Opportunity:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) seeks qualified partners to meet the objectives of research effort under the DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0003105: Critical Materials Innovation, Efficiency and Alternatives.

Ideal LLNL Industry Partner Traits

• USA incorporated and USA base of operations/manufacturing.
• Willingness to meet cost share requirements, in-kind or cash in.
• Willingness to establish longer term collaborative relationships via future collaborative agreements.
• Familiarity working with Federally Funded R&D Centers.

Description:

For information regarding the FOA DE-FOA-0003105, please go to https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2ffedconnect%3fdoc%3dDE-FOA-0003105%26agency%3dDOE&doc=DE-FOA-0003105&agency=DOE

Submission Deadline for DE-FOA-0003105: 11/10/2023, 5:00 p.m. ET

Purpose of DE-FOA-0003105

This funding opportunity is looking to take bench scale concepts in the TRL 0 to 4 range and allow the awardees to demonstrate their processes on a continuous/semicontinuous bench scale before scaling up to pilot scale (TRL 6). Projects funded under this FOA must strive to decrease the energy consumption, environmental impact, and costs associated with extraction, production, separation, alloying, or processing technologies compared to conventional technologies.

The Federal share of awards: Individual awards for Phase 1 projects may vary between $500,000 and $3 million depending on Topic area with 80% Federal share.

Individual awards for Phase 2 projects may vary between $5-30 million depending on Topic area with 50% Federal share.

Project Timeline: The period of performance for Phase 1 funding agreements is 12-24 months; Phase 2 funding agreements are 18-36 months.

Technical Areas of Interest (AOI):

AOI 1: Critical Minerals & Materials (CMMs) Supply Chain

Phase I – RD&D to develop a complete representative bench scale facility to produce CMMs from waste streams, impoundments, and conventional ore bodies that contain CMMs.

Phase II – Pilot scale facility development and construction.

AOI 2: Value Added Products

Phase I – RD&D to develop a complete bench scale facility to produce value added products from waste streams, recycled materials, impoundments, and conventional ore bodies that contain CMM.

Phase II – Pilot scale facility development and construction.

AOI 3: Next Generation Technologies

Bench scale development of novel, “next generation” technologies based on fundamental science discoveries that can be utilized in the production of critical materials.

AOI 4: Alternative Materials

Phase I: Bench scale development of CMM alternatives or substitutes (excluding magnets and battery technologies) to increase robustness of domestic supply chains.

Phase II: Pilot scale development of CMM alternatives or substitutes to reduce reliance on foreign supply chains.

AOI 5: Alternative Products-focuses on the development of the “next” high performance battery technology, along with improvements to current battery recycling technologies and other alternative energy technologies that have chemistries able to be predominantly sourced domestically and from friendly countries.

Cost Share Percentage (in-kind or cash in)

20 or 50% depending on Phase 1 or 2 proposal submission, respectively.

LLNL is part of CMI (Critical Materials Institute); a list of CMI technologies with alloys that LLNL researchers have helped develop can be found here: https://ipo.llnl.gov/technologies/chemicals-and-materials/critical-materials-institute-cmi-technologies-alloys

Other LLNL work with critical materials is highlighted in Science & Technology Review (https://str.llnl.gov/april-2016/schwegler) and on this Global Security webpage (https://gs.llnl.gov/energy-homeland-security/energy-security/critical-materials).

Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. Companies interested in partnering with LLNL should provide, well before the FOA deadline, an electronic statement of interest that includes the following:

1. Company Name and address.
2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact.
3. A description of corporate expertise and/or facilities relevant to this FOA.

Attachments/Links