The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) is allocating up to $30 million to support the development of advanced technologies to reduce or eliminate the need for twisting natural gas at oil production sites.
The funding targets technologies that would convert unused and wasted natural gas in blasting activities into value-added products such as sustainable chemical fuels, the DOE said in a news release Wednesday. Natural gas flaring is a known source of methane emissions, which is the second most abundant planet-warming greenhouse gas, accounting for 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, he noted the DOE.
The funding opportunity supports the nation’s Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan and the Biden administration’s pledge that the U.S. will work with global partners to reduce the world’s methane emissions by 30 percent percent from 2020 levels by 2030, while reducing costs for consumers, protecting workers and communities. growing jobs and promoting US technological innovation, the statement said.
“Projects sought under this FOA [funding opportunity announcement] they include the use of innovative technologies to process and separate the associated oil and gas at the well site designed to remove toast, as well as new technologies designed to convert the associated natural gas into value-added solid or liquid products. Proposals may also develop technologies that use both processing and conversion, provided the applicant demonstrates that the overall process is technically feasible, economically viable and ready for pilot-scale field testing at the well site,” according to the FOA document obtained from FedConnect.website.
The FOA document states that “[p]Proposals must show how net zero methane emissions will be achieved at the well, supported by comprehensive field-validated results and a complete emissions profile of all process and transport greenhouse gas emissions. natural gas, LNG. [natural gas liquids]or final product produced”.
The goal of any research proposal that the program will fund would be to “accelerate the development of technologies that improve the efficiency of upstream oil and natural gas processing and separation operations using novel approaches that support the evolving regulatory landscape to reduce or dramatically eliminate the use of flares at the wellhead through gas processing and/or conversion to other sustainable chemicals and marketable products with low carbon emissions,” according to the FOA document.
The DOE “will make awards with an estimated project execution period of no more than five years,” the FOA document states. The deadline for submitting complete applications is November 27. FECM expects to announce its selection of fund recipients in April 2024 and the expected award date is August 2024.
According to the release, FOA applicants must carefully address the social considerations and impacts of their proposed projects, emphasizing active engagement with communities. Applications must explain how projects are expected to provide economic and environmental benefits and mitigate impacts; conduct community and stakeholder engagement; incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; and promote workforce development and quality jobs. Projects selected in this opportunity must develop and implement strategies to ensure solid benefits for the community and workers, and report on these activities and results, according to the release.
“Methane emissions continue to rise globally, and oil and natural gas operations represent the largest source of methane emissions in the energy sector,” said FECM Assistant Secretary Brad Crabtree. “Projects awarded through today’s funding opportunity will not only develop innovative approaches that improve efficiency in oil and gas production, but also create marketable products while reducing methane emissions nationwide to help tackle climate change.”
DOE previously announced an offer of up to $350 million in grants to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas wells through well plugging and monitoring under the Emissions Reduction Program methane
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