Process Scale-Up and Optimization/Efficiency Improvements for Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Critical Materials (CM) Recovery from Coal-Based Resources | DE FOA 0002003

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002003

This opportunity is a Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) notice that serves only as an advance heads-up for an upcoming competitive funding announcement, not an application portal. The planned Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is numbered DE-FOA-0002003 and is titled "Process Scale-Up and Optimization/Efficiency Improvements for Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Critical Materials (CM) Recovery from Coal-Based Resources." In practical terms, DOE is signaling that it intends to fund work focused on moving existing REE and critical material recovery technologies closer to real-world deployment by improving process performance and scaling operations up beyond small laboratory proof-of-concept. The emphasis implied by the title is on engineering and operational improvements: making recovery processes more efficient, more reliable, and more viable at larger throughput, particularly when the feedstocks come from coal and coal-related materials.

The notice makes several points very clearly. First, it is a Notice of Intent only, and no applications will be accepted under this notice. Second, DOE asks that people do not submit questions or otherwise respond to the notice itself. Third, the value of the notice is mainly for planning: potential applicants are encouraged to begin building partnerships, shaping technical concepts, and collecting the data they will need once the full FOA is released. DOE anticipated at the time that the formal FOA would be posted on grants.gov and fedconnect.net in January 2019, which is where applicants would normally find the actual requirements, topic areas, submission deadlines, and evaluation criteria.

From the source data, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding under an energy activity category, and it is listed under CFDA 81.089, which corresponds to DOE financial assistance programs. Eligibility is described as "Unrestricted," meaning it is broadly open to a wide range of applicant types (for example, companies, universities, non-profits, and other organizations), subject to any additional eligibility conditions that would be spelled out in the full FOA text once published. The awarding agency is DOE/NETL. The record shows an "OriginalClosingDate" of January 31, 2019, but because this entry is explicitly a Notice of Intent, that date functions more like a placeholder in the system rather than a true deadline for submissions under this notice.

A few other fields in the listing help frame expectations but should be interpreted cautiously because the notice does not contain the full program details. An "AwardCeiling" value of 2 is shown in the data; however, the unit (for example, $2 million versus some other measure) is not specified in the notice text provided, and the "ExpectedAwards" field is listed as 0, which is consistent with the fact that this specific posting is not an actual solicitation. The main takeaway is that DOE intended to fund scale-up and optimization work related to extracting rare earth elements and other critical materials from coal-based resources, and the notice was published to give potential teams time to prepare for the real FOA release.

If you are using this summary to guide proposal planning, the most relevant implication is that DOE expected applicants to show credible pathways from lab-scale results to larger-scale, more integrated, and more efficient processes, likely including process design refinement, throughput improvements, yield and purity gains, cost and energy reductions, and operational robustness. Since the notice provides no topic areas or technical targets, the actionable next step at the time would have been to monitor grants.gov and fedconnect.net for DE-FOA-0002003, then align the team, work plan, and supporting data to whatever specific objectives and metrics DOE ultimately published in the full announcement.

• The Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Process Scale-Up and Optimization/Efficiency Improvements for Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Critical Materials (CM) Recovery from Coal-Based Resources" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.089.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 12, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 31, 2019 This is a Notice of Intent. PLEASE NOTE NO APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED THROUGH THIS NOTICE. Please do not submit questions or respond to this Notice of Intent.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for DE FOA 0002003

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: