US grant · Golden Field Office
Accelerating Scale-up and Pre-piloting of Emerging Chemical Technologies (ASPECT)
$2,000,000 to $20,000,000 Closes December 1, 2026
Official listing and how to apply
Source: Grants.gov · Last checked
Key facts
| Funder | Golden Field Office |
|---|---|
| Part of | Department of Energy |
| Opportunity number | DE-FOA-0003647 |
| Amount per award | $2,000,000 to $20,000,000 |
| Total funding available | $58,000,000 |
| Opens | September 4, 2026 |
| Closes | December 1, 2026 (21 days left) |
| Who can apply | Schools and universities, Businesses, Government, Individuals, Nonprofits, Other (see listing), Tribal organizations |
| Applicant types listed | Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized); State governments; County governments; Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; Individuals; City or township governments; Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments); Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification); For profit organizations other than small businesses; Special district governments; Independent school districts; Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; Small businesses; Public and State controlled institutions of higher education; Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; Private institutions of higher education |
| State or area | Nationwide |
| Cost sharing or match | Required |
| Status | Open |
| Source | Grants.gov |
| Last checked | November 10, 2026 |
About this grant
Summary from the official listing on Grants.gov:
Modification 000002:
Updated Appendix A and the definition of “Construction and demolition waste”, also denoted as “C&D Waste”, to align with the programmatic authorizing statute for the Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office listed in NOFO Part 1, Section III.G. Statutory Authority.
• “Construction and demolition waste,” for the purposes of this NOFO and consistent with the statutory authorities1, refers to waste organic materials from buildings, roads and bridges, and other sectors, but not included in municipal solid waste. It includes wood waste materials, including waste pallets, crates, dunnage, manufacturing and construction wood wastes (other than pressure-treated, chemically-treated, or painted wood wastes), and landscape or right-of-way tree trimmings.
Updated Section III.D. Key Requirements and Section III.F. Applications Specifically Not of Interest to specify that target chemicals should have global annual markets or potential markets of at least 1 million metric tons.
• Previously this metric was given as U.S. production of at least 1 million metric tons.
Modification 000001:
Moved the application content requirement for Letter(s) of Commitment (LOCs) from Stage 2 to Stage 1.
• Added a clause in Section III.D indicating that LOCs are to be submitted with Stage 1 applications.
• Updated the summary table in Section IV.D.2 to reflect the above (added Stage 1 LOC requirement)
• Updated the summary table in Section IV.E.1 to reflect the above (added “(as needed, in addition to Stage 1 submittals)”).
DOE CMEI is dedicated to securing America’s energy future by reinforcing domestic critical mineral supply chains, driving next-generation energy technology and manufacturing research, and promoting affordable, consumer-friendly solutions. CMEI’s AFFO is issuing this ASPECT NOFO, DE-FOA-0003647, to support research, development, and pre-pilot testing of innovative technologies that produce chemicals from alternative and waste feedstocks, mobilizing America’s abundant alternative feedstocks resources.
The goal of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to advance promising chemical technologies that utilize alternative feedstocks through multiple levels of maturity and, in some cases, to pre-pilot scale. To accomplish this, the NOFO is divided into two topic areas, each divided into two subtopic areas designed to provide different on-ramps for technologies at different stages of development.
Topic Area 1 supports the progression of technologies in the R&D phase. Subtopic Area 1a supports advancing early-stage research to bench scale. Subtopic Area 1b is intended to move projects closer to pre-pilot scale, to a point where critical unit operations must be further developed and demonstrated.
Topic Area 2 provides an on-ramp for technologies ready to move from R&D to full pre-pilot scale and operations. Projects applying to Topic Area 2 should aim to advance their technology to design, construct, and operate pre-pilot scale facilities. Both subtopic areas have the same goal—to move technologies into integrated pre-pilot systems and operate them—but allow for two different points of entry. Subtopic Area 2a targets preliminary pre-pilot scale testing of critical unit operations before engineering and design can commence for the entire system while Subtopic Area 2b projects will involve technologies that are ready for design and construction of an integrated pre-pilot facility.
Please see the full NOFO document at…
Eligibility
As one of the main goals of this NOFO is to move technologies quickly to market, participation of the following entities is limited as follows:
Institutions of higher education are eligible to participate as a recipient or subrecipient for Topic Area 1 but are only eligible to participate as a subrecipient for Topic Area 2.
Provided there is no conflict of interest, DOE FFRDCs3 are eligible to apply for funding as subrecipients but are not eligible to apply as recipients.
Non-DOE FFRDCs are eligible to participate as subrecipients but are not eligible to apply as recipients.
Federal agencies and instrumentalities (other than DOE) are eligible to participate as subrecipients but are not eligible to apply as recipients.
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is eligible to apply as a subrecipient, not as prime recipient.
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