Global chemistry firm The Chemours Company of Wilmington, Delaware, announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, selected two of its applications for grants totaling $60 million. These grants will be used by Chemours and its partners to advance membrane technology for proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. The grants also cover the advancement of a domestic hydrogen economy supply chain and a new Recovery and Recycling Consortium designed to support the circularity of PEM electrolyzers and fuel cells.
Chemours said in a press release it will leverage its technical expertise to develop a low-resistance Nafion membrane that demonstrates high levels of durability in a PEM electrolyzer stack. The project’s goals include creating products that can be manufactured cost-effectively at scale, a significant challenge the hydrogen industry faces today. Chemours was also named a project partner in H2CIRC, a new consortium dedicated to producing a blueprint for the hydrogen industry to efficiently and sustainably recover and recycle materials and components from fuel cells and electrolyzers.
The grants are part of $750 million in DOE funding for projects to advance hydrogen technologies and improve manufacturing and recycling capabilities for clean hydrogen systems and components. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) will receive $50 million of those federal funds over five years to lead the H2CIRC. All funding directly supports the national clean hydrogen strategy outlined in the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, which emphasizes cost reduction, manufacturing, supply chains and domestic jobs.