The 33 projects selected for award negotiations represent difficult to decarbonise industries, including:
- Seven chemicals and refining projects
- Six cement and concrete projects
- Six iron and steel projects
- Five aluminum and metals projects
- Three food and beverage projects
- Three glass projects
- Two process heat-focused projects
- One pulp and paper project
An overview of selected projects broken down by industry
Chemicals and refining:
The seven selected chemicals and refining projects demonstrate how one of the world’s largest industries can turn its carbon intensity from a liability into an advantage, increase circularity, and onshore critical supply chains for clean fuels and key electric vehicle components.
Together, the seven projects would create products like clean fuels
These projects plan to demonstrate opportunities to upcycle captured carbon to value-added products, create high-quality fuels and materials from recycled products, and replace fossil-fired, high-heat processes with decarbonised fuels.
Together, the seven projects would create products like clean fuels for the marine sector, electrolytes for electric vehicle batteries, and high-quality plastics.
Cement and concrete:
The six selected cement and concrete projects plan to demonstrate a comprehensive set of technologies capable of eliminating all CO2 emissions from today’s plants while setting the stage for a future where cement, one of the single largest sources of CO2 emissions globally, can be net-negative.
These projects will revolutionise a sector that has relied on emissions-intensive processes for millennia.
The projects will develop new pathways for making traditional Portland cement
From capturing and sequestering the emissions from one of the largest cement plants in the US to pioneering chemistry changes to mitigate emissions at their source, DOE’s investments can fundamentally transform cement, the world’s most abundant man-made material and a building block of our world’s infrastructure.
Together, the projects will develop new pathways for making traditional Portland cement with lower or zero emissions and to pioneer new materials and new mixtures that can drive the sector to zero emissions.
Iron and steel:
The six selected iron and steel projects plan to demonstrate emerging technologies, including some of the world’s first clean hydrogen-fueled direct reduced ironmaking facilities, which can eliminate the vast majority of steelmaking emissions.
This investment is expected to help create products like high grades of steel for the automotive industry
The projects will help decarbonise iron and steelmaking and enable the industry to phase out more traditional carbon-intensive production methods that rely on coal.
This investment is expected to help create products like high grades of steel for the automotive industry while solidifying the nation’s position as the global leader in low-carbon iron and steel products.
Aluminum and metals:
The five selected aluminium and metals projects include a major capital injection to decarbonise and revitalise the U.S. primary aluminium industry along with world-leading recycling approaches for both aluminium and copper.
After decades of decline, these investments lay the groundwork for a potential rebound of this critical sector.
The five selected aluminium and metals projects include a major capital injection to decarbonise and revitalise the U.S. primary aluminium industry
These investments aim to improve US industry’s competitiveness and efficiency while simultaneously decarbonising and on-shoring supply chains for materials critical for defence and energy sectors.
In addition to the high-purity aluminium needed for the defence and energy sectors, the selections include projects that would create recycled aluminium for the food and beverage industry and copper for semiconductors and electric vehicles.
Food and beverage:
The three selected food and beverage projects will demonstrate highly replicable energy efficiency and electrification solutions for low- to medium-temperature process heat across 16 locations.
These projects can increase consumer awareness around embodied emissions by decarbonising products that Americans consume every day like ice cream, ketchup, and BBQ sauce.
Glass:
The three selected glass projects plan to validate electric/fuel hybrid furnaces producing low-emission glass bottles, tableware, and food packaging. This suite of projects will help decarbonise high-temperature heat and set a roadmap for other heat-intensive industrial processes.
Before funding is issued, DOE and the selected applicants will undergo a negotiation process
Process heat:
These two projects plan to validate the use of electric boilers and electric steam production to reduce emissions associated with process heating across a wide range of industries.
By demonstrating applicability across sectors, these projects will chart a path for addressing one of the biggest challenges in the industrial sector, heat-related emissions.
Pulp and paper:
The one selected pulp and paper project aims to improve energy efficiency by using a novel membrane for an important separations process instead of heat.
This technology is highly replicable for many applications, including chemicals and critical materials.
What is next?
To kickstart ongoing engagement around these projects, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) will hold a series of national and regional virtual briefings to provide information on the selected projects, introduce OCED’s approach to clean energy demonstrations, and provide opportunities for industry and communities to engage further on specific projects of interest.
Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding
Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding.
Before funding is issued, DOE and the selected applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.
Lead applicants also may change during the award negotiations process. If awarded, OCED will evaluate these projects through a phased approach to project management that includes “go/no-go” decision points between each project phase where DOE reviews and evaluates implementation progress, including community benefits.