ARPA-E Department Grant: Municipal Solid Waste Management and Materials Redeployment

This is a Request for Information only. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) in the US Department of Energy is seeking novel ideas and information concerning:

a)Waste-To-Materials and Energy (WTM&E) technologies to produce materials (such as cementitious ashes, metals, and critical materials like rare earth elements and precious metals), heat, and power from either unsorted or autonomously classified Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Waste-to-energy (WTE) plants

b)Waste-To-Crude Fuels (WTCF) technologies to produce a refinery blend stock and/or marine-grade bunker fuel oil from mixed plastic/paper streams

c)Waste-To-Carbon (WTC) technologies such as enhanced/catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization of unsorted MSW and/or Municipal wastewater (MWW e.g., sewage) to produce carbon/char-like products

Critically, ARPA-E is interested in technologies that would lead to economically viable processes and/or value-add products (e.g., cementitious or pozzolanic precursors, refinery blend stocks, char and tire-fillers). ARPA-E seeks input from technical experts, researchers, and end-users of MSW technologies (such as power plants, factories, utilities, manufacturers), waste-to-energy operators, engineering disciplines (chemical/process, mechanical, environmental, electrical), material scientists (concrete scientists/chemists), computer and robotic scientists, social sciences, and related disciplines. Consistent with the agency’s mission, ARPA-E is seeking clearly disruptive, novel technologies early in the R&D cycle, and novel integration strategies for existing technologies.

The information you provide may be used by ARPA-E in support of program planning. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.