Energy.gov reports that a $17 million investment will de-risk innovative technology solutions and boost domestic production and recovery of essential materials for next-generation technologies, strengthening national and energy security. They write:
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced an investment of $17 million across 14 projects that will accelerate critical materials innovation while promoting safe, sustainable, economic, and efficient solutions to meet current and future supply chain needs. The projects, which span 11 states, are strengthening and streamlining manufacturing for high-impact components and technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, magnets for high-efficiency motors, high-performance lithium-ion batteries, and high-yield low-defect power electronics.
“DOE is helping reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign supply chains through innovative solutions that will tap domestic sources of the critical materials needed for next-generation technologies,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer M. Granholm. “These investments—part of our industrial strategy—will keep America’s growing manufacturing industry competitive while delivering economic benefits to communities nationwide.”
Source: US Dept of Energy
These projects are coordinated through DOE’s Critical Materials Collaborative, which is designed to catalyze a robust critical materials innovation ecosystem by connecting DOE’s critical minerals and materials portfolio with industry and beyond, supporting real-world innovation through each stage of the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) pipeline. The supported small-scale demonstrations for critical materials including lithium, nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements, platinum group metals, silicon carbide, copper, and graphite will help de-risk critical materials innovations and accelerate commercial readiness and adoption for critical materials including the aforementioned.
The projects announced today will prioritize community benefits, reduce the environmental impacts of mining, and augment America’s manufacturing workforce. These investments through the Critical Materials Accelerator funding program are part of a government-wide effort to support resilient supply chains and address challenges in each of the DOE’s Critical Minerals and Materials strategic pillars: diversify and expand supply, develop alternatives, improve materials and manufacturing efficiency, and build the circular economy.
The selected projects:
Use magnets with reduced critical materials content:
University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, Texas): $1,000,000
Ames National Laboratory (Ames, Iowa): $1,000,000
ABB, Inc. (Cary, North Carolina): $1,520,000
Niron Magnetics, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minnesota): $2,700,000
Improve unit operations of processing and manufacturing of critical materials:
Free Form Fibers (Saratoga Springs, NY): $926,000
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia): $1,000,000
University of North Dakota (Grand Forks, North Dakota): $1,000,000
Ames National Laboratory (Ames, Iowa): $1,000,000
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee): $1,000,000
Summit Nanotech USA Corporation (Lafayette, Colorado): $1,000,000
Recover critical material from scrap and post-consumer products:
Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University (College Station, Texas): $1,280,000
Infinite Elements (El Paso, Texas): $1,500,000
Reduce critical material demand for clean energy technologies:
