DOE to award up to $24M to advance direct air carbon capture technology 2. (DE-FOA-0002481) 2 from ambient air, this FOA also considers the removal of CO 2 from partially concentrated air (e.g., building HVAC exhaust) and from natural fluids (e.g., the ocean and surface waters) that received their CO 2 directly from ambient air. DOE is seeking innovative fundamental research in three topical areas: Novel Energy Transfer Mechanisms for Regeneration of and Mass Transport in Direct Air Capture Systems; Understanding Temporal Changes That Occur during Separations; and Science-Driven Synthesis and Assembly of Innovative Materials for Direct Air Capture. Energy Transfer Mechanisms. Most contemporary DAC approaches utilize energy poorly, as evident by second-law efficiencies for CO