DOE to award $122M for coal products innovation centers

In an effort to spur value-added, carbon-based coal products and new methods of extraction/processing, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will award approximately $122 million for coal products innovations centers as part of a competitive process.

“It’s vitally important that America develop a viable domestic supply of rare earth elements, critical minerals, and other valuable products from our vast coal resources,” Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. “This effort moves us closer to that goal. The Trump Administration has been aggressively investing in research and development for novel uses of coal that have the potential to create new markets for coal and coal byproducts. Sustaining domestic coal production creates new economic opportunity for coal state economies and benefits the Nation.”

The move represents the latest effort on the part of the Trump administration to keep the coal industry afloat as coal plants close and other energy resources overtake it. If new methods of extraction and processing could be made, the hope is that rare earth elements and other critical minerals could likewise be plucked from coal.

The government has encouraged new and existing coalitions of state and local governments, private industry, academia, and national laboratories to engage the offer. These innovation centers will accordingly be public-private entities, focused on education, as well as research and incubation of innovative mining practices, beneficiation, processing, and purification technologies. Funding will come from the Office of Fossil Energy’s Carbon Ore, Rare Earths and Critical Minerals initiative.

In its announcement, the DOE specifically called out existing U.S. coal basins like the Appalachian basin and the Gulf Coast-Black Warrior basin as potential partners that could host such facilities. All funding will be made available through one or more Funding Opportunity Announcements from the DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory.