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Coal

Coal

Coal is the largest domestically produced source of energy in America and is used to generate a significant chunk of our nation’s electricity. 

The Energy Department is working to develop technologies that make coal cleaner, so we can ensure it plays a part in our clean energy future. The Department is also investing in development of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, also referred to as carbon capture, utilization and sequestration.

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FE-Supported Research Looks to Coal as a Source for Rare Earth Elements
Coal

FE, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), is looking at ways to use coal and its byproducts (like coal ash from power plants, for instance) to develop new sources of critical rare earth elements, or REEs.

DOE Selects Projects To Enhance Its Research into Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal and Coal Byproducts

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has selected 10 projects to receive funding for research in support of the lab’s program on Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal and Coal Byproducts. The selected research projects will further program goals by focusing on the development of cost-effective and environmentally benign approaches for the recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from domestic coal and coal byproducts.

Energy Secretary Moniz Visits Clean Coal Facility in Mississippi
On Friday, Nov. 8, 2013, Secretary Moniz and international energy officials toured Kemper, the nation's largest carbon capture and storage facility, in Liberty, Mississippi.

A small Mississippi town is making history with the largest carbon capture and storage plant in the U.S.

A Potential Path to Emissions-Free Fossil Energy
The National Energy Technology Laboratory's chemical looping reactor, above, is the only one of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, and is pioneering the development of a promising low-carbon technology. | Photo courtesy of the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Emerging low-carbon technologies, like "chemical looping," are forging new pathways for using fossil fuels as part of a clean energy future.