Initial Application Step: Interested applicants must first submit a concept paper before January 15, 2010 at 5:00 P.M. (EST). The concept paper is limited to six pages, including an abstract (150 word limit), technical section (five page limit, when combined with abstract), and cost summary (one page limit). Please note: Important information re registration and other pre-submission requirements (including ARPA-E eXCHANGE submission mechanics) is included in the funding opportunity announcement (FOA). Please refer to the FOA for details.

Notice of Encouragement/Discouragement to Submit Full Application: Anticipated early February 2010

Full Application Submission Deadline: Anticipated early March

Award Date: Estimated date will be specified by FOA amendment no later than date of notification of encouragement/ discouragement

Award Size: Anticipated award size is from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. The minimum amount for each award is $500,000 and the maximum amount is $10,000,000. ARPA-E anticipates awarding agreements totaling $35,000,000 for this award.

Award Instrument: Grant, cooperative agreement, or technology investment assignment (TIA)

Program Description

The purpose of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E) is to create transformational new energy technologies and systems through funding and managing research and development (R&D) efforts. ARPA-E’s mission is to overcome the long-term and high-risk technological barriers in the development of energy technologies that (1) enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that result in reductions of imports of energy from foreign sources, reductions of energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases, and improvement in the energy efficiency of all economic sectors, and (2) ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies. It is expected that energy technologies funded by ARPA-E will help catalyze breakthroughs for national priorities which harness science and technology to address the “grand challenges” of the 21st century and unleash a clean energy revolution.

In this FOA, ARPA-E states that it seeks to explore innovative opportunities and pursue new approaches to efficiently convert CO2 and electrical energy to energy-dense, infrastructure compatible liquid fuels—diesel fuel, JP-8 aviation fuel, and high-octane fuels for four-stroke internal combustion engines—by non-photosynthetic means. Such electrical energy could be produced from sunlight or through other means, and might be imported into cells as dihydrogen, as reduced earth-abundant metal ions or readily available redox-active species that serve as energy carriers, or directly as electric current. A possible sub-objective might involve the export of electrons from photosynthetic bacteria, or the co-culture of photoactive bacteria.

Area of Interest: Organism Development and
System Integration

Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering have demonstrated significant potential to modify microbiological metabolic pathways to produce non-native chemicals and fuels. ARPA-E is interested in leveraging and applying such technologies to develop novel biological systems that can directly utilize electrons, hydrogen, or reduced metal ions as a source of reducing equivalents for the conversion of CO2 to liquid fuels. The desired organism will be robust and capable of being cultured and maintained at commercial scale. Organisms and biosynthetic routes should be amenable to independent, unbiased validation. Examples of topics sought include, but are not limited to:

The direct use of electric current to produce energy-dense, infrastructure compatible liquid fuels directly from CO2 as the only carbon source
The use of reversibly reducible earth abundant metal ions or of cheap, readily available redox active organic materials as intermediaries, transferring reducing equivalents into a cell, which produces energy-dense, infrastructure compatible liquid fuels directly from CO2 as the only carbon source
The development of Calvin cycles variants that accepts reducing equivalents from regenerable agents other than Photosystems I and II or directly from solar current
The development of organisms that assimilate solar hydrogen with high affinity to produce energy-dense, infrastructure compatible liquid fuels directly from CO2 as the only carbon source.

This FOA recognizes that organism development is only one component of program success. Large scale deployment requires creative approaches and innovation to design, develop, and integrate practical and economically viable production systems. The entire production system must be scalable, robust, and relatively straightforward to maintain and operate. System design and development should seek to maximize efficiency and minimize cost. Examples of topics include, but are not limited to:

The design and development of a large-scale, economically viable reverse microbial fuel cell
The development of innovative concepts for the effective shuttling and recycling of reduced metal ions or readily available organic cofactors and coupling to biological systems;
The transformational design and development of novel bioreactors that maximize efficiency and reduce cost.

Each proposal must clearly define the following components:

Specify liquid fuel type (diesel fuel, JP-8 aviation fuel, and/or high octane fuels for four-stroke internal combustion engines); liquid fuels ≥ 85 research octane or ≥ 40 cetane are desirable
Anticipated liquid fuel energy density ≥ 32 megajoules per kilogram is desired
Anticipated liquid fuel heat of vaporization < 0.5 megajoules per kilogram is desired
Anticipated liquid fuel-energy-out to photon/electrical energy-in of the envisioned system; an overall energy efficiency > 1% is required
Rare earth elements or organic redox shuttles that cannot be deployed economically at scale should be avoided

Eligible Applicants

ARPA-E states that it welcomes submissions from any type of capable technology research and development entity. This includes, but is not limited to, for-profit entities, academic institutions, research foundations, not-for-profit entities, collaborations, and consortia. A Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) may submit a proposal as a project lead entity; only if the FFRDC is the lead for a consortium, collaboration, or other teaming arrangement. The FFRDC may not submit a proposal as a stand along entity. A minimum of 90% of the work, as defined by total project costs, must be performed on U.S. soil, which includes the United States proper and its territories.

Cost Sharing

If a recipient is exclusively a university, college, or other educational institution, a cost share of at least 10% of the total allowable costs will be required. Cost share of at least 20% is required of all other applicants. For consortia or teams that include educational institutions: the 10% minimum applies to those educational institutions, and other members of the consortia/team must cost share at least 20% of their portion of the consortium's effort. For awards where ARPA-E determines that use of a TIA is appropriate—when a standard grant or cooperative agreement is not feasible or appropriate—a minimum 50% cost share of the total project cost is required. (Exceptional circumstances, on a case-by-case determination at the highest levels within DOE, may warrant a somewhat lower cost-share percentage).