Award Data

Reactive absorption-based carbon dioxide capture processes using solvents is the preferred technology for large scale capture of carbon dioxide in flue gases from coal-fired power plants. This Small Business Innovation Research project targets the development of mitigation strategies to decrease the quantity of aerosols that are formed from such post-combustion capture systems in the presence of s ...

With 27% of the world’s coal reserves located in the United States, development of a clean, efficient, and economically viable pathway to coal utilization is of strategic importance. Development of advanced coal-to-liquids technologies provides this direct pathway, while improving energy security, reducing coal environmental footprint, and promoting economic development directly in the communiti ...

The Department of Energy needs improved radiation resistant electrical insulation materials for the superconducting magnet coils in fusion reactors. To achieve safe, reliable, economic and environmentally benign fusion energy system, DOE is seeking organic/inorganic insulation-capable materials that are wrappable. These materials under irradiation will enable magnet coils to: (1) operate reliably ...

Renewable sources of energy including solar and wind are fast gaining ground on fossil fuels, in part because of their sustainability and environmental benefits. A major issue, however, has been finding efficient ways to store the energy that renewables generate for use when the demand for energy is high. Lithium-­‐sulfur batteries, which store electrical energy by transferring electrons to or ...

The Brayton cycle for power generation offers significant advantages over the Rankin cycle typically used. Unfortunately, the Brayton cycle uses very high pressure and high temperature, supercritical CO2 (sCO2) as the heat transfer fluid. New materials that can handle the harsh environment of sCO2 are required to enable power generation and prevent issues with corrosion and erosion or efficiency d ...

The rate of climate change in the Arctic is larger than elsewhere on Earth. The Arctic has unique and complex couplings and feedbacks between the surface and the atmosphere that in turn modify the radiative balance there differently than elsewhere. Current understanding holds that an increase in downwelling long wave radiative flux, driven by increased water vapor and clouds, may be accelerating c ...

Despite incremental improvements in the technology, polyfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes are still not an ideal fuel cell membrane material and their drawbacks (e.g., high cost and low mechanical strength at high temperature) require development of alternative polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) for successful adoption of fuel cells as reliable and inexpensive energy conversion devices. The g ...

This SBIR/STTR project targets the development of a validated modeling/design tool for predicting the behavior of spouted fluidizied beds for chemical looping combustion/gasification applications of coal and biomass fuels and fuel blends. Chemical looping is an advanced energy conversion technology for generating a pure CO2 effluent, which can then be sequestered or utilized. A spouted fluidized b ...