U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Advanced Manufacturing Office
Energy Department Invests $30 Million in New Energy-Efficient Industrial Research and Development
January 12, 2001
NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
Chris Kielich, 202/586-5806
christina.kielich@hq.doe.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2001
Energy Department Invests $30 Million in New Energy-Efficient Industrial Research and Development
75 Projects Enhance Competitiveness, Improve Environment
Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson today announced plans to invest $30 million over the next three years in 75 new energy-saving industrial research, development and demonstration partnerships.
The Department of Energy (DOE) will share the cost of most of these projects with universities, research institutions, over 150 private companies and Energy Department national laboratories.
"These technologies will improve productivity, save energy and reduce environmental impacts in many energy-intensive industries in the U.S. today," said Secretary Richardson. "Reducing energy demand is crucial to reducing the high price of energy today."
Some examples of the research, development and demonstration cost-shared projects announced today are:
- the first commercial demonstration of a dual pressure Euler steam turbine for industrial and building applications. The turbine new technology can double the percentage of electricity generated by a single stage steam turbine by making use of energy available in pressure letdown valves. The potential energy savings for industry is estimated to be 467 trillion British Thermal Units (BTU) per year - - enough energy to heat, light and power all the homes in Virginia for about a year.
- an aluminum "isothermal melting process" that will save half the energy and emissions associated with conventional aluminum scrap melting. Most aluminum scrap is melted in natural gas- or fuel oil-fired reverberatory furnaces that are less than 30 percent efficient. Emissions from the furnaces create environmental concerns and their combustion gases are detrimental to metal quality. Immersion heaters being developed in this project will boost aluminum scrap melting thermal efficiency to as high as 97 percent and avoid detrimental combustion gas contact with aluminum.
- a novel process for recovering and reusing in-plant waste polymer raw materials that could result in an energy reduction of 1.6 trillion BTU per year for an olefins manufacturing plant -- a potential annual savings of nearly $4.5 million per plant. Olefin plants produce an array of polymer raw materials that are key feedstocks for plastics found in many common consumer items; and
- development of improved materials for continuous hot-dipping processes that will improve molten metal bath hardware and bearings. The goal is to extend component life by an order of magnitude with annual energy savings of over two trillion BTU and cost savings of approximately $46 million dollars.
The Energy Department's National Industrial Competitiveness through Energy, Environment and Economics (NICE3) program encourages industry to reduce energy use and waste at its source by providing grants through state agencies. The grants help U.S. companies overcome regulatory, economic and other barriers by demonstrating and commercializing innovative, energy-saving technologies. DOE's Invention & Innovation program encourages inventors and entrepreneurs to bring their energy-saving ideas and technologies to the marketplace by locating technical partners, commercial sponsors and additional funding sources. The program provides technical guidance for project development planning and management; regional, state, and local level support for economic development as well as regional training and learning centers for business planning.
For a complete list of award recipients please visit the DOE website at http://www.energy.gov/press/sub/pressreleases.html.
For more information on DOE's energy efficiency programs please visit http://www.oit.doe.gov/news.shtml.
Inventions & Innovation Projects
| Project Title |
Recipients |
Recipients' Location |
DOE Cost Share ($) |
Industry Cost Share ($) |
| Viable Inert Cathode for Smelting Primary Aluminum |
PRACSOL, LLC |
Columbus, Ohio |
$40,000 over two years |
$5,000 |
| Development of Inert Anode for the Primary Aluminum Industry |
Energy Research Company |
Staten Island, N.Y. |
$40,000 over two years |
$0 |
| Catalytic Processors for CO2 Reforming of CH4 and Gaseous Hydrocarbons |
ZIVATECH |
North Hills, Calif. |
$40,000 over two years |
$75,000 |
| Chlorine Recycling Using a Supported Iron Oxide Catalyst |
PRACSOL, LLC |
Columbus, Ohio |
$40,000 over two years |
$10,000 |
| Testing a Highly Efficient Technology for Converting Woody Biomass to Electricity |
Gazogen, Inc. |
East Calais, Vt. |
$40,000 over two years |
$20,000 |
| Automatic Evaluation of Wood Properties |
Quantum Magnetics, Inc. |
San Diego, Calif. |
$39,896 over two years |
$0 |
| Improved Process Control of Wood Waste Fired Boilers |
Process Control Solutions, Inc. |
Tallahassee, Fla. |
$40,000 over two years |
$0 |
| Energy-Efficient Production and Utilization of Light-weight Structural Panels |
Genesis Laboratories, Inc. |
Batavia, Ill. |
$40,000 over two years |
$10,000 |
| High Purity Fused Silica Glasses |
Rensselaer Polytechnic |
Troy, N.Y. |
$40,000 |
$20,000 |
| Batch Preheat for Glass and Related Furnace Processing Operations |
Energy and Environmental Resources |
Cedar Grove, Ind. |
$40,000 over two years |
$10,000 |
| Development of Environmentally Benign Mineral Flotation Collectors |
Versitech, Inc. |
Tucson, Ariz. |
$40,000 over two years |
$48,000 |
| A Microbial Genomics Approach to Resource Exploration and Characterization |
Mr. Matt Ashby |
Mill Valley, Calif. |
$40,000 over two years |
$74,000 |
| New Membrane Process for Improved Energy Saving Separations in the Petroleum Industry |
Dr. John Dorgan |
Golden, Colo. |
$40,000 over two years |
$10,000 |
| Coke Formation Process Model for Petroleum Refining Efficiency Improvement |
Western Research Institute |
Laramie, Wyo. |
$39,519 over two years |
$0 |
| Fluted Spiral Membrane Module for Reverse Osmosis of Liquids with Dissolved and Suspended Solids |
Scinsep Systems |
Davis, Calif. |
$40,000 over two years |
$48,000 |
| Underground Pipe Locator and Depth Finder |
Quantum Magnetics, Inc. |
San Diego, Calif. |
$39,968 over two years |
$0 |
| Reduced Energy Consuming CRT Display |
Electron Optics Development Co., LLC |
Trumbull, Conn. |
$40,000 over two years |
$146,000 |
| Electrochromic Window Film |
Chameleon Optics, Inc. |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
$40,000 over two years |
$3,000
|
| Low-Cost Inflatable-Support Heliostats to Enable Cost-Effective Large-Scale Solar Thermal Power |
RSV Invention Enterprises |
Federal Way, Wash. |
$40,000 over two year |
$0 |
| Regenerator Heat-Exchanger |
Mr. James Lin |
Beechhurst, N.Y. |
$40,000 over two years |
$0 |
| Prototype Development of an Industrial Fuel Cell Micro Generator |
FuelCell Technologies, Inc. |
New
Milford, Conn. |
$199,671
over three years |
$20,160 |
| Process
Particle Counter (PPC) Sensor/Controller for Optimizing Power Recovery
Expander and Gas Turbine Performance for Various Fuel Sources |
Process
Metrix LLC. |
San
Ramon, Calif. |
$200,000
over three years |
$70,000 |
| An
Innovative Approach to Improved Fuel Economy in Heavy Duty Trucks |
SuperDrive, Inc. |
Piqua, Ohio |
$199,806
over three years |
$0 |
| Theremophotovoltaic
Electric Power Generation Using Exhaust Heat in the Glass, Steel and Metal-casting
Industries |
JX
Chrystals, Inc. |
Issaquah, Wash. |
$199,806
over three years |
$0 |
| Advanced
Overfire Air System and Design Methodology for Stoker Type Boilers and
Furnaces that Burn Biomass, Coal, and Other Solid Fuels |
Mr.
Gene Berkau |
Brentwood, Tenn. |
$199,820
over three years |
$510,000 |
| Simple, Low Cost "Closed Loop Intelligent Control"
for Single Phase AC Motors in HVAC&R Systems Using Optical Programming |
Opto
Generic Devices, Inc. |
Van
Hornesville, N.Y. |
$200,000
over three years |
$195,000 |
| Novel
LED for Illumination Applications |
Bost
Nitride Technologies |
Canton, Mass. |
$200,000
over three years |
$220,000 |
| Lost
Foam Casting Quantifier Program |
Industrial
Analytics Corporation |
Oak
Ridge, Tenn. |
$110,100
over three years |
$0 |
| A Hot Eye TM Based Coordinate Measuring Machine
for the Forging Industry |
OG
Technologies |
Ann
Arbor, Mich. |
$200,000
over three years |
$265,059 |
| Cupola
Furnace Computer Process Model |
S.
Katz Associates, Inc. |
Oakland, Mich. |
$200,000
over three years |
$12,700 |
| Development
of a High-Frequency Eddy-Current Separator |
EMPS
Corporation |
Salt
Lake City, Utah |
$199,000
over three years |
$85,000 |
| Integrated
Acoustic Kiln Monitor to Guide Accelerated Drying of Wood |
Perceptron, Inc. |
Plymouth
Meeting, Pa. |
$200,000
over three years |
$213,000 |
| Development
of an Energy-Saving Grain Drying Invention |
Shivvers
Inc. |
Corydon, Iowa |
$200,000
over three years |
$70,000 |
| Deposition
in Kraft Recovery Boilers and Monitoring Glass Furnaces |
Combustion
Specialists, Inc. |
Maple
Valley, Wash. |
$197,000
over three years |
$49,250 |
| Seed
Selection Technology for Genetic Enhancement of Grains Targeted for Specific
Processes |
MTEC
Photoacoustics, Inc. |
Ames, Iowa |
$200,000
over three years |
$154,000 |
| Development
and Commercialization of Biopulping |
Biopulping
International, Inc. |
Madison, Wis. |
$200,000
over three years |
$75,000 |
| Development
of a Lower pH Copper Flotation Reagent System |
Versitech, Inc. |
Tucson, Ariz. |
$200,000
over three years |
$158,000 |
| Miniature, Inexpensive, Amperometric Oxygen Sensor |
Ceram
Physics, Inc. |
Westerville, Ohio |
$199,683
over three years |
$0 |
| Extremely
Compact and Efficient Chemical Reactor |
Mesoscopic
Devices, LLC |
Broomfield, Colo. |
$200,000
over three years |
$0 |
| High
Throughput Vacuum Processing for Innovative Uses of Glass |
AVA
Technologies, Inc. |
Ft.
Collins, Colo. |
$200,000
over three years |
$0 |
| Dual-Function
Absorption Cycle Utilizing Refinery Low-Level Heat |
Energy
Concepts Company, LLC |
Annapolis, Md. |
$200,000
over three years |
$20,000
|
| Energy
Conservation Waste Reduction in the Processing of Soft (Unfired) Ceramic
Particles via Dynamic Cyclone Classification |
Innova
Tech, Inc. |
Durham, N.C. |
$200,000
over three years |
$20,000
|
| A
Better H2S Separation and Sulfur Recovery Process |
PIPco, Inc. |
Southport, Conn. |
document.title = "Advanced Manufacturing Office: Energy Department Invests $30 Million in New Energy-Efficient Industrial Research and Development";
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