OPEN 2015 Projects

The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) team proposes to increase the water-use efficiency in sorghum production, enabling plants to produce the same yield with 40% less water. By analyzing mathematical models of crop physiology and biophysics, the UIUC team has identified multiple strategies to improve water-use efficiency. In one instance, the team will decrease water loss within plants by shifting photosynthetic activity from leaves at the top of crop canopy where it is drier to lower leaves that operate in higher humidity.

By leveraging advanced microfabrication processes, the team led by Stanford University will develop a scalable heat-to-electricity conversion device with higher performance at a lower manufacturing cost than is presently available to industry. The team’s solid-state conversion device is based on a 20th century thermionic converter design, where an electric current is produced by heating up an electrode to eject electrons across a vacuum gap for collection by a cooler electrode.

The team led by RedWave Energy will develop a waste heat harvesting system, called a rectenna, that converts low-temperature waste heat into electricity. Rectennas are nanoantennas that convert radiant energy to direct current (DC) electricity. The rectennas are fabricated onto sheets of flexible material in tightly packed arrays and placed near key heat sources such as the turbine's condenser, heat exchanger, and flue gas cooling stack. Heat radiates onto the nanoantennas and energizes electrons on the antennas’ surface. These electrons are rectified by the system, resulting in DC power.

Proton Energy Systems will develop a hydrogen-iron flow battery that can generate hydrogen for use and energy storage on the electric grid. This dual-purpose device can be recharged using renewable grid electricity and either store the hydrogen or run in reverse, as a flow cell battery, when electricity is needed. The team will develop low-cost catalysts to use on both electrodes and leverage their expertise in system engineering to keep the costs low. By using two highly reversible single electron reactions, the round trip efficiency could exceed 80%.

The team led by Pajarito Powder will develop a reversible hydrogen electrode that would enable cost-effective hydrogen production and reversible fuel cells. Both electrolyzers and fuel cells, generally operate in acidic conditions that rely on expensive precious metal catalysts to avoid corrosion. Running the electrochemical cell in alkaline conditions reduces the requirements for the oxygen electrode, but effective and inexpensive electrocatalysts for the hydrogen electrode still need to be developed. This project aims to develop a bi-functional (i.e.

This project team, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), will employ hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE), a fast growth technique used to produce semiconductors, to lower the manufacturing cost of multijunction solar cells. Additionally the team will develop new materials to be used in the HVPE process, enabling a chemical liftoff method that allows reuse of substrates. The chemical liftoff will mitigate costs of substrates, further reducing the overall system cost.

The team led by Newton Energy Group will lead the Gas-Electric Co-Optimization (GECO) project to improve coordination of wholesale natural gas and power operators both at the physical and market levels. The team's approach uses mathematical methods and computational techniques that have revolutionized the field of optimal control. These methods will be applied to natural gas pipeline networks, and the final deliverable will consist of three major components. First, they will model and optimize intra-day pipeline operations represented by realistic models of gas network flow.

The Mackinac Technology Company will develop an innovative, cost effective, retrofit window insulation system that will significantly reduce heat losses. The insulation system will use a durable window film that is highly transparent to visible light (more than 90% of light can pass through), but reflects thermal radiation back into the room and reduces heat loss in winter. The film will be microporous and breathable to allow air pressures to balance across the window system. The film will be bonded to a rigid frame that can be retrofitted to an existing single-pane glass window.

The team led by Iowa State University (ISU) will develop an All Solid-State Sodium Battery (ASSSB) that will have a high energy content, can easily be recycled, and rely on highly abundant and extremely low cost starting materials. Commercially available sodium-based batteries operate at elevated temperatures, which decreases the efficiency and safety of the system. The team seeks to improve all three of the main components of a sodium-based battery: the anode, cathode, and electrolyte separator.

INFINIUM will convert low-grade magnesium scrap into material of sufficient purity for motor vehicle components by a novel high-efficiency process using less than 1 kWh/kg magnesium product. Other magnesium purification technologies such as distillation and electrorefining use 5-10 kWh/kg, and primary production uses 40-100 kWh/kg. This is also a high-speed continuous process, with much lower labor and capital costs than other batch purification technologies.