U.S. Department of Energy Allocates $38 Million to Decarbonize Chemical Industry

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces $38 million for 9 projects that will reduce carbon pollution from the chemical industry sector and move the nation toward a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 by advancing key transformational and innovative technologies.

Decarbonizing the U.S. industrial sector is an essential component of President Biden’s ambitious clean energy goals and is critical to achieving a clean energy future that benefits all Americans.

Multidimensional Approach to Achieve Net Zero

The U.S. industrial sector accounts for one-third of all energy-related domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is among the most difficult to decarbonize. Achieving a net-zero industrial sector will require an aggressive, multidimensional approach that, along the way, will create good-paying jobs and create a stronger, more competitive sector.

"America’s industrial sector serves as the engine of the U.S. economy, producing many of the products we rely on every day, but also produces a significant amount of the nation’s carbon emissions," said U.S. secretary of energy, Jennifer M. Granholm. "These projects funded by President Biden’s Investing in American agenda will slash industrial emissions and accelerate next-generation technologies for a clean energy future that’s made in America."

In 2022, DOE released the Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap, which identifies key pathways to reducing industrial emissions and focuses on five energy-intensive subsectors where industrial decarbonization efforts can have the greatest impact: chemicals, food and beverage, petroleum refining, iron and steel, and cement and concrete.

Primarily funded through DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office, the 9 selected projects will be led by different universities, National Laboratories, and companies spread across 21 states. The projects will support research, development, and pilot-scale demonstrations to reduce energy usage and emissions from these subsectors, which account for over 50% of the energy-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the industrial sector, as well as paper and forest products.

Decarbonizing Chemicals: 9 Projects and $38.3 Million

Converting between chemical building blocks to create consumer and industrial products, such as fuels, polymers, and paints, is incredibly energy intensive. Selected projects will increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon impacts from the production of high-volume chemicals by focusing on unit operations, including advanced separations and advanced reactors, along with alternative production and process heating technologies.

• Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA)
• RAPID Manufacturing Institute (New York, NY)
• RedoxBlox Inc. (San Diego, CA)
• Rice University (Houston, TX)
• Siemens Energy Inc. (Orlando, FL)
• The Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
• University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)
• Via Separations Inc. (Watertown, MA)

Source: U.S. Department of Energy