Due: July 23, 2026
This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) supports critical minerals and materials. Critical minerals and materials (CMM) are the building blocks for technologies foundational to U.S. energy dominance, national security, and industrial competitiveness. To build a secure domestic supply of CMMs, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) aims to support collaborative industry partnerships to prototype and pilot innovative processing technologies that are currently only proven at the bench scale to address CMM challenges in high impact areas. The CMM Accelerator program will advance these mid-stage innovations through validation, benchmarking, access to national lab test beds, testing in industry relevant environments, technoeconomic analysis, and life-cycle assessment. The program establishes a pipeline to support technology maturation to ultimately unlock private capital investments. It also will leverage other DOE lab-based activities, such as the Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI Hub) and the Minerals to Materials Supply Chain Research Facility (METALLIC). Technologies resulting from the program are expected to have a path to domestic commercialization within 3-7 years.
This NOFO has 3 Topic Areas, and is further divided into sub-topics for Topic Areas 1 and 3. Apply to each topic following instructions below:
Topic Area 1 (Applications must be submitted via eXCHANGE, specifically under DE-TA1-0003589): Production and material efficiency for critical materials including rare earth elements. Inclusive of the following sub-topics:
1A: Recovery and production from postindustrial manufacturing scrap
1B: Recovery and production from postconsumer scrap (with an emphasis on electronic waste and drivetrains)
1C: Recovery and production from combinations of feedstocks including mine tailings, postindustrial scrap, and postconsumer scrap
Topic Area 2 (Applications must be submitted via eXCHANGE, specifically under DE-TA2-0003589): Processes to refine and alloy gallium, gallium nitride, germanium, and silicon carbide for use in semiconductor applications.
Topic Area 3 (Applications must be submitted via eXCHANGE, specifically under DE-TA3-0003589): Cost-competitive direct lithium extraction, separation, and processing.¿Inclusive of the following sub-topics:
3A: Cost-competitive direct lithium extraction
3B: Advancing pre- and post- treatment and disposal technologies for direct lithium extraction and from geothermal brines
3C: Exploration and Characterization of Critical Materials and Rare Earth Elements from Volcanically Hosted Geothermal Systems