This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting applications through this RFI. The Department of Energy (DOE) will not respond to questions regarding this RFI.
For this RFI, the DOE Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) seeks input on ideas in three (3) categories to encourage increased development of geothermal resources through recovery of dissolved critical materials.
The first category is to explore the opportunities to conduct extensive engineering validation testing of feasible technologies or processes that can efficiently and cost-effectively capture, concentrate, and/or purify high-value materials, that may be contained in geothermal fluids and process streams. GTO seeks to broaden the assessment of available or possible approaches by exploring methodologies that may be adaptable from extractive industries such as oil and gas, mining, and other industries that may utilize chemicals, resins or other approaches to remove, purify or process a material.
The second category is to query concepts and approaches for leveraging methods in use or being considered for commercial applications in the geothermal and mining industries. Ideas are sought for combined drilling technologies, rock stimulation technologies such as those used in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and mineral extraction technologies as currently applied in solution mining.
The third category is to broaden the database of knowledge about the existence and concentration of the high-value materials in U.S. geothermal fluids or low-temperature process streams from other operations, such as oil and gas production. The information sought may be site-specific mineral content and/or an overall assessment of the U.S. mineral resource base in geothermal and other produced fluids.
The full RFI can be accessed under the "FOA Documents" heading below.
Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to LowTValidation@hq.doe.gov no later than 5pm ET on Monday, June 8th. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email.