Award Data

Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed in your application. Coal-generated power represents a major source of electrical generation in the Nation, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. However, recently proposed limits on CO2 emissions from new electrical generation capacity will necessitate carbon capture functions to be installed on any new coal-fired power ...

In the near term, in order to mitigate carbon emissions to the extent possible while carbon-neutral, renewable energy resources are developed sufficiently to address the total demand of the Nation, there is a significant need for technologies capable of up-converting captured carbon dioxide either to value-added products or to forms able to be safely sequestered. In particular, access must be open ...

There is widespread concern regarding carbon emissions from fossil fuels, resulting in a drive towards improved efficiency in reactor (boiler) performance while reducing carbon emissions. Coal will continue to be a primary source of energy for economic growth for the foreseeable future, thus there is a push to reduce net carbon emissions of coal operated plants by replacing part of the coal with b ...

Light olefins such as ethylene and propylene are very important high volume commodity chemicals with production value more than $200B. These are used as building blocks for many essential chemicals and products. A major portion of the capital and operating cost in olefin production is for the olefin-paraffin separation by cryogenic distillation, which is highly energy and capital intensive consumi ...

Statement of Problem: The US DOE has set a goal to advance photovoltaics (PV) technology to reach installed costs of less than $1/Watt. This requires module costs below $0.50/ Watt. Thin film PV provides the lowest documented production cost per watt ($0.67) of any PV technology. Module reliability has a direct impact on the levalized cost of energy (LCOE), or the cost of the energy produced by ...

Improved ignition methods are needed for advanced vehicle combustion systems, in particular those that allow reliable ignition of lean mixtures in gasoline engines at elevated pressures. Laser ignition is a candidate technology having the potential to address these needs. However, despite more than 40 years of laser ignition research, the technology is not yet in commercial use. A critical proble ...

Formic acid (FA, CH2O2) is the simplest carboxylic acid. It is mainly used as a preservative and antibacterial agent in livestock feed. A significant fraction of FA is used in the leather-processing, textile and rubber industries and a small fraction of formic acid is used as a cleaning agent replacing mineral acids. Aqueous FA is a promising liquid hydrogen-storage carrier with a hydrogen storage ...

DoEs recent emphasis on increasing fuel economy requires electrification of the vehicle powertrain, thus leading to extended range electric vehicles (EREVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). All electric propulsion systems require high current, high-voltage (600 V-1200 V), low-loss power semiconductor switches. Present electri ...

Electrons play a very key role in plasma chemistry and dynamics of low temperature plasmas. Improved capability for measuring electron number density, ne, and electron energy distribution function, EEDF, in weakly ionized low temperature plasmas would benefit both fundamental study and application areas. For example, the capability would directly benefit emerging research targeted at modifying and ...

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis is industrially important as a green source of high purity hydrogen, for chemical applications as well as energy storage. However, the energy required to manufacture these units is still high, due to the multi-step processes employed. Today, the majority of cost and energy use in PEM electrolyzer manufacturing is contributed by the cell stack manufacturi ...