This Funding Opportunity (FOA) will advance the strategies identified in the Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap and Industrial Heat Energy Earthshot and will focus on cross-sector approaches for industrial decarbonization (such as thermal processing, low-carbon fuels utilization, and exploratory cross-sector topics), along with high-GHG-emitting subsectors (such as chemicals, iron and steel, food and beverage, cement and concrete, and forest products). By accelerating the development and adoption of sustainable technologies that increase efficiency and eliminate industrial GHG emissions, the research, development, and prototype or pilot-scale technology validation and demonstration activities to be funded under this FOA will contribute to a clean and equitable energy economy, bolster the technological and economic competitiveness of domestic manufacturing, and boost the viability and competitiveness of U.S. industrial technology exports.

This FOA is part of an integrated industrial decarbonization technology development strategy for DOE’s basic and applied research offices. Rooted in the principles identified in the 2022 Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap, DOE is building an innovation pipeline to accelerate the development and adoption of industrial decarbonization technologies with investments spanning foundational science; research, development, and demonstrations (RD&D); and technical assistance and workforce development. DOE’s highly coordinated RD&D investments – leveraging resources and expertise from the Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), Nuclear Energy (NE), and Science (SC) – are designed to achieve deep decarbonization across the industrial sector, targeting both industry-specific innovations and crosscutting technologies. This technology development strategy complements the demonstration and deployment efforts led by DOE's Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) and the Loan Programs Office (LPO). This FOA and its associated projects are distinct from any existing or forthcoming efforts funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or Inflation Reduction Act, including activities related to Industrial Demonstration Projects.

The topics included are:

• Topic 1: Decarbonizing Industrial Heat
• Topic 2: Low-Carbon Fuels Utilization R&D
• Topic 3a: Enabling Flexible Industrial Energy Use
• Topic 3b: Enhanced Thermal Conductivity Materials
• Topic 4: Decarbonizing Chemicals
• Topic 5: Decarbonizing Iron and Steel
• Topic 6: Decarbonizing Food and Beverage Products
• Topic 7: Decarbonizing Cement and Concrete