ARPA-E Funding Opportunity Announcements

This announcement is purposely broad in scope, and will cover a wide range of topics to encourage the submission of the most innovative and unconventional ideas in energy technology. The objective of this solicitation is to support high-risk R&D leading to the development of potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. Topics under this FOA will explore new areas of technology development that, if successful, could establish new program areas for ARPA-E, or complement the current portfolio of ARPA-E programs.

Targeted Topics:

A. Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions
Closed- FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 11/15/2022

B. INcreasing Transportation Efficiency and Resiliency through MODeling Assets and Logistics (INTERMODAL)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/11/2023

C. Creating Revolutionary Energy And Technology Endeavors (CREATE)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 3/21/2023

D. Predictive Real-time Emissions Technologies Reducing Aircraft Induced Lines in the Sky (PRE-TRAILS)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/25/2023

E. Critical Mineral Extraction from Ocean Macroalgal Biomass (Algal Mining)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 5/31/2023

F. Novel Superconducting Technologies for Conductors (Superconductors)
Closed- FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 7/25/2023

G. Production of Geologic Hydrogen Through Stimulated Mineralogical Processes
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

H. Subsurface Engineering for Hydrogen Reservoir Management
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

I. Field Evaluations of Vehicle Energy Efficiency for NEXTCAR Phase II Technologies
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/10/2024

For Topic I, see Section XVIII.4 Eligibility of the FOA for Eligibility requirements.

J. RESERVED

K. RESERVED

L. Plant HYperaccumulators TO MIne Nickel-Enriched Soils (PHYTOMINES)
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 5/7/2024

This announcement is purposely broad in scope, and will cover a wide range of topics to encourage the submission of the most innovative and unconventional ideas in energy technology. The objective of this solicitation is to support high-risk R&D leading to the development of potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. Topics under this FOA will explore new areas of technology development that, if successful, could establish new program areas for ARPA-E, or complement the current portfolio of ARPA-E programs.

Targeted Topics:

A. Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 11/15/2022

B. RESERVED

C. Creating Revolutionary Energy And Technology Endeavors (CREATE)
Closed- FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 3/21/2023

D. Predictive Real-time Emissions Technologies Reducing Aircraft Induced Lines in the Sky (PRE-TRAILS)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/25/2023

E. RESERVED

F. Novel Superconducting Technologies for Conductors (Superconductors)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 7/25/2023

G. Production of Geologic Hydrogen Through Stimulated Mineralogical Processes
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

H. Subsurface Engineering for Hydrogen Reservoir Management
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

I. RESERVED

J. RESERVED

K. RESERVED

L. Plant HYperaccumulators TO MIne Nickel-Enriched Soils (PHYTOMINES)
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 5/7/2024

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) provides a continuing opportunity for the rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. Spurring Projects to Advance Energy Research and Knowledge Swiftly (SPARKS) awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with useful information for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. SPARKS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology.

SPARKS awards are defined as single-phase efforts of durations of 18 months or less with a total project cost of $500,000 or less and will be issued through Grants. ARPA-E expects to make approximately $10 million per fiscal year available for new awards, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 11/1/23.

The Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential 2023 (SCALEUP 2023) Funding Opportunity Announcement provides a vital mechanism for the support of innovative energy R&D that complements ARPA-E’s primary R&D focus on early-stage transformational energy technologies that still require proof-of-concept.

An enduring challenge to ARPA-E’s mission is that even technologies that achieve substantial technical advancement under ARPA-E support face significant remaining technical and commercial risks upon completion of an award's funding period, and thus are at risk of being stranded in their development path once ARPA-E funding ends. Experience across ARPA-E’s diverse energy portfolios, and input from a wide range of investors and industry stakeholders, indicates that pre-commercial “scaling” projects are critical to establishing that performance and cost parameters can be met in practice for these potentially transformative technologies. These pre-commercial scaling projects aim to translate the performance achieved at bench scale to commercially scalable versions of the technology, integrate the technology with broader systems, provide extended performance data, and validate the manufacturability and reliability of new energy technologies. Success in these scaling projects should enable industry, investors, and partners to justify the substantial commitments of financial resources, personnel, manufacturing facilities, and materials necessary to subsequently deploy the technologies at commercial scale.

The SCALEUP 2023 FOA seeks to scale the most promising technologies previously funded by ARPA-E. The stranding of promising ARPA-E-funded technologies in their development pathways leaves substantial intellectual property developed with American taxpayer dollars vulnerable to adoption by foreign competitors, who can and do capture it for continued development – and economic benefit – overseas. This harms national competitiveness, as U.S. industries often lose the lead on the development, scaling, and manufacturing of technologies necessary to compete in rapidly evolving global energy markets. Thus, projects selected for SCALEUP 2023 will meet ARPA-E’s statutory direction to achieve the above goals by “accelerating transformational technological advances in areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty”. [1]

[1] 42 U.S.C. §16538(c)(2)(a-c)

The Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy (IGNIITE) program is designed to support a new cohort of early-career innovators to develop the most disruptive and unconventional ideas into transformative new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. This announcement is purposefully broad in technical scope, but eligibility is limited to early-career researchers.

Submissions to this solicitation must propose transformational R&D that have the potential for high impact. If successful, a project could create a new class or new trajectory for an energy technology, with the potential to substantially contribute to ARPA-E’s statutory goals.Awards under this program may take the form of exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. Alternatively, awards may support proof-of-concept research for a particular new technology in an area not currently supported by the agency.

This program aims to empower early-career scientists and engineers in becoming independent researchers and in unleashing their creativity to develop disruptive energy technologies. A second objective is to encourage these early-career innovators to focus their careers on tackling the substantial and urgent energy-related problems our society currently faces. In doing so, this FOA will help ensure that the U.S. maintains its technological leadership in the development and deployment of advanced energy technologies.

The primary objective of the GREENWELLS program is the development of chemical reactors and supporting units that economically store at least 50% of incoming intermittent electrical energy in carbon-containing liquids. To achieve attractive economics, ARPA-E expects that chemical reactors will need to be dynamically operable to optimize the entire system of renewable energy production, electrolysis capital, and energy storage. If successful, the GREENWELLS program will provide low-cost carbon-containing liquids that enable the transportation and storage of renewable energy, are suitable as-is or with upgrading for use in the difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, and will speed the development of new renewable energy projects by alleviating requirements for connection to an electric grid. 

Technical approaches of interest include but are not limited to:

(1) Dynamic Reactor Design 

(2) Novel Catalyst Development and Optimization

(3) Manufacturing of Modular Reaction Systems

(4) Transient Modelling and Process Optimization

The primary objective of the GREENWELLS program is the development of chemical reactors and supporting units that economically store at least 50% of incoming intermittent electrical energy in carbon-containing liquids. To achieve attractive economics, ARPA-E expects that chemical reactors will need to be dynamically operable to optimize the entire system of renewable energy production, electrolysis capital, and energy storage. If successful, the GREENWELLS program will provide low-cost carbon-containing liquids that enable the transportation and storage of renewable energy, are suitable as-is or with upgrading for use in the difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, and will speed the development of new renewable energy projects by alleviating requirements for connection to an electric grid. 

Technical approaches of interest include but are not limited to:

(1) Dynamic Reactor Design

(2) Novel Catalyst Development and Optimization

(3) Manufacturing of Modular Reaction Systems

(4) Transient Modelling and Process Optimization

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 4/11/24.

The primary objective of the CHADWICK program is the development of new first-wall materials that will significantly improve the commercial viability of nuclear fusion.The CHADWICK program is comprised of three technical categories to support the program objectives. Applicants can apply to Category A, Category B, a combination of Categories A and B, or Category C, based on their expertise. Category C capability teams will support analysis and facilitate communications between Category A and B project teams and fusion power system designer end users by performing techno-economic analyses (TEA) and life-cycle analyses (LCA) of their materials products.

CATEGORY A – PLASMA-FACING COMPONENT MATERIALS: Applicants to this category will discover and validate materials that maintain room temperature ductility after significant irradiation damage and helium generation while satisfying the unirradiated thermal conductivity, plasma erosion, and tritium retention performance metrics of tungsten in fusion power system first-wall applications.

CATEGORY B – STRUCTURAL MATERIALS: Applicants to this category will discover and validate materials that maintain room temperature ductility after significant irradiation damage and helium generation while satisfying the unirradiated thermal, mechanical, and tritium retention performance metrics of RAFM steels in fusion power system first-wall applications.

CATEGORY C – CAPABILITY TEAMS: Applicants seeking to contribute an expert or specialist capability that could assist multiple Category A and/or B experimental teams in fulfilling program objectives should consider selecting Category C.

The overarching goal of the CIRCULAR program is to successfully translate the definition of a circular economy to the domestic EV battery supply chain by supporting the development of innovative solutions that can overcome both the technological and economic barriers to broad commercial adoption. CIRCULAR recognizes that conventional recycling is not the only, nor primary, pathway to closing the supply chain loop. The program will support the development and deployment of foundational technologies capable of maintaining materials and products in circulation at their highest level of performance and safety for as long as possible. CIRCULAR acknowledges that simultaneous advancements in multiple technological domains may be required to accomplish this ambitious objective.

The program will have four categories:

Category A seeks innovations in battery cell materials, designs, regeneration methods, and corresponding manufacturing techniques to prolong battery service life.

Category B seeks innovations in battery pack designs, materials, and reversible manufacturing methods as well as fast and safe disassembly techniques to recover manufacturing value of cells and pack components.

Category C seeks innovations in cell-level sensing, data analytics, and battery intelligence systems for circularity and safety.

Category D focuses on analytical tools to assess the economic benefits of the technologies developed in Categories A, B, and C, including their impact on GHG emissions and overall material consumption per unit of energy delivered over the lifetimes of battery cells and packs.

The overarching goal of the CIRCULAR program is to successfully translate the definition of a circular economy to the domestic EV battery supply chain by supporting the development of innovative solutions that can overcome both the technological and economic barriers to broad commercial adoption. CIRCULAR recognizes that conventional recycling is not the only, nor primary, pathway to closing the supply chain loop. The program will support the development and deployment of foundational technologies capable of maintaining materials and products in circulation at their highest level of performance and safety for as long as possible. CIRCULAR acknowledges that simultaneous advancements in multiple technological domains may be required to accomplish this ambitious objective.

The program will have three categories:

Category A seeks innovations in battery cell materials, designs, regeneration methods, and corresponding manufacturing techniques to prolong battery service life.

Category B seeks innovations in battery pack designs, materials, and reversible manufacturing methods as well as fast and safe disassembly techniques to recover manufacturing value of cells and pack components.

Category C seeks innovations in cell-level sensing, data analytics, and battery intelligence systems for circularity and safety.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support the discovery of plasma-facing and structural first wall materials that are suitable for fusion power plants. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, the program’s current overarching goal is to discover and test new candidate materials that can withstand high-dose irradiation up to 50 displacements per atom (dpa) while preserving ductility at room temperature. Current state-of-the-art materials such as tungsten and reduced-activation steels suffer from irradiation and helium embrittlement issues that can make fusion power systems prohibitively expensive to qualify and operate. New advancements in machine-learning-assisted material discovery, advanced manufacturing, material damage modeling, and irradiation testing provide the opportunity to discover new materials that can withstand the unique extreme environment required for sustained fusion reactions.

ARPA-E currently expects the FOA to focus on the research of materials with high thermal conductivity, low activation, low tritium retention, and low irradiation-induced swelling that maintain room temperature ductility after significant irradiation damage and helium generation. Two categories of materials will be assessed separately on the following characteristics:

1. Plasma-facing component materials will need to show better performance than tungsten, including plasma erosion performance.
2. Structural materials will need to show better performance than reduced-activation steels, including high temperature strength performance.

The FOA will also seek to establish capability teams to consolidate the materials discovery and performance data generated by the projects. The capability teams will support project performers on digitization, standardization, and storage of materials data as well as create the framework for systems and life-cycle analysis of fusion power system designs with varying materials of construction.

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• Rapid material synthesis and screening
• Material design modeling
• Irradiation damage modeling
• Neutron activation calculations
• Advanced manufacturing
  
• Ion irradiation and helium implantation
• Materials mechanical testing and analysis
• Plasma erosion testing
• Tritium retention testing
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)
• Materials database development and maintenance

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in October 2023. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically until the close of the Full Application period to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes the following: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered. This list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the FOA, expected to be issued by November 2023, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The FOA associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/FoaEditDetails.aspx?foaId=87c1d520-5e48-43d5-8424-2f15b09926e6

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support the development of renewables-to-liquids systems capable of converting intermittent energy inputs into easily transportable, carbon-containing liquids. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, the program is interested in systems that achieve 80% multi-pass carbon conversion to liquids with at least 50% electricity-to-liquid efficiency at the lowest possible cost.

Currently, ARPA-E anticipates that these systems would require:

1. The development of new reactors capable of being operated dynamically to decrease the system capital expenditure (CAPEX) required for hydrogen storage;
2. Small-scale reactor systems compatible with renewable energy systems;
3. Reactor designs that include manufacturability within defined design criteria;
4. The development of new catalysts optimized for carbon dioxide hydrogenation pathways;
5. Reactor systems that enable process intensification that minimize CAPEX; and
6. Modelling and optimization to determine optimum sizing and anticipated CAPEX.

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• Chemical engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Chemistry
• Carbon conversion
• Hydrogen production
• Reactor engineering
• Catalysis
• Manufacturing
• Modelling
• Technoeconomic analysis
• Lifecycle assessment

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in October 2023. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically until the close of the Full Application period to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes the following: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered. This list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the FOA, expected to be issued by November 2023, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The FOA associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/FoaEditDetails.aspx?foaId=cea4b541-156c-49ce-ad51-e4b6b5ee81aa

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support the development of foundational technologies aimed towards establishing a domestic, circular supply chain for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, one of the program’s primary objectives would be to maintain in service EV battery materials, cells, and pack components at the highest levels of performance and safety for as long as possible. Technological solutions capable of maximizing the useful service life of battery cells and recovering the manufacturing value of spent battery packs would reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, minimize energy and material consumption, lower demand for virgin materials, alleviate reliance on key battery material and component imports, and ultimately motivate the creation of a circular and sustainable domestic EV battery supply chain.

The existing supply chain for EV batteries is largely linear and relies on recycling to close the supply loop for critical minerals. The disposal of “spent” batteries is challenging due to fire hazards and/or potential release of toxic chemicals into the environment. A significant increase in the number of EVs is imminent and will be accompanied by large volumes of battery waste, albeit with a ten-to-twenty-year lag, depending on both the type of battery and application. Conventional battery recycling methods such as pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy are energy-intensive, produce significant quantities of GHGs, and lead to large volumes of waste deposited in landfills. With few exceptions, these approaches intentionally recover only the most valuable materials (e.g., nickel, cobalt, and copper). Looking to the future, these recycling strategies are expected to endure increasingly challenging economics as battery chemistries that rely on more abundant and/or less expensive materials capture significant market share. Therefore, prolonging the life of EV batteries and recovering manufacturing value to the greatest extent possible through regeneration, repair, and remanufacturing will reduce the domestic energy burden and carbon footprint of the EV battery supply chain. In addition, various strategies used to achieve circularity could be leveraged to facilitate recycling.

Current EV manufacturing practices are well-established in support of the linear economic model of “take, make, use, and dispose” with negligible appreciation for the end of life. This is arguably unsustainable in future scenarios consistent with projected EV market growth. It is critical that innovations are developed to “expand” the chemistry, design, and manufacturing space. The resulting new materials, components, and regeneration methods will efficiently and cost-effectively prolong today’s service life of battery cells and packs, without compromising performance or safety.

Such a vision also encompasses reversible manufacturing strategies, sensors, and algorithms for improved monitoring, as well as any other methods that responsibly manage the end of life for manufactured goods, particularly batteries, for transportation.

Strategies that may have merit, either individually or as part of a total solution, include the following:

• Battery materials and cell designs that are amenable to in situ regeneration methods;
• Regeneration techniques and protocols that can efficiently and cost-effectively restore battery cells to beginning of life performance and safety;
• Reversible manufacturing materials and methods to facilitate battery module/pack disassembly;
• “Reversibly” bondable adhesives including stimuli-responsive systems;
• Techniques and designs for reversible “joining” of battery cells and modules that do not compromise performance, structural/mechanical integrity, or safety;
• Battery pack designs that are amenable to autonomous robotic disassembly;
• Robotic systems capable of disassembling battery packs, in parts or in full, with the ability to learn autonomously and/or with humans in the loop;
• Sensor platforms and methodologies capable of rapid determination of state of health (SoH) for individual battery cells during use and/or at the end of battery pack life to determine whether the cells should be regenerated, reused, or recycled;
• Seamless and cost-effective integration of sensors in manufacturing of battery cells and packs that can support circularity objectives;
• Battery intelligence systems and data analytics to extend the service life of cells, modules, and packs; and
• Analytical tools capable of quantifying the impact of the program’s advancements on pack cost, material use, energy use, and GHG emissions per kilowatt-hour delivered throughout the life of an EV to justify the adoption of these technologies and inform new business models and opportunities.

ARPA-E hosted a “Circular Economic Materials, Design, and Manufacturing of Rechargeable Batteries Workshop” on June 12 and 13, 2023. Information from this workshop can be found at the ARPA-E events webpage (https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/battery-circularity-workshop). In addition, ARPA-E issued a request for information (RFI) on “Achieving Circularity of the Domestic Battery Supply Chain” (DE-FOA-0003027, https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx?foaId=cd9cd241-0872-4832-8e10-8fc5e57b1a1e). A video of the “Batteries & Storage” Fast Pitch Panel from the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit can be viewed on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye_yZNcAj30).

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• State-of-the-art battery chemistry and materials research, development, and engineering
• Battery cell and battery pack design and prototyping
• Battery component, battery cell, and battery pack manufacturing
• Chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering
• Computational modeling and simulation
• Battery management systems hardware and software development and integration
• Cell-level and pack-level battery sensor development, integration, and data analytics
• Manufacturing
• Robotics
• Sustainable design
• Techno-economic analysis (TEA)
• Life cycle analysis (LCA)
• Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible. ARPA-E strongly encourages involving industry partners to advise and collaborate with these project teams, with the goal of achieving successful industry adoption and integration of the innovative technologies these project teams develop.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in October 2023. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically until the close of the Full Application period to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes the following: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered. This list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the FOA, expected to be issued by November 2023, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The FOA associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/FoaEditDetails.aspx?foaId=4717da73-7df6-4ba5-a708-603ba20cb9a7

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support investigating the feasibility of systems that use plants to extract nickel from soils and deliver a nickel-enriched bio-ore for purification. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, the overarching goal of PHYTOMINES would be to develop phytomining as a cost-competitive and low-carbon intensity alternative mining approach by extracting metal resources from soils that are too low in concentration for traditional mining. Additionally, phytomining can provide a clean energy mineral source that is procured and processed domestically. This program supports ARPA-E mission areas impacting energy security through reduction of imports, reduction of emissions involved in the mining of the energy-relevant minerals, and attainment of U.S. leadership in global competitions for locating clean sources of minerals.

ARPA-E has identified two major categories. Technical Category 1 is related to systemic approaches to improve the phytomining of nickel on U.S. marginal lands. Technical Category 2 deals with enhancement of the enabling knowledge base of U.S. phytomining. ARPA-E has identified several modeling, characterization, and risk management approaches that need to be associated with the technology development in Categories 1 & 2.

Category 1: Systemic approaches to improve the phytomining of nickel on U.S. marginal lands.

The focus of this category is the development of phytomining technologies that optimize nickel recovery by hyperaccumulator (HA) plants. Technologies could target any or multiple aspects of a phytomining system, for example:

• Soil biota, such as rhizobial, endophyte, or viral communities
• Plant traits to increase plant hyperaccumulation activity
• Technologies at the microbiome, organismal, or metagenomic scale

While research using model organisms/systems could be a complementary work stream, approaches that focus on non-model organisms or have potential to translate to non-model organisms with strong commercialization pathways are encouraged.

Category 2: Enhancing the enabling knowledge base of U.S. phytomining.

A priority outcome from this category is the creation of a unified, publicly available database to identify U.S. phytomining sites for:

• Nickel
• Rare earth elements
• Platinum group metals
• Other critical metals

As nickel is likely to be the near-term target, it will be acceptable to prioritize granularity on soil content of nickel over diversity of data expanding to rare earth/platinum group metals/other critical metals concentrations. The database would, at a minimum, unite currently separated geospatial data and a range of metadata including descriptions of:

• Geologic information
• Environmental information
• Ecological information
• Ownership status of the land

A potential FOA may also seek to support mapping and identifying new HA species of interest for scaling phytomining opportunities as well as facilitate technoeconomic analysis (TEA) and lifecycle analysis (LCA) of phytomining projects.

ARPA-E held a workshop on this topic in June 2023. Information on this workshop can be found at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/phytomining-workshop.

Expertise in the following non-exhaustive list of technical areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• Plant biology (physiology, genetics, systems and synthetic biology of hyperaccumulation);
• Microbial biology (expertise in the fungi, bacteria, and other biota that regulate the bioavailability of critical materials to HAs);
• Geology and soil sciences (distribution, mapping, availability and bioavailability of critical materials);
• Data science (acquisition and presentation of geologic, ecological, and economic information necessary for phytomining); and
• TEA/LCA.

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams and will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically until the close of the Full Application period to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes the following: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered. This list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the FOA, if one is issued, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The FOA associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId521a7aa4-b255-4c3b-a211-b128d2a4a0e4

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Program Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) that would support used nuclear fuel (UNF) transmutation. Transmutation of UNF would promote nuclear energy by addressing significant challenges associated with the permanent disposal of UNF arising from current and future nuclear reactors. Transmutation research and development will focus on reducing the storage impact of UNF components, specifically minor actinides, intermediate-lived fission products, and long-lived fission products fated for a permanent geological repository.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to a potential future FOA. Any FOA issued in the future would provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. FOA terms would be controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, overall goals for the potential program include:

• 30-year timeline to transmute key minor actinides, medium-lived fission products, and long-lived fission products in the U.S. UNF stockpile
• ≥ 99% reduction in storage time for UNF
• ≥ 60% reduction in decay heat in watts per metric ton of uranium of UNF
• ≥ 90% reduction in activity of UNF

The potential FOA would consider the following technical areas:

1. Resilient components of transmutation systems. This technology area includes specific components that improve the power, current, reliability, and efficiency, and reduce the operating power of particle beam production.
2. Increased transmutation throughput. This technology area includes methods and processes to incorporate UNF into transmutation systems that maximize transmutation of components into more manageable isotopes. Process chemistry for liquid or molten salt targets and spallation targets for accelerator-driven systems are also included in this area.
3. Capability teams. ARPA-E is seeking capability teams for testing component integration and system resiliency to support the assessment of technologies in the program. Additionally, capability teams will be tasked with the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms to apply to accelerator facilities and to reduce the magnitude and duration of beam trips. Capability teams will create and maintain a materials database and perform techno-economic analyses on transmutation systems concepts.

Other solutions that do not clearly fall under one of the previous categories will be considered. However, a compelling case must be made that the technology will deliver significant improvements to the enhanced throughput of transmutation.

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• Radio frequency generation
• Laser systems
• Accelerators
• Cryogenics
• Material coatings technologies
• Power electronics
• AI/ML
• Nuclear chemistry
• Process chemistry
• Separations
• Radiological monitoring
• Materials analysis

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration, spanning organizational boundaries, enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically until the close of the Full Application period to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes the following: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered. This list is completely voluntary to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the potential FOA, expected to be issued around June 2024, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit input for a potential ARPA-E program focused on the feasibility and impact of retrofitting an existing aircraft with electric powertrains developed under ARPA-E’s Aviation-class Synergistically Cooled Electric-motors with iNtegrated Drives (ASCEND) program for a full integration with the aircraft and to show full functionality of the electric powertrain. ARPA-E is interested in groundbreaking technologies needed for a full integration of an electric powertrain into the aircraft main electrical and propulsion systems, as well as opportunities in airport electrification. This RFI aims to identify potential participants and gather insights to inform the development of a future funding opportunity focused on this transformative technology.

Areas Not of Interest for Responses to this RFI:

Approaches not of interest include:

• Subcomponent (e.g., electric motors and power converters) development only
• Non-electric energy sources (e.g., hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel)

RFI Guidelines:

PLEASE CAREFULLY REVIEW ALL RFI GUIDELINES BELOW.

Please note that the information you provide will be used by ARPA-E solely for program planning without attribution. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future research programs. ARPA-E will not provide funding or compensation for any information submitted in response to this RFI, and ARPA-E may use information submitted to this RFI without any attribution to the source. This RFI provides the broad research community with an opportunity to contribute views and opinions.

No material submitted for review will be returned and there will be no formal or informal debriefing concerning the review of any submitted material. ARPA-E may contact respondents to request clarification or seek additional information relevant to this RFI. All responses provided will be considered, but ARPA-E will not respond to individual submissions or publish a compendium of responses. Respondents shall not include any information in the response to this RFI that could be considered proprietary or confidential.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit input for potential future ARPA-E research programs focused on innovative technologies and approaches for resource exploration, discovery, appraisal, mining, and processing of critical minerals. Goals of the potential programs could include:

ARPA-E is seeking information from universities, non-governmental organizations, small businesses, large businesses, federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), and government-owned/government-operated (GOGO) organizations regarding such transformative and implementable technologies not currently deployed for mineral extraction to facilitate the future mining of critical minerals.

Areas Not of Interest for Responses to this RFI:

Any potential program would be focused on future resource discovery, appraisal, mining, and processing of critical minerals. Approaches not of interest include:

• Incremental improvements to existing technology;
• Electrification of existing mineral handling and beneficiation systems/circuits;
• Recycling of critical metals from waste sources that are not related to mining processes; and
• Topics directly related to the extraction of hydrocarbons (e.g., coal, oil, and gas).

RFI Guidelines:

PLEASE CAREFULLY REVIEW ALL RFI GUIDELINES BELOW.

Please note that the information you provide will be used by ARPA-E solely for program planning, without attribution. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future research programs. ARPA-E will not provide funding or compensation for any information submitted in response to this RFI, and ARPA-E may use information submitted to this RFI without any attribution to the source. This RFI provides the broad research community with an opportunity to contribute views and opinions.

No material submitted for review will be returned and there will be no formal or informal debriefing concerning the review of any submitted material. ARPA-E may contact respondents to request clarification or seek additional information relevant to this RFI. All responses provided will be considered, but ARPA-E will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly a compendium of responses. Respondents shall not include any information in the response to this RFI that could be considered proprietary or confidential.

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 9/27/23.

The goal of the ROSIE program is to develop pathways to zero emissions ironmaking and ultra-low life cycle emissions for steelmaking. The program seeks to fund the development and demonstration of novel technologies that produce iron-based products from iron-containing ores and alternative feedstocks without process emissions in the ironmaking step. The Program’s technologies will demonstrate a path to cost-competitiveness with traditional incumbent carbothermic blast furnace ironmaking. The technologies funded through this program have transformative potential, because no technology route exists today that meets both this emissions constraint and this cost parity goal.

The program will have two categories:

If successful, novel ironmaking technologies meeting the metrics set forth by the program will enable a reduction of U.S. emissions by over 65 million tonnes (Mt) carbon dioxide emitted (CO2e) annually (~1% of U.S. emissions) and global emissions by over 2.9 gigatonnes (Gt) annually (5.5 % of global emissions).

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 9/27/23.

The goal of the ROSIE program is to develop pathways to zero emissions ironmaking and ultra-low life cycle emissions for steelmaking. The program seeks to fund the development and demonstration of novel technologies that produce iron-based products from iron-containing ores and alternative feedstocks without process emissions in the ironmaking step. The Program’s technologies will demonstrate a path to cost-competitiveness with traditional incumbent carbothermic blast furnace ironmaking. The technologies funded through this program have transformative potential, because no technology route exists today that meets both this emissions constraint and this cost parity goal.

The program will have two categories:

If successful, novel ironmaking technologies meeting the metrics set forth by the program will enable a reduction of U.S. emissions by over 65 million tonnes (Mt) carbon dioxide emitted (CO2e) annually (~1% of U.S. emissions) and global emissions by over 2.9 gigatonnes (Gt) annually (5.5 % of global emissions).