American government organization Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has awarded $66m for 33 energy projects under two programs to provide sustainable technologies in the US.
The first program, Modern Electro/Thermochemical Advancements for Light-metal Systems (METALS), offers $32m to identify cost-effective and energy-efficient manufacturing techniques to process and recycle metals for lightweight vehicles.
As part of the METALS program, researchers will develop technologies for processing and recycling of Aluminum, Magnesium and Titanium, that can be used for creating lighter vehicles.
California-based Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) will develop a new electrochemical diagnostic probe to identify the composition of light metal scrap for sorting.
This can reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, and costs by enabling recycling of discarded light metal scrap.
The second $34m program, Reducing Emissions using Methanotrophic Organisms for Transportation Energy (REMOTE), will focus on identifying advanced biocatalyst technologies that can convert natural gas to liquid fuel for transportation.
Transformational biological technologies to convert gas to liquids (GTL) for transportation fuels will be developed under this program.
Under this program, Massachusetts-based GreenLight Biosciences will develop a cell-free bioreactor to convert large quantities of methane-to-liquid fuel in one step.
This enables mobile fermenters to access remote sources of natural gas for low-cost conversion of natural gas to liquid fuel.
ARPA-E deputy director Martin said: "Today's roundtable discussion focused on the importance of transformational energy innovation and how strategic partnerships between federal and state government, academia and the private sector create new energy options for our future."
