Page 403 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

11

A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO₂ and Coal Waste Utilization

In its analysis of the status and challenges for CO₂ and coal waste utilization, the committee identified key research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) needs to enable future utilization opportunities. For CO₂ utilization, research needs exist for all conversion processes (mineralization, chemical, biological) and all product classes that can be derived from CO₂ (construction materials, elemental carbon materials, fuels and chemicals, polymers). For coal waste utilization, there are research needs across conversion and separation processes to generate carbon-based products (e.g., construction materials, elemental carbon materials) and extraction of critical minerals and rare earth elements. Beyond science, engineering, and technology development, research is needed on CO₂ utilization infrastructure, tools to assess economic and environmental impacts of CO₂ utilization processes, public perception of CO₂ utilization, and market opportunities for CO₂- and coal waste–derived products. These research needs are summarized in Table 11-1, along with the committee’s corresponding recommendation on how to address the need.¹ This research agenda updates and builds on the one in the 2019 National Academies’ report Gaseous Carbon Waste Streams Utilization: Status and Research Needs.

For each research need, Table 11-1 identifies the relevant funding agencies or other actors; specifies whether the need is for basic research, applied research, technology demonstration, or enabling technologies and processes; denotes the research theme(s) that the research need falls into; and, where applicable, indicates the relevant research area and product class covered by the research need, as well as whether the product is long- or short-lived. While Table 11-1 does not explicitly include recommendations to industry, the committee recognizes that industrial companies perform RD&D in these areas, and any recommendation of federal funding should be available to all eligible entities, including industrial researchers. See Appendix E for a more detailed description of the research agenda and tables of the research needs grouped by the Department of Energy (DOE) office to which they are directed.

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¹ The findings corresponding to each recommendation and more detail about the research needs can be found in the individual R&D chapters: Chapter 5: Mineralization of CO₂ to Inorganic Carbonates; Chapter 6: Chemical CO₂ Conversion to Elemental Carbon Materials; Chapter 7: Chemical CO₂ Conversion to Fuels, Chemicals, and Polymers; Chapter 8: Biological CO₂ Conversion to Fuels, Chemicals, and Polymers; and Chapter 9: Products from Coal Waste.

Page 404 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

TABLE 11-1 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO₂ and Coal Waste Utilization, Covering CO₂ Mineralization, Chemical CO₂ Conversion, Biological CO₂ Conversion, Coal Waste Utilization, CO₂ Utilization Markets, LCA, TEA, and Societal/Equity Assessments, Policy and Regulatory Needs for CO₂ Utilization, and CO₂ Utilization Infrastructure

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
CO₂ Mineralization to Inorganic Carbonates
5-A. Evaluation and expansion of mapping of alkaline resources, including minerals and industrial wastes, as well as their chemical and physical properties.	DOE-FECM USGS EPA	Enabling	Mineralization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Resource mapping	Fin. 5-1 Rec. 5-1
5-B. Multimodal optimization of existing and new infrastructure to link feedstocks, including CO₂ and reactant minerals, to sites of carbon mineralization and product markets.	DOE-FECM DOT	Enabling	Mineralization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs Market opportunities	Fin. 5-1 Rec. 5-1
5-C. Fundamental and translational research on emerging approaches to carbon mineralization to improve energy efficiency, process efficiency, product selectivity, and ability to scale to the gigatonne level.	NSF DOE-BES DOE-ARPA-E DoD USGS	Basic Applied Demonstration	Mineralization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering Energy efficiency, electrification, and alternative heating	Fin. 5-1 Rec. 5-2
Recommendation 5-1: Support research and development to link alkaline resources to carbon mineralization sites—The availability of alkaline resources, including minerals and industrial wastes, and their chemical and physical properties should be carefully evaluated and mapped for carbon mineralization integrated with different CO₂ sources to create a carbon mineralization atlas. This effort should be funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Geological Survey. DOE and the Department of Transportation should support research and development efforts focused on how to link CO₂ and mineral sources to carbon mineralization sites and product markets by designing multimodal solutions based on new and existing infrastructure to process and transport efficiently large amounts of solids (both feedstock and carbonate products).
Recommendation 5-2: Support research and development to scale carbon mineralization technologies—The National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Basic Energy Sciences and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, and U.S. Geological Survey, should support fundamental and translational research into emerging carbon mineralization approaches (e.g., electrochemically driven carbon mineralization). Funding should be available for university–industry–national laboratory collaborations to rapidly scale up and deploy carbon mineralization technologies and address challenges associated with energy requirements for large-scale mining and mineral processing (e.g., grinding), process integration, chemical recycling, environmental challenges (e.g., handling asbestos), and water requirements, among others. Additionally, DOE and NSF should provide more fundamental and applied research funding for new materials discovery and characterization that would enable new processing such as 3D-printed concrete.

Page 405 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

5-D. Understanding of local environmental and ecological impacts of ocean-based CO₂ utilization and development of an environmental protocol to assess and mitigate unexpected environmental and ecological impacts from pH changes.	DOE-ARPA-E DOE-EERE DOE-FECM DoD-ONR NOAA EPA	Applied	Mineralization—ocean-based CO₂ utilization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Fin. 5-2 Rec. 5-3
5-E. Development of a testing facility platform, similar to the National Carbon Capture Center, where various ocean-based carbon mineralization concepts and technologies can be evaluated in real ocean conditions with minimal environmental impacts.	NOAA DOE-FECM	Demonstration	Mineralization—ocean-based CO₂ utilization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Research centers and facilities	Fin. 5-2 Rec. 5-3
Recommendation 5-3: Support research and development for ocean-based carbon utilization technologies—The Department of Energy (DOE), along with other relevant agencies (Department of Defense [DoD], U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA]) should support research and development to understand the local environmental and ecological impacts of ocean-based CO₂ utilization solutions, which are still largely at early stages of development. A testing facility should be developed and installed (similar to the National Carbon Capture Center) to provide a platform where various ocean-based carbon mineralization concepts and technologies can be evaluated in actual ocean conditions but with minimal environmental impacts. DOE, DoD, EPA, and NOAA should also develop an environmental protocol to assess and mitigate unexpected environmental and ecological impacts because a local pH spike or alkalinity change could significantly impact the ocean environment.
5-F. Full spectrum of research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities for electrochemically driven CO₂ mineralization under a wide range of electrolyte conditions, including seawater and brine. RD&D needs to include catalyst development, electrochemical cell design, membrane materials, and overall systems engineering and integration with carbon mineralization.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-FECM	Basic Applied Demonstration	Mineralization—Electrochemical	Construction materials	Long-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization Reactor design and reaction engineering Integrated systems Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 5-3 Rec. 5-4

Page 406 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
5-G. Monitoring of side reactions (e.g., seawater oxidation at the anode producing chlorine gas) and membrane fouling issues (e.g., precipitation of undesired solid phases). Development of tools to monitor local reaction environments at electrode/electrolyte interfaces and evaluation of recyclability of process water with spent acids and bases as well as dissolved ions.	DOE-EERE DOE-FECM DOE-BES	Basic Applied	Mineralization—Electrochemical	Construction materials	Long-lived	Fundamental knowledge Reactor design and reaction engineering Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Fin. 5-3 Rec. 5-4
Recommendation 5-4: Support research, development, and demonstration for electrochemically driven CO₂ mineralization under a wide range of electrolyte conditions—The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management should support a full range of research, development, and deployment (RD&D) activities for electrochemically driven CO₂ mineralization under a wide range of electrolyte conditions, including seawater and brine. Specifically, DOE should increase support for fundamental experimental and theoretical research into catalyst development, electrochemical cell design, membrane materials, and overall systems engineering and integration with carbon mineralization. As part of this effort, DOE should also fund RD&D on monitoring side reactions (e.g., seawater oxidation at the anode producing chlorine gas) and membrane fouling issues (e.g., precipitation of undesired solid phases) that could impact the robustness of electrochemically driven carbon mineralization; developing tools to monitor local reaction environments at electrode/electrolyte interfaces; and evaluating the possibility of recycling process water with spent acids, bases, and dissolved ions.
5-H. Fundamental to translational research of carbon mineralization integrated with metal recovery, focused on energy-efficient grinding/comminution, selective separation, improved recycling, reduced emissions, and systems integration and optimization.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Basic Applied	Mineralization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering Integrated systems Energy efficiency, electrification, and alternative heating Separations	Rec. 5-5
5-I. University–industry–national laboratory collaborations to rapidly scale up and deploy carbon-negative mining technologies with large CO₂ utilization potential.	DOE-EERE DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Applied Demonstration	Mineralization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Research centers and facilities	Rec. 5-5

Page 407 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Recommendation 5-5: Increase support for research into CO₂ mineralization integrated with metal recovery and separation—The Department of Energy’s Offices of Basic Energy Sciences, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) should increase support for basic and applied research into carbon mineralization integrated with metal recovery (e.g., the MINER program at ARPA-E). The research should focus on, but not be limited to, the development of energy-efficient grinding/comminution of minerals and rocks, selective separation of metals in the presence of large amounts of competing ions (e.g., Ca and Mg ions), improved recycling of chemicals (e.g., ligands), reduced emissions (e.g., mine tailings) and systems integration and optimization. Funding should also be available for university–industry–national laboratory collaborations to rapidly scale up and deploy carbon-negative mining technologies with large CO₂ utilization potential, producing solid carbonates.
5-J. Testing, standardization, and certification systems for replacement construction materials produced from CO₂.	NIST Industrial associations	Enabling	Mineralization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Certification and standards	Rec. 5-6
5-K. Materials discovery and characterization of new forms of mineral carbonates to enable new processing like 3D-printed concrete.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE-AMMTO NSF	Basic Applied	Mineralization	Construction materials	Long-lived	Fundamental knowledge	Rec. 5-6
Recommendation 5-6: Develop performance-based standards for construction materials to enable and encourage use of innovative materials—The National Institute of Standards and Technology should collaborate with industrial associations (e.g., Portland Cement Association, National Concrete Masonry Association) to develop testing, standardization, and certification systems for replacement building materials such as low-carbon or carbon-negative cement and aggregates from CO₂ mineralization in terms of the product performance (e.g., compressive strength) and carbon content. This work should result in an industry standard and certification process to provide to carbon mineralization companies.
Chemical CO₂ Conversion to Elemental Carbon Materials
6-A. Foundational knowledge of thermochemical, electrochemical, photochemical, and plasma processes to make elemental carbon products from CO₂.	DOE-BES NSF	Basic	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Fundamental knowledge	Rec. 6-1
Recommendation 6-1: Support basic research to advance CO₂ to elemental carbon technologies—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the National Science Foundation should invest in building the knowledge foundation and accelerating the maturities of the four CO₂ to elemental carbon technology areas: thermochemical, electrochemical, photochemical, and plasmachemical.
6-B. Novel and improved catalysts and low-energy reaction processes to produce elemental carbon products from CO₂.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization Reactor design and reaction engineering Energy efficiency, electrification, and alternative heating	Fin. 6-2 Rec. 6-2

Page 408 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
6-C. Catalysts and processes that are selective for particular material morphologies.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization	Fin. 6-2 Rec. 6-2
6-D. Enhanced activity, selectivity, and stability of catalysts to achieve high performance of reactions transforming CO₂ to elemental carbon products.	DOE-BES NSF	Basic	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization	Fin. 6-3 Rec. 6-2
6-E. Understanding and control of processes that produce CO₂-derived elemental carbon products.	DOE-BES NSF	Basic	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Fundamental knowledge	Fin. 6-3 Rec. 6-2
6-F. Reaction electrification and heat integration including plasma processes (thermochemical, plasmachemical, etc.).	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering Energy efficiency, electrification, and alternative heating	Fin. 6-3 Rec. 6-2
6-G. Separation of catalyst from solid carbon products, and different elemental carbon materials from each other.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Separations	Fin. 6-3 Rec. 6-2
Recommendation 6-2: Fund research into catalysts and materials for CO₂ to elemental carbon conversion—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE-BES) and the National Science Foundation should fund basic research into the discovery of high-performance catalysts that are active, morphologically selective, and robust for low-cost CO₂ to elemental carbon (CTEC) conversion. DOE-BES, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management should, jointly or independently, fund research on materials (e.g., catalysts, reducing agents) used in CO₂ to elemental carbon processes. These investigations should aim to discover new, optimal materials for catalysis and separation; understand how to control CTEC reactions to increase the diversity of products and selectively generate desired morphologies; and increase energy efficiency of CTEC reaction processes that can be powered by clean energy.
6-H. Development of tandem processes to produce elemental carbon products from CO₂.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-ARPA-E	Basic Applied	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Integrated systems Reactor design and reaction engineering	Fin. 6-4 Rec. 6-3
Recommendation 6-3: Fund the development of tandem CO₂ to elemental carbon technologies to maximize economic and environmental benefits—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should fund independently and/or collectively the development of tandem CO₂ to elemental carbon (CTEC) technologies that can combine the advantages of different types of CTEC processes to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of the converted carbon materials.

Page 409 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

6-I. Integrated CO₂ capture and conversion to elemental carbon materials including improved technology integration and enhanced economic and/or environmental benefits.	DOE-FECM DOE-EERE DOE-ARPA-E	Applied	Chemical	Elemental Carbon Materials	Long-lived Short-lived	Integrated systems	Fin. 6-5 Rec. 6-4
Recommendation 6-4: Fund research on integrated CO₂ capture and conversion to elemental carbon materials to maximize economic and environmental benefits—The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should fund research on integrated CO₂ capture and conversion to elemental carbon materials, with particular consideration of technology integration and economic and environmental benefit enhancement.
Chemical CO₂ Conversion to Organic Products
7-A. Improvements in catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability (including tolerance to impurities) for thermochemical CO₂ conversion.	DOE-BES NSF DoD	Basic	Chemical—Thermochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-1 Sec. 7.2.1.3
7-B. Discovery research into catalysts and processes that use alternative heating methods, such as (pulsed) electrical heating, with goals of improving catalyst performance, yielding energy savings, and reducing GHG emissions by using clean electricity.	DOE-BES NSF DoD	Basic	Chemical—Thermochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization Energy efficiency, electrification, and alternative heating Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-1 Rec. 7-1
7-C. Continued research and development into low-carbon hydrogen and other carbon-neutral reductants to facilitate scale up of thermochemical CO₂ conversion that can achieve net-zero CO₂ utilization.	DOE-BES DOE-EERE DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E DoD	Enabling	Chemical—Thermochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs	Rec. 7-1
Recommendation 7-1: Support research on catalyst development, electrical heating, and carbon-neutral reductants for thermochemical CO₂ conversion—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE-BES), the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense (DoD) should increase support for experimental and theoretical discovery research into catalysts and processes that utilize carbon-neutral and efficient methods of electrical heating to convert CO₂ to useful chemicals and chemical intermediates (e.g., targeted heating, microwave heating). DOE-BES, DoD, and DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should continue to support research and development (R&D) that facilitates scale up of thermochemical CO₂ conversion to achieve net-zero CO₂ utilization. This includes R&D on the production of low-carbon hydrogen and other carbon-neutral reductants and the integration of solar thermochemical hydrogen production and CO₂ conversion with thermal energy storage.

Page 410 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
7-D. Engineering and systems optimization to integrate low-carbon energy sources with high-temperature reaction systems for CO₂ conversion to hydrocarbon products.	DOE-FECM	Applied	Chemical—Thermochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering Energy efficiency, electrification, and alternative heating	Fin. 7-2 Rec. 7-2
Recommendation 7-2: Support research on integrated systems for thermochemical CO₂ conversion—The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management should fund applied research on integration of variable renewable energy and energy storage into efficient, heat-integrated process systems for CO₂ conversion to hydrocarbon products.
7-E. Discovery and development of electrocatalysts from abundant elements that are selective, stable, robust to impurities in CO₂ sources, and scalable, and that can produce single- and multicarbon products for both low- and high-temperature electrochemical processes.	DOE-BES DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical—Electrochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-3 Rec. 7-3
7-F. Discovery and development of abundant-element electrocatalysts for water oxidation or alternative anodic reactions to improve the cost and efficiency of electrochemical CO₂ conversion.	DOE-BES DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical—Electrochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-3 Rec. 7-3
7-G. Development of economical membrane materials that function over a wide pH range to improve the cost, efficiency, and scalability of electrochemical CO₂ conversion.	DOE-BES DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical—Electrochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering Separations	Fin. 7-3 Rec. 7-3
Recommendation 7-3: Support research on developing electrocatalysts from abundant elements and membrane materials for electrochemical CO₂ conversion technologies—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE-BES) and DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (DOE-FECM) should devote more effort to experimental and theoretical research for discovering and developing electrocatalysts from abundant elements that are selective, stable, and scalable to produce both single- and multicarbon products for both low- and high-temperature electrochemical processes. DOE-BES and DOE-FECM should also invest in developing abundant-element electrocatalysts for water oxidation or alternative anodic reactions as well as cost-effective, scalable membrane materials that function over a wide pH range to lower the overall cost of electrochemical CO₂ conversion. Long-term stability testing should be encouraged with new electrocatalyst development, along with testing for product selectivity and current density.

Page 411 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

7-H. Fundamental understanding of the sequence of processes involved in photochemical and photoelectrochemical conversion of CO₂ for light absorption, generation and separation of electron-hole pairs, and subsequent reduction of CO₂, across a variety of material types.	DOE-BES	Basic	Chemical—Photochemical Chemical—Photoelectrochemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Fundamental knowledge Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-4 Rec. 7-4
7-I. Discovery research into materials for photochemical, photoelectrochemical, and plasmachemical catalytic conversion of CO₂.	DOE-BES	Basic	Chemical—Photochemical Chemical—Photoelectrochemical Chemical—Plasmachemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Catalyst innovation and optimization Computational modeling and machine learning	Rec. 7-4
7-J. In-depth understanding of plasma-catalyst interactions for product selectivity.	DOE-BES	Basic	Chemical—Plasmachemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Fundamental knowledge Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-4 Rec. 7-4
7-K. Improved devices, reactor design, and reaction engineering for photochemical, photoelectrochemical, and plasmachemical CO₂ conversions to optimize performance metrics and inform scale up.	DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Applied	Chemical—Photochemical Chemical—Photoelectrochemical Chemical—Plasmachemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering	Fin. 7-4 Rec. 7-4
Recommendation 7-4: Support research on mechanisms, materials, and reactor design for photo(electro)chemical and plasmachemical CO₂ conversion—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science should support more experimental and theoretical research into understanding fundamental mechanisms and materials discovery for photochemical, photoelectrochemical, and plasmachemical catalytic conversion of CO₂. DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should support research to enable development of improved materials, devices, and reactor design for such conversions.
7-L. Development of tandem catalysis processes that couple two or more thermochemical, electrochemical, photochemical, and plasmachemical processes, with a goal of accessing products that a single process alone cannot achieve.	DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Basic Applied	Chemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Integrated systems Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-5 Rec. 7-5

Page 412 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
Recommendation 7-5: Increase support for research on tandem catalysis for CO₂ conversion—The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should increase support for basic and applied research into tandem catalysis, including catalyst and membrane development, tandem reactor design, and process optimization.
7-M. Development of integrated CO₂ capture and conversion, including discovery of molecules and materials, catalytic mechanisms, process optimization, CO₂ stream purification, and reactor design.	DOE-BES NSF DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E DOE-EERE	Basic Applied	Chemical	Chemicals	Short-lived	Integrated systems Reactor design and reaction engineering	Fin. 7-6 Rec. 7-6
Recommendation 7-6: Increase support for research on integrated capture and conversion of CO₂—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should increase support for basic and applied research into integrated CO₂ capture and conversion, including discovery of molecules and materials, catalytic mechanisms, process optimization, CO₂ stream purification, and reactor design.
7-N. Design and development of catalysts for rapid, stereoselective polymerization of a broader class of monomers with CO₂, especially those that can lead to polymers with properties more like thermoplastics and/or thermosets.	DOE-BES DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Chemical—Thermochemica	Polymers	Long-lived Short-lived	Fundamental knowledge Catalyst innovation and optimization Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 7-7 Rec. 7-7
Recommendation 7-7: Support research on catalyst development for CO₂ polymerization with a broader class of monomers—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science and DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management should support more experimental and theoretical research into catalyst design and development to enable rapid, stereoselective polymerization of a broader class of monomers with CO₂_.Such research could lead to polymers with properties more like those of conventional thermoplastics and/or thermosets, which could markedly expand opportunities for polymers made directly from CO₂.
Biological CO₂ Conversion to Organic Products
8-A. Pathway modeling and metabolic engineering of microorganisms to overcome biochemical, bioenergetic and metabolic limits to enhance the efficiency, titer, and productivity of photosynthetic, nonphotosynthetic, and hybrid systems.	DOE-BES DOE-BER DOE-BETO DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Biological	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Metabolic understanding and engineering Reactor design and reaction engineering	Fin. 8-1 Rec. 8-1

Page 413 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Recommendation 8-1: Coordination of fundamental and applied research is needed—Substantial fundamental and applied research needs to be conducted in order to understand and overcome biochemical, bioenergetic, and metabolic limits to higher reaction rates, conversion efficiency, and product titers. Various Department of Energy offices, including the Office of Science, Bioenergy Technologies Office, and Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, as well as the Department of Defense, should coordinate fundamental and applied research to accelerate the advancement of efficient and implementable biochemical systems for carbon conversion.
8-B. New, more efficient genetic manipulation tools must be developed to enhance the efficiency of CO₂ fixation and improve the understanding of carbon metabolism. Computational modeling and machine learning can also be exploited to this end.	DOE-BES DOE-BER NSF	Basic	Biological	Chemicals	Short-lived	Metabolic understanding and engineering Genetic manipulation Computational modeling and machine learning	Fin. 8-2 Rec. 8-2
8-C. Improved enzyme efficiency, selectivity, and stability, along with multienzyme metabolon design to overcome biochemical limits for photosynthetic, nonphotosynthetic, and hybrid systems.	DOE-BES DOE-BER NSF DOE- BETO DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Basic Applied	Biological	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Fundamental knowledge Computational modeling and machine learning Metabolic understanding and engineering	Fin. 8-1 Fin. 8-2 Rec. 8-1 Rec. 8-2
8-D. Improved enzyme stability and scalability of redox-balanced systems to facilitate demonstration and scale up of cell-free and hybrid systems.	DOE-BES DOE-BER NSF DOE-BETO DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Basic Applied	Biological	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Fundamental knowledge Reactor design and reaction engineering Integrated systems	Rec. 8-2
Recommendation 8-2: Support for advances in genetic engineering, systems modeling, and fundamental research is critical—New genetic engineering strategies must be developed to enhance the efficiency of CO₂ fixation, enabling the establishment of economical and scalable production systems. Continued refinement of genetic engineering tools and better understanding of the design principles of carbon metabolism are needed to improve CO₂ fixation. Additionally, systems modeling and machine learning can be exploited to optimize nutrient input, CO₂ delivery, light penetration, and other conditions to achieve higher productivities. Last, fundamental research to improve enzyme stability and the scalability of redox balanced systems is needed to make hybrid systems commercially viable and scalable. The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science and the National Science Foundation should continue to support fundamental research on these topics, and DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should support the related applied research.

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Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
8-E. Improve fundamental understanding of electrocatalyst design to increase efficiency, selectivity, and product profile control under biocompatible conditions.	DOE-BES DOE-BER NSF DOE-BETO DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Basic Applied	Biological—Hybrid Electro-bio	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Fundamental Knowledge Catalyst innovation and optimization	Fin. 8-3 Rec. 8-3
Recommendation 8-3: Explore electrocatalysts that operate under biologically amenable conditions with high activity, selectivity, and stability—The National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Bioenergy Technologies Office, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should support fundamental and applied research on the development of electrocatalysts that operate under biologically amenable conditions with high efficiency, selectivity, and stability. Systems that produce and utilize bio-compatible (i.e., nontoxic, multicarbon) intermediates should be prioritized.
8-F. Develop microorganisms and cell-free systems compatible with intermediates derived from electrocatalysis.	DOE-BES DOE-BER NSF DOE-BETO DOE-FECM DOE-ARPA-E	Basic Applied	Biological—Hybrid Electro-bio	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Microbial engineering	Rec. 8-4
Recommendation 8-4: Develop microorganisms and cell-free systems that can efficiently produce target chemicals via intermediates derived from electrocatalysis—The National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Bioenergy Technologies Office, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should support fundamental and applied research on the development of microorganisms and cell-free systems that can efficiently produce target chemicals from catalysis-derived intermediates under conditions amenable to electrocatalysis. These efforts should include systems biology understanding of the limitations for the conversion of various electrocatalysis-derived intermediates, in particular, biocompatible intermediates, as well as the synthetic biology engineering of microorganisms and cell-free systems for efficient conversion of these intermediates to chemicals, materials, and fuels.
8-G. Optimization of hybrid systems via evaluation of reactor design.	DOE-BETO DOE-ARPA-E DOE-FECM	Applied Demonstration	Biological—Hybrid	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Integrated systems Reactor design and reaction engineering	Rec. 8-5
Recommendation 8-5: Evaluate reactor design and system integration for hybrid systems—The Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, and Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management should support research to investigate system integration and scale up of catalysis and bioconversion. The reactor and process design need to be optimized to the specific intermediates and desired products, and techno-economic and life cycle assessments need to be carried out to evaluate the economic, environmental, and emissions impacts of hybrid systems.
8-H. Feasibility study for integrating thermocatalytic or photocatalytic CO₂ conversion with bioconversion to evaluate the efficiency, economics, and scalability.	DOE-ARPA-E DOE-FECM DOE-BETO	Applied	Biological-Hybrid	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering Integrated systems	Rec. 8-6

Page 415 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Recommendation 8-6: Advance prototype hybrid systems to integrate thermocatalytic or photocatalytic CO₂ conversion with bioconversion—The Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, and Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management should support research to investigate the concept of integrating thermocatalytic or photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ into intermediates, and subsequently convert the intermediates via bioconversion to diverse chemical and polymer products. The evaluation of system efficiency and economics will help to assess whether such integrated systems are feasible.
Coal Waste Utilization
9-A. Evaluation and mapping of coal waste resources, including composition, volume, and locations.	DOE-FECM OSMRE EPA USGS	Enabling	Coal waste utilization	Coal waste-derived carbon products Metal coal waste byproducts	Long-lived	Resource mapping	Fin. 9-1 Rec. 9-1
9-B. Strategies for linking coal waste sites to markets for solid carbon and critical minerals and materials and creating infrastructure to process and efficiently transport large amounts of coal wastes (both liquid and solid).	DOE-FECM DOT	Applied Enabling	Coal waste utilization	Coal waste-derived carbon products Metal coal waste byproducts	Long-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs Market opportunities	Rec. 9-1
9-C. Physical and chemical methods for separating mineral matter from carbon in coal wastes.	DOE-BES DOE-FECM	Basic Applied	Coal waste utilization	Coal waste-derived carbon products Metal coal waste byproducts	Long-lived	Separations	Rec. 9-1
Recommendation 9-1: Fund mapping of coal waste resources and infrastructure development to link coal waste sites with product markets—The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (DOE-FECM), in collaboration with the Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, should fund an effort to evaluate and map coal waste resources, including acid mine drainage, impoundment wastes, and coal combustion residuals, to facilitate their potential use in producing solid carbon products and/or critical minerals and materials. Additionally, DOE-FECM and Basic Energy Sciences within DOE’s Office of Science should fund translational and basic research of coal waste separations. DOE-FECM, jointly with the Department of Transportation, should support research and development focused on linking coal waste sites to solid carbon and critical minerals and materials markets and creating infrastructure to process and efficiently transport large amounts of coal wastes (both liquid and solid).
9-D. Efficient transformation of waste coal into long-lived carbon products with lower embodied carbon than existing products—including engineered composites, graphite, graphene, fiber, and foam—for construction, energy storage technologies, transportation, and defense applications.	DOE-FECM DoD	Applied Demonstration	Coal waste utilization—long-lived carbon products	Coal waste-derived carbon products	Long-lived	Reactor design and reaction engineering	Fin. 9-2 Rec. 9-2 Rec. 9-3

Page 416 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
9-E. Evaluation of different types of coal waste to determine their ability to enhance pavement performance and to understand the fate and transfer of heavy metals over long time periods.	DOE-FECM DOT-FHWA DOT-OST-R State departments of transportation	Applied	Coal waste utilization	Coal waste-derived carbon products	Long-lived	Certification and standards	Sec. 9.3.1.2
9-F. Atomic- and multi-scale computer simulations to better understand the conversion of coal waste carbon into various solidcarbon products and solid-carbon product precursors.	NSF DOE-BES	Basic	Coal waste utilization—long-lived carbon products	Coal waste-derived carbon products	Long-lived	Fundamental knowledge Computational modeling and machine learning	Sec. 9.3.3.2 Rec. 9-3
9-G. Develop 3D printing media from waste coal or coal-derived materials for tooling and building product applications.	DOE-FECM	Applied	Coal waste utilization—long-lived carbon products	Coal waste-derived carbon products	Long-lived	Certification and standards	Rec. 9-2
9-H. Evaluations of functionality and performance of coal waste–derived products to ensure they conform with codes specific to their intended application. These evaluations could include examination of mechanical, thermal, electrical, and/or chemical properties.	DOE-FECM	Applied	Coal waste utilization—long-lived carbon products	Coal waste-derived carbon products	Long-lived	Certification and standards	Rec. 9-2
9-I. Establish standards for using coal waste in applications with environmental exposure to ensure product safety.	ASTM International	Enabling	Coal waste utilization—long-lived carbon products	Coal waste-derived carbon products	Long-lived	Certification and standards	Rec. 9-2
9-J. Data and tools to conduct life cycle and techno-economic assessments of coal waste utilization processes.	DOE-FECM	Applied	Coal waste utilization	Coal waste-derived carbon products Metal coal waste byproducts	Long-lived	Certification and standards Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Fin. 9-2 Rec. 9-2

Page 417 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Recommendation 9-2: Increase research on conversion of coal waste to long-lived carbon products, including techno-economic, environmental, and safety assessments—The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (DOE-FECM) and the Department of Defense should fund research that focuses on the efficient transformation of waste coal through thermochemical, electrochemical, and plasma-chemical processes into long-lived solid carbon products, for example, carbon fibers, graphite, graphene, carbon foam, 3D-printing materials, and engineered composites. Specifically, low-cost and environmentally friendly conversions of coal waste to long-lived carbon products should be developed, and approaches to valorize the by-products of conversions of coal waste to long-lived carbon products should be explored. As part of these efforts, DOE should increase support for their national laboratories to develop databases that can assist researchers in completing robust life cycle and techno-economic assessments of coal waste utilization processes. DOE-FECM should evaluate the functionality and performance of coal waste–derived products to ensure that they conform with codes specific to their intended application and, in collaboration with ASTM International, establish standards for using coal waste in applications with environmental exposure to ensure product safety.
Recommendation 9-3: Appropriate funds for the Carbon Materials Science Initiative—The U.S. Congress should appropriate funds for the “Carbon Materials Science Initiative” as authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 “to expand knowledge of coal, coal wastes, and carbon ore chemistry useful for understanding the conversion of carbon to material products.” Funding for basic research into low-carbon-emission pathways (e.g., clean electricity-driven heating, electrolysis, and plasma) for coal waste utilization should be prioritized by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Basic Energy Sciences, along with associated applied research and demonstration supported by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.
9-K. Characterization of the structure and morphology of solid coal wastes and coal combustion by-products.	DOE-BES USGS	Basic	Coal waste utilization—metal extraction	Metal coal waste byproducts	Long-lived	Fundamental knowledge	Fin. 9-4 Rec. 9-4
Recommendation 9-4: Support characterization of coal wastes to facilitate development of new physical beneficiation methods—Basic Energy Sciences within the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science and the U.S. Geological Survey should support the characterization of solid coal wastes and coal combustion by-products. DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should fund the development of innovative physical beneficiation methods, including separation of unburned carbon and magnetic fractions in fly ashes and removal of oversized particles, novel roasting methods, and highly efficient, sustainable leaching agents and extractants for rare earth elements.
9-L. Discovery and development of more selective, sustainable leaching agents, membranes, and processes for extracting rare earth elements from coal waste.	DOE-BES NSF	Basic	Coal waste utilization—metal extraction	Metal coal waste byproducts	Long-lived	Separations	Fin. 9-5 Rec. 9-5
9-M. Technologies for extracting rare earth elements, lithium, and other energy-relevant critical materials from solid wastes (e.g., waste coal and coal combustion residuals).	DOE-FECM DOE-EERE DOE-ARPA-E DoD	Applied	Coal waste utilization—metal extraction	Metal coal waste byproducts.	Long-lived	Separations	Fin. 9-5 Rec. 9-5
9-N. Technologies for extracting rare earth elements, lithium, and other energy-relevant critical minerals from liquid wastes (e.g., acid mine drainage).	DOE-FECM DOE-EERE DOE-ARPA-E DoD	Applied	Coal waste utilization—metal extraction	Metal coal waste byproducts.	Long-lived	Separations	Fin. 9-5 Rec. 9-5

Page 418 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
9-O. Separation of individual elements once extracted from coal wastes, especially separation of nickel from cobalt.	DOE-BES NSF DOE-FECM DOE-EERE DOE-ARPA-E DoD	Basic Applied	Coal waste utilization—metal extraction	Metal coal waste byproducts.	Long-lived	Separations	Fin. 9-5 Rec. 9-5
Recommendation 9-5: Develop novel technologies to extract critical minerals from liquid and solid coal waste streams—The Department of Defense and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy should fund the development of novel technologies for extracting critical materials, including rare earth and energy-relevant elements, from solid (e.g., coal combustion residuals, waste coal) and liquid (e.g., acid mine drainage) coal waste streams, as well as the separation of individual elements once extracted. In parallel, DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the National Science Foundation should support research on separations from complex mixtures, including to understand species partitioning, ion pairing, and ion dissociation. Technologies and processes to be explored include development of novel acids and electrified methods (e.g., microwave, inductive Joule heating) for extractions; development of novel, sustainable sorbents for separations; and multiphysics simulations and artificial intelligence to analyze and understand the composition of complex waste streams.
CO₂ Utilization Markets
2-A. Understand broader impacts of CO₂ conversion on the environment, resource (re-)allocation, and jobs gains and/or losses.	DOE	Enabling	Societal Impacts	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Rec. 2-2
2-B. Understand broader impact of CO₂ conversion to (a) meet national needs for carbon products, (b) meet national targets for the transition to carbon neutrality, and (c) evaluate effectiveness of incentives and other policies.	DOE GSA State-level actors	Enabling	Markets Societal Impacts	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Market opportunities	Rec. 2-2
Recommendation 2-2: Close information gaps—The Department of Energy should support system-level studies to understand the broader impact of CO₂ conversion on the environment, markets, resource (re-)allocation, and jobs gains and/or losses. Related studies should be conducted to close information gaps to realize market opportunities for CO₂ conversion to (a) meet national needs for carbon products, (b) meet national targets for the transition to carbon neutrality, and (c) evaluate incentives and other policies for effectiveness.

Page 419 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
LCA, TEA, and Societal/Equity Assessments for CO₂ Utilization
3-A. Understanding the impact of fluctuations in CO₂ purity in the life cycle and techno-economic assessment of CO₂ utilization technologies.	DOE-EERE DOE-FECM	Enabling	LCA/TEA	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Fin. 3-4 Rec. 3-2
3-B. Development of improved CO₂ purification technologies that are more flexible, modular, and less energy-intensive.	DOE-EERE DOE-FECM DOE-BES	Basic Applied	Chemical	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Separations	Fin. 3-4 Rec. 3-2 Sec. 11.1.2
Recommendation 3-2: Research needs for CO₂ purity in techno-economic and life cycle assessments—The Department of Energy (DOE) and other relevant funding agencies should fund projects that examine the robustness of CO₂ utilization technologies to different CO₂ purities as well as fund further research and development of CO₂ purification technologies. Insights from these projects should be disseminated to the larger community by DOE. DOE should require awardees of applied research and development funding for CO₂ utilization technologies to perform techno-economic and life cycle assessments that explicitly address the purity requirements of the CO₂ streams.
3-C. Understanding of non-CO₂-emissions impacts of CO₂ utilization technologies within life cycle assessments (e.g., impacts on chemical toxicity, water requirements, and air quality of carbon mineralization at the gigatonne scale).	DOE-EERE DOE-FECM EPA USGS	Enabling	LCA/TEA	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Fin. 3-6 Rec. 3-4
Recommendation 3-4: Non-CO₂-emission impacts within life cycle assessments—The Department of Energy and other relevant funding agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology should support research into improving evaluation of non-CO₂-emissions impacts within life cycle assessments (LCAs) of CO₂ utilization technologies, including: Evaluating the appropriate but differentiated applications for global and local impact categories, as the latter generally involves data and information with high spatial and temporal granularity (e.g., processes versus facilities, technology readiness level of various components of the technology). Evaluating appropriate applications of social LCA (s-LCA) and further developing s-LCA tools and their potential integration with environmental LCA and techno-economic assessments.
3-D. Development of life cycle assessment approaches that can address circularity of CO₂-derived products over time.	DOE-FECM National Laboratories NIST	Enabling	LCA/TEA	Chemicals Polymers	Short-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Rec. 3-6

Page 420 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
3-E. Understanding the flows of carbon through product life cycles to enable a circular carbon system, including identifying leakage potential from circular systems, the fate of products under different end of life conditions, and how processes and demand may evolve through multiple cycles of use and reuse.	DOE-FECM National Laboratories NIST	Enabling	LCA/TEA	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Fin. 3-9 Rec. 3-6
3-F. Development of approaches and tools to trace carbon across value chains over time, including mapping of value chains, identification of tracking methods, and data collection and validation protocols.	DOE-FECM NIST	Enabling	LCA/TEA	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Rec. 3-6
Recommendation 3-6: Implications of circularity on carbon storage—The Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology should support research that examines the feasibility and impacts of extending the duration of carbon storage through circularity strategies of short-lived products. This includes Building on state-of-the-art life cycle assessment approaches that are able to address circularity of CO₂ based products over time. Development of approaches and tools that allow the traceability and custody of carbon across value chains over time, including mapping of value chains, identification of tracking methods, and data collection and validation protocols.
Policy and Regulatory Needs for CO₂ Utilization
4-A. Knowledge gaps in public perception of carbon utilization technologies, and factors that influence community acceptance.	NGOs Universities National laboratories Other research-conducting entities DOE	Enabling	Societal Impacts	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Environmental and societal considerations for CO₂ and coal waste utilization technologies	Fin. 4-7 Rec. 4-6

Page 421 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Recommendation 4-6: Educational material development—Nongovernmental organizations and research-conducting entities—such as national laboratories, think tanks, and universities—should identify gaps in knowledge, sharing their data and findings about societal acceptance of or opposition to the CO₂ utilization sector through the following actions: Nongovernmental organizations (including universities) and national laboratories should conduct targeted research to develop transparent resources to communicate findings and support improved education related to the direct impact of the CO₂ utilization sector on climate change mitigation. Research-conducting entities should continue to conduct social analyses to determine what consumers and communities think about the CO₂ utilization sector, both in relation to and separate from the carbon management value chain, filling the gaps in knowledge about societal acceptance and potential opposition, to better understand and address the concerns of the public. These data and conclusions of this research should be shared through a centralized and broadly accessible framework. Research-conducting entities should use analyses that combine techno-economic and life cycle assessment objectives to determine a levelized cost of CO₂ abatement to be used to assess the desirability of projects as a function of CO₂ source (fossil or biogenic point source, direct air capture, or direct ocean capture) and product durability. The results of these analyses and assessments should be communicated to the Department of Energy and other entities funding carbon utilization projects to inform them of factors that can influence community acceptance of projects and expected outcomes.
CO₂ Utilization Infrastructure
10-A. Development of robust computational tools for optimal multimodal transportation of CO₂ captured from stranded emitters for centralized utilization.	DOE-FECM	Enabling	Infrastructure	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs Computational modeling and machine learning	Rec. 10-2
10-B. Techno-economic assessment of centralized versus distributed/onsite utilization of CO₂ for small-to medium-scale emitters.	Small- to medium-scale emitters	Enabling	Infrastructure	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs	Rec. 10-2
Recommendation 10-2: Evaluate CO₂ capture and utilization for small- to medium-scale emitters—Small- to medium-scale emitters that cannot eliminate emissions through energy efficiency, electrification, and other decarbonization strategies should evaluate the economic feasibility of performing CO₂ capture and utilization onsite. This may involve deploying renewable electricity generation, clean hydrogen production, modular carbon capture technologies, and utilization processes suited to small-scale conversion. In cases where this is not possible, taking account of their emissions rates and geographical location, such emitters should seek multimodal transport solutions for the CO₂ and, if relevant, CO₂-derived product, striking a balance between cost, safety, and environmental impacts using established methodologies that also have been proposed for hydrogen delivery infrastructure development. Additionally, as recommended in this committee’s first report (Recommendation 4.2), the Department of Energy should develop dedicated methodologies for optimizing multimodal CO₂ transport to assist in these infrastructure planning efforts.
10-C. Better understanding and development of approaches to mitigate issues with propagating brittle and ductile fractures in CO₂ pipelines.	PHMSA National laboratories University researchers Industry	Enabling	Infrastructure	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs	Rec. 10-5

Page 422 Cite

Suggested Citation: "11 A Comprehensive Research Agenda for CO2 and Coal Waste Utilization." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development: A Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/27732.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Need	Funding Agencies or Other Actors	Basic, Applied, Demonstration, or Enabling	Research Area	Product Class	Long- or Short-Lived	Research Themes	Source
10-D. CO₂ dispersion modeling calculations for the case of accidental rupture of buried CO₂ pipelines that results in formation of a crater owing to the high momentum CO₂ jet.	PHMSA National laboratories University researchers Industry	Enabling	Infrastructure	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs Computational modeling and machine learning	Rec. 10-5
10-E. Computer programs that implement validated mathematical models on dispersion modeling and propagating fractures to serve as decision-making tools for pipeline developers.	PHMSA National laboratories University researchers Industry	Enabling	Infrastructure	All	Long-lived Short-lived	Enabling technology and infrastructure needs	Rec. 10-5
Recommendation 10-5: Fund research on modeling and testing aimed at improving CO₂ pipeline safety—The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration should collaborate with national laboratories, university researchers, industry, and international partners to co-fund and implement research to develop rigorous mathematical models, which in turn should be extensively validated using realistic scale experiments, to Simulate the fluid/structure interaction and subsequent atmospheric dispersion of the escaping overground CO₂ plume following accidental rupture of buried CO₂ pipelines that results in the formation of a crater owing to the high-momentum jet impingement in order to determine minimum safe distances to populated areas and emergency response planning. Understand and mitigate issues with propagating brittle and ductile fractures in CO₂ pipelines, as described in detail in Recommendation 4.3 of the committee’s first report, in order to select pipeline materials capable of resisting such types of failures. Implement the validated mathematical models developed in (a) and (b) into robust and easy to use computer programs to be routinely used as a design and decision-making tool for pipeline developers in order to reduce and mitigate the risks associated with pipeline failures to as low as reasonably practicable.

NOTE: 3D = three-dimensional; AMMTO = Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office; ARPA-E = Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy; BER = Biological and Environmental Research; BES = Basic Energy Sciences; BETO = Bioenergy Technologies Office; DoD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; DOT = Department of Transportation; EERE = Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; EPA = U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; FECM = Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management; FHWA = Federal Highway Administration; GHG = Greenhouse Gas; GSA = General Services Administration; NSF = National Science Foundation; LCA = Life Cycle Assessment; ONR = Office of Naval Research; OSMRE = Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement; OST-R = Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology; PHMSA = Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; TEA = Techno-Economic Assessment; USGS = U.S. Geological Survey.