DOE earmarks $26 million of financial assistant for carbon capture research

The Department of Energy announced this week that it intends to fuel the development of carbon capture technology through $26 million of financial assistance for cost-shared R&D projects.

Funds will be administered by the Office of Fossil Energy and the projects overseen by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. These projects will, in turn, support the DOE’s larger Carbon Capture Program. There will be a selection process split into two focuses: developing novel transformational materials and processes and enabling technologies to improve carbon capture systems. In total, the DOE expects to select as many as 14 projects between them.

The former category of projects will essentially support research that develops efforts to significantly increase CO2 absorption performance and other benefits or utilizes advanced membranes and hybrid materials for natural gas or coal-fired flue gas to help the DOE meet transformational carbon capture objectives.

On the other hand, the latter category focuses on projects supporting research associated with advanced carbon capture technologies. Specifically, they are looking to correct challenges associated with the technology and improve carbon capture systems.