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.
Please carefully review the REQUEST FOR INFORMATION GUIDELINES below and note in particular: the information you provide will be used by ARPA-E solely for program planning, without attribution. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME. Respondents shall not include any information in their response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.
Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on October 8th 2019. ARPA-E will not review or consider comments submitted by other means.