Ten small businesses developing innovative fossil energy technology will receive roughly $1 million apiece under the Department of Energy’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, the department announced Thursday. Eight of the 10 projects selected focus on clean coal and carbon management. The two remaining projects involve oil and natural gas technologies.
The winning coal projects, as announced by the DOE, are:
- NanoSonic: “This project will utilize wireless networked sensors in water for heavy metal detection. The sensor will be able to identify potential contaminations in real-time, allowing the rapid identification of water contamination events and prompting remedial action,” according to the release
- Sporian Microsystems: “This project will utilize a novel, rapidly/remotely deployable, wireless, fully-integrated sensor system monitoring for water quality for a range of parameters and contaminants, including hazardous heavy metal contamination” the release says.
- TDA Research: “This project, will develop a Warm Gas Multi-Contaminant Removal System that will provide an enabling technology that will advance the widespread implementation and environmentally friendly use of coal,” DOE explaines.
- Envergex: “To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from chemical looping combustion systems and to facilitate further technology development, a method for separation of the oxygen carrier material from fuel-based contaminants is critical. The proposed work aims to develop a novel technology for separation of these components which represents an improvement over existing methods,” according to the release.
- Mikro Systems: This project will utilize a rapid manufacturing method, which leverages additive manufacturing to produce tooling that is combined with an innovative material system to produce components in higher volumes from industry standard materials, powdered metals and ceramics,” the release explains.
- Mechanical Solutions: “This project will develop an advanced foil bearing using high pressure/ temperature sCO2 as the lubricating fluid and enable the development of more efficient power generation equipment, resulting in energy savings and reduction in associated greenhouse gas emissions,” the release says.
- Altex Technologies: “This project will deploy Altex Technologies’ innovative and low cost process to directly remove carbon from the syngas in integrated gasification combined cycle power plants, reducing the planet’s overall carbon dioxide levels, and improving air and water quality, at the same time,” DOE wrote in the release
- Porifera: “Porifera, Inc., will utilize a forward osmosis-based system for treating waste water generated during energy production using waste carbon dioxide and heat. This proposal will enable the development of a system that will synergistically capture carbon and treat wastewater at power plants. The system will have higher water recovery and treat more problematic water using less energy compared to state of the art technologies,” according to the release.