On November 8, 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that $12 million will be available in funds for new projects to support research and development (R&D) and education and workforce development to increase plastics recovery, recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing. Designed for U.S. manufacturers, 12 to 18 exploratory and full R&D projects and four to eight education and workforce development projects will be funded by DOE’s Reducing Embodied Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Manufacturing Institute. REMADE was founded in 2017 in partnership with DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Advanced Manufacturing Office. The REMADE Manufacturing Institute aims to enable early-stage applied R&D of technologies that could dramatically reduce embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from industrial-scale materials production and processing. This particular opportunity will focus on projects that align with REMADE’s research focus areas:
- Development of novel manufacturing and recycling technologies to increase secondary feedstock use by 20 percent without loss of properties or performance;
- Design of alternatives to increase recovery, recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing of products at the end of their life cycles;
- Development of technologies to separate and recover specific polymers and metal in e-waste materials;
- Technological advancements to remove pigments from polymers; and
- Provision of cutting-edge training in recycling for the American workforce and in support of the development of a new REMADE professional certificate program.
REMADE is currently accepting letters of intent, which are due today. Full proposals are due on December 18, 2019. Further submission information is available on REMADE’s website.
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