OPEN 2018 Projects

Otherlab is developing a near-isothermal gas compressor that has the potential to use 40% less energy than state-of-the-art near-adiabatic devices. Their compressor will employ a high-surface-area heat exchanger to achieve a near-isothermal compression process. During this effort, Otherlab seeks to demonstrate the thermodynamic performance of its concept in a subscale prototype device. If successful, Otherlab’s concept has the potential to offer compelling energy efficiency benefits in many major industrial sectors.

MIT will develop critical components for a new, cost-effective, high efficiency power storage system to store renewable energy at grid scale and discharge it on demand. The system combines low-cost, very high-temperature energy storage with high-efficiency, innovative semiconductor converters used to transform heat into electricity. MIT’s technology would store heat at temperatures above 2000°C (3600°F) and convert it to electricity using specialized photovoltaic cells designed to remain efficient under the intense infrared heat a high-temperature emitter radiates.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory team will develop technologies and component devices enabling a high-rate drilling method using electric pulses to bore hot, deep geothermal wells. Compared to the softer, sedimentary rock typically found in oil and gas wells, geothermal rock is harder and less porous, and at significantly higher temperatures. These factors generate slow geothermal drilling rates averaging only 125 feet per day compared to greater than 40 times this achieved in sedimentary rock.

ASU will collect CO2 from air using a low-cost polymer membrane-based DAC process. The team will use water evaporation to drive to capture CO2, decrease emissions, and improve the energy efficiency of the overall carbon capture process. The project will use novel materials to create high-surface area membranes to continuously and actively pump CO2 against a concentration gradient. The process will capture distributed CO2 emissions that can be sequestered or converted into a wide range of energy-dense fuels, fuel feedstocks, or fine chemicals.

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and its partners will explore a targeted molten metal as a catalyst in a methane pyrolysis mist reactor to convert natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon at a low cost without carbon dioxide emissions. The technology could augment or replace current H2 production methods, while simultaneously sequestering carbon in high value materials.

The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) will develop an electrochemical ammonia generator capable of using intermittent energy delivered by renewable sources. The team will build an electrochemical device based on a solid-state electrolyte that converts nitrogen from the air and hydrogen to ammonia in a single step at temperatures and pressures far lower than today’s dominant ammonia production technology, the Haber-Bosch process.

The University of Wisconsin’s integrated toolset seeks to expedite molten salt materials development for technology by two orders of magnitude, compared with current methods. The team will combine advances in additive manufacturing, in-place testing for materials/salt compatibility, new molten salt-resistant mini-electrode designs, and machine learning algorithms to optimize and accelerate identification of molten salt corrosion-resistant materials. Those materials can be used in energy applications including molten salt nuclear reactors, concentrated solar plants, and thermal storage.

Aquanis will develop advanced plasma actuators and controls to reduce aerodynamic loads on wind turbine blades, facilitating the next generation of larger (20+ MW), smarter wind turbines. The technology contains no moving parts, instead using purely electrical plasma actuators on the blade that set the adjacent air in motion when powered. This system can change the lift and drag forces on turbine blades to reduce blade mechanical fatigue and enable the design of larger and cheaper blades.

AltaRock Energy will overcome technical limitations to deep geothermal drilling by replacing mechanical methods with a Millimeter Wave (MMW) directed energy technology to melt and vaporize rocks for removal. This approach could increase drilling speed by 10 times or more, reducing costs while reaching higher temperatures and greater depths than those achievable with the best current and proposed mechanical technologies. Project R&D will include benchtop testing as well as larger scale demonstrations of directed MMW drilling at unprecedented borehole lengths and power levels.

Siemens will develop an operator support system and grid planning functionality that enable a power system to operate with 100% inverter-based renewable generation from wind and solar. ReNew100 features automatic Controller Parameter Optimization and model calibration technologies that help ensure power system reliability as the generation mix changes. Successful test results will be a milestone toward the goal of a stable and reliable power system obtaining a majority of total electrical energy sourced from variable wind and solar.