BIL 41003c-Critical Material Innovation, Efficiency, and Alternatives

The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will build on prior the Department of Energy (DOE), other government agency, and private sector investment, and implements section 7002(g) of the Energy Act of 2020 and BIL section 41003(c) through the program's research and development activities by the creation of innovative methods and technologies for the efficient and sustainable provision of critical materials to the domestic economy and the expected activities under the program to mitigate the environmental and health impacts of the extraction, processing, manufacturing, use, recovery, and recycling of critical materials. Also, section 41003 (c) of the BIL and section 7002 (g) of the Energy Act of 2020 directs the establishment of a program of research, development, demonstration, and commercialization.

This program will also support the broader government-wide approach to upgrading and modernizing infrastructure, including by strengthening critical domestic manufacturing and associated supply chains to maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition as the nation works to curb the climate crisis, empower workers, and advance environmental justice.

The overarching goal of this opportunity is to develop domestic supply chains for critical minerals and materials (CMM) by creating paths and strategies to commercialize processes that utilize domestic resources. These activities can include extraction, separation, processing, refining, alloying, or recycling technologies but should focus on decreasing environmental emissions, reducing resource usage or intensity, and/or optimizing cost.

The FOA will include five areas of interest (AOI), which are separated into phases as follows:

1: CMM Supply Chain: Multiphase opportunity to develop technologies or process improvements along the critical mineral and material (CMM) supply chain that develop new domestic supplies of CMMs.

2: Value Added Products: Multiphase opportunity to develop value added products from a feedstock containing CMM.

3: Next Generation Technologies: Development of novel, "next generation" technologies to be utilized in the production of critical minerals and materials that focus on the optimization of environmental emissions, resource usage or intensity, and cost within extraction, production, separation, processing, refining, alloying, manufacturing, or recycling technologies.

4: Alternative Materials: Development of CMM alternatives or substitutes to increase robustness of domestic supply chains.

5: Alternative Products: Development of alternative energy technologies or designs of existing energy technologies, particularly technologies or designs that use materials that are abundant in the US or not subject to supply restrictions.