RFI - Next Generation Ammonia System Integration Project | DE FOA 0002307

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002307

The "RFI - Next Generation Ammonia System Integration Project" (DE-FOA-0002307) is a Department of Energy ARPA-E Request for Information, not a funding announcement and not a solicitation for grant applications. Its main purpose is to gather technical and commercial input that ARPA-E can use for internal program planning as it considers whether to create a future R&D funding program. In other words, ARPA-E is testing the waters, learning what is ready, what is missing, and what kind of integrated demonstration could realistically be built and operated to prove out emerging ammonia technologies under real-world conditions.

The underlying motivation is that ammonia synthesis, while essential for modern agriculture and produced at massive global scale, carries major energy and environmental burdens. Conventional ammonia production is typically centralized, fossil-fuel intensive, and associated with substantial greenhouse gas emissions. ARPA-E is exploring pathways that could reduce these impacts by enabling smaller, distributed ammonia production systems that can run on renewable electricity, especially power that is intermittent (for example, wind or solar). The RFI focuses on a specific pre-production demonstration concept: a skid-mounted (modular, transportable) ammonia synthesis system connected to an intermittent renewable energy source, operating at a scale of several hundred kilograms up to about one metric ton of ammonia per day. That throughput is intentionally in the "pilot / pre-production" range: large enough to expose integration and operability problems, but small enough to be built and tested without the expense of a full industrial plant.

A central theme of the RFI is integration. ARPA-E explicitly references technologies coming out of its REFUEL program as well as related awards from other ARPA-E programs, both past and ongoing. Many of these projects have pursued enabling components that could make renewable-powered ammonia more practical, such as advanced catalysts that can synthesize ammonia at lower temperature and pressure than the traditional Haber-Bosch process, or novel ammonia separation and purification approaches that might be better suited to smaller plants and variable operation. ARPA-E is seeking input on how close these component technologies are to scale-up, what it would take to combine them into a working end-to-end system, and what organizations are capable of doing that integration work.

More specifically, ARPA-E is asking for information in three broad areas. First, it wants to understand the capabilities and needs of organizations that can provide, mature, validate, or independently evaluate relevant ARPA-E-funded technologies, including (as examples) low-pressure/low-temperature catalysts and new separation methods. Second, it wants to hear from organizations that could integrate, build, and test the complete skid-mounted ammonia synthesis system at the stated daily production rate, including the practical engineering required to connect the plant to intermittent renewable power. Third, ARPA-E is trying to gauge which organizations could not only execute the technical work but also lead a credible commercialization path, either independently or by forming and managing a consortium that includes research teams, investors, and private-sector partners. The commercialization angle matters because ARPA-E is looking for integration efforts that do more than produce a one-off lab success; it wants work that can plausibly transition into continued private-sector development, scale-up, and deployment.

The system-level outcomes ARPA-E is interested in revolve around operational robustness and economics in the real conditions imposed by renewable energy. The RFI highlights the need to validate reliability under variable load, including start/stop operations. This is a key challenge because many chemical plants are designed for steady, continuous operation, while renewable-powered operation may require frequent ramping or cycling. ARPA-E also emphasizes manufacturability and favorable economics at scale, signaling interest in designs that could be standardized, built repeatedly, and improved over time rather than remaining custom, expensive prototypes. An additional long-term goal is for the integrated unit to serve as a testbed, meaning a platform where future improved subsystems (new catalysts, better separation modules, improved power electronics and controls, and similar upgrades) could be swapped in and evaluated without rebuilding the entire plant.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized as "Discretionary" with an "Other" funding instrument type and a science and technology R&D activity category, and it is listed under CFDA 81.135. Eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any entity type), subject to any clarifications that may exist in the full RFI guidance. The notice was created February 24, 2020, with an original closing date of March 25, 2020. Most importantly, ARPA-E states repeatedly that responses will be used only for program planning and without attribution, and that no Funding Opportunity Announcement exists at this time. The practical takeaway is that interested parties are being invited to share capabilities, lessons learned, integration concepts, and market-facing plans to help ARPA-E decide whether and how to design a future funded program centered on a modular, renewable-powered ammonia synthesis system demonstration.

• The Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "RFI - Next Generation Ammonia System Integration Project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.135.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 24, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 25, 2020 This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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