News: Suppliers
21 November 2024
US DOE announces $10m funding for Critical Materials Innovation Hub
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI Hub) has announced up to $10m in federal funding to accelerate the early-stage technology R&D necessary to reduce material criticality for energy innovations requiring critical materials – rare-earth elements, gallium, and copper.
Founded in 2013, the CMI Hub (formerly the Critical Materials Institute) is a DOE Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames Laboratory focused on eliminating and reducing reliance on critical materials that are subject to supply disruptions and price fluctuations.
“The continued investment into innovative R&D critical materials projects is key to securing domestic, reliable and resilient supply chains,” says Chris Saldaña, director of the DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. “DOE and the CMI Hub are putting a specific emphasis on industry partnerships to facilitate adoption and bring these solutions to market.”
The request for proposals (RFP) solicits proposals for projects across the following topic areas:
- environmentally benign rare-earth metal and alloy production;
- efficient gallium byproduct recovery, separation and concentration;
- new compounds to reduce gallium content in gallium nitride semiconductors;
- improved processes for gallium semiconductor manufacturing that minimize waste generation;
- improved copper sulfide leaching to unlock copper resources from mine waste.
These topics are informed by the CMI Hub roadmap and represent complementary research areas to the existing CMI Hub project portfolio. The selected projects will bring new membership to the CMI Hub, expanding focus and expertise on gallium, which is used to manufacture LED light bulbs, communications chips in smartphones, and high-efficiency power supplies. Other projects will explore new research areas related to copper, which is essential for renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles, and expand the CMI Hub’s long-standing efforts on rare-earth elements.
Concept papers are due by 6pm ET on 20 December. The Hub anticipates making up to eight awards, with all projects receiving a maximum of $1.5m in federal funds including a required 20% cost share for funds that go to industry partners. Projects will have a period of performance of up to 30 months.
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