(CLOSED) AMMTO-BTO and OE FY22 Multi-Topic FOA (DE-FOA-0002864)

This multitopic FOA is a joint effort between EERE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), the Building Technologies Office (BTO), and DOE’s Office of Electricity (OE). The mission of AMMTO is to advance energy-related materials and manufacturing technologies to increase domestic competitiveness and build a clean, decarbonized economy. This is in alignment with AMMTO’s vision for the future – a competitive U.S. manufacturing sector that accelerates the adoption of innovative material and manufacturing technologies in support of a clean, decarbonized economy.

Specifically, the goals of this multi-topic FOA are to:

• Validate and demonstrate next generation materials and manufacturing processes including domestic pilot demonstrations and related technologies to support the transition to U.S. manufacturing;
• Enable environmentally and socially responsible domestic manufacturing with diversified domestic supply of feedstocks including from recycled goods; and
• Mature nascent technologies, processes, and methods that improve the performance and market penetration of clean energy technologies and emerging building efficiency technologies.

These goals are aligned with AMO’s Workshops on CABLE1 and Harsh Environment Materials, as well as with DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge Roadmap.

This FOA will support activities to advance efficiency improvements and enhance manufacturing competitiveness through technological innovation by focusing on three main topic areas: (1) Next Generation Materials and Manufacturing Processes; (2) Secure and Sustainable Materials; and (3) Energy Technology Manufacturing. The multi-topic FOA integrates several identified research opportunities across AMMTO into a single funding opportunity that is intended to fund high-impact RD&D.

Topic Areas

• Topic Area 1: Next Generation Materials and Manufacturing Processes - This topic is focused on the development of novel materials with improved functional properties such as enhanced conductivity or high performance under extreme conditions as well as novel materials with improved properties such as high strength, light weight and ductility. The topic also focusses on cost-effective manufacturing processes for these materials.
  • Subtopic 1.1 Increased Conductivity Metal-Based Material Systems, Area of Interest a) Materials Composition and Fabrication - The proposals sought by AMMTO under this Area of Interest (AOI), represent the continuation of applied R&D already sponsored by DOE as part of the CABLE initiative with a focus on metals and metal additives—but also including non-metal nanocarbon additives such as graphene or carbon nanotubes. This AOI is specifically focused on innovations in metal composition (including metals combined with small amounts of non-metal) and fabrication methods to manufacture conductivity-enhanced metals that could eventually become cost-competitive with copper or aluminum.
  • Subtopic 1.1 Increased Conductivity Metal-Based Material Systems, Area of Interest b) Conductor/Cables Systems for Power line Validation and Pilot Demonstration - The proposals sought under the second area of interest by both AMMTO and the Office of Electricity (OE), would accelerate the deployment of conductivity-enhanced materials in advanced conductor systems for powerlines.
  • Subtopic 1.2: Harsh Environment Materials - The objective of this sub-topic is foster RD&D to create new materials with improved properties in harsh operating environments. AMMTO considers harsh environments to include high temperature and/or high mechanical load, often in combination with aggressive chemical environments; also high pressure, high wear, undersea, hydrogen environments, and nuclear environments.
  • Subtopic 1.3: AI/Machine Learning for Aerostructures - Manufacturing of large scale aerostructures for energy applications, such as wind turbine blades, is currently very costly and energy intensive. Efforts to optimize design of large complex aerostructures can be very time-consuming. Machine learning (ML) utilizes computational tools to optimize processes, perform tasks, and make decisions/predictions. ML facilitates the analysis of large and complex data sets, such as those produced during the manufacturing of high reliability and/or high value components.
• Topic Area 2: Secure and Sustainable Materials - The Secure and Sustainable Materials topic is focused on materials RD&D supporting the establishment of a circular economy emphasizing material and product design, recycling technology development, and reverse supply chain logistics for a broad range of materials.
  • Subtopic 2.1: Materials Circularity Regional Demonstrations - As materials demand increases for products including clean energy technologies, there is value in transitioning towards a circular material economy, where these products are reused and recycled at end-of-life to maximize material efficiency, minimize life cycle energy requirements, and reduce waste overall. This also paves the way for focused regional development opportunities, increased clean energy jobs, and the establishment of a strong circular economy ecosystem.
• Topic Area 3: Energy Technology Manufacturing - Under this topic, proposals of interest will focus on innovative manufacturing technologies that enable a clean energy economy, such as energy storage systems. Proposals should include manufacturing innovations to improve performance and address barriers to reducing manufacturing costs and accelerating market deployment.
  • Subtopic 3.1: Advanced Process Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle Cathode Active Materials at Volume - The objective of this sub-topic is to develop, scale-up, and pilot demonstrate chemistry-agnostic processing technologies to manufacture state-of-the-art cathode active materials (CAMs) that can be dropped into current domestic manufacturing lines.
  • Subtopic 3.2: Building Dehumidification Scaleup - The objective of this sub-topic is to manufacture and pilot-demonstrate all-electric or low grade/waste sources-driven dehumidification systems (e.g., desiccants) that, under extreme conditions (i.e., above 60% relative humidity), have high moisture removal efficiency (MRE), have reduced size and/or weight, are capable of flexible operation, and minimize water consumption.