The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected 14 projects to receive $8.7 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development under Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002185, Coal-Derived Materials for Building, Infrastructure, and Other Applications, with the goal of fostering new uses for domestic coal resources.
Of the 14 projects selected, 2 are from the University of Wyoming. Check out their project details below shared by the DOE.
AOI-1: Coal-Derived Components for Residential or Commercial Buildings:
Eco-Friendly High-Performance Building Material Development from Coal — The University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY) plans to develop coal-derived carbon building materials from Powder River Basin coal pyrolysis products. Two proposed building components containing less than 70% carbon are char-based concrete brick (CCB) and carbon-based structural unit (CSU). Products have the potential to be transformational, manufactured at low cost with minimal carbon footprint, in accord with industry standards. There is potential market volume of over $483 million for CCB from 3.61 million tons coal, and over $563 million for CSU from 1.1 million tons coal.
Funding: DOE: $467,620; Non-DOE: $116,879; Total: $584,499
AOI 3: Coal-Derived High-Value Carbon Products:
Environmentally Friendly Production of High-Quality and Multifunctional Carbon Quantum Dots from Coal — The University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY) plans to develop an innovative, facile, low-temperature, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly technology for producing high-value coal-derived quantum dots (CQDs). The CQDs will be evaluated for two-example application, such as solar cells for clean energy production and photo catalysis for clean air and health protection. Potential success in the proposed project could open a new way for coal utilization, which may lead to the production of a high-value production from coal but also increase in employment and thus contribute to the sustainable development of the coal-based economy. Only water and pure carbon dioxide are generated as byproducts, the latter of which could be directly collected and marketed.
Funding: DOE: $450,000; Non-DOE: $112,500; Total: $562,500
Visit the project selections to view all the selections.