ARPA-E announced up to $35 million for a new program focused on developing technologies to reduce methane emissions in the oil, gas, and coal industries: “Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year” (REMEDY) (DE-FOA-0002504).

The REMEDY program seeks highly replicable system-level technical solutions that achieve an overall methane conversion of 99.5%, reduce net greenhouse gas emissions > 87% on a life-cycle basis, have a levelized cost of carbon less than $40/ton CO₂e, and address techno-economic issues related to commercialization.

Systems must incorporate technologies that can operate at lean- and ultra-lean methane concentrations integrated with sensors and/or control algorithms to quantify emission reduction and ensure consistent operation.

REMEDY projects will specifically address three target methane production sources in the oil, gas, and coal value chain:

1. Exhaust from natural gas-fired lean-burn engines, used to drive compressors, generate electricity, and increasingly repower ships;

2. Flares required for safe operation of oil and gas facilities; and

3. Coal mine ventilation air methane (VAM) exhausted from operating underground mines.

REMEDY seeks to address directly the more than 50,000 engines, 300,000 flares, and 250 mine shafts that are producing methane emissions.

Successful REMEDY proposals will develop highly-replicable technologies that work to decrease methane emissions across the oil, gas and coal energy generation industries, and directly address challenges related to commercialization of the technologies themselves.

Potential projects should be able to operate in generation spaces where very-low methane concentrations are common, for integration into complete oil, gas and coal generation systems that can quantify emission reductions while ensuring consistent system operations.

REMEDY funding will be spread across two phases of the program over three years. Phase 1 focuses on confirming the operability of technical proposals, approaches, and system components. Following a down-select, Phase 2 teams will confirm performance in a limited field test or in larger, extended-lab-scale test environments. ARPA-E encourages diverse teams to apply for this funding, including those with manufacturing and operations expertise.