Highlights

• The US Department of Energy is investing $17 million in 14 projects to accelerate critical materials innovation for next-generation technologies.
• Projects span 11 states and focus on technologies like hydrogen fuel cells, high-efficiency motors, lithium-ion batteries, and power electronics.
• The initiative aims to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains and support domestic manufacturing through the Critical Materials Collaborative program.

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In a December 10 press release (opens in a new tab), the US Department of Energy has announced that it is investing an additional $17 million for 14 different projects “that will accelerate critical materials innovation while promoting safe, sustainable, economic, and efficient solutions to meet current and future supply chain needs.” Spread across 11 states, these projects are aimed to firm up and streamline the pipeline for “high-impact components and technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, magnets for high-efficiency motors, high-performance lithium-ion batteries, and high-yield low-defect power electronics.”

Critical Materials Collaborative

According to Jennifer Granholm, the US Secretary of Energy, “DOE is helping reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign supply chains through innovative solutions that will tap domestic sources of the critical materials needed for next-generation technologies–These investments—part of our industrial strategy—will keep America’s growing manufacturing industry competitive while delivering economic benefits to communities nationwide.” The projects are being coordinated via DOE’s Critical Materials Collaborative (opens in a new tab), a program designed:

“to catalyze a robust critical materials innovation ecosystem by connecting DOE’s critical minerals and materials portfolio with industry and beyond, supporting real-world innovation through each stage of the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) pipeline. The supported small-scale demonstrations for critical materials including lithium, nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements, platinum group metals, silicon carbide, copper, and graphite will help de-risk critical materials innovations and accelerate commercial readiness and adoption for critical materials including the aforementioned.” 

Supporting a resilient supply chain

Per DOE, these projects will prioritize benefits to affected communities, reducing the impacts of mining, and “augment American’s manufacturing workforce.” This agency’s Critical Materials Accelerator funding program “is part of a government-wide effort to support resilient supply chains (opens in a new tab) and address challenges in each of the DOE’s Critical Minerals and Materials strategic pillars: diversify and expand supply, develop alternatives, improve materials and manufacturing efficiency, and build the circular economy.”  

The projects selected by DOE include the following categories and grantees: 

“Use of magnets with reduced critical materials content”:  

• University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, Texas): $1,000,000  
• Ames National Laboratory (Ames, Iowa): $1,000,000  
• ABB, Inc. (Cary, North Carolina): $1,520,000  
• Niron Magnetics, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minnesota): $2,700,000

“Improve unit operations of processing and manufacturing of critical materials”:  

• Free Form Fibers (Saratoga Springs, NY): $926,000  
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia): $1,000,000  
• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks, North Dakota): $1,000,000  
• Ames National Laboratory (Ames, Iowa): $1,000,000  
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee): $1,000,000  
• Summit Nanotech USA Corporation (Lafayette, Colorado): $1,000,000

“Recover critical material from scrap and post-consumer products”:  

• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University (College Station, Texas): $1,280,000  
• Infinite Elements (El Paso, Texas): $1,500,000

“Reduce critical material demand for clean energy technologies”:   

• Celadyne Technologies (Chicago, Illinois): $1,000,000  
• COnovate (Wauwatosa, Wisconsin): $1,000,000

More details on these various projects can be found here (opens in a new tab).