Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement No. DE-FOA-0003274: Mixed Algae Conversion Research Opportunity (MACRO)

liquid transportation fuels—such as renewable gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel along with co-products or chemical intermediates. FECM’s Carbon Dioxide Conversion Program invests in R&D of technologies that convert captured carbon dioxide (CO2) into economically valuable products such as chemicals, fuels, building materials, plastics, and bioproducts. The R&D activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. A diverse range of feedstocks will be required to reach the Biden Administration’s goals to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.” Seaweeds, also known as macroalgae, represent a significant biomass resource potential of 3.3 billion dry metric tons that will be newly described in BETO’s upcoming Billion Ton Report. Rapid growth of the seaweed cultivation industry, in part inspired by the DOE ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy) MARINER (Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources) program efforts, has spurred new interest in working with seaweeds as a renewable biomass feedstock. Due to the expansion of domestic cultivation and the potential of seaweeds to contribute to DOE’s mission areas, this announcement is the first time BETO and FECM have specifically called for research into converting seaweeds to fuels and products. It is anticipated that the FOA may include the following Topic Areas: Topic Area 1: Conversion of Seaweeds and Waste Algae to Low Carbon Fuels and Products Topic Area 1 aims to address gaps in storage, mobilization, and conversion of seaweeds and other wet algal feedstocks to low-carbon products and enable these readily available feedstocks to access new markets. Applications would be sought that will develop laboratory or bench scale technologies and/or processes for utilizing: macroalgae (seaweeds); blends of macroalgae and wet wastes, and/or wet algal wastes for conversion to fuels and products with significant, on a national scale, potential to displace fossil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Applications will be required to demonstrate that the utilization of these feedstocks to generate products at commercial scale has the potential of at least 50% GHG reductions compared to conventional fuel and/or products. Topic Area 2: Conversion of Algal Biomass for Low Carbon Agricultural Products The goal of Topic Area 2 is to utilize carbon dioxide emissions streams from utilities or industrial sources to grow algae for source material and create value-added products. Applications would be sought that use anthropogenic (e.g., fossil fuel derived) carbon dioxide emissions to be used in the algae cultivation process and then convert those macro- and/or micro algae into low-carbon agricultural applications or products such as animal feed. Applications will be encouraged to focus on optimization of the technologies and processes for the conversion of cultivated algae biomass to products and clearly describe the end use products targeted. Applications will be required to show a reduction in CO2 emissions through life cycle analysis and demonstrate that the targeted products provide benefits compared to current, commercially available products. Applications proposing animal feed as products should describe requirements for necessary testing or demonstrations of the resulting product. Developing successful conversion technologies can further improve, the economics and carbon utilization efficiencies of these products, resulting in additional market share that encourages further algae biomass cultivation and carbon dioxide utilization. Please note: If a FOA is published, DOE’s government-owned, government-operated (GOGO) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will not be eligible for award under the FOA and may not be proposed as a Subrecipient on another entity’s application. An application that includes NETL as a Prime Recipient or Subrecipient will be considered non-responsive. Additionally, DOE/NNSA and non-DOE/NNSA Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) will be restricted from applying for funding as a Prime Recipient but are eligible to participate as a Subrecipient. The FFRDC effort, in aggregate, shall not exceed 50% of the total estimated cost of the project, including the applicant’s and the FFRDC’s portions of the effort. This Notice is issued so that interested parties are aware of the EERE’s intention to issue this FOA in the near term. All of the information contained in this Notice is subject to change. EERE will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions. EERE plans to issue the FOA in or around March 2024 via the EERE eXCHANGE website https://eere-eXCHANGE.energy.gov/. If Applicants wish to receive official notifications and information from EERE regarding this FOA, they should register in EERE eXCHANGE. When the FOA is released, applications will be accepted only through EERE eXCHANGE.