Energy-related materials R&D is going to be getting a nice boost in the near future according to ARPA-E’s latest announcement of funding projects. Thirty-seven projects in the areas of electrofuels (electric production of biofuels), innovative battery designs and zero-emission coal have been blessed to the tune of $106 million.
ARPA-E invests in high-risk, high-reward technologies that at least somewhat close to the prototype stage and conceivably not too far from market. In other words, it wants energy game-changers that can deliver results in years, not decades. For this round of funding, the second, DOE/ARPA-E says the selected projects “could produce advanced biofuels more efficiently from renewable electricity instead of sunlight; design completely new types of batteries to make electric vehicles more affordable; and remove the carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants in a more cost-effective way.”
Among the big “winners are the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (that scored over $22 million in direct or indirect funding, MIT (over $14 million) and A123 Systems ($10 million).
Here is a full list of the newest awardees:
| Lead (& partner orgs.) | Award | Purpose |
| ELECTROFUELS CATEGORY | ||
| Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst (Univ. of California, San Diego, Genomatica) |
$1.00M | Electron Source – Electric Current: This project will develop a “microbial electrosynthesis” process in which microorganisms use electric current to convert water and carbon dioxide into butanol at much higher efficiency than traditional photosynthesis and without need for arable land. |
| Penn State University (Univ. of Kentucky) |
$1.50M | Electron Source – Solar Hydrogen: Hydrogen consuming bacteria that usually derives its energy from residual light and organic waste at the bottom of ponds will be “rewired” to use electricity. The organism will be able to convert hydrogen and carbon dioxide into a bio-oil that can be refined into gasoline. |
|
Ohio State Univ. |
$3.98M | Electron Source – Hydrogen: An industrially scalable bioreactor approach to incorporate genetically engineered bacteria that metabolize carbon dioxide, oxygen, and hydrogen to produce butanol. The team anticipates at least a twofold productivity improvement over current levels and a cost that can be competitive with gasoline. |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Michigan State Univ.) |
$1.77M | Electron Source – Hydrogen: A bacterium capable of consuming hydrogen and carbon dioxide will be engineered to produce butanol, which could be used as a motor fuel. |
| Ginkgo BioWorks (Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of Washington) |
$6.00M | Electron Source – Electric Current: The project will engineer a well- studied bacterium, E. coli, to harness electric current to convert carbon dioxide and water into isooctane, an important component of gasoline. |
| Harvard Medical School – Wyss Institute |
$4.19M | Electron Source – Electric Current: This project will engineer a bacterium to be able to use electricity (which could come from renewable sources like solar or wind) to convert carbon dioxide into octanol, an energy-dense liquid fuel. |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Harvard Univ., Univ. of Delaware) |
$3.20M | Electron Source – Hydrogen and/or Direct Current: This project will engineer two microbes, working together, to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into oil, which could be refined into biodiesel. |
| North Carolina State Univ. (University of Georgia) |
$2.73M | Electron Source – Hydrogen: The project will engineer a novel pathway into a high-temperature organism to use hydrogen gas to convert carbon dioxide into precursor compounds that can be used to produce biofuels such as butanol. |
| OPX Biotechnologies Inc. (National Renewable Energy Lab, Johnson Matthey Catalysts Inc.) |
$6.00M | Electron Source – Hydrogen: Microorganisms will be engineered to use renewable hydrogen and carbon dioxide inputs to produce a biodiesel-equivalent fuel at low cost. Catalysts will be explored to convert the microbial fuel into jet fuel. |
|
Univ. of California, Los |
$4.00M | Electron Source – Electric Current: The project will use synthetic biology and metabolic engineering techniques to allow microorganisms to use electricity instead of sunlight for converting carbon dioxide into alcohol fuels that can be high octane gasoline substitutes. |
| Medical Univ. of South Carolina (Clemson Univ., Univ. of South Carolina) |
$2.34M | Electron Source – Electric Current: The project will leverage microbial fuel cell technology to develop a microbial system that uses electricity to convert carbon dioxide into butanol or other alcohol fuels. |
| Columbia University | $0.54M | Electron Source – Ammonia: The project will genetically engineer ammonia-consuming bacteria to produce isobutanol from carbon dioxide and electricity. |
| Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Univ. of California, Berkeley, Logos Technologies Inc.) |
$3.95M | Electron Source – Hydrogen: A common soil bacterium will be engineered to produce butanol and hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The organism would be able to produce its own hydrogen by splitting water in the presence of electricity. |
| BATTERIES IN TRANSPORTATION | ||
| Sion Power Corp. (BASF, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Pacific Northwest National Lab) |
$5.00M | Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) Battery: The project seeks to develop an ultra- high energy Li-S battery that can power electric vehicles for more than 300 miles between charges. The approach uses new manufacturing processes and six physical barrier layers to address cycle life and safety. |
| ReVolt Technology LLC | $5.00M |
Zinc Flow Air Battery: A large, high-energy zinc-air flow battery |
| PolyPlus Battery Co. (Corning Inc.) |
$5.00M | Lithium-Air Battery: Rechargeable Li-Air batteries for electric vehicle applications will be developed using protected Lithium metal cathodes. This approach has a clear path to scaling commercially, and the batteries may rival the energy density of gasoline. |
| Pellion Technologies Inc. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bar-Ilan Univ.) |
$3.20M | Magnesium-Ion Battery: The project will develop an inexpensive, rechargeable magnesium-ion battery for electric and hybrid-electric vehicle applications. Computational methods and accelerated chemical synthesis will be used to develop new materials and chemistries. If successful, this project will develop the first commercial magnesium-ion battery and establish U.S. technology leadership in a new field. |
| Applied Material, Inc. (A123 Systems, Inc., Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) |
$4.37M | Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing: Low-cost, ultra-high energy lithium-ion batteries will be developed using an innovative manufacturing process. High energy cathodes will be integrated with new anodes and prototype manufacturing will be demonstrated that could achieve an extremely low cost. If successful, this project will establish U.S. leadership in the manufacturing of high energy, low cost advanced lithium-ion batteries. |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (A123 Systems, Inc., Rutgers Univ.) |
$4.97M | Novel Semi-Solid Rechargeable Flow Battery: This is a new battery concept that combines the best aspects of rechargeable batteries and fuel cells. It could enable batteries for electric vehicles that are much lighter and smaller – and cheaper – than today’s batteries. This flow battery potentially could cost less than one-eighth of today’s batteries, which could lead to widespread adoption of affordable electric vehicles. |
|
Planar Energy |
$4.03M | Solid State Lithium Battery: This project seeks to develop an ultra high energy, long cycle life all solid-state lithium battery that can manufactured using low cost techniques. Pilot-scale manufacturing of the batteries will be demonstrated using all inorganic materials and solid state electrolytes whose properties are similar to existing liquid electrolytes. |
| Stanford Univ. (Honda, Applied Materials Inc.) |
$1.00M | Novel All-Electron Battery: Researchers will seek to develop an “All- Electron Battery”, a completely new class of electrical energy storage devices for electric vehicles. The new battery stores energy by moving electrons rather than ions and uses a novel architecture that has potential for very high energy density. |
| Recapping Inc. (Penn State University) |
$1.00M | Capacitive Storage: The project will develop a novel energy storage device – a high energy density capacitor – based on a 3D nanocomposite structure. The approach combines the benefits of high cycling ability, high power density, and low cost. |
|
Missouri University |
$1.00M | Lithium-Air Battery: A new high energy air cathode will be created to enable the successful development of ultra-high energy Lithium-Air batteries. The project will seek to dramatically improve cathode performance through the development of a new electrode structure and improved catalysts. |
| CARBON CAPTURE TECHNOLOGIES | ||
| Codexis Inc. (Nexant Inc.) |
$4.66M | Solvents/Catalysts: Applying biology to the problem of carbon capture, this project will use low-cost carbonic anhydrase enzymes and a novel directed evolution process to increase reactivity to capture CO2 and ability to resist degradation in the harsh flue gases of coal- fired power plants. |
| Texas A&M | $1.02M | Sorbents: Metal organic frameworks, new compounds that show great promise for CO2 capture, will have their mesh size finely controlled to improve the selectivity of adsorbing CO2 and to reduce the energy required. |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Siemens) |
$1.00M | Sorbents: A new method known as electrochemically mediated separation will be developed that will lower the energy required to capture CO2 and allow for simpler retrofitting to existing coal-fired power plants. |
| University of Kentucky – Center for Applied Energy Research | $1.96M | Membranes / Solvents: A hybrid process for CO2 capture will be developed that combines nanoscale separation with catalysis to reduce the amount of energy diverted from the power plant to remove CO2 from flue gas. |
| GE Global Research Center (GE Energy, Univ. of Pittsburgh) |
$3.02M | Phase Change: A novel phase change process will be developed in which a liquid absorbent changes to a solid when it adsorbs CO2. Because the CO2 is captured in solid form, it will be much easier to separate the CO2 from other flue gases and will decrease the energy required for CO2 compression and transport. |
| Lawrence Livermore National Lab (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Babcock & Wilcox) |
$3.67M | Solvents/Catalysts: Synthetic small-molecule catalysts will be developed that greatly speed up the absorption of CO2, enabling advanced solvents that bind CO2 less tightly and reduce the energy required to release the CO2 from the solvent afterwards. |
| Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Wildcat Technologies, Electric Power Research Institute) |
$3.67M | Sorbents: Robotic instrumentation tools and computational algorithms will be used to accelerate the development of metal organic framework materials that demonstrate improved selectivity of capturing CO2 and stability in withstanding the harsh flue gas environment at coal-fired power plants. |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | $1.00M | Membranes: Metal organic frameworks will be integrated into hollow fiber membranes to improve the throughput and selectivity of the membranes for CO2 capture. |
| Notre Dame Univ. (Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research & Innovation Center) |
$2.56M | Phase Change: Solid compounds will turn into an ionic liquid when they react with CO2 and turn back into a solid when the CO2 is released. These materials require less energy than today’s approaches to capturing CO2. |
| ATK (ACENT Laboratories) |
$1.00M | Phase Change: A novel technology based on rocket designs will be used to capture CO2 by passing it through a nozzle at supersonic speeds, which will cause the CO2 to precipitate out from the flue gas as a solid (dry ice). This approach could allow much lower capital costs and simpler integration with existing coal-fired power plants. |
| Columbia Univ. (Sandia National Lab, REI) |
$1.01M | Solvents/Catalysts: Weathering is a slow, naturally occurring carbon capture process that stores CO2 in mineral form. This project would use catalysts and enzymes to greatly accelerate the capture of CO2 and conversion into mineral form. This could be an alternative to storing CO2 in underground geologic structures. |
| Univ. of Colorado, Boulder (Los Alamos National Lab, Electric Power Research Institute) |
$3.14M | Membranes: Very thin ionic liquid membranes will be created that allow CO2 to pass at high rates, reducing the size and cost of membranes needed for CO2 capture. |
| Oak Ridge National Lab (Georgia Institute of Technology) |
$0.99M | Sorbents: Ionic liquids will be integrated into novel hollow fiber membranes to form an ionic liquid “sponge” that can absorb CO2. |
| Research Triangle Institute (BASF) |
$2.00M | Solvents: The project will use solvents that exploit a new type of reversible chemical reaction with CO2. This approach could require 40% less energy compared to current processes. |
