ARPA-E Awards $6 Million to Two Argonne Projects

Two Argonne energy research projects were selected for a combined total of more than $6 million in funding through the Department of Energy's (DOE’s) recently-formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

One of the research projects seeks to lower the cost and speed the adoption of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. The other research project deals with a new process for carbon capture.

Plug-in and Electric Car Batteries

In the transportation-related project, lowering the cost of plug-ins and electric vehicles means lowering the cost of high energy density lithium-ion batteries. To further this effort, ARPA-E is providing $4 million to a collaborative effort between Argonne and the Hayward, Calif.-based Envia Systems. According to the ARPA-E project description:

“Envia Systems (Hayward, Calif.), in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, will develop high energy density, low cost next generation Li-ion batteries using novel nanosilicon-carbon composite anodes and high capacity manganese rich-layered composite cathodes discovered at Argonne National Laboratory. These batteries, if successfully developed, could triple the energy density of existing electric vehicle batteries (target: 400 Wh/kg) and rapidly hasten adoption of low cost plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.”

Carbon Capture

The carbon capture project involves working on a new process to remove CO2 from coal flue gas. The ARPA-E description states:

“Nalco Company (Naperville, Ill.), Argonne National Laboratory, and the Western Research Institute will partner to develop an electrochemical process for CO2 capture. A technique known as Resin-Wafer Electrodeionization (RW-EDI) leverages control of pH to adsorb and desorb CO2 from flue gas without the need for heating or a vacuum. The objective is to drastically reduce the current parasitic power loss of 30% that is currently associated with carbon capture from flue gas.”

ARPA-E Funding

ARPA-E's mission is to develop nimble, creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape while advancing America's technology leadership.

ARPA-E was originally established under the America Competes Act of 2007. In April 2009, President Obama announced $400 million in initial funding for ARPA-E through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In this first round of funding selections, a total of 37 energy research projects were awarded $151 million. A second set of ARPA-E funding opportunities will be announced later this year.

In announcing the selections, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said: “After World War II, America was the unrivaled leader in basic and applied sciences. It was this leadership that led to enormous technological advances. ARPA-E is a crucial part of the new effort by the U.S. to spur the next Industrial Revolution in clean energy technologies, creating thousands of new jobs and helping cut carbon pollution.”

More

Department of Energy's ARPA-E Home

November 2009