Separation Science

This program accepts and reviews proposals continuously under the annual Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled, “Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program” available on the Funding Opportunities page. We recommend that a full application be submitted before November 30 in order to facilitate a funding decision by June of the following year. Preproposals or white papers are strongly encouraged for all new proposals and should be submitted through PAMS well in advance of a full application. Please see BES guidance for New Grant Applications from Universities and Other Research Institutions.

This program supports hypothesis-based experimental and computational research that addresses fundamental questions focused on discovering, understanding, predicting, and controlling de-mixing transitions, with the goal of enabling chemical separation paradigms that may become the basis for solutions to the current and long-term energy challenges. These include decarbonization towards a net-zero scenario, availability of critical elements to support clean energy infrastructure, and avoidance or mitigation of associated environmental impacts. Practical needs include, for example, addressing fundamental knowledge gaps related to the efficient capture of dilute CO₂ directly from air or oceans; expanded supply, substitution, and recycling of critical elements such as rare earths, lithium, cobalt, nickel, platinum group metals, or other critical metals; and separation of radioactive elements. Basic research in these areas relies on understanding chemical and physical properties at multiple length and time scales, quantum through macroscopic properties, and molecular interactions and energy exchanges that determine the efficiency of chemical separations.

The program particularly supports emerging fundamental scientific areas within separation science that are in a nascent stage and focus on molecular understanding. Selected topics of interest include:

• discovering, understanding, and predicting paradigms for removal of dilute constituents from a mixture, including but not limited to (a) reactive separations, (b) intermolecular interactions leading to formation of a new phase, and (c) emergent phenomena that result from correlation and amplification of individual atomic or molecular processes, such as aggregation and their effects on kinetic or transport properties;
• elucidating factors that cause a separation system to approach mass transfer limitations;
• understanding non-thermal and other sustainable mechanisms that have the potential to drive efficient and selective energy-relevant separations, such as magnetic, mechanic, electromagnetic, magneto-reactive, bio-inspired, and other means to affect transport kinetics and bonding;
• elucidating how separation parameters and processes such as high selectivity, capacity, and throughput are impacted by complex and/or interconnected system properties;
• understanding and controlling temporal changes in separation systems such as activation, degradation, self-repair, or solvation.

Fundamental scientific questions focused on addressing knowledge gaps in user-inspired DOE themes can be include but are not required. These include (1) enabling new strategies for critical materials recovery from natural and unconventional feedstocks; (2) advancing the scientific basis for the separation and utilization of rare isotopes or the recovery of heavy elements from nuclear waste; and (3) developing scalable approaches to carbon oxides removal from low-concentration sources such as air and water.

The topics listed above may include, for example, membranes, framework materials (such as metal-organic framework materials), zeolites, ionic liquids, and molecular complexes. Issues of selectivity, capacity, throughput, durability, and energy input are important for most separations, and should be of concern in separation science research, although they may not be the singular focus. Use of AI/ML and data science to support hypothesis-driven separation science research questions are encouraged when appropriate.

This activity does not support engineering design, optimization, or scale-up; development of narrowly defined processes or devices; established desalination approaches; microfluidics technology; or sensors.

Research opportunities identified in recent reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) serve as references for some of the basic science topics outlined above: A Research Agenda for Transforming Separation Science and Foundational Science for Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies. Applicants may also look to the  DOE Earthshots Initiative and the National Academies' report on Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and Research and Development for inspiration, as they contain multiple fundamental chemical separation challenges.

To obtain more information about this research area, please see the proceedings of our Principal Investigators' Meetings. To better understand how this research area fits within the Department of Energy's Office of Science, please refer to the Basic Energy Science's organization chart and budget request.

For more information about this research area, please contact Dr. Amanda Haes.