US Department of Energy invests US$46m in carbon capture projects

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has announced US$45.6m in federal funding for nine projects that will advance CO₂ capture technologies and help establish the foundation for a successful carbon transport and storage industry in the US. Large-scale deployment of carbon capture, transportation, and storage infrastructure is crucial to meeting the Administration’s ambitious climate goal of achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, while also delivering a healthier environment and economic opportunities for our communities and workers, says the DOE.

“DOE is mobilising historic levels of private sector investment in the US to capture, transport, and safely and permanently store hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide per year from our industrial and power sectors,” said Brad Crabtree, assistant secretary, FECM. “These demonstration and pilot projects bring us one step closer to effective and responsible deployment of carbon management infrastructure necessary to achieve our climate goals, while also providing good paying and jobs and health benefits to communities in every corner of the nation.”

Some projects selected under this funding opportunity announcement will focus on developing lower cost, highly efficient technologies that will capture CO₂ from power and industrial facilities for permanent geologic carbon storage or for conversion into long-lasting products. This will include carbon capture in the cement, steel, and glass industries, as well as natural gas power plants. Others will focus on accelerating the deployment of multi-modal transport of CO₂ through the creation of transportation hubs.