RFI - Biotechnologies to Ensure a Robust Mineral Supply Chain for Clean Energy | DE FOA 0002213

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002213

The Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) issued this notice as a Request for Information (RFI) titled "Biotechnologies to Ensure a Robust Mineral Supply Chain for Clean Energy" (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0002213). The key point is that it is not a funding opportunity and it is not accepting grant applications. Instead, ARPA-E is gathering technical and market input that could shape one or more future programs. The agency is looking for informed perspectives on where biotechnology, and especially biomining, could realistically strengthen the United States' supply chain for minerals that are increasingly essential to clean energy, advanced technology, and national security.

The RFI frames the problem as a strategic vulnerability: as global competition intensifies, shortages or constrained access to critical minerals can threaten U.S. economic and security interests. It references the Department of the Interior's critical minerals list, which includes rare earth elements (the lanthanides plus yttrium and scandium), platinum group metals (iridium, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium), and a broad set of other critical materials (such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, manganese, gallium, germanium, tungsten, tantalum, tin, titanium, vanadium, zirconium, and many more). ARPA-E also highlights two additional base metals that matter deeply for electrification and energy efficiency: nickel and copper. Nickel demand from lithium-ion batteries was cited as rapidly rising, while U.S. nickel production is a small share of global output. Copper is produced domestically at significant scale, but ARPA-E notes rising production costs tied to declining ore grades and the energy and environmental burdens associated with conventional extraction and processing.

Technically, the RFI centers on "biomining" and related bio-based approaches for recovering metals. Biomining is described as using microorganisms (often prokaryotes) to drive electron-transfer processes that solubilize metals from metal-bearing materials, enabling recovery. While bioleaching has a long history in certain contexts (notably gold and copper in heap leaching), ARPA-E is signaling interest in potentially transformative advances that could broaden its applicability and improve performance and economics. The RFI points to several enabling trends: better understanding and design of microbial consortia, genetic modification and directed evolution to enhance desired traits, and the discovery or use of extremophiles that function under harsh conditions such as very low or very high pH (below 1 or above 10) and elevated temperatures (around 80 degrees C). These advances are positioned as potential ways to raise bioreactor productivity, reduce contamination risks, and improve overall process viability.

To illustrate the kind of progress ARPA-E is tracking, the notice mentions published examples of bioleaching from non-traditional feedstocks. One example describes Gluconobacter oxidans being used to leach rare earth elements such as lanthanum from spent fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts, with yields reported around the 49% range and subsequent improvements through process optimization (agitation, oxygen, glucose, nutrients) in batch and continuous reactor configurations. Another example describes extracting minerals from coal fly ash using a culture supernatant from Candida bombicola, with reported extraction around 60% and relatively strong recovery for elements including arsenic, molybdenum, ytterbium, and erbium. These examples underscore the broader theme: ARPA-E is interested not only in primary ore but also in secondary resources and waste streams where biological methods might unlock value with lower energy intensity or reduced environmental impacts.

From a scope perspective, ARPA-E explicitly invites bio-based ideas spanning the entire critical materials supply chain. That includes exploration and sensing concepts, mining and extraction, processing and refining, and recycling or recovery from end-of-life products and industrial wastes. The RFI emphasizes that responses should pay attention to practical constraints, especially feedstock availability that could meaningfully meet domestic demand, economic feasibility (cost, throughput, scalability, integration with existing infrastructure), and environmental sustainability (energy use, emissions, water, waste, and broader impacts). In other words, the agency is not just looking for lab-scale novelty; it is trying to understand where biotechnology could change the real-world calculus for sourcing and producing these materials in the U.S.

Administratively, the listing shows an "unrestricted" eligible applicant category, meaning ARPA-E was open to input from any type of organization or entity, subject to any clarifications in the full notice. The RFI was posted November 4, 2019, with an original closing date of December 17, 2019. Although the system metadata includes typical grant fields like instrument type (cooperative agreement, grant) and award information, the notice repeatedly clarifies that no Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) exists at this time and that the government is not requesting applications for financial assistance. The practical takeaway is that this RFI functioned as market and technical research: ARPA-E was collecting ideas, data, and stakeholder perspectives to guide whether and how it might later launch a competitive funding program focused on biotechnology-enabled critical mineral supply chains.

• 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 - Biotechnologies to Ensure a Robust Mineral Supply Chain for Clean Energy" 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 Nov 04, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 17, 2019 This is a Request for Information only. 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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