Revolutionizing Ore to Steel to Impact Emissions (ROSIE) SBIR/STTR | DE FOA 0003118

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003118

The Revolutionizing Ore to Steel to Impact Emissions (ROSIE) SBIR/STTR opportunity is a Department of Energy ARPA-E funding call aimed at backing high-risk, high-reward small business research and development that can dramatically cut emissions from iron and steel production. ARPA-E is designed to fund transformative applied R&D, meaning projects that can break away from incremental improvements and instead create new cost and performance trajectories that could ultimately disrupt existing industrial approaches. In this case, the disruptive target is the dominant carbothermic blast furnace pathway for making iron, which is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

ROSIE is structured as a roughly three-year program with a total program scope described as about $35 million, focused on developing and demonstrating new pathways to zero-emissions ironmaking and ultra-low life cycle emissions for steelmaking. The core technical goal is to produce iron-based products from iron-containing ores or alternative feedstocks while eliminating process emissions from the ironmaking step itself. Beyond simply proving a concept, ROSIE emphasizes real industrial relevance: the funded technologies are expected to show a credible path toward competing on cost with incumbent blast furnace ironmaking, because emissions benefits alone are often not enough to drive broad adoption in commodity markets like steel.

The FOA describes two technical categories. Category A covers technologies that run from ore through ironmaking (ore-to-iron). Category B must include ironmaking but can also extend further downstream into steel production steps. This setup allows proposals that focus tightly on the ironmaking unit operation as well as proposals that integrate ironmaking with subsequent processing, as long as ironmaking is a central component.

ROSIE sets aggressive performance and scale metrics that proposals are expected to be capable of reaching if the technology succeeds. These include zero non-biogenic greenhouse gas emissions from the ironmaking process (in other words, no fossil-derived process emissions during ironmaking), and an ultra-low cradle-to-gate life cycle emissions target for the resulting iron or steel product, stated as less than 0.7 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of hot-rolled coil (HRC) steel. The program also stresses industrial scalability, calling for a pathway to greater than 15 million tonnes of production scale, along with cost parity relative to the iron or steel product being displaced and material properties that meet the requirements of the equivalent commercial products. On the demonstration side, the FOA highlights tangible end-of-project deliverables: producing at least 10 kg of the proposed product and demonstrating a production rate of 1 kg per hour by the project end.

Eligibility is aimed at small businesses through the ARPA-E SBIR/STTR mechanism. Like other SBIR/STTR efforts, the intent is to stimulate private-sector innovation and commercialization, with STTR specifically encouraging formal collaboration between small businesses and research institutions. ARPA-E notes that it administers SBIR/STTR in multiple phases (Phase I, Phase II, and a Phase IIB/IIS-style follow-on structure), reflecting a pipeline from early feasibility to more advanced prototype development and validation.

From an administrative standpoint, applicants must access the full Funding Opportunity Announcement through the ARPA-E FOA site and must submit required materials through ARPA-E eXCHANGE. Concept papers or application materials submitted outside eXCHANGE are not reviewed. The listing provides support channels for technical problems with the submission portal (ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov) and a separate contact for FOA questions (ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov), plus a pointer to ARPA-E's FAQ page.

Key opportunity details included in the notice identify the funding opportunity number as DE-FOA-0003118, the agency as DOE ARPA-E, and eligible applicants as small businesses. The assistance instruments include cooperative agreements, grants, and other mechanisms. The notice lists an award ceiling of $4,241,580, and it states the submission deadline as 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on 08/08/2023, with a recommendation to submit at least 48 hours early to avoid last-minute issues. The program rationale is framed in emissions impact: if successful and deployed, technologies meeting ROSIE metrics could reduce emissions by more than 65 million metric tonnes CO2e annually in the United States and more than 2.9 gigatonnes annually globally, reflecting the outsized climate footprint of iron and steelmaking and the value of a truly cost-competitive zero-emissions pathway.

• The Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the opportunity zone benefits, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Revolutionizing Ore to Steel to Impact Emissions (ROSIE) SBIR/STTR" 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 Jun 22, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 08, 2023 Submissions to this FOA are due no later than 930 a.m. Eastern Time on 08/08/2023. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit at least 48 hours in advance of the due date.. (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 $4,241,580.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Small businesses.

Apply for DE FOA 0003118

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