The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) is launching the American-Made Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize (E-SCRAP) $3.95 million in prizes, this three-phase prize is designed to stimulate innovative approaches that reduce the costs and environmental impact of critical material recovery from electronic scrap (e-scrap). Competitors will optimize, validate, and integrate new and improved approaches along the entire recycling value chain to increase the production and use of recovered critical materials. This prize focuses on innovative approaches, processes, or technologies in service of optimizing and implementing critical material separation and recovery from e-scrap.
There are three distinct Contests to which competitors can compete in as part of this prize: the Phase 1: Incubate Contest; the Phase 2: Prototype Contest; and the Phase 3: Demonstrate Contest. Collectively, these contests fast-track efforts to increase the domestic production and use of recovered critical materials by validating and demonstrating new and improved approaches along the recycling value chain from end-of-life (EOL) to reintroduction.
This internal competition is to determine two Penn State candidates for Phase 1: Incubate Contest.
Phase 1 – Incubate:
Seeks to award competitors who identify an innovation that will optimize and integrate critical material recovery processes and technologies into the e-scrap recycling value chain. Innovations will advance the economic competitiveness and environmental impacts of e-scrap recycling technologies and processes beyond the status quo to establish or expand domestic critical material recovery. The goal of the Incubate Contest period is focused on three key areas:
- Opportunity and Innovation Identification: Identify and describe what innovations are needed and what impact they will have on recovered critical materials from e-scrap.
- Plan Development: Develop a plan to validate and optimize the benefits of the innovation, including how it will be integrated into the recycling value chain.
- Stakeholder Representation and Connectivity: Identify partners in the recycling value chain that will provide inputs (upstream) or handle outputs (downstream) from the innovation’s process or technology.
Opportunity Highlights
- As a lead competitor PSU may submit two submissions in Phase 1. Only one submission per competitor can win Phase 1. PSU can be partners on multiple submissions.
- Funding:
- Phase 1: Each winner receives a cash prize of $50,000 and $30,000 of analysis consultation from a national lab during Phase 2.
- Phase 2 winners receive $150,000 in cash and $120,000 in analysis technical support during Phase 3.
- Phase 3 winners receive $600,000 in cash.
- Timeline:
- Phase 1 Submission Deadline: 4:00 p.m., September 4, 2024
- Phase 2 Opens: November 2024
- Phase 1 Selections Announced: December 2024
This announcement provides only opportunity highlights. Please carefully review the E-SCRAP Prize Rules for any requirements and expectations related to eligibility, budget, collaboration, priority research areas, letter of intent requirements, and review criteria before submitting to this internal competition.
Interested applicants should upload the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: [Last name]E-SCRAP_2024) no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Cover Page (1 page, pdf):
- Descriptive title of proposed activity
- PI name, departmental affiliations(s) and contact information
- Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
- Names of other key personnel
- Participating institution(s)
- Number and title of this funding opportunity
2. Project Description (no more than two pages, pdf) Address the following questions (see Table 3 in the E-SCRAP Prize Rules. References and figures may be included on an additional page.
- What is your innovation and why will it be impactful?
- How does your innovation integrate into the recycling value chain?
- Does your team have the knowledge and experience to be successful? What have you accomplished to date?
- What is your plan to implement the innovation?
3. CV's for lead PI
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: No Smaller than 11 pt.
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.