Dow Chemical on March 25 announced plans to build a carbonate solvents facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast that will capture about 100,000 tons per year, or about 90%, of carbon dioxide produced in the ethylene oxide manufacturing process. Dow will produce those solvents for use in the production chain for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles. The project is among 33 selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) to receive a portion of $6 billion for industrial decarbonization projects also announced March 25, and Dow is slated to receive up to $95 million.
Featured Articles
- Blog
With a Little Help From My Friends, Part 2 - U.S. Lithium Production and Processing Projects
The world will need extraordinarily large quantities of lithium to support the development of renewable energy, batteries and electric vehicles (EVs). The problem is, much of the supply chain for lithium and many other important energy-transition minerals is either owned or controlled by China, whose strategic and economic interests are directly at odds with the U.S. and its allies. In response, the Biden administration and Congress have been taking steps to reduce our dependence on Chinese supplies by providing financial incentives to encourage the development of more domestic mineral production and processing capacity. But that development can only happen if the projects can clear the often-daunting regulatory and legal hurdles they almost always face. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss a few of the leading U.S. projects being planned and the challenges they face in moving forward.
- Analyst Insight
Pilot Projects at Industrial Sites in Four States to Share $304 Million in Carbon-Capture Funding
Four pilot projects designed to advance carbon-capture technologies have been selected to receive up to $304 million in funding from the Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.
- Blog
Start Me Up - Biden Administration Using Billions to Kick Domestic Battery Production Into High Gear
If the U.S. is to significantly grow its production of electric vehicles (EVs), it’s going to need a robust domestic supply chain that includes critical metals and minerals. The Biden administration has previously provided billions in funding made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) to help establish new clean-energy industries, an approach it is repeating with EV battery manufacturing and its goal of having EVs account for half of all new-car sales by 2030. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the $3.5 billion set aside to fund investments in the EV battery supply chain and increase domestic manufacturing.
