Electricity Generation and Delivery

Colorado State University (CSU) and Caterpillar will develop technology to reduce methane emissions from lean-burn natural gas engines by reducing methane ventilation through the crankcase, the engine base that contains the crankshaft and integrates other engine components. Methane that leaks past the ring and valve seals during compression and combustion enters the crankcase and is usually vented to the atmosphere. The team proposes a system that would capture the crankcase methane, treat it, and reroute it back to the engine intake where it would be re-ingested and combusted.

INNIO’s Waukesha Gas Engines will develop a new piston, liner, and head gasket design that dramatically reduces crevice volumes, the largest source of unburned fuel, in engine combustion chambers. The team will optimize a large-bore steel piston to achieve the same reciprocating mass as current aluminum pistons. The new technology will broadly apply to all natural-gas-fueled lean-burn engines and can be used to retrofit a fleet of existing engines with little-to-no increase in budgeted costs.

Low-cost H2 is the key to affordable long-term grid storage technologies that could work well with grid-scale battery storage to accommodate high penetration of wind and solar electricity generation in the next decades. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) seeks to develop a hybrid electrochemical/catalytic approach for direct generation of high-pressure H2. Caltech’s proposed system has the potential to reach <$2/kg of H2 produced and compressed at 700 bar using renewable energy sources.

Columbia University aims to modulate the cycling behavior of conventional Li-ion battery materials in a bobbin cell format. The team will optimize electrode compositions, properties, and dimensions with corresponding cell configurations using standard commodity Li-ion materials and established bobbin cell manufacturing techniques. These cells will be suitable for 4-hour charge, and cost profiles amenable to 8-to-16-hour discharge.

Foro Energy will use a downhole, high-power laser access tool to create geometric and surface area access in wells to set an alternative barrier material—a bismuth alloy plug (BiSN)—instead of cement.

The University of Houston aims to develop Miniaturized Pulsed Power System (Mini-PulPS) architectures to improve the power density (with 10-X reduction in capacitor size) and the life of converters used in pulsed power supplies. The University of Houston will perform multi-disciplinary research with Harvard University and Schlumberger-Doll Research Center for high- and low-power NMR applications. These technologies will improve the power converter system efficiency and reliability and reduce the risks of equipment or formation failures.

Princeton University aims to find fusion configurations that could minimize radiation losses while maximizing fusion reactivity. In a vigorously rotating pB11 plasma, the heavier boron ions will be centrifugally confined far from the lighter protons. Then means are provided such that the very energetic protons, which are responsible for fusion, preferentially come into contact with the boron.

SixPoint Materials and Texas Tech University will develop a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) that will enable low-cost, fast-acting, high-efficiency, high-voltage HVDC circuit breakers. SixPoint will develop the key material, bulk crystals of semi-insulating gallium nitride (GaN), and Texas Tech will design the device structure and fabricate a 100 kV PCSS. Combining the GaN PCSS with a conventional mechanical switch will create a hybrid HVDC circuit breaker suitable for a multi-terminal HVDC grid.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) will demonstrate a new concept to enable a compact, flexible, scalable, and adaptable medium-voltage (MV) distribution network for growing and changing electricity sources, demands, and usage patterns. The team will combine power electronics and MV cable benefits to create a cohesive structure that can replace bulky substation components while enhancing functionality.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and Idaho National Laboratory, with its Safety and Tritium Applied Research Facility, propose a critical-path tritium-breeding experiment for LIB technology. The technological development for LIBs requires high temperatures, hazardous material handling and access to D-T fusion neutron sources. The Liquid Immersion Blanket: Robust Accountancy (LIBRA) experiment will investigate tritium-breeding capabilities under these extreme conditions.