Under a newly funded High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Berkeley-based chemical technology company Opus 12 Inc. will collaborate to optimize technologies used to convert CO2 to chemicals and fuels using renewable energy.
The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards of $3.7 million for 13 new High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) projects, including a collaboration involving Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) targeted at improving CO2 conversion.
DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) - an office within DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy - and the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) are providing funding for the latest round of HPC4EI projects under the initiative's HPC for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) and HPC for Materials (HPC4Mtls) pillars.
Managed by LLNL, HPC4EI leverages DOE's computational resources and expertise and partners national laboratories with industry to advance the national energy agenda, improve energy efficiency in manufacturing processes and accelerate industry discovery, design and development of new materials. Ten of the projects are funded under AMO, including efforts to develop more energy efficient gas turbine engines and lightweight 3D-printed engine pistons, and produce cleaning products with reduced manufacturing and transportation energy usage.
The three projects funded under the HPC4Mtls banner include a partnership between LLNL and Berkeley-based chemical technology company Opus 12 Inc. to optimize technologies used to convert CO2 to chemicals and fuels using renewable energy. The project aims to apply computational fluid dynamics simulations and thermal analysis to better understand heat distribution within electrolyzers and optimize flow field design for efficient heat removal to minimize cooling costs and improve energy efficiency. The principal investigator will be LLNL research engineer Victor Beck. The project is supported by DOE's Carbon Utilization Program.
In addition to LLNL, other DOE laboratories receiving funding include the Argonne, Oak Ridge and Sandia national laboratories, Ames Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory. Partner companies include 3M Company, the Raytheon Technologies Research Center, Procter & Gamble and General Motors.
DOE will be providing up to $300,000 for each project to support computing cycles and work performed by the national laboratories and partners. Industry partners will contribute at least one-third of total project funding.
See a full list of approved projects.
