U.S. Department of Energy announces $68 million for small businesses developing technologies to cut emissions and study climate

(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards totaling more than $68 million that will go to 53 small businesses that are solving scientific problems. Projects include developing tools for climate research and advanced materials and technologies for clean energy conversion. Understanding the climate and the ability to convert and store energy are instrumental to meeting President Biden’s goal of a completely clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050.  

“From the Industrial Revolution to Silicon Valley, small businesses have always propelled innovation in America, and they will play a critical role in the transition to clean energy,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The companies working on the incredible projects announced today are creating a bridge between the laboratory and the marketplace, where the rubber will meet the road.” 

The businesses are spread across 23 states and are focused on dozens of research areas, including rare earth elements and nuclear physics. The projects—54 in total, as one company is working on two of them—are being funded by four different programs in DOE’s Office of Science: 

Advanced Scientific Computing Research (7)  Basic Energy Sciences (28)  Biological and Environmental Research (12)  Nuclear Physics (7)  For example, one project aims to make geothermal energy systems, which are powered by heat from beneath the Earth’s surface, cost-competitive, while another is developing a tool that can help site infrastructure to capture and store carbon-dioxide emission. 

A significant barrier to large-scale deployment of hybrid energy systems with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to combat climate change is the lack of access to decision-making software for stakeholders. This project will develop advanced hybrid energy CCS decision-making software to help quantify the costs and risks associated with the technology. 

These awards were funded through DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards, which strive to transform DOE-supported science and technology breakthroughs into viable products and services. The awards also support the development of specialized technologies and instruments that aid in scientific discovery. Today’s selections are for SBIR and STTR Phase II research and development, meaning the businesses have demonstrated technical feasibility for innovations during Phase I of their grants. The median Phase II award is $1,100,000 for a period of two years. 

The companies receiving the funding, listed with the amounts they are receiving, are: 

Adamas Nanotechnologies Inc. (Raleigh, N.C.): $1,650,000  Adelphi Technology Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.): $1,150,000  Aerosol Dynamics Inc. (Berkeley, Calif.): $1,624,343  Advanced Cooling Technologies Inc. (Lancaster, Pa.): $1,149,999  Altex Technologies Corp. (San Jose, Calif): $1,149,916  Aqwest LLC (Larkspur, Colo.): $1,149,980   Birch Biosciences LLC (Portland, Ore.): $1,649,992  CapeSym Inc. (Natick, Mass.): $1,149,079  Carbon Solutions LLC (Saint Paul, Minn.): $1,150,000  Coreform LLC (Orem, Utah): $1,650,000   DayLyte Inc. (Knoxville, Tenn.): $1,149,987  Electron Optica (Palo Alto, Calif.): $1,149,336  Epir Inc. (Bolingbrook, Ill.): $1,149,953  Error Corp. (Bethesda, Md.): $1,645,510  Faraday Technology Inc. (Englewood, Ohio): $1,150,000  GlycoSurf LLC (Salt Lake City, Utah): $1,049,072  Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (East Lansing, Mich.): $1,099,511  HighRI Optics Inc. (Oakland, Calif.): $1,149,799  Hirsch Scientific (Pacifica, Calif.): $1,517,044  Hyperboloid LLC (Yorktown, Va.): $775,958  InnoSense LLC (Torrance, Calif.): $1,649,964  Integrated Sensors LLC (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.): $566,980  Kitware Inc. (Clifton Park, N.Y.): $1,600,000  Leiden Measurement Technology LLC (Sunnyvale, Calif.): $1,650,000  Lifeboat LLC (Champaign, Ill.): $1,650,000  Mesa Photonics LLC (Santa Fe, N.M.): $1,150,000  Metrolaser Inc. (Laguna Hills, Calif.): $1,099,904  Mizar Imaging LLC (Chapel Hill, N.C.): $1,649,668  NanoSonic Inc. (Pembroke, Va.): $1,149,950  Nion Company (Kirkland, Wash.): $1,099,242  OLI Systems Inc. (Parsippany, N.J.): $1,100,000  Optimax Systems Inc. (Ontario, N.Y.): $1,135,055  Ozark Integrated Circuits Inc. (Fayetteville, Ark.): $1,149,939  Pacific Microchip Corp. (Culver City, Calif.): $1,150,000  ParaTools Inc. (Eugene, Ore.): $1,600,000  Particle Flux Analytics Inc. (Salt Lake City, Utah): $1,641,506  Petrolern LLC (Brookhaven, Ga.): $1,149,826  Physical Sciences Inc. (Andover, Mass.): $1,649,982  Polykala Technologies LLC (San Antonio, Texas): $1,150,000  Precision Combustion Inc. (North Haven, Conn.): $1,148,566  Quantitative BioSciences Inc. (San Diego, Calif.): $1,650,000  Radiabeam Technologies LLC (Santa Monica, Calif.): $1,149,870  RadiaSoft LLC (Boulder, Colo.): $1,637,399  Radiation Monitoring Devices Inc. (Watertown, Mass.): $2,199,952*  Rayonix LLC (Evanston, Ill.): $1,100,000  Reaction Engineering Intl. (Midvale, Utah): $1,149,386  Scintilex LLC (Alexandria, Va.): $1,099,977  Sivananthan Laboratories Inc. (Bolingbrook, Ill.): $1,099,952  Structured Materials Industries Inc. (Piscataway, N.J.): $1,150,000  VISIMO (Carnegie, Pa.): $1,146,472  Visolis Inc. (Hayward, Calif.): $1,650,000  Vista Clara Inc. (Mukilteo, Wash.): $575,000  *Funding is for two projects. 

For more information about the 54 projects, click here. For more information about DOE’s SBIR and STTR programs, click here. 

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