Department of Energy to award up to $6B for 33 decarbonization, manufacturing projects
Focused on industries where decarbonization technologies will have the largest impact, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced up to $6 billion for 33 projects to decarbonize while building up domestic manufacturing.
“Spurring on the next generation of decarbonization technologies in key industries like steel, paper, concrete, and glass will keep America the most competitive nation on Earth,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “Thanks to President Biden’s industrial strategy, DOE is making the largest investment in industrial decarbonization in the history of the United States. 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.”
Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the projects will target eight industries: chemicals and refining, cement and concrete, iron and steel, aluminum and metals, food and beverage, glass, process heat and pulp and paper. According to the DOE, the projects should have the equivalent effect of cutting more than 14 million metric tons of CO2 annually, which is the amount produced by roughly 3 million gas-powered cars.
They will do so through a mix of unique emissions-reducing technologies that could, eventually, target wider-scale adoption and transformation of U.S. manufacturing. For now, the White House claimed these investments will create and maintain tens of thousands of high-quality jobs and hasten the commercial-scale demonstration of emerging industrial technologies. Nearly 80 percent will center on disadvantaged communities.
The 33 projects will include everything from demonstration of upcycled captured carbon efforts, to decarbonizing ironmaking, electrification of low to medium-temperature process heat for food products, and use of a novel membrane for greater energy efficiency among pulp and paper products.
