The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on June 15 that it will invest $135 million in 40 projects that will bring down CO2 emissions from the industrial sector. Decarbonizing the U.S. industrial sector is a key part of the ambitious climate goals of the Biden-Harris Administration and the net-zero target by 2050.
The hard-to-abate U.S. industrial sector is responsible for one-third of all emissions related to energy in the country.
Last year, DOE released the Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap, which puts focus on five energy-intensive subsectors where decarbonization efforts can have the most decisive role: cement and concrete, chemicals, food and beverage, iron and steel, and petroleum refining.
The 40 selected projects will be primarily funded by the Department of Energy’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office and will be supported by 36 universities and laboratories across 21 U.S. states. The projects will include research, development, and pilot-scale demonstrations that can reduce emissions from these subsectors.
9 projects in the Decarbonizing Chemicals subsectors will receive $38.3 million to improve energy efficiency and bring down the CO2 impact of chemical production:
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- RAPID Manufacturing Institute
- RedoxBlox Inc.
- Rice University
- Siemens Energy Inc.
- The Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia
- University of Cincinnati
- Via Separations Inc.
10 Decarbonizing Iron and Steel projects will receive $31.9 million to help establish DOE’s Low Emissions Steel Manufacturing Research Program and decarbonization in iron and steelmaking:
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Case Western Reserve University
- GTI Energy
- Hertha Metals Inc.
- Idaho National Laboratory
- Molten Industries
- Pennsylvania State University
- Purdue University Northwest
- Tufts University
- University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Relevant: U.S. Carbon Capture Set For Liftoff According To DOE Report
3 projects in the Food and Beverage Products subsector will get $11.4 million to explore technologies that can decarbonize process heating operations:
- Palo Alto Research Center Inc.
- Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
- West Virginia University Research Corporation
5 projects in the Decarbonizing Cement and Concrete will receive $16.4 million to explore innovative cement formulations and process routes, as well as CO2 capture and utilization technologies:
- Calcify dba Carbon Capture Machine
- Cornell University
- SkyNano LLC
- University of Kentucky
- Washington State University
6 projects in Decarbonizing Paper and Forest Products will receive $16.2 million to focus on renewables, electrification, CO2 capture, electrification, and energy efficiency:
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Micro Nano Technologies
- North Carolina State University
- Siemens Energy Inc.
- University of Maryland, College Park
- Western Michigan University
7 projects in Cross-Sector Decarbonization Technologies will receive $20.4 million to look into energy and emissions reductions across different industrial sectors such as industrial heat pump technologies:
- GE Research
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Purdue University
- Siemens Energy Inc.
- T2M Global LLC
- Thar Energy LLC
- University of Maryland, College Park
Read more: DOE Announces $6B For Decarbonization Of Hard-To-Abate Industries
