Technology Research

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary awarded $106 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment to six projects that aim to find ways of converting captured carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources into useful products such as fuel, plastics, cement, and fertilizers. These funds will be matched with $156 million in private funding. Converting captured CO2 into products such as chemicals, carbonates, plastics, fuels, building materials, and other commodities is an important aspect of carbon capture and storage technology. Converting CO2 into other useful forms can help reduce carbon emissions in areas where long-term storage of CO2 is not practical. It is anticipated that large volumes of CO2 will be available as fossil fuel-based power plants and other CO2-emitting industries are equipped with CO2 emissions control technologies to comply with regulatory requirements.

The projects were initially selected for a first phase funding in October 2009 as part of a $1.4 billion effort to capture CO2 from industrial sources for storage or beneficial use. Over the succeeding months, the project teams have performed experiments on innovative concepts and produced preliminary designs for pilot plants to study the feasibility of capturing and using CO2 exhausted from industrial processes. The selected projects now enter a second phase in which researchers design, construct, and operate their innovations at pilot-scale and evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of applying them commercially.

The projects selected to demonstrate the beneficial use of CO2 include:

Alcoa, Inc. (Alcoa Center, Pa.)-Alcoa’s pilot-scale process will demonstrate the high efficiency conversion of flue gas CO2 into soluble bicarbonate and carbonate using an in-duct scrubber system featuring an enzyme catalyst. The bicarbonate/carbonate scrubber blow down can be sequestered as solid mineral carbonates after reacting with alkaline clay, a by-product of aluminum refining. The carbonate product can be utilized as construction fill material, soil amendments, and green fertilizer. Alcoa will demonstrate and optimize the process at their Point Comfort, Texas aluminum refining plant. (DOE Share: $11,999,359)

Novomer Inc. (Ithaca, N.Y.)-Teaming with Albemarle Corporation and the Eastman Kodak Co., Novomer will develop a process for converting waste CO2 into a number of polycarbonate products (plastics) for use in the packaging industry. Novomer’s novel catalyst technology enables CO2 to react with petrochemical epoxides to create a family of thermoplastic polymers that are up to 50 percent by weight CO2. The project has the potential to convert CO2 from an industrial waste stream into a lasting material that can be used in the manufacture of bottles, films, laminates, coatings on food and beverage cans, and in other wood and metal surface applications. Novomer has secured site commitments in Rochester, NY, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Orangeburg, SC and Ithaca, NY where Phase 2 work will be performed. (DOE Share: $18,417,989)

Touchstone Research Laboratory Ltd. (Triadelphia, W. Va.)-This project will pilot-test an open-pond algae production technology that can capture at least 60 percent of flue gas CO2 from an industrial coal-fired source to produce biofuel and other high value co-products. A novel phase change material incorporated in Touchstone’s technology will cover the algae pond surface to regulate daily temperature, reduce evaporation, and control the infiltration of invasive species. Lipids extracted from harvested algae will be converted to a bio-fuel, and an anaerobic digestion process will be developed and tested for converting residual biomass into methane. The host site for the pilot project is Cedar Lane Farms in Wooster, Ohio. (DOE Share: $6,239,542)

Phycal, LLC (Highland Heights, Ohio)-Phycal will complete development of an integrated system designed to produce liquid biocrude fuel from microalgae cultivated with captured CO2. The algal biocrude can be blended with other fuels for power generation or processed into a variety of renewable drop-in replacement fuels such as jet fuel and biodiesel. Phycal will design, build, and operate a CO2-to-algae-to-biofuels facility at a nominal thirty acre site in Central O’ahu (near Wahiawa and Kapolei), Hawaii. Hawaii Electric Company will qualify the biocrude for boiler use, and Tesoro will supply CO2 and evaluate fuel products. (DOE Share: $24,243,509)

Skyonic Corporation (Austin, Texas)-Skyonic Corporation will continue the development of SkyMine® mineralization technology-a potential replacement for existing scrubber technology. The SkyMine process transforms CO2 into solid carbonate and/or bicarbonate materials while also removing sulfur oxides, nitrogen dioxide, mercury and other heavy metals from flue gas streams of industrial processes. Solid carbonates are ideal for long-term, safe aboveground storage without pipelines, subterranean injection, or concern about CO2 re-release to the atmosphere. The project team plans to process CO2-laden flue gas from a Capital Aggregates, Ltd. cement manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas. (DOE Share: $25,000,000)

Calera Corporation (Los Gatos, Calif.)-Calera Corporation is developing a process that directly mineralizes CO2 in flue gas to carbonates that can be converted into useful construction materials. An existing CO2 absorption facility for the project is operational at Moss Landing, Calif., for capture and mineralization. The project team will complete the detailed design, construction, and operation of a building material production system that at smaller scales has produced carbonate-containing aggregates suitable as construction fill or partial feedstock for use at cement production facilities. The building material production system will ultimately be integrated with the absorption facility to demonstrate viable process operation at a significant scale. (DOE Share: $19,895,553)

To achieve breakthrough innovations in energy production, U.S. Department of Energy awarded up to $122 million over five years to a multidisciplinary team of top scientists to establish an Energy Innovation Hub. The Energy Innovation Hub will conduct research to find a cost-effective way to produce fuels as plants do through artificial photosynthesis – by combining sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Breakthrough in this field would be a game changer, reducing U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources. The Hub will be funded at up to $22 million this fiscal year. The Hub will then be funded at an estimated $25 million per year for the next four years, subject to Congressional appropriations.

The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), to be led by the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), will bring together leading researchers in an ambitious effort aimed at simulating nature’s photosynthetic apparatus for practical energy production. The goal of the Hub is to develop an integrated solar energy-to-chemical fuel conversion system and move this system from the bench-top discovery phase to a scale where it can be commercialized.

The Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub is one of three Hubs that will receive funding in FY10. In May, the Department announced that a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory will establish a Hub on modeling and simulation for nuclear reactors. The selection for the remaining Hub will be announced over the coming months. The Hubs are large, multidisciplinary, highly-collaborative teams of scientists and engineers working over a longer time frame to achieve a specific high-priority goal. They will be managed by top teams of scientists and engineers with enough resources and authority to move quickly in response to new developments.

JCAP research will be directed at the discovery of the functional components necessary to assemble a complete artificial photosynthetic system: light absorbers, catalysts, molecular linkers, and separation membranes. The Hub will then integrate those components into an operational solar fuel system and develop scale-up strategies to move from the laboratory toward commercial viability. The ultimate objective is to drive the field of solar fuels from fundamental research, where it has resided for decades, into applied research and technology development, thereby setting the stage for the creation of a direct solar fuels industry.

The Hub will be directed by Nathan S. Lewis, George L. Argyros Professor and Professor of Chemistry, Cal Tech. Other members of the Hub leadership team include: Bruce Brunschwig (Cal Tech), Peidong Yang (UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab), and Harry Atwater (Cal Tech). In addition to the major partners, Cal Tech and Berkeley Lab, other participating institutions include SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford, California; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of California, Irvine; and the University of California, San Diego.

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U.S. Department of Energy announced 43 research projects that aim to dramatically improve how the U.S. uses and produces energy. Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act focuses on cutting-edge green technology projects increasing America’s competitiveness in grid scale energy storage, power electronics and building efficiency. These projects are based in 18 states, with 36% of projects led by universities, 33% by small businesses, 24% by large businesses, 5% by national labs, and 2% by non-profits. These awards complete ARPA-E’s grants under its Recovery Act funding: in three rounds of awards since last year, the agency has selected a total of 117 projects for $349 million in funding, supporting research that can deliver breakthrough changes in how the U.S. generates, stores, and utilizes energy.

The topic areas for projects announced today include:

1. Grid-Scale Rampable Intermittent Dispatchable Storage (GRIDS) – Affordable, large-scale energy storage could change the game for the U.S. electrical grid. In particular, energy storage will be needed to enable the widespread use of two key renewable energy sources: wind and solar power. This program seeks to develop revolutionary new storage technologies that exhibit energy, cost, and cycle life comparable to pumped hydropower, but which are modular and can be widely implemented at any location across the power grid. Ultimately, technologies developed through this program will be scalable to the gigawatt and gigawatt-hour levels of power and energy capacity. This technology development program complements other Department of Energy electrical energy storage efforts by focusing on early stage prototyping and proof-of-concept R&D efforts. One of the GRIDS projects being funded is:

General Atomics (San Diego, CA) – Soluble Acid Lead Flow Battery
General Atomics and the University of California San Diego will develop a novel flow battery technology that pumps chemicals through the battery cell when electricity is needed. The proposed flow battery revolutionizes a century-old lead-acid battery technology to achieve low cost, high efficiency and reliability needed for use on the electric power grid. This high-risk technology development program will use novel materials that greatly increase power while resisting the corrosion that limits the cycle life of conventional lead acid batteries. The goal of these innovations is a battery that can be scaled for grid-scale energy storage but which costs less and performs far longer than today’s technologies. This project will receive $2 million in funding.

2. Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology (ADEPT) – A large portion of the electricity we generate is lost before we can use it. ADEPT is focused on dramatically improving the efficiency and cost of power conversion and switching, among the main causes of electrical efficiency loss across the electrical grid and in electrical applications from cars to computers. The ADEPT projects explore integrated circuits that incorporate high-voltage transistors and high-performance magnetic materials in applications such as: drivers for LED lighting that are 300 times smaller, power supplies for computers that are 10 times smaller, and light-weight chargers for electric vehicles. These advanced components will enable miniaturization, increased efficiency and reduced cost. ADEPT is also focused on creating record-breaking, high-voltage transistors that can allow the electricity grid to be used like a large controllable, circuit. One of the ADEPT projects being funded is:

Cree Inc. (Durham, NC) – Silicon Carbide Power Modules for Grid Scale Power Conversion
This project will develop advanced transistors for electrical substations that can make the electrical grid more flexible and controllable. Using silicon carbide material, these transistors will achieve record high voltage (15-20kV). With these advanced transistors, electrical substations could replace today’s massive (8000 lb) distribution transformers with much smaller, suitcase-sized electronic transformers (100 lbs). This project will receive $3.7 million in funding.

3. Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEET-IT) – Buildings consume 40% of the primary energy in the United States and account for approximately 40% of our CO2 emissions. Cooling is one of the major uses of energy in buildings, yet the basic approaches used for cooling have not changed in decades. New, more efficient methods of cooling represent a great opportunity to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from buildings. In addition, the refrigerants currently used in cooling are a potent source of GHG emissions, as much as 1,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide. The BEET-IT program is focused on developing new approaches and technologies for cooling in buildings to dramatically improve energy efficiency and reduce the use of refrigerants and their impact on climate change. One of the BEET-IT projects being funded is:

Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus, OH) – Absorption-Osmosis Cooling Cycle
This project will develop a new air-conditioning system using water as a refrigerant – instead of typical chemicals that are potent greenhouse gases – and using salt as the heat absorber. The system uses reverse osmosis to efficiently separate water from the salt solution. This approach is radically different from traditional cooling technologies that use mechanical compressors, and it has the potential to increase the energy efficiency of air conditioning by more than 50%. This project will receive $400,000 in funding.

View the project selections.
View technical descriptions.

The US Department of Energy announced funding for ten projects aimed at developing advanced technologies for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal combustion. Carbon dioxide power plant capture systems currently require large amounts of energy for their operation, resulting in decreased efficiency and reduced net power output when compared to plants without CCS technology. The goal of this research is to reduce the energy “penalty” with carbon capture and sequestration technologies, thereby reducing costs and helping to move the technology closer to widespread use.

The projects, valued at up to $67 million over three years, focus on reducing the energy and efficiency penalties associated with applying currently available carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to existing and new power plants. These projects will focus on improving efficiency and reducing the added costs to electricity at power plants with carbon capture systems to less than 30 percent for a new pulverized coal plant and 10 percent for a new advanced gasification plant. The Obama Administration has made a goal of developing cost-effective deployment of CCS technologies within 10 years, with an objective of bringing 5 to 10 commercial demonstration projects online by 2016.

Post-combustion CO2 capture technology offers great near-term potential for reducing power sector CO2 emissions because it can be retrofited to existing plants. Today’s selections will focus on bench-scale and slipstream-scale development (0.5 to 5 MWe) and testing of advanced post-combustion CO2 capture technologies that include membranes, solvents, and solid sorbents.

Post-combustion CO2 Selections include:

Bench-Scale Development and Testing of Post-combustion CO2 Capture

Membranes

American Air Liquide, Inc. (Newark, DE) – This two-year project will develop a cost-effective system for CO2 capture based on the performance achieved by the sub-ambient temperature operation of the Air Liquide hollow fiber membrane. The membrane will be coupled with cryogenic processing technology in a closed-loop test system that will verify the effect of possible contaminants, such as SOx, NOx and water, on membrane performance at levels relevant to coal-fired power plants. Experimental results will be used to refine the integrated process simulation and to design a slipstream facility. (DOE share: $1,266,249)

Gas Technology Institute (Des Plaines, IL) – Partnering with PoroGen Corporation and Aker Process Systems, Gas Technology Institute proposes a three-year effort to develop cost-effective hybrid separation technology for CO2 capture from flue gases based on a combination of absorption and hollow fiber membrane technologies. The technology could also apply to removal of numerous other gas pollutants such as NOx and SOx, separation of CO2 from hydrogen in refinery streams, and separation of CO2 from natural gas (natural gas sweetening). (DOE share: $2,986,063)

Solvents

3H Company, LLC (Lexington, KY) – 3H Company and partners will confirm experimentally and analytically the feasibility of 3H Company patented “Self-Concentrating Absorbent CO2 Capture Process.” The process is based on amines in a non-aqueous solvent, which upon reaction with CO2, will separate into two distinct phases: a CO2-rich liquid phase and a dilute lean phase. Preliminary experimental data show that the process has the potential of reducing the total regeneration energy by as much as 70 percent. During the three-year project, the team will also develop an engineering design, supported by laboratory data and economic justification, to construct and operate a slipstream demonstration facility at an E-ON power plant in the United States as a next stage of commercialization development. (DOE share: $2,740,033)

Akermin, Inc. (St. Louis, MO) – Akermin proposes to demonstrate the ability to capture up to 90 percent of CO2 from a simulated flue gas using a solvent with significantly lower regeneration energy at rates comparable to those of conventional monoethanolamine. Over the course of the two-year project, Akermin will optimize solvent formulation and demonstrate process efficacy for treating up to 2,000 standard liters of gas per hour. (DOE share: $2,608,759)

ION Engineering, LLC (Boulder,CO) – In a 15-month project, ION Engineering and partners will fabricate, install, and operate a bench-scale carbon capture unit to process flue gas at an operating power plant using amine-based solvents, which are highly effective for CO2 capture. ION’s innovative approach to solvent formulation employs an ionic liquid instead of water as the physical solvent, greatly reducing the energy required to regenerate the amines and significantly lowering process water usage. In addition to a 60 percent reduction in energy requirement, ionic liquid-amine solvent mixtures offer higher CO2 capacities, reduced corrosion, reduced solvent losses, and other benefits when compared to traditional aqueous amine technologies. (DOE share: $2,999,614)

University of Illinois (Champaign, IL)-Collaborators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Parsons Corporation will investigate the use of a carbonate salt (potassium or sodium carbonate) as a solvent for absorption-based, post-combustion CO2 capture. A preliminary techno-economic evaluation shows that energy use with the Hot Carbonate Absorption Process (CAP) is about half that of a conventional monoethanolamine process. The research team will perform a proof-of-concept study aimed at generating process engineering and scale-up data to help advance Hot-CAP technology to the pilot-scale demonstration level within three years. (DOE share: $1,261,459)

URS Group (Austin, TX)-URS Group, Inc. and partners will investigate the use of concentrated piperazine (PZ) as a solvent for absorbing CO2 from coal-fired power plant flue gas. PZ coupled with two-stage flash regeneration at 150°C offers several advantages over other solvents, including: faster CO2 absorption rate, higher CO2 capacity, lower volatility, negligible thermal degradation, negligible oxidative degradation when used with an inhibitor, and production of CO2 at elevated pressure (resulting in lower compression costs). The three-year project will be conducted initially at a 0.1 MW scale and ultimately with a 0.5 MW unit designed and constructed for a final test campaign with the absorber at DOE’s National Carbon Capture Center. (DOE share: $3,000,000)

Slipstream Development and Testing of Post-combustion CO2 Capture

Membranes

Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (Joseph City, AZ) )-Membrane Technology and Research (MTR) and partners will construct a 1 MW membrane skid capable of 90 percent CO2 capture from a slipstream flow of 20 tons-of-CO2/day in coal-fired flue gas during a six-month field test at the Arizona Public Service Cholla Power Plant. Field test data and membrane performance data obtained at the National Carbon Capture Center will allow a thorough techno-economic evaluation of the membrane capture process over the three-year project, and will clarify the relative potential of the approach. (DOE share: $14,756,199)

Solvents

Siemens Energy, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA)-Siemens Energy will design, install, and operate a pilot plant for treating a slipstream (1 MW equivalent) at the TECO Energy Big Bend Station to demonstrate POSTCAP technology for post-combustion CO2 gas capture. Siemens’ POSTCAP technology utilizes an amino acid salt formulation as a solvent for CO2 absorption. (DOE share: $8,960,000)

Solid Sorbents

ADA-ES, Inc. (Littleton, CO)-ADA-ES and partners will refine the conceptual design of a commercial solid sorbent-based, post-combustion CO2 capture technology through slipstream pilot testing and process modeling. A pilot unit (1 MW) will be designed and constructed for operation at one of the cost-share participant’s power plant sites to demonstrate solid sorbent-based CO2 capture on actual flue gas for at least two continuous months. The pilot tests and process modeling during the 39-month project will provide the information necessary to complete a techno-economic analysis of the technology. (DOE share: $11,133,706)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first Implantable Miniature Telescope (IMT) for patients with end-stage, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD, a condition that mainly affects older people, damages the center of the retina (macula) and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field. AMD can make it difficult or impossible to recognize faces or perform daily tasks such as reading or watching television. About 8 million people in the United States have AMD and nearly 2 million of them already have significant vision loss, according to the National Eye Institute.

Surgically implanted in one eye, the IMT is a small telescope that replaces the natural lens and provides an image that has been magnified more than two times. The IMT is available in two models: one that provides 2.2 times magnification and another 2.7 times magnification. The IMT is designed to magnify and project images onto a healthy portion of the retina. The IMT is intended to be implanted in only one eye; the non-implanted eye is used for peripheral vision.

The IMT is used in patients ages 75 years and older with stable severe to profound vision impairment (when vision impairment has not changed over time) caused by blind spots (bilateral central scotoma) associated with end-stage AMD. These patients also have evidence of a visually significant cataract.

Patients agree to undergo training with an external telescope with a low vision specialist prior to implantation to determine whether adequate improvement in vision with the external telescope can be obtained and to verify if the patient has adequate peripheral vision in the eye that would not be implanted. Patients also agree to participate in a post-operative visual training program.

In a 219-patient, multi-center clinical study of the IMT, 90 percent of patients achieved at least a 2-line gain in either their distance or best-corrected visual acuity, and 75 percent of patients improved their level of vision from severe or profound impairment to moderate impairment.

Because the IMT is a large device, implantation can lead to extensive loss of corneal endothelial cells (ECD), the layer of cells essential for maintaining the clarity of the cornea, and chronic endothelial cell loss. The chronic rate of endothelial cell loss is about 5 percent per year. Significant losses in ECD may lead to corneal edema, corneal decompensation, and the need for corneal transplant. In the study, 10 eyes had unresolved corneal edema, with five resulting in corneal transplants. The calculated five-year risk for unresolved corneal edema, corneal decompensation, and corneal transplant are 9.2 percent, 6.8 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.

As a condition of FDA approval, the manufacturer, VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies Inc. of Saratoga, Calif., must conduct two post-approval studies. In one study, VisionCare must continue follow-up on the subjects from its long-term follow-up cohort for an additional two years. Another study of 770 newly enrolled subjects will include an evaluation of the endothelial cell density and related adverse events for five years after implantation.

About the Telescope Implant
The Implantable Miniature Telescope (by Dr. Isaac Lipshitz) is indicated for monocular implantation to improve vision in patients greater than or equal to 75 years of age with stable severe to profound vision impairment (best-corrected distance visual acuity 20/160 to 20/800) caused by bilateral central scotomas (blind areas) associated with end-stage AMD. This level of visual impairment constitutes statutory (legal) blindness. Smaller than a pea, the telescope is implanted in one eye in an outpatient surgical procedure. In the implanted eye, the device renders enlarged central vision images over a wide area of the retina to improve central vision, while the non-operated eye provides peripheral vision for mobility and orientation.

About End-Stage Macular Degeneration
AMD is a disorder of the central retina, or macula, which is responsible for detailed vision that controls important functional visual activities like recognizing faces and watching television. The National Eye Institute estimates that over 1.7 million Americans over age 50 suffer vision loss from advanced AMD, which frequently culminates as endstage AMD (visual impairment due to untreatable advanced AMD in both eyes). These – 3 – patients often experience a loss of independence and social isolation, and have difficulty with activities of daily living. Approximately half of the individuals living with advanced AMD are affected in both eyes.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the investment of up to $24 million for three research groups to tackle key hurdles in the commercialization of algae-based biofuels. The selections will support the development of a clean, sustainable transportation sector – a goal of the Department’s continued effort to spur the creation of the domestic bio-industry while creating jobs. Developing cost-effective renewable transportation fuels is a key component of the Administration’s strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions and move the Nation toward energy independence.

Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cathy Zoi said at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) 2010 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing:

“Partnerships such as these focus the creative powers of the public, private, and academic sectors on key challenges facing the development of renewable energy for transportation. The United States must find effective ways to hasten the development of technologies for advanced biofuels made from algae and other renewable resources to reduce our need for foreign sources of oil.”

The consortia consist of partners from academia, national laboratories, and private industries that are based across the country, broadening the geographic range and technical expertise of DOE partners in the area of algae biofuels. Projects are expected to continue for a period of three years. Together, they represent a diversified portfolio that will help accelerate algae biofuels development with the objective of significantly increasing production of affordable, high-quality algae biofuels that are environmentally and economically sustainable.

The three consortia selected for funding are:

Sustainable Algae Biofuels Consortium (Mesa, AZ) – Led by Arizona State University, this consortium will focus on testing the acceptability of algae biofuels as replacements for petroleum-based fuels. Tasks include investigating biochemical conversion of algae to fuels and products, and analyzing physical chemistry properties of algae fuels and fuel intermediates. (DOE share: up to $6 million)

Consortium for Algae Biofuels Commercialization (San Diego, CA) – Led by the University of California, San Diego, this consortium will concentrate on developing algae as a robust biofuels feedstock. Tasks include investigating new approaches for algae crop protection, algae nutrient utilization and recycling, and developing genetic tools. (DOE funding: up to $9 million)

Cellana, LLC Consortium (Kailua-Kona, HI) – Led by Cellana, LLC, this consortium will examine large-scale production of fuels and feed from microalgae grown in seawater. Tasks include integrating new algae harvesting technologies with pilot-scale cultivation test beds, and developing marine microalgae as animal feed for the aquaculture industry. (DOE funding: up to $9 million)

National Algae Biofuels Technology Roadmap

Despite algae’s potential, many technical and economic challenges must be overcome for algae biofuels to be commercialized. To identify these hurdles and guide research and development activities, DOE convened the National Algae Biofuels Technology Roadmap Workshop, bringing together more than 200 experts and stakeholders from across the country. The Department synthesized workshop results and released a draft report for public comment in June 2009. The final National Algae Biofuels Technology Roadmap released today reflects the substantive comments received and is intended to guide future work and investments in algae biofuels. Under the Recovery Act, the Department awarded funding earlier this year to an algae research consortium to tackle a broad range of barriers identified in the roadmap report.

View a copy of the National Algae Biofuels Technology Roadmap.

U.S. Department of Energy announced three projects to receive up to $612 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – matched by $368 million in private funding – to demonstrate large-scale carbon capture and storage from industrial sources. These projects include large-scale industrial carbon capture and storage projects that capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources and store the carbon dioxide in either a deep saline formation or via enhanced oil recovery. The following selections are expected to capture and store 6.5 million tons of CO2 per year- the equivalent of removing nearly one million cars off the road- and increase domestic production of oil by more than 10 million barrels per year by the end of the demonstration period in September 2015:

• Leucadia Energy, LLC (Lake Charles, LA)-Leucadia and Denbury Onshore LLC will capture and sequester 4.5 million tons of CO2 per year from a new methanol plant in Lake Charles, LA. The CO2 will be delivered via a 12-mile connector pipeline to an existing Denbury interstate CO2 pipeline and sequestered via use for enhanced oil recovery in the West Hastings oilfield, starting in April 2014. The project team includes Leucadia Energy, Denbury, General Electric, Haldor Topsoe, Black & Veatch, Turner Industries, and the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. (DOE share: $260 million)
• Archer Daniels Midland Corporation (Decatur, Ill.)-The project will capture and sequester one million tons of CO2 per year from an existing ethanol plant in Illinois, starting in August 2012. The CO2 will be sequestered in the Mt. Simon Sandstone, a well-characterized saline reservoir located about one mile from the plant. The project team includes Archer Daniels Midland, Schlumberger Carbon Services, and the Illinois State Geological Survey. (DOE share: $99 million)
• Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (Port Arthur, TX)-Air Products will partner with Denbury Onshore LLC to capture and sequester one million tons of CO2 per year from existing steam-methane reformers in Port Arthur, Texas, starting in November 2012. The CO2 will be delivered via a 12-mile connector pipeline to an existing Denbury interstate CO2 pipeline and sequestered via use for enhanced oil recovery in the West Hastings oilfield. The project team includes Air Products & Chemicals, Denbury Onshore LLC, the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, and Valero Energy Corporation. (DOE share: $253 million)

Today’s project selections are aimed at testing large-scale industrial carbon capture and storage, an important step in moving CCS technology toward eventual commercial deployment. The Obama Administration has made a goal of developing cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years, with an objective of bringing 5 to 10 commercial demonstration projects online by 2016.

Initially, in October 2009, the projects located in Texas, Illinois, and Louisiana, were selected for phase one research and development grants. Following successful completion of their Phase 1 activities, these three projects were identified as the most promising industrial CCS projects through a competitive process and will now enter into Phase 2 with additional funding to begin design, construction, and operation. Phase 2 of these projects includes $612 million in Recovery Act funding and $368 million in private sector cost-sharing for a total investment of $980 million.

The Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL’s) Space Science Division is performing coordinated observations utilizing both in situ and remote sensors to measure the composition, temperature, and density of the thermosphere and the electron density of the ionosphere, with the objective of understanding the influence of the lower thermosphere upon ionospheric structure and morphology. This intensive study of the Earth’s upper atmosphere is conducted by a flotilla of NRL-built spaceflight experiments aboard four concurrent spaceflight missions, involving five satellites and the International Space Station.

The following combined data set from multiple space vehicles in a variety of orbits and heterogeneous sensing techniques provides excellent spatial, temporal, and spectral coverage for atmospheric and ionospheric characterization. Space Science Division scientists are applying this data to study the relationship between atmospheric dynamics and ionosphere morphology, to understand the influence of solar variability upon chemistry and thermal balance, and to develop next-generation remote sensing approaches to provide high-quality atmospheric specifications to future DoD global atmospheric models.

To obtain the comprehensive data set the following data inputs are combined:

• The joint Taiwan-US COSMIC/FORMOSAT3 mission, a constellation of six micro-satellites, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in April 2006. The NRL Space Science Division designed and built the Tiny Ionospheric Photometer (TIP) compact far-ultraviolet (FUV) sensors, which are being used onboard COSMIC to study the Earth’s nighttime ionosphere. The TIP photometers are among the highest sensitivity FUV airglow sensors ever flown. COSMIC is breaking new ground in the study of the Earth’s ionosphere, especially in the areas of troposphere-ionosphere coupling and improved global specification of the ionosphere. Currently, TIP sensors aboard two COSMIC spacecraft are gathering ionospheric data for this study.
• The Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS) includes eight spectrographs, spectrometers, and photometers to comprehensively measure thermospheric and ionospheric airglow in the extreme-ultraviolet to near-infrared passband (55 to 874 nm). The extant hardware, built jointly by NRL and The Aerospace Corporation, was adapted for operation on the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). RAIDS was launched through the DoD Space Test Program on September 10, 2009, aboard the maiden flight of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle and reached the ISS on September 17, 2009 where it was attached to the JEM-EF. RAIDS has been performing science operations since October 23, 2009, collecting temperature data around the globe in the 100 to 200 km altitude range, an altitude region with a paucity of previous temperature measurements.
• Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, October 18, 2009, the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) developed by NRL’s Space Science Division and Spacecraft Engineering Department offers a first of its kind technique for remote sensing of the ionosphere and thermosphere from space. Flying on-orbit the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) flight 18 satellite, SSULI’s characterization of the Earth’s upper atmosphere and ionosphere provide the necessary scientific data to support military and civil systems. Offering global observations that yield near real-time altitude profiles of the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere over an extended period of time, SSULI makes measurements from the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) to the far ultraviolet (FUV) over the wavelength range of 80 nanometers (nm) to 170 nm with 2.4 nm resolution.
• In the category of in situ sensors, NRL developed the Atmospheric Neutral Drag Experiment (ANDE), which was deployed by NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour in July 2009. The suite consists of two spherical spacecraft, Castor and Pollux, fitted with retro-reflectors for satellite laser ranging. Castor carries instrumentation developed by NRL, NASA/GSFC, and the U.S. Air Force Academy to measure the in situ upper atmosphere density, composition and winds. The datasets retrieved will be applied to improving the current atmospheric density and wind models such as the NRL Mass Spectrometer and Incoherent Scatter-Radar (MSIS) model. The ANDE satellites, orbiting beneath the ISS, provide important validation of the RAIDS density measurements made in the same orbital plane.

TechnologyConference.com announces the three-day seminar on Fastest Growing Federal IT segments. IT experts and CIO’s come together to share their experiences in implementation of new IT technologies in the Federal Government sector. The U.S. Senate approved the Information Technology Investment Oversight Enhancement and Waste Prevention Act of 2009, co-authored by Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), which seeks to better monitor the approximate $80 billion that federal agencies spend every year on information technology (IT). These funds are expected to boost adoption of new IT technologies by the Federal Government.

According to a recently updated market study U.S. Federal IT Market Forecast 2011-2015 the U.S. Federal IT market will grow steadily – at about 4.7% CAGR over the next five years, with a cumulative market valued at $530 billion (2011 – 2015). The Administration is keen to deploy technologies proved their worth in the private sector. The technology segments like business intelligence, cloud computing, eDiscovery, GIS and geospatial, Health Information Technology, non-relational database management systems, Smart Grid, SOA, unified communications and virtualization will see double digit growth in the period 2011 – 2015. Total annual U.S. Federal IT market will surpass $116 billion by 2015 according to Market Research Media study.

“At a time when our country is facing record deficits it is simply unacceptable that federal agencies continue to waste billions of dollars by mismanaging information technology investments,” said Sen. Carper, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. “Information technology is critical to ensuring that our government runs well in an increasingly digital age but it’s clear that federal agencies are dropping the ball when it comes to deploying the right technology in a timely and cost-effective manner. We can do better and frankly we must. This legislation will provide the planning and oversight needed to reduce waste and improve the federal government’s information technology operations.”

Seminar participants will explore cases and challenges of implementing emerging technologies in the Federal IT infrastructure. Participants will look for ways to identify the unique aspects of doing business with Federal IT managers and contractors.

This workshop is by invitation only.

The seminar is organized by TechnologyConference.com. TechnologyConference.com is a premier resource of professional events, providing the latest information on technology events for R&D, business development and marketing professionals in knowledge-intensive industries.

The workshop sponsors:
TechnologyResearch.org is a market analysis portal covering technology markets, innovation, emerging technologies and technology trends.

Market Research Media Ltd, a leading market research firm, provides comprehensive market research reports and forecasts to assist governmental and corporate decision makers understand the dynamics of world’s technology markets. Fortune 500 companies, US Congress and EU government bodies and rely on our strategic insights.

The Department of Energy announced the selection of a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for an award of up to $122 million over five years to establish and operate a new Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub in order to spur innovation and achieve clean energy breakthroughs. The Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub will use advanced capabilities of the world’s most powerful computers to make significant leaps forward in nuclear reactor design and engineering. Specifically, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub will allow engineers to create a simulation of a currently operating reactor that will act as a “virtual model” of that reactor. They will then use the “virtual model” to address important questions about reactor operations and safety, reactor power production increases and reactor life and license extensions. The combination of data gained from the “virtual model” and the physical reactor will be used to resolve technology issues confronting nuclear energy development in the near, mid, and long terms.

The Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub is one of three Hubs that will receive funding in 2010. The Hub will be funded at up to $22 million this fiscal year. The Hub will then be funded at an estimated $25 million per year for the next four years, subject to Congressional appropriations.The Hubs are large, multidisciplinary, highly-collaborative teams of scientists and engineers working over a longer time frame to achieve a specific high-priority goal, like developing fuels from sunlight in an economical way and making buildings more energy efficient. They will be managed by top teams of scientists and engineers with enough resources and authority to move quickly in response to new developments.

The Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub will be located at the ORNL site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In addition to ORNL, the members of the team are:

• Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, California
• Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho
• Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts
• North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tennessee
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Westinghouse Electric Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania