U.S. Department of Energy puts up $28M for clean hydrogen R&D

Published on February 09, 2022 by Chris Galford

Through the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week that it will award $28 million into research and development of front-end engineering design (FEED) projects designed to advance clean hydrogen.

These funds will be offered through a funding opportunity announcement (FOA), meant to stimulate clean hydrogen production at lower costs from materials such as solid waste, coal waste, waste plastics, and biomass with carbon capture and storage. The latter also alludes to the main difference between traditional and clean hydrogen use. Traditional hydrogen production tends to use natural gas without carbon capture, which is not clean.

If positively utilized, the DOE hopes this could be another means of decarbonizing the U.S. economy by 2050. 

“The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management is committed to making clean energy sources more affordable through key initiatives like the Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Shot, which seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80 percent to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade,” Dr. Jennifer Wilcox, Acting Assistant Secretary of FECM, said. “To help us achieve those targets, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides funding to demonstrate clean hydrogen solutions and prove them out at scale. Leveraging FECM’s hydrogen R&D and FEED experience from past investments and those expected under this FOA will establish a solid foundation for critical next-generation demonstrations that will allow us to more swiftly deliver clean, low-cost power to all Americans.”

Under the FOA, five different project types are eligible for funding:

1. Clean hydrogen cost reductions for hydrogen shot
2. Clean hydrogen from high-volume waste materials and biomass
3. Sensors and controls for co-gasification of waste plastics in the production of hydrogen with carbon capture capabilities
4. FEED studies for Carbon Capture Systems at domestic steam methane reforming facilities producing H2 from natural gas
5. FEED Studies for Carbon Capture Systems at domestic autothermal reforming facilities producing H2 from natural gas

Any selected projects will improve performance, reliability, and flexibility of the methods used to produce, store and use clean hydrogen among power generation and industrial sources.