The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced a $14 million grant under the "Advanced Coal Chemical Technology" theme to support the research and development of advanced coal chemical technologies. The aim is to develop high-performance, low-cost technologies for converting coal-based raw materials into high-value materials. The current funding will focus on five major technical areas, as follows:

1. Technologies to Convert Coal-Based Raw Materials and their Derivatives into Building Materials

Develop new coal processing and conversion technologies that use civilian coal or related by-products (coal powder, coal tar, coke, etc.) as raw materials, efficiently transforming them into building materials (such as roof tiles, insulation materials, ceramic tiles, etc.) and then validating and promoting their application.

2. Technologies to Convert Coal-Based Raw Materials into Infrastructure Component Materials

Develop new coal processing and conversion technologies that use coal as raw material, efficiently transforming it into various infrastructure component materials (such as components for sewers and tunnels, components for wastewater or solid waste treatment facilities, road and bridge components, etc.) and then validating and promoting their application.

3. Technologies to Convert Coal into High-Value Carbon-Based Materials

Develop new coal processing and conversion technologies that use coal as a raw material, efficiently converting it into solid carbon-based materials with specific physical and chemical properties (such as high conductivity, high mechanical flexibility). Examples of these high-value materials include conductive inks, reinforced textiles, battery electrodes, and super-capacitor materials.

4. Coal-to-Carbon Foam Conversion Technology

Develop technologies that efficiently transform civilian coal or related by-products (coal powder, coal tar, coke, etc.) into various high-value carbon-based foam materials. Due to the advantages of these materials, such as low density, high mechanical flexibility, and good electrical and thermal conductivity, they can be widely applied in areas like thermal management of spacecraft and thermal protection.

5. Design and Development of Carbon-Based Building Materials

    Develop technologies to construct carbon-based building prototypes using novel carbon-based building materials that have excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. Evaluate whether the materials maintain their good physical and chemical properties when integrated into the overall building and validate the feasibility of the technology.

    The original article is from the WeChat public account "Advanced Energy Technology Strategic Intelligence Research Center".