Status: CANCELLED
State: MO
Project Term: 02/01/2010 - 03/31/2016
Program: OPEN 2009

EaglePicher Technologies

EaglePicher Technologies is developing a sodium-beta alumina (Na-Beta) battery for grid-scale energy storage. High-temperature Na-Beta batteries are a promising grid-scale energy storage technology, but existing approaches are expensive and unreliable. EaglePicher has modified the shape of the traditional, tubular-shaped Na-Beta battery. It is using an inexpensive stacked design to improve performance at lower temperatures, leading to a less expensive overall storage technology. The new design greatly simplifies the manufacturing process for beta alumina membranes (a key enabling technology…

Status: ALUMNI
State: OH
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 03/31/2016
Program: AMPED

Eaton Corporation

Eaton is developing advanced battery and vehicle systems models that will enable fast, accurate estimation of battery health and remaining life. The batteries used in hybrid vehicles are highly complex and require advanced management systems to maximize their performance. Eaton's battery models will be coupled with hybrid powertrain control and power management systems of the vehicle enabling a broader, more comprehensive vehicle management system for better optimization of battery life and fuel economy. Their design would reduce the sticker price of commercial hybrid vehicles, making them…

Status: ACTIVE
State: OH
Project Term: 09/05/2019 - 09/04/2022
Program: BREAKERS

Eaton Corporation

Eaton will build an ultra-high efficiency, medium voltage direct current (MVDC), electro-mechanical/solid-state hybrid circuit breaker (HCB) that offers both low conduction losses and fast response times. The team will also develop a high-speed actuator/vacuum switch (HSVS) combined with a novel transient commutation current injector (TCCI). This switch will transfer power to a separate solid-state device, interrupting the current in the event of a fault. The design should allow for scaling in voltage and current, enabling a range of circuit breakers across the MV application space.

Status: ACTIVE
State: OH
Project Term: 01/31/2018 - 09/16/2021
Program: CIRCUITS

Eaton Corporation

Eaton will develop and validate a wireless-power-based computer server supply that enables distribution of medium voltage (AC or DC) throughout a datacenter and converts it to the 48V DC used by computer servers. Datacenters require multiple voltage conversions steps, reducing the efficiency of power distribution from the grid to the server. The converter will employ commercially available wide-bandgap power devices for both the medium-voltage transmitter circuit and the low-voltage receiver circuit, respectively. The heart of the medium voltage supply is the wireless power transfer…

Status: ALUMNI
State: OH
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 12/31/2015
Program: MOVE

Eaton Corporation

Eaton is developing an at-home natural gas refueling system that relies on a liquid piston to compress natural gas. A traditional compressor uses an electric motor to rotate a crankshaft, which is tied to several metal pistons that pump to compress gas. Traditional compressor systems can be inefficient and their complex components make them expensive to manufacture, difficult to maintain, and short-lived. Eaton's system replaces traditional pistons with a liquid that comes into direct contact with the natural gas without the need for the costly high-pressure piston seals that are used in…

Status: CANCELLED
State: OH
Project Term: 09/01/2016 - 08/31/2020
Program: NODES

Eaton Corporation

Eaton will develop and validate a disruptive cloud-computing-based technology aimed at providing agile and robust synthetic regulating reserve services to the power grid. This approach separates the decision-making of synthetic regulating reserve services into two-levels to significantly reduce the computational complexity, thereby enabling large-scale coordinated control of a vast number of DERs and flexible load. The system-operator level estimates and predicts reserve capacity of the distribution network and decides on the appropriate economic incentives for DERs to participate in future…

Status: ACTIVE
State: OH
Project Term: 05/01/2019 - 06/30/2022
Program: DAYS

Echogen Power Systems

The Echogen Power Systems team will develop an energy storage system that uses a carbon dioxide (CO2) heat pump cycle to convert electrical energy into thermal energy by heating a “reservoir” of low-cost materials such as sand or concrete. During the charging cycle, the reservoir will store the heat that will be converted into electricity on demand in the discharge or generating cycle. To generate power, liquid CO2 will be pumped to a supercritical pressure and brought to a higher temperature using the stored heat from the reservoir. Finally, the supercritical CO2 will be used to expand…

Status: CANCELLED
State: FL
Project Term: 01/23/2017 - 01/22/2019
Program: SHIELD

Eclipse Energy Systems

Eclipse Energy Systems will further develop its proprietary transparent electrical conductor material (EclipseTEC) for use in low-emissivity (low-e) window films. Transparent, low-emissivity coatings improve building energy efficiency by reducing heat loss through the windows. Over the course of the project, the team will transfer their present technology for depositing EclipseTEC films to scalable manufacturing processes while preserving the desirable optical and low-e properties. Eclipse will partner with one or more companies offering thermal insulation solutions and incorporate EclipseTEC…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NY
Project Term: 03/29/2019 - 03/28/2022
Program: OPEN 2018

Ecolectro

Ecolectro is developing alkaline exchange ionomers (AEIs) to enable low-cost fuel cell and electrolyzer technologies. Ecolectro’s AEIs will be resilient to the harsh operating conditions present in existing alkaline exchange membrane devices that prevent their widespread adoption in commercial applications. This technology will be simple, cost effective, and well suited to large-scale processing. Further, membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) featuring Ecolectro’s AEIs will demonstrate comparable durability and improved efficiency over existing state-of-the-art proton exchange membranes…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 08/19/2015 - 05/18/2019
Program: ARID

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and its partners will design, fabricate, and demonstrate an indirect dry-cooling system that features a rotating mesh heat exchanger with encapsulated phase-change materials (PCMs) such as paraffin, which can absorb and reject heat efficiently. The novel system can be used downstream from a water-cooled steam surface condenser to cool water to a temperature near ambient air temperature, eliminating the need for a cooling tower. The team’s design capitalizes on the high latent heat of the solid-to-liquid transition in the PCMs to provide an…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 10/01/2020 - 09/30/2022
Program: GEMINA

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

The current O&M paradigm for operating light-water reactors (LWRs) generally seeks to maximize lifetimes for major structures, systems, and components (SSCs). The consequences are profound as key SSCs can become life-limiting or require costly monitoring, inspection, maintenance, and repair. Unless questioned, the underlying assumption of multi-decadal design life for major plant SSCs could become embedded in the next generation of plants. The Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) proof-of-concept study will explore moving from the traditional “maintain and repair” to a “replace and…

Status: ACTIVE
State: MA
Project Term: 08/09/2021 - 08/08/2023
Program: Special Projects

Electrified Thermal Solutions

Electrified Thermal Solutions is developing Firebrick Resistance-heated Energy Storage (FIRES), a new energy storage technology that converts surplus renewable electricity into heat. Once stored, the renewable heat can be used to (1) replace fossil fueled heat sources in industrial processes such as steel and cement production or (2) run a heat engine to produce carbon-free, on-demand renewable electricity at a fraction of the cost of Li-ion batteries. FIRES is based on a novel joule-heated system built from electrically conductive ceramics designed at MIT.

Status: ALUMNI
State: PA
Project Term: 04/15/2013 - 02/14/2017
Program: OPEN 2012

Electron Energy Corporation (EEC)

Electron Energy Corporation (EEC) and its team are developing a new processing technology that could transform how permanent magnets found in today’s EV motors and renewable power generators are fabricated. This new process, known as friction consolidation extrusion (FC&E), could produce stronger magnets at a lower cost and with reduced rare earth mineral content. The advantage of FC&E over today’s best fabrication processes is that it can be applied to unconsolidated powders as opposed to solid alloys, which can allow magnets to be compacted from much smaller grains of two different…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 02/28/2018 - 02/27/2020
Program: CIRCUITS

Empower Semiconductor

Empower Semiconductor will develop a new architecture for regulating voltage in integrated circuits (IC) like computer microprocessors. Empower’s design will enable faster & more accurate power delivery than today’s power management hardware. As transistors continue to shrink, the number of transistors per chip has increased, resulting in increased computing power. Existing Voltage Regulator ICs (VRICs) have not kept pace and deliver excessive (and wasted) power to these advanced digital ICs. The team has proposed a new resonant voltage regulator architecture based on silicon technology…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 07/16/2018 - 01/15/2021
Program: SENSOR

Endeveo

Endeveo will develop an occupancy sensor system to accurately determine the presence of occupants in residential buildings and enable temperature setbacks to provide energy savings of 30% per year. Their technique uses standard Wi-Fi-equipped devices, such as routers, to monitor an environment using the wireless channel state information (CSI) collected by these devices and occupancy-centric machine learning algorithms to determine occupancy from changes in CSI. The developed algorithms will distinguish between humans and pets, sense presence even when occupants are stationary for extended…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 01/01/2014 - 09/30/2018
Program: METALS

Energy Research Company (ERCo)

Energy Research Company (ERCo) is developing an automated Aluminum Integrated Minimill (AIM) that can produce finished components from mixed metal scrap. Unlike most current approaches, ERCo’s AIM can distinguish and accurately sort multiple grades of aluminum scrap for recycling. ERCo’s AIM reduces energy consumption in several ways. First, the technology would provide real-time feedback controls to improve the accuracy of the sorting process. The sorted scrap is then melted and cast. Further, ERCo’s design replaces the inefficient dryers used in conventional processes with advanced, high-…

Status: ALUMNI
State: OR
Project Term: 10/01/2012 - 08/30/2017
Program: GRIDS

Energy Storage Systems (ESS)

Energy Storage Systems (ESS) is developing a cost-effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly all-iron hybrid flow battery. A flow battery is an easily rechargeable system that stores its electrolyte—the material that provides energy—as liquid in external tanks. Currently, flow batteries account for less than 1% of the grid-scale energy storage market because of their high system costs. The ESS flow battery technology is distinguished by its cost-effective electrolytes, based on earth-abundant iron, and its innovative battery hardware design that dramatically increases power density and…

Status: ACTIVE
State: PA
Project Term: 10/01/2020 - 09/30/2023
Program: PERFORM

Energy Trading Analytics

The Energy Trading Analytics team will redesign a novel, state-of-the-art stochastic market tool to restructure wholesale real-time energy and reserve markets for improved information aggregation, reliability and security, and consumer choice. The design will be coupled with intelligent energy-portfolio risk management tools that enable consumers to prioritize flexible demand assets (e.g., air conditioners, water heaters, energy storage) to offer flexibility into markets as reliable resources. This project will evaluate the risk and performance of the proposed market trading system and…

Status: ALUMNI
State: TX
Project Term: 05/01/2013 - 02/17/2014
Program: OPEN 2012

eNova

eNova is developing a gas compressor powered by waste heat from the exhaust of a gas turbine. A conventional gas turbine facility releases the exhaust heat produced during operation into the air—this heat is a waste by-product that can be used to improve power generation system efficiency. eNova’s gas compressor converts the exhaust waste heat from the simple cycle gas turbine to compressed air for injection into the turbine, thereby lessening the burden on the turbine’s air compressor. This new compressor design is ideal for use with a remote gas turbine—such as that typically used in the…

Status: ACTIVE
State: MA
Project Term: 03/17/2021 - 12/16/2024
Program: FLECCS

Envergex

Envergex aims to integrate a flexible, low-temperature CO2 capture system (E-CACHYSTM) into a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant, capable of operating in a high VRE environment, to attain a net-zero carbon electricity system. The technical approach is based on an innovative multi-phase sorbent technology for post-combustion capture of CO2 from flue gas. The hybrid sorbent technology, which consists of a regenerative sorbent and a novel heat exchange system for optimal energy recovery, seamlessly integrates into the NGCC architecture. The size of the proposed CCS system can align…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 01/01/2010 - 12/31/2011
Program: OPEN 2009

Envia Systems

In a battery, metal ions move between the electrodes through the electrolyte in order to store energy. Envia Systems is developing new silicon-based negative electrode materials for Li-Ion batteries. Using this technology, Envia will be able to produce commercial EV batteries that outperform today's technology by 2-3 times. Many other programs have attempted to make anode materials based on silicon, but have not been able to produce materials that can withstand charge/discharge cycles multiple times. Envia has been able to make this material which can successfully cycle hundreds of times…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 02/19/2014 - 03/27/2015
Program: RANGE

EnZinc

EnZinc is developing a low-cost battery using 3D zinc microstructured sponge technology that could dramatically improve the rechargeability of zinc-based EV batteries. As a battery material, zinc is inexpensive and readily available, but presently unsuitable for long-term use in EVs. Current zinc based batteries offer limited cycle life due to the formation of tree-like internal structures (dendrites) that can short out the battery. To address this, EnZinc, in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, will replace conventional zinc powder-bed anodes with a porous zinc sponge that…

Status: ALUMNI
State: KY
Project Term: 04/11/2013 - 09/30/2016
Program: OPEN 2012

Evolva

Evolva is producing terpenes—energy dense molecules that can be used as high-performance aviation fuels—from simple sugars using engineered microbes. These terpenes will provide better performance than existing petroleum-based aviation fuels. Evolva will draw upon their industrial-scale terpene manufacturing experience to produce aviation sesquiterpenes at a low cost and large scale. Going forward, Evolva will validate the performance of its aviation fuels in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and further engineer its process to utilize biomass feedstocks.

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 12/01/2009 - 05/31/2012
Program: OPEN 2009

Exelus

Exelus is developing a method to convert olefins from oil refinery exhaust gas into alkylate, a clean-burning, high-octane component of gasoline. Traditionally, olefins must be separated from exhaust before they can be converted into another source of useful fuel. Exelus' process uses catalysts that convert the olefin to alkylate without first separating it from the exhaust. The ability to turn up to 50% of exhaust directly into gasoline blends could result in an additional 46 million gallons of gasoline in the U.S. each year.

Status: ALUMNI
State: CT
Project Term: 03/05/2014 - 06/22/2015
Program: SWITCHES

Fairfield Crystal Technology

Fairfield Crystal Technology will develop a new technique to accelerate the growth of gallium nitride (GaN) single-crystal boules. A boule is a large crystal that is cut into wafers and polished to provide a surface, or substrate, suitable for fabricating a semiconductor device. Fairfield Crystal Technology’s unique boule-growth technique will rapidly produce superior-quality GaN crystal boules—overcoming the quality and growth-rate barriers typically associated with conventional growth techniques, including the current state-of-the-art hydride vapor phase epitaxy technique, and helping to…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 04/01/2010 - 12/31/2013
Program: OPEN 2009

FastCAP Systems

FastCAP Systems is improving the performance of an ultracapacitor—a battery-like electronic device that can complement, and possibly even replace, an HEV or EV battery pack. Ultracapacitors have many advantages over conventional batteries, including long lifespans (over 1 million cycles, as compared to 10,000 for conventional batteries) and better durability. Ultracapacitors also charge more quickly than conventional batteries, and they release energy more quickly. However, ultracapacitors have fallen short of batteries in one key metric: energy density—high energy density means more energy…

Status: ACTIVE
State: DC
Project Term: 07/02/2018 - 09/30/2022
Program: MARINER

Fearless Fund

Fearless Fund will lead a MARINER Category 1 project to design and develop a new system to enable large-scale macroalgae “ranching” using remote sensing, imaging, and modeling technologies. The core concept targets monitoring free-floating, low-impact Sargassum seaweed in the Gulf of Mexico for cost-effective biomass harvest. Fearless Fund’s cultivation process is designed to mimic naturally occurring seaweed mats found at the surface of the ocean. The concept leverages the free-floating nature of Sargassum, reducing costs from labor, seeding, and harvesting normally…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 08/23/2017 - 08/22/2020
Program: AMPED

Feasible

Feasible will develop a non-invasive, low-cost, ultrasonic diagnostic system that links the electrochemical reactions taking place inside a battery with changes in how sound waves propagate through the battery. This Electrochemical Acoustic Signal Interrogation (EASI) analysis will bridge the gap in battery diagnostics between structural insights and electrical measurements, offering both speed and scalability. The physical processes of a battery that affect performance are nearly impossible to monitor with standard diagnostic methods. EASI can provide insights into the battery development,…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 11/25/2019 - 11/24/2021
Program: Special Projects

Fervo Energy Company

The proposed fiber-optics based integrated tool will provide an unprecedented level of detail on the most critical aspects of an Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) – the hydromechanical properties and geometry of the fracture zones that provide flow connections between the reservoir and the well. It has the potential to play a major role in catalyzing the 100 GW, $300B opportunity for EGS in the United States.

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 02/22/2010 - 03/31/2013
Program: OPEN 2009

FloDesign Wind Turbine

FloDesign's innovative wind turbine, inspired by the design of jet engines, could deliver 300% more power than existing wind turbines of the same rotor diameter by extracting more energy over a larger area. FloDesign's unique shrouded design expands the wind capture area, and the mixing vortex downstream allows more energy to flow through the rotor without stalling the turbine. The unique rotor and shrouded design also provide significant opportunity for mass production and simplified assembly, enabling mid-scale turbines (approximately 100 kW) to produce power at a cost that is comparable to…

Status: ALUMNI
State: AZ
Project Term: 10/01/2010 - 03/31/2013
Program: GRIDS

Fluidic Energy

Fluidic Energy is developing a low-cost, rechargeable, high-power module for Zinc-air batteries that will be used to store renewable energy. Zinc-air batteries are traditionally found in small, non-rechargeable devices like hearing aids because they are well-suited to delivering low levels of power for long periods of time. Historically, Zinc-air batteries have not been as useful for applications which require periodic bursts of power, like on the electrical grid. Fluidic hopes to fill this need by combining the high energy, low cost, and long run-time of a Zinc-air battery with new chemistry…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MI
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 03/31/2016
Program: AMPED

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is developing a commercially viable battery tester with measurement precision that is significantly better than today's best battery testers. Improvements in the predictive ability of battery testers would enable significant reductions in the time and expense involved in electric vehicle technology validation. Unfortunately, the instrumental precision required to reliably predict performance of batteries after thousands of charge and discharge cycles does not exist in today's commercial systems. Ford's design would dramatically improve the precision of electric…

Status: CANCELLED
State: MI
Project Term: 09/17/2012 - 03/31/2015
Program: MOVE

Ford Motor Company

ARPA-E and Ford Motor Company agreed to mutually conclude this project. Ford is developing an on-board adsorbed natural gas tank system with a high-surface-area framework material that would increase the energy density of compressed natural gas at low pressures. Traditional natural gas tanks attempt to compensate for low-energy-density and limited driving range by storing compressed gas at high pressures, requiring expensive pressure vessels. Ford and their project partners will optimize advanced porous material within a system to reduce the pressure of on-board tanks while delivering the…

Status: ACTIVE
State: MA
Project Term: 07/31/2019 - 01/30/2022
Program: DAYS

Form Energy

Form Energy will develop a long-duration energy storage system that takes advantage of the low cost and high abundance of sulfur in a water-based solution. Previous MIT research demonstrated that aqueous sulfur flow batteries represent the lowest chemical cost among rechargeable batteries. However, these systems have relatively low efficiency. Conversely, numerous rechargeable battery chemistries with higher efficiency have high chemical costs. The solution requires low chemical cost, high efficiency, and streamlined architecture. The team will pursue several competing strategies and…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 01/15/2010 - 09/30/2013
Program: OPEN 2009

Foro Energy

Foro Energy is developing a unique capability and hardware system to transmit high power lasers over long distances via fiber optic cables. This laser power is integrated with a mechanical drilling bit to enable rapid and sustained penetration of hard rock formations too costly to drill with mechanical drilling bits alone. The laser energy that is directed at the rock basically softens the rock, allowing the mechanical bit to more easily remove it. Foro Energy's laser-assisted drill bits have the potential to be up to 10 times more economical than conventional hard-rock drilling technologies…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CO
Project Term: 08/01/2019 - 07/31/2022
Program: OPEN 2018

Foro Energy

Foro Energy will develop a high-power laser tool to assist in removing the extremely tough materials constituting aging energy assets in a timely, cost-effective, safe, and environmentally responsible manner. This cutting and melting tool will be capable of transmitting high-power laser light at long distances in a field environment, greatly boosting decommissioning efficiency.

Status: ACTIVE
State: VA
Project Term: 10/01/2020 - 09/30/2022
Program: GEMINA

Framatome

Framatome aims to reduce advanced reactor costs by leveraging advanced diagnostics methods to demonstrate feasible fault detection with an optimized set of sensors; develop reliable automatic fault detection algorithms on wide range of systems; and minimize the resources required to perform fault detection. Framatome will develop two novel digital twins for use with Metroscope, a software package that connects digital twins and their associated fault libraries and monitors them with an algorithm to detect problems early on. The digital twins will simulate a passive cooling system with…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 07/05/2021 - 07/04/2023
Program: Special Projects

Frost Methane Labs

Flares are widely used address methane emissions, eliminating a safety issue, and reducing greenhouse gas impacts up to 90%. There are many technical and economic challenges for designing small flares that operate reliably with high destruction efficiency, however. Frost Methane Labs proposes to develop a “micro-flare,” capable of handling emissions from sources from 10-200 tonnes of methane per year per site. The micro-flare consists of a combustion chamber, pilot light or electronic ignition source, upstream flow and methane concentration monitoring, controls electronics, and remote…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 01/01/2021 - 12/31/2022
Program: REEACH

Fuceltech

Fuceltech proposes to develop an innovative low-cost, lightweight Energy Storage and Power Generation (ESPG) system for commercial aircraft. Fuceltech will develop a monopolar wound single fuel cell potentially as high as 10 kW rating and a novel stacking approach to deliver hundreds of kWs of power from a single small and lightweight stack. Fuceltech will use ethanol as a fuel and a reformer that delivers extremely low CO concentration in the reformate to the fuel cell. In phase 1, Fuceltech will develop 2kW power single cells and demonstrate stacked cells of >5kW output power; in phase 2…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 08/15/2018 - 03/05/2024
Program: INTEGRATE

FuelCell Energy

FuelCell Energy will develop an adaptive, pressurized solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for use in hybrid power systems. Hybridized power generation systems, combining energy efficient SOFCs with a microturbine or internal combustion (IC) engine, offer a path to high efficiency distributed generation from abundant natural gas. Proof-of-concept systems have shown the potential of this hybrid approach, but component optimization is necessary to increase system efficiencies and reduce costs. Existing SOFC stacks are relatively expensive components, and improving their efficiency and robustness would…

Status: CANCELLED
State: CT
Project Term: 10/01/2014 - 09/30/2017
Program: REBELS

FuelCell Energy

FuelCell Energy will develop an intermediate-temperature fuel cell that will directly convert methane to methanol and other liquid fuels using advanced metal catalysts. Existing fuel cell technologies typically convert chemical energy from hydrogen into electricity during a chemical reaction with oxygen or some other agent. FuelCell Energy’s cell would create liquid fuel from natural gas. Their advanced catalysts are optimized to improve the yield and selectivity of methane-to-methanol reactions; this efficiency provides the ability to run a fuel cell on methane instead of hydrogen. In…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 05/22/2017 - 09/30/2021
Program: REFUEL

FuelCell Energy

FuelCell Energy will develop an advanced solid oxide fuel cell system capable of generating ammonia from nitrogen and water, and renewable electricity. The unique design will also allow the system to operate in reverse, by converting ammonia and oxygen from air into electricity. A key innovation in this project is the integration of proton-conducting ceramic membranes with new electride catalyst supports to enable an increase in the rate of ammonia production. Combining their catalyst with a calcium-aluminate electride support increases the rate of ammonia formation by reducing coverage of…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 05/13/2014 - 01/31/2018
Program: FOCUS

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a hybrid solar converter that focuses sunlight onto solar cells with a reflective backside mirror. These solar cells convert most visible wavelengths of sunlight to electricity while reflecting the unused wavelengths to heat a stream of flowing particles. The particles are used to store the heat for use immediately or at a later time to drive a turbine and produce electricity. GTI’s design integrates the parabolic trough mirrors, commonly used in CSP plants, into a dual-mirror system that captures the full solar spectrum while storing heat to…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 09/07/2016 - 09/30/2017
Program: IDEAS

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will develop a sulfur-based methane oxidation process, known as soft oxidation, to convert methane into liquid fuels and chemicals. Current gas-to-liquid technology for converting methane to liquid hydrocarbons requires massive scale to achieve economic production. The large plant size makes this approach unsuitable to address the challenge of distributed methane emissions. Soft oxidation is a method better suited to address this challenge because of its modular nature. It also addresses a major limitation of conventional gas-to-liquid technology: the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 01/01/2014 - 03/31/2015
Program: METALS

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a continuously operating cell that produces low-cost aluminum powder using less energy than conventional methods. Conventional aluminum production is done by pumping huge electrical currents into a vat of molten aluminum dissolved in mineral salts at nearly 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. GTI’s technology occurs near room temperature using reusable solvents to dissolve the ore. Because GTI’s design relies on chemical dissolution rather than heat, its cells can operate at room temperature, meaning it does not suffer from wasteful thermal energy losses…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 12/31/2014
Program: MOVE

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a natural gas tank for light-duty vehicles that features a thin, tailored shell containing microscopic valves which open and close on demand to manage pressure within the tank. Traditional natural gas storage tanks are thick and heavy, which makes them expensive to manufacture. GTI's tank design uses unique adsorbent pellets with nano-scale pores surrounded by a coating that functions as valves to help manage the pressure of the gas and facilitate more efficient storage and transportation. GTI's low-pressure tanks would have thinner walls…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 10/01/2012 - 03/31/2014
Program: MOVE

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will partner with Northwestern University, NuMat Technologies, a Northwestern start-up company, and Westport Fuel Systems to identify materials with the best characteristics for low-pressure natural gas storage. The gas-storing materials, known as metal organic framework (MOF) adsorbents, hold natural gas the way a sponge holds liquids. The project team will further develop their computer modeling and screening technique to support the creation of a low-pressure adsorbent material specifically designed for natural gas vehicles. The team will also validate the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 01/01/2013 - 09/30/2015
Program: OPEN 2012

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a new process to convert natural gas or methane-containing gas into methanol and hydrogen for liquid fuel. Methanol serves as the main feedstock for dimethyl ether, which could be used for vehicular fuel. Unfortunately, current methods to produce liquid fuels from natural gas require large and expensive facilities that use significant amounts of energy. GTI’s process uses metal oxide catalysts that are continuously regenerated in a reactor, similar to a battery, to convert the methane into methanol. These metal oxide catalysts reduce the energy…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IL
Project Term: 03/01/2016 - 02/28/2018
Program: OPEN 2015

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

The team led by Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will develop a conventional automotive engine as a reactor to convert ethane into ethylene by using a new catalyst and reactor design that could enable record-breaking conversion yields. The technology proposed by GTI would use a reciprocating engine as a variable volume oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) reactor. This means a conventional engine would be modified with a new valving mechanism that would take advantage of high flow rates and high pressure and temperature regime that already exists in an internal combustion engine. This process…

Status: ACTIVE
State: IL
Project Term: 06/01/2017 - 11/30/2021
Program: REFUEL

Gas Technology Institute (GTI)

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will develop a process for producing dimethyl ether (DME) from renewable electricity, air, and water. DME is a clean-burning fuel that is easily transported as a liquid and can be used as a drop-in fuel in internal combustion engines or directly in DME fuel cells. Ultimately carbon dioxide (CO2) would be captured from sustainable sources, such as biogas production, and fed into a reactor with hydrogen generated from high temperature water splitting. The CO2 and hydrogen react on a bifunctional catalyst to form methanol and a subsequently DME. To improve…