Ramaco Carbon LLC agreed to partner with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy's largest science and energy laboratory in the country, to develop high-value, advanced carbon products and materials from coal.

Under a five-year cooperative research and development agreement, the Wyoming-based company will collaborate with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on new projects that use coal as a manufacturing feedstock for carbon fibers, building products and composites. The project will also target electrodes for energy storage devices and new materials for additive manufacturing, including large-scale 3D printing.

Ramaco Carbon and the DOE's Office of Fossil Energy will co-fund the research, according to a June 2 news release. The two groups have been working on related research under separate agreements for nearly four years, Ramaco Carbon said.

The DOE rolled out a $56.5 million program in September 2019 to fund 32 new research projects on uses for coal.

Ramaco Carbon is building a facility in West Virginia to research the use of coal as a precursor for advanced carbon products and materials. It was the second research facility planned by the company, next to a project in Wyoming to research carbon-based products made from coal.

Ramaco Carbon operates under the same umbrella as metallurgical coal producer Ramaco Resources Inc.