Resource Efficiency

The workshop convened leading experts in waste-to-energy, combustion, pyrolysis, and cement to identify technology approaches capable of significantly improving the consistency and value of ash from municipal solid waste incineration through pre- and post-combustion analytics, pre-combustion additives, combustion conditions, and ash processing. 

The Rapid Encapsulation of Pipelines Avoiding Intensive Replacement Workshop (REPAIR) workshop sought to reduce costs for replacing bare steel and cast iron gas distribution pipes by fabricating new, “smart” pipes inside the old pipes using robotics, advanced composite materials, and new inspection tools.

ARPA-E sought information regarding promising pathways toward improving the carbon-conversion efficiency of renewable feedstocks to products. This workshop explored opportunities to reduce the lifecycle carbon emissions from biofuel and bioproduct pathways through highly efficient directed flux of biomass carbon into products with minimal carbon loss as CO2. Workshop participants explored how inexpensive clean power can enable novel bioprocess designs that limit or completely avoid carbon loss during biomass conversion.

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced $11 million in funding for 7 projects in the next two cohorts of the agency’s OPEN+ program: Energy-Water Technologies and Sensors for Bioenergy and Agriculture.

WEARABLE, CONTINUOUSLY MONITORING METHANE IMAGERS UPDATED: January 15, 2018PROJECT TITLE: goGCI: Portable Methane Detection SolutionPROGRAM: Methane Observation Networks with Innovative Technology to Obtain Reductions (MONITOR)AWARD: $4,250,000PROJECT TEAM: Rebellion PhotonicsPROJECT TERM: April 2015 – April 2018PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI): Robert Kester

Every year, DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) welcomes thousands of energy innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and government professionals to its Energy Innovation Summit. Among all the world-class speakers, panelists, and networking opportunities, the can’t-miss star of the Summit is the Technology Showcase, where nearly 300 exhibitors show the world the future of American energy innovation.

A REGIONAL METHANE MONITORING SYSTEM UPDATED: January 16, 2018 PROJECT TITLE: Frequency Comb-Based Remote Methane Observation NetworkPROGRAM: Methane Observation Networks with Innovative Technology to Obtain Reductions (MONITOR)AWARD: $2,125,469

MOBILE LIDAR FOR METHANE DETECTION UPDATED: January 13, 2018 PROJECT TITLE: Mobile LiDAR Sensor for Rapid and Sensitive Methane Leak Detection ApplicationsPROGRAM: Methane Observation Networks with Innovative Technology to Obtain Reductions (MONITOR)AWARD: $2,556,529PROJECT TEAM: Bridger Photonics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln LaboratoryPROJECT TERM: June 2015 – June 2018

MINIATURIZED LASER POINT SENSOR FOR NATURAL GAS UPDATED: November 20, 2017PROJECT TITLE: Autonomous, High Accuracy Natural Gas Leak Detection SystemPROGRAM: Methane Observation Networks with Innovative Technology to Obtain Reductions (MONITOR)AWARD: $2,494,131PROJECT TEAM: Aeris Technologies, Inc. (Lead), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Rice UniversityPROJECT TERM: March 2015 – April 2018

NOVEL METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORK SORBENTS FOR CARBON CAPTURE UPDATED: October 5, 2016 PROJECT TITLE: High-Throughput Discovery of Robust Metal-Organic Frameworks for CO2 Capture; Developing Metal-Organic Frameworks as Adsorbents for Industrial Carbon Capture Applications PROGRAM: IMPACCTAWARD: $3,867,851 (LBNL); $1,100,000 (UC Berkeley)