$117 million will fund 56 projects through DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to speed industrial technologies that lower energy use and production costs across key U.S. sectors.
The awards target manufacturing bottlenecks tied to economic security, with DOE saying the projects should help domestic producers make essential commodities more efficiently while strengthening U.S. supply chains.
Highlighted efforts include low-grade ore steelmaking, cement from domestic waste streams, plasma-based fertilizer production, chlorine-free wastewater disinfection and enzymatic recycling of PET textiles into polyester.
The selections mark CMEI’s second industrial funding round this year after 20 projects were chosen in May, extending the administration’s push to onshore manufacturing and revive U.S. industrial capacity.