ARPA-E Awards $6 Million to Two Argonne Projects

As part of the Department of Energy's (DOE’s) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funding, Argonne National Laboratory will be receiving $4 million for a collaborative project that seeks to lower the cost and speed the adoption of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.

Plug-in and Electric Car Batteries

In this case, 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 funding for a joint 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 watt hours per kilogram) and rapidly hasten adoption of low cost plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.”

Carbon Capture

In this first round of projects funded under ARPA-E, Argonne also received $2.2 million for a joint research project on a new process to remove carbon dioxide (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.”

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Department of Energy - ARPA-E Home

November 2009