Biden-Harris Administration Invests $5.5 Million to Develop New and Alternative Products Using our Nation’s Supplies of Critical Minerals and Materials

The Investing in America Agenda Continues to Strengthen Responsible Domestic Supply Chains and Reduce Our Nation's Reliance on Foreign Sources

WASHINGTON, D.C.- In support of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $5.5 million for six projects that will advance cost effective and environmentally responsible processes to produce and refine critical minerals and materials here in the United States. The funding, provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to develop new and improved technologies using critical minerals and materials that can predominantly be domestically sourced, reducing our dependence on offshore supplies. These projects will help reach the Biden-Harris Administration's clean energy goals while creating good-paying jobs and supporting communities across the country that historically have depended on mining and energy production.

"Building a clean energy and industrial economy requires strategically tapping into our nation's own reliable domestic resources to meet this demand and strengthen energy security," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. "We are investing in alternative products that will be developed using more abundant and accessible materials, reducing our import dependency while lowering costs, increasing U.S. competitiveness, and enhancing our national security."

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, more than 95% of the U.S. demand for rare earth elements is met by foreign sources. More than 50% of most critical minerals come from foreign sources, and at least 12 critical minerals come exclusively from foreign sources.

Critical Material Innovation, Efficiency, and Alternatives

The "Critical Material Innovation, Efficiency, and Alternatives" funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will provide up to $150 million over several rounds of project selections to help to build a secure, sustainable domestic supply of critical minerals from sources across the United States, including recycled materials, mine waste, industrial waste, and ore deposits. Specifically, the FOA will support bench- and pilot-scale research, development, and demonstration projects to increase the robustness of domestic supply chains and reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains. The following six projects selected for negotiation fall under the "Alternative Products" area of interest, and are focused on new or improved alternative energy technologies or designs that use critical minerals and materials that are more abundant in the United States and/or not subject to supply restrictions:

• CorePower Magnetics (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) plans to develop and prototype a high-performance rare earth element-free electric motor, evaluating and comparing several rare earth element-free permanent-magnet technologies for performance and production readiness.
  
• Giner, Inc. (Auburndale, Massachusetts) plans to develop lower-cost rechargeable batteries for electric vehicle applications, relying on domestically available supplies of manganese, iron, titanium, and magnesium and reducing the use of elements such as copper or nickel.
  
• Ohio University (Athens, Ohio) plans to develop coal and waste coal-derived hard carbon anodes that, when coupled with domestically sourced cathode materials, will result in a next-generation high performance sodium-ion battery-a promising lower-cost alternative to lithium-ion batteries, which require key critical materials that are largely sourced from outside the United States.
  
• Semplastics (Oviedo, Florida) plans to use low-cost coal feedstocks to develop an alternative anode active product to serve as a battery-grade graphite substitute in lithium-ion batteries, helping improve the domestic availability of key components in grid storage batteries.
  
• University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee) plans to develop a rechargeable alkaline-manganese dioxide battery, focusing on environmentally friendly, neutral electrolytes and using minerals with robust supply chains in the United States as an alternative technology to lithium-ion batteries, which require key critical materials that are largely sourced from outside the United States.
  
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, Massachusetts) plans to develop an approach to convert pure or mixed nickel-lean polycrystal cathode materials to nickel-rich single crystal cathode materials.

A detailed list of the selected projects and funding amounts can be found here. DOE plans to make additional selections under the FOA's remaining areas of interest at a later date.

The selected project teams were required, as part of their applications, to submit Community Benefits Plans to demonstrate meaningful engagement with and tangible benefits to the communities in which these projects will be located. These plans provide details on their commitments to quality job creation; diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; and benefits to disadvantaged communities as part of the Justice40 Initiative. The President's Justice40 Initiative sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

DOE's selections are subject to environmental review in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act review process. DOE reserves the right to terminate award negotiations at any time for any reason.

DOE's Broader Advancements in Critical Minerals and Materials

In addition to today's announcement, DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has committed an estimated $171 million since January 2021 for projects that support critical minerals and materials exploration, resource identification, production, and processing in traditional mining and fossil fuel-producing communities across the country.

FECM minimizes environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions across the U.S. economy. Priority areas of technology work include carbon capture, carbon conversion, carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide transport and storage, hydrogen production with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, and critical minerals production. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements, and visit the National Energy Technology Laboratory website.

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