Manufacturing Efficiency

AtmosZero, in partnership with Colorado State University, seeks to develop a modular high-temperature heat pump system with the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions from on-site heat generation in the U.S. industrial sector. Approximately 75% of all on-site energy consumption in the U.S. manufacturing sector is used to generate heat, which means industrial process heat must be decarbonized to substantially reduce U.S. emissions.

Media and Process Technology (MPT) proposed a process to convert high-energy evaporative drying into lowenergy filtration with the potential to reduce energy consumption in wet substrate dewatering by up to 90%. The team will demonstrate the technical feasibility and energy and cost savings potential of a non-evaporative substrate drying process based upon supercritical CO2 (scCO2) extraction combined with downstream ceramic membrane filtration.

Domestic helium supplies are diminishing, while global demand is rising due to high-tech industries, medical diagnosis, chip manufacturing, and space exploration. Osmoses will develop of a novel family of ultrapermeable and ultra-selective polymer membranes that can efficiently capture dilute sources of this critical gas from feedstocks that are otherwise wasted. Osmoses will optimize its proprietary polymer synthesis procedure to reduce costs and enable rapid scale-up.

Aspen Products Group (Aspen) will develop a microfibrillated cellulose-based thermal insulation with high thermal resistance, low flammability, and low moisture absorption. The use of microfibrillated cellulose enables a substantial amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) to be incorporated into the insulation microstructure.

The University of Washington's Carbon Leadership Forum will develop a rigorous and flexible parametric Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework, aligned data, and process integrated tools to assess the environmental impact of novel carbon storing materials and buildings during their rapid prototyping and design. The team will then develop custom LCA models to evaluate individual ARPA-E-funded building materials and designs to optimize their environmental benefits and net-carbon negativity.

The University of Minnesota will develop a non-thermal, low-temperature, plasma-assisted system for (1) in-situ flare gas reforming, (2) ignition, and (3) flame stabilization for small, unmanned pipe flares. Flares safely dispose of waste gases by burning them under controlled conditions. The new system will substantially enhance fuel reactivity by producing intermediate species such as ethylene, acetylene, and hydrogen. These hydrocarbons are highly reactive compared with methane and dramatically increase flare efficiency.

Cornell University will develop a scalable technology to co-utilize waste construction and demolition (C&D) residues and CO2 to produce sustainable construction materials via several closely integrated innovations in cement production.

Columbia University proposes a low-temperature water electrolyzer for hydrogen production based on ultrathin oxide membranes that can increase electrolysis efficiency by 20% compared with conventional polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. The enhanced performance of Columbia’s proton-conducting oxide membrane (POM) electrolyzers is enabled by the lower ionic resistance of dense oxide-based membranes that are 2 orders of magnitude thinner than conventional catalyst-coated membranes.

General Electric (GE) Gas Power will develop an innovative, super energy-efficient single-piece furnace for IC to produce future high-technology blades and vanes for IGTs. During the past 20 years IGT blades and vanes have grown larger with increasingly complex internal features. GE proposes an innovative furnace design coupled with additive ceramic mold technologies to make single crystal blades and vanes.

HighT-Tech aims to develop advanced high-entropy alloy (HEA) catalysts for ammonia oxidation with enhanced catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. HighT-Tech’s technical approach includes scalable high-temperature thermal shock manufacturing of uniformly mixed multi-metallic nanoparticle HEA catalysts, reduced precious metal contents by >50%, reduced operating temperature, enhanced selectivity to desired reaction products, and extended catalyst lifetime.