Combustion and Fire Systems (CFS) Grant

NSF

About this grant

The Combustion and Fire Systems program is part of the NSF Transport Phenomena cluster and aims to create new knowledge supporting advances in clean energy, climate change mitigation, environmental protection, and public safety. The program focuses on fundamental scientific knowledge needed for safe, clean, and useful combustion applications and for mitigating fire effects. Key outcomes include broad-based tools (experimental, theoretical, and computational) applicable to combustion technologies and fire, science and technology for clean and efficient power generation, discoveries enabling cleaner environments through reduced combustion-generated pollutants, and enhanced public safety through research on wildland and building fire growth, inhibition, and suppression. Research areas include basic combustion science covering gas, liquid, and solid fuel combustion across broad ranges of temperatures, pressures, and compositions; combustion science related to clean energy including efficiency improvements, renewable fuel production, and carbon capture technologies; fire prevention through improved understanding of building and wildland fires; and turbulence-chemistry interactions involving fundamental experiments, multi-scale computations, and validation of predictive computational methods.

Eligibility

Unrestricted eligibility, open to any type of entity. The program is jointly funded by NSF and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and uses the NSF merit review process. Prior to submission, it is recommended that the Principal Investigator contact the program director, especially for innovative proposals outside the specific interest areas listed, to avoid the possibility of the proposal being returned without review.

How it's scored

Proposals are evaluated using the NSF merit review process jointly by NSF and AFOSR. Evaluation emphasizes the novelty and/or potentially transformative nature of the proposed work compared to previous work in the field, the importance of the work in terms of engineering science, and the potential impact on society and/or industry. The novelty or potentially transformative nature of the research should be included at minimum in the Project Summary. Compliance with the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) is required, with non-compliant proposals returned without review.

Key requirements

• ✓Proposals must advance fundamental combustion or fire science, including experimental, theoretical, or computational tools.
• ✓Projects should address clean combustion, pollutant reduction, renewable fuel production, or fire safety outcomes.
• ✓Applicants must be eligible NSF research institutions and submit through NSF proposal processes.

Funder contact

The notice names a programme contact you can speak to before applying.

Frequently asked questions

Who can apply for Combustion and Fire Systems (CFS)?

Eligibility covers organisations in US; university, research-institution, nonprofit. See the eligibility criteria above for the full conditions.

Relevant sectors

About this sector

Air quality funding covers monitoring networks, emission controls, clean transport zones and cleaner heating and cooking. Public authorities buy monitoring and abatement through tenders, while research and health programmes fund studies and pilots. Applicants are usually asked to set out baseline measurements and how improvements will be verified.