Status: CANCELLED
State: CA
Project Term: 05/01/2013 - 12/31/2014
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $892,432

University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz)

The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) is developing an optical device that enables the use of concentrated solar energy at locations remote to the point of collection. Conventional solar concentration systems typically use line of sight optical components to concentrate solar energy onto a surface for direct conversion of light into electricity or heat. UC Santa Cruz’s innovative approach leverages unique thin-film materials, processes, and structures to build a device that will efficiently guide sunlight into an optical fiber for use away from the point of collection. UC…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 03/15/2013 - 06/30/2016
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $1,595,909

University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is developing an energy storage device for HEVs that combines the properties of capacitors and batteries in one technology. Capacitors enjoy shorter charging times, better durability, and higher power than batteries, but offer less than 5% of their energy density. By integrating the two technologies, UCSB’s design would offer a much reduced charge time with a product lifetime that matches or surpasses that of typical EV batteries. Additionally, the technology would deliver significantly higher power density than any current battery. This…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 04/07/2016 - 04/06/2019
Program: OPEN 2015
Award: $1,934,700

University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will develop a new technology for optical communication links. Optical interconnects transfer data by carrying light through optical fibers, and offer higher bandwidths than copper with higher efficiency and, consequently, reduced heat losses. However, short-reach optical interconnects are not widely used because of their higher costs and larger device footprints. Production costs of these interconnects could be reduced by using silicon-based fabrication technologies, but silicon is not suited for fabricating lasers, a key ingredient. In…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 04/14/2016 - 10/13/2019
Program: OPEN 2015
Award: $2,372,723

University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will develop a gallium nitride (GaN) laser-based white light emitter with no efficiency droop at high current densities. The team's solution will address the efficiency and cost limitations of LEDs. Laser diodes do not suffer efficiency droop at high current densities, and this allows for the design of lamps using a single, small, light-emitting chip operating at high current densities. Using a single chip reduces system costs compared with LEDs because the system uses less material per chip, requires fewer chips, and employs simplified…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 02/19/2019 - 08/18/2022
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $3,750,000

University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)

The University of California-Santa Barbara will develop a low power, low-cost solution to overcome power and bandwidth scaling limitations facing hyperscale data centers and exponential growth in global data traffic. The FRESCO transceiver leverages advances in fundamental laser physics and photonic integration to enable terabit, coherent optical data transmission inside data centers through chip-scale spectrally pure and ultra-stable wavelength division multiplexed laser light sources . The project outcome will be an integrated photonic package capable of connecting to 100 terabit-per-second…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 03/10/2014 - 07/15/2019
Program: SWITCHES
Award: $3,583,306

University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will develop new vertical gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technologies that will significantly enhance the performance and reduce the cost of high-power electronics. UCSB will markedly reduce the size of its vertical GaN semiconductor devices compared to today’s commercially available, lateral GaN-on-silicon-based devices. Despite their reduced size, UCSB’s vertical GaN devices will exhibit improved performance and significantly lower power losses when switching and converting power than lateral GaN devices. UCSB will also simplify…

Status: CANCELLED
State: CA
Project Term: 03/24/2021 - 09/23/2024
Program: ASCEND
Award: $914,495

University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz)

Power density and efficiency are crucial to electric propulsion for future aviation systems. The University of California, Santa Cruz proposes a novel all-electric power train. Each aspect of the proposed power train encompasses unique technology. The machinery relies on a flux-switching motor with high temperature superconducting field coils, which is smaller and lighter than conventional designs and has an immense advantage in terms of thermal management. The electronics are based on state-of-the-art silicon carbide-based multilevel inverter technology, which can easily interface to a…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 08/25/2020 - 02/24/2023
Program: ENLITENED
Award: $850,000

University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)

The UC Santa Barbara team aims to develop a networking solution based on coherent co-packaged optics (optics and switch silicon together in the same package), which enable the transport of much more information. Coherent link technology underpins all long-distance fiberoptic communications, but today is too complicated, power hungry, and bulky to be used within datacenters. This project aims to demonstrate a simplified, highly energy-efficient coherent link architecture based on electro-absorption modulators, semiconductors that can modulate the intensity of a laser beam, in a multi-micron…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 07/29/2022 - 07/28/2025
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $2,897,686

University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara)

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will investigate the efficacy and impact of removing up to 0.1 Gt CO2/yr from the atmosphere and surface oceans through cultivating and sinking fast-growing macroalgae. The UCSB team has previously determined using sophisticated oceanographic models that sunken biomass will sequester the fixed carbon for more than 100 years on the ocean floor if certain conditions are met. The scale of the cultivation needed to sequester 0.1 Gt CO2/yr is similar to the size of the biofuel feedstock farms proposed by ARPA-E’s MARINER program, suggesting that…

Status: Selected
State: TBD
Project Term: TBD
Program: ULTRAFAST
Award: TBD

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is developing ultrawide-bandgap switching devices that would achieve a five times higher voltage than the state-of-the-art, enabling more sophisticated control methods for the grid. The proposed switching devices take advantage of beta-gallium oxide, an ultrawide-bandgap material that possess inherently superior properties compared with legacy silicon switching devices. UCSB’s switching device will be optically powered and controlled to limit the effects of electromagnetic interference.

Status: ACTIVE
State: FL
Project Term: 12/05/2019 - 05/04/2026
Program: ATLANTIS
Award: $3,471,992

University of Central Florida (UCF)

The University of Central Florida will develop a comprehensive causality-free modeling and simulation platform that facilitates CCD, assists in incorporating multi-physics models, adapts to design changes, and allows rapid simulations to validate models and evaluate controllers for FOWTs. The team will study unique control concepts such as active tether actuation, gyroscopic balancing, hydraulic actuation, and individual pitch control. The research will reduce the time, cost and risks associated with experimentation, and open opportunities for better exploring the design space for higher…

Status: ALUMNI
State: OH
Project Term: 09/08/2015 - 10/07/2019
Program: ARID
Award: $3,465,096

University of Cincinnati (UC)

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers will develop a dry-cooling system, featuring an enhanced air-cooled condenser and a novel daytime peak-load shifting system (PLSS) that will enable dry cooling for power plants even during hot days. The team will transform a conventional air-cooled condenser by incorporating flow-modulating surfaces and modifying the tubular geometry of the system, both of which will reduce heat transfer resistance and increase the thermal surface area. Whenever the air temperature becomes too high for the air-cooled heat exchanger to be effective, the PLSS will cool…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 07/31/2015 - 09/30/2018
Program: ARID
Award: $2,998,642

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

Researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) will develop Radicold, a radiative cooling and cold water storage system to enable supplemental cooling for thermoelectric power plants. In the Radicold system, condenser water circulates through a series of pipes and passes under a number of cooling modules before it is sent to the central water storage unit. Each cooling module consists of a novel radiative-cooling surface integrated on top of a thermosiphon, thereby simultaneously cooling the water and eliminating the need for a pump to circulate it. The microstructured…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 03/28/2018 - 09/27/2021
Program: CIRCUITS
Award: $2,400,000

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Bolder) and its project team will develop new composite SiC power converter technology that achieves high power and voltage conversion (250 VDC to 1200 VDC) in a smaller package than ever achieved due largely to improved switching dynamics and reduced need for large passive energy storage components. Also, utilizing higher system voltage in vehicular power systems has been proven to enable vehicle manufacturers to use thinner and lighter wires and improve vehicle powertrain system efficiency. The team seeks to demonstrate the power converter as an on-…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 10/15/2015 - 08/14/2017
Program: IDEAS
Award: $499,039

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) proposes to develop a capacitive wireless power transfer (WPT) architecture to dynamically charge EVs. Dynamic charging poses serious technical challenges. Transmitters must be connected to the plates in the road while rectifiers and battery charging is integrated with the plates in the vehicle. While energy transfer through the air is efficient, the large distance between the embedded vehicle plates and the road results in a weaker pairing between the two. To effectively transfer kilowatts of power without exceeding safe voltages, the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 02/01/2011 - 07/31/2014
Program: IMPACCT
Award: $3,650,557

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

Alongside Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute, the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) is developing a membrane made of a gelled ionic liquid to capture CO2 from the exhaust of coal-fired power plants. The membranes are created by spraying the gelled ionic liquids in thin layers onto porous support structures using a specialized coating technique. The new membrane is highly efficient at pulling CO2 out of coal-derived flue gas exhaust while restricting the flow of other materials through it. The design involves few chemicals or moving parts and is…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 12/01/2016 - 06/30/2019
Program: IONICS
Award: $2,508,337

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) will develop a new type of anion-exchange membrane for chloride (Cl-) transport that is based on a nanoporous lyotropic liquid crystal structure that minimizes cation crossover by molecular size-exclusion and charge exclusion. Due to a lack of suitable Cl- conducting membranes, flow batteries often use microporous membranes or cation-exchange membranes (CEM) to separate the two electrode chambers. Microporous membranes are inexpensive, but do not provide perfect barriers to intermixing of the reactants (or “crossover”) that reduces the battery’…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 01/01/2014 - 06/30/2017
Program: METALS
Award: $3,599,299

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) is developing a new solar-powered magnesium production reactor with dramatically improved energy efficiency compared to conventional technologies. Today’s magnesium production processes are expensive and require large amounts of electricity. CU-Boulder’s reactor can be heated using either concentrated solar power during the day or by electricity at night. CU-Boulder’s reactor would dramatically reduce CO2 emissions compared to existing technologies at lower cost because it requires less electricity and can be powered using solar energy. In addition…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 05/08/2015 - 03/31/2021
Program: MONITOR
Award: $4,817,612

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) will team up with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (a partnership between CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to develop a reduced-cost, dual frequency comb spectrometer. The frequency comb would consist of 105 evenly spaced, sharp, single frequency laser lines covering a broad wavelength range that includes the unique absorption signatures of natural gas constituents like methane. The team has shown that frequency comb…

Status: CANCELLED
State: CO
Project Term: 05/01/2013 - 06/29/2017
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $2,527,500

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) is using nanotechnology to improve the structure of natural gas-to-liquids catalysts. The greatest difficulty in industrial-scale catalyst activity is temperature control, which can only be solved by improving reactor design. CU-Boulder’s newly structured catalyst creates a small-scale reactor for converting natural gas to liquid fuels that can operate at moderate temperatures. Additionally, CU-Boulder’s small-scale reactors could be located near remote, isolated sources of natural gas, further enabling their use as domestic fuel sources.

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 04/01/2019 - 03/31/2023
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $1,940,415

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado Boulder will develop 3D-printed, biodegradable soil sensor nodes to enable farmers to precisely assess soil moisture and nitrogen levels, which will provide insight into crop water and fertilizer needs. These low cost nodes can be embedded in a field to accurately and continuously monitor soil health for an entire season before degrading completely and harmlessly into the soil. This approach could enable real-time soil monitoring by farmers, enabling them to reduce agriculture’s energy footprint and water needs and increase soil carbon.

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 04/02/2019 - 06/30/2023
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $2,925,698

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado Boulder aims to revolutionize thermoelectrics, the semiconductor devices that convert heat flow into electricity without moving parts or emitting pollutants, by creating a “nanophononic” thermoelectric device. This concept relies on a newly discovered phenomenon where closely packed tiny structures added perpendicular to a thin solid membrane impede the flow of heat down the membrane through atomic vibrations (phonons). The device is predicted to convert waste heat to electricity at twice the efficiency of today’s best thermoelectric devices.

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 05/28/2018 - 02/28/2022
Program: SENSOR
Award: $2,000,000

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) will develop an integrated occupancy detection system based on a radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensor network combined with privacy-preserving microphones and low-resolution cameras to detect human presence. The system may also analyze electrical noise on power lines throughout a residential home to infer occupancy in different areas. The system will draw its accuracy from the combination of data sources, uncovering human presence not only from physical image and audio sensor data, but also considering what electrical activity reveals…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 11/14/2016 - 08/13/2021
Program: SHIELD
Award: $3,400,000

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) with its partners will develop a flexible window film made of nanostructured cellulose. The film can be applied onto single-pane windows to improve their energy efficiency without compromising transparency. The team will be able to economically harvest cellulose needed for the films from food waste using a bacteria-driven process. The cellulose will self-assemble into liquid crystal type structures that selectively reflect infrared light (or heat) while transmitting visible light. The technology is related to liquid crystals that are used in…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 02/09/2012 - 08/31/2015
Program: Solar ADEPT
Award: $1,164,676

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) is developing advanced power conversion components that can be integrated into individual solar panels to improve energy yields. The solar energy that is absorbed and collected by a solar panel is converted into useable energy for the grid through an electronic component called an inverter. Many large, conventional solar energy systems use one, central inverter to convert energy. CU-Boulder is integrating smaller, microconverters into individual solar panels to improve the efficiency of energy collection. The university's microconverters…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 10/01/2019 - 09/30/2022
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $1,200,427

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

Develop ultra-acid-resistant, low-calcium geopolymer cements that take advantage of reduced heat-curing and lower alkali conditions, for wastewater (i.e., sewer) and other infrastructure applications. The project aims to provide an alternative material technology solution that will extend the service life of concrete infrastructure and reduce total life cycle energy, economic, and environmental costs.

Status: ACTIVE
State: CO
Project Term: 02/01/2021 - 05/31/2024
Program: REPAIR
Award: $5,580,000

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado Boulder will lead a multi-institutional team, including Cornell University, Gas Technology Institute, and University of Southern Queensland, to develop a data-driven framework of laboratory testing and modeling. This framework will enable the gas industry to better evaluate products to rehabilitate cast iron and steel natural gas pipes and enhance their performance and longevity. The objective is to validate a 50-year design life for innovative pipe-in-pipe (PIP) systems by developing numerical, analytical, and physical testing protocols. The process will merge…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CO
Project Term: 09/29/2022 - 09/28/2025
Program: HESTIA
Award: $3,193,015

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado Boulder will manufacture and commercialize a net-CO2-storing portland limestone cement using biogenic limestone (CaCO3) produced via photosynthesis that will store more than 275 kgCO2 and cost less than $100 per ton of cement. Most cement-related CO2 emissions are caused by heating CaCO3 to produce calcium oxide (quicklime), which releases CO2 in the process. The proposed technology will produce biogenic CaCO3 using calcifying microalgae that sequester and store CO2 in mineral form through biological direct air capture via photosynthesis and calcification. Using…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CO
Project Term: 01/16/2023 - 01/15/2026
Program: CURIE
Award: $1,994,663

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

The University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder), will advance high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy using cryogenic microcalorimeter arrays, which are an emerging tool for improved nuclear material accountancy. Microcalorimeter spectrometers measure gamma-ray energy much more precisely than other gamma-ray detectors, allowing them to resolve closely spaced gamma-ray lines such as those produced by plutonium isotopes near 100 keV, and detect lines that appear only weakly above background. Microcalorimeters are currently capable of reaching the CURIE program’s 1% uncertainty target but fall…

Status: Selected
State: TBD
Project Term: TBD
Program: SEA-CO2
Award: TBD

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder)

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) is developing a system of optical underwater sensors to sense and measure dissolved carbon compounds. CU-Boulder seeks to build a sensor head that would be towed underwater by a cable containing optical fibers attached to an autonomous wave-energy harvesting surface vehicle. The proposed system takes advantage of dual frequency comb laser stimulated Raman spectroscopy—derived from a technology developed under ARPA-E’s MONITOR program—to bring laboratory-based optical spectroscopy to in-situ, persistent, and fast-moving ocean platforms.

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 02/22/2022 - 02/21/2025
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $2,734,381

University of Connecticut

The University of Connecticut proposes to develop a life-cycle management framework to accelerate and safeguard the transition of the U.S. power grid toward a sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)-free green power network. Although SF6 has several positive properties, it also has a global warming potential (GWP) 25,200 times that of CO2. Studies suggest the alternative environmentally friendly gas mixture g3TM as a promising potential replacement for SF6. The team will focus on leaks, aging byproduct detection, and fixations (capture and storage) for g3TM, but believes its proposed sensing technologies…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 02/07/2022 - 02/06/2024
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $961,954

University of Connecticut

High-temperature and high-pressure heat exchangers are needed to enable efficient energy production systems. The University of Connecticut will formulate and demonstrate a computational methodology to design the fin structures in a plate heat exchanger (HX) to maximize its heat transfer efficiency and guarantee its structural integrity. The plate structures will be fabricated via the Scalable and Expeditious Additive Manufacturing (SEAM) process using an oxide dispersion-strengthened alloy. The methodology focuses on fin structure design for plate HXs operating under high-pressure (25 MPa)…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 09/25/2023 - 09/24/2025
Program: REEACH
Award: $4,500,000

University of Connecticut

More information on this project is coming soon!

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 01/01/2017 - 06/30/2019
Program: IONICS
Award: $1,868,796

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) with their project partners will develop a new class of hydroxide exchange membranes (HEMs) for use in electrochemical devices such as fuel cells. Hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells (HEMFC), in contrast to PEM fuel cells, can use catalysts based on low-cost metals as well as inexpensive membranes and bipolar plates. However, a low-cost HEM that simultaneously possesses adequate ion conductivity, chemical stability, and mechanical robustness does not yet exist. To address this challenge, the team has developed a family of poly(aryl piperidinium) HEMs that…

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 03/29/2017 - 12/31/2020
Program: NEXTCAR
Award: $3,357,191

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) will develop and implement a control technology aimed at maximizing the energy efficiency of a 2016 Audi A3 plug-in hybrid vehicle by more than 20% without reducing the vehicle's drivability, performance, emissions, and safety. The technology will use connectivity between vehicles and infrastructure to co-optimize vehicle dynamic and powertrain controls. It will compute optimal routing for desired destinations while bypassing bottlenecks, accidents, special events, and other conditions that affect traffic flow. The vehicle will optimize acceleration and…

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 02/15/2012 - 12/31/2014
Program: OPEN 2009
Award: $1,278,663

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) is developing a new fuel cell membrane for vehicles that relies on cheaper and more abundant materials than those used in current fuel cells. Conventional fuel cells are very acidic, so they require acid-resistant metals like platinum to generate electricity. UD is developing an alkaline fuel cell membrane that can operate in a non-acidic environment where cheaper materials like nickel and silver, instead of platinum, can be used. In addition to enabling the use of cheaper metals, UD's membrane is 500 times less expensive than other polymer membranes used…

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 02/15/2010 - 09/30/2013
Program: OPEN 2009
Award: $4,475,417

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) is developing permanent magnets that contain less rare earth material and produce twice the energy of the strongest rare earth magnets currently available. UD is creating these magnets by mixing existing permanent magnet materials with those that are more abundant, like iron. Both materials are first prepared in the form of nanoparticles via techniques ranging from wet chemistry to ball milling. After that, the nanoparticles must be assembled in a 3-D array and consolidated at low temperatures to form a magnet. With small size particles and good contact between…

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 01/09/2013 - 03/06/2017
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $928,380

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) is developing a low-cost flow battery that uses membrane technology to increase voltage and energy storage capacity. Flow batteries store chemical energy in external tanks instead of within the battery container, which allows for cost-effective scalability because adding storage capacity is as simple as expanding the tank, offering large-scale storage capacity for renewable energy sources. However, traditional flow batteries have limited cell voltages, which lead to low power and low energy density. UD is addressing this limitation by adding an additional…

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 12/19/2018 - 12/18/2022
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $2,479,998

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware will build an electrochemical “pump,” based on a special membrane, to remove cell-damaging CO2 from ambient air before feeding it along with hydrogen into an HEMFC designed by the team. This method eliminates the need for vehicles using HEMFCs to carry an onboard oxygen supply or scrub carbon dioxide by other more expensive routes. The same principle could be applied to direct carbon capture from air for any system with a similar challenge. If successful, this electrochemical pump-HEMFC unit will meet performance, volume, and cost requirements for passenger vehicles.

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 04/01/2017 - 09/30/2020
Program: REFUEL
Award: $2,500,000

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) will develop a direct ammonia fuel cell operating near 100°C that will efficiently convert ammonia to electricity for electric vehicles and other applications. The team will develop new materials, including low-cost, high-performance hydroxide exchange membranes (HEMs) that can maintain stability near 100°C and novel ammonia oxidation catalysts. Proton exchange membranes are traditionally used in fuel cell applications, but HEMs have a number of advantages when ammonia is used as the direct fuel source including reduced side-reactions, prevention of ammonia…

Status: ALUMNI
State: DE
Project Term: 01/13/2014 - 09/30/2020
Program: REMOTE
Award: $6,935,318

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) is engineering new metabolic pathways to convert methane into liquid fuel. UD’s technology targets high-efficiency activation of methane to methanol without the consumption of additional energy, followed by conversion to butanol. The two-stage technology is envisioned to recapture carbon dioxide —with no carbon dioxide emissions. The team will use metabolic engineering and synthetic biology techniques to enable methanol utilization in organisms that are not natively about to do so. This modification will allow the new organism to grow on methanol, and utilize…

Status: ACTIVE
State: DE
Project Term: 05/17/2021 - 05/16/2024
Program: REPAIR
Award: $5,954,637

University of Delaware (UD)

The team led by the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials will develop a novel composite material feedstock and robotic placement process to fabricate stand-alone structural pipe within existing pipelines with no disruption in gas service. Repair strategies will be developed for straight and slightly curved pipe sections that will be internally wrapped and repaired using a new robotic-based design facilitating continuous placement of the tailorable feedstock material and creating a stand-alone structural liner within the legacy pipeline. A tethered material feeding system…

Status: ACTIVE
State: DE
Project Term: 08/05/2021 - 08/04/2024
Program: ECOSynBio
Award: $2,752,577

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware aims to develop a platform technology based on synthetic syntrophic consortia of Clostridium microbes to enable fast and efficient use of renewable carbohydrates to produce targeted metabolites as biofuels or chemicals. In this syntrophic microbial consortium, two microbial species are co-cultured, allowing the different species to divide individual bioconversion steps and reduce their individual metabolic burden. This project will achieve complete utilization of glucose substrate carbon while also using additional CO2 and electrons from H2 to generate…

Status: ACTIVE
State: DE
Project Term: 09/13/2022 - 09/12/2025
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $2,500,000

University of Delaware (UD)

The University of Delaware (UD) will develop the Composite Architected Materials Processing (CAMP) technology to enable fast, energy-efficient composite manufacturing with a complex 3D geometry formation capability to construct efficient, reliable, and cost-competitive structural materials for air and ground transportation vehicles. With their high strength-to-weight ratios, carbon fiber-reinforced composites have strong potential for lightweighting in structural applications to replace steel and aluminum. UD’s CAMP technology combines an energy-efficient carbon fiber reinforced thermoset…

Status: ALUMNI
State: FL
Project Term: 09/01/2010 - 08/31/2015
Program: BEETIT
Award: $2,647,952

University of Florida

The University of Florida is improving a refrigeration system that uses low-quality heat to provide the energy needed to drive cooling. This system, known as absorption refrigeration system (ARS), typically consists of large coils that transfer heat. Unfortunately, these large heat exchanger coils are responsible for bulkiness and high cost of ARS. The University of Florida is using new materials as well as system design innovations to develop nanoengineered membranes to allow for enhanced heat exchange that reduces bulkiness. This design allows for compact, cheaper, and more reliable use of…

Status: ALUMNI
State: FL
Project Term: 12/19/2011 - 07/15/2016
Program: HEATS
Award: $3,355,920

University of Florida

The University of Florida is developing a windowless high-temperature chemical reactor that converts concentrated solar thermal energy to syngas, which can be used to produce gasoline. The overarching project goal is lowering the cost of the solar thermochemical production of syngas for clean and synthetic hydrocarbon fuels like petroleum. The team will develop processes that rely on water and recycled CO2 as the sole feed-stock, and concentrated solar radiation as the sole energy source, to power the reactor to produce fuel efficiently. Successful large-scale deployment of this solar…

Status: ALUMNI
State: FL
Project Term: 01/01/2012 - 09/09/2017
Program: PETRO
Award: $6,995,040

University of Florida

The University of Florida is working to increase the amount of turpentine in harvested pine from 4% to 20% of its dry weight. While enhanced feedstocks for biofuels have generally focused on fuel production from leafy plants and grasses, the University of Florida is experimenting with enhancing fuel production in a species of pine that is currently used in the paper pulping industry. Pine trees naturally produce around 3-5% terpene content in the wood—terpenes are the energy-dense fuel molecules that are the predominant components of turpentine. The team aims to increase the terpene storage…

Status: ALUMNI
State: FL
Project Term: 08/25/2017 - 08/24/2021
Program: ROOTS
Award: $6,359,996

University of Florida

The University of Florida will develop a backscatter X-ray platform to non-destructively image roots in field conditions. The team will focus their efforts on switchgrass, a promising biofuel feedstock with deep and extensive root systems. Switchgrass is also a good candidate to study because it is a perennial grass with great genetic diversity that is broadly adapted to the full range of environments found in the U.S. The project will leverage a DOE-funded switchgrass common garden with ten identical plantings that span growth zones from Texas to South Dakota. X-ray backscatter systems use a…

Status: ALUMNI
State: FL
Project Term: 09/20/2019 - 12/19/2022
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $1,176,976

University of Florida

Develop a means to combat the damage that neutron exposure causes to concrete used to house nuclear reactors. The project will explore novel additives incorporating boron and will determine whether or not, when bombarded with neutron radiation, these can produce lithium that improves the concrete’s strength and extends its lifetime.

Status: ACTIVE
State: FL
Project Term: 09/18/2023 - 09/18/2026
Program: COOLERCHIPS
Award: $3,042,416

University of Florida

The University of Florida is developing a disruptive thermal management solution proposed for cooling future CPU and GPU chips at unprecedented heat flux and power levels in data centers server racks. The new technology allows for significant future growth in processor power, rejects heat directly to the ambient air external to the data center, and would facilitate adoption within the existing data center infrastructure with a primary liquid cooling loop.