Brady PieperThe Department of Energy is investing $41 million into projects focused on researching and producing liquid energy from renewable sources that can be transported and stored as easily as oil and gas
The agency is providing between $720,000 and $5 million to 14 universities and research institutions to develop different forms of Renewable-to-Liquid (RtL) methods.
Projects will be managed by the DOE’s moonshot factory, Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) and its Grid-free Renewable Energy Enabling Ways to Economical Liquids and Long-Term Storage program (GREENWELLS). The GREENWELLS program is the first time APRA-E has invested in RtL technologies.
One of GREENWELLS goals is to support production of Low-Carbon fuel through off-grid renewable energy resources. Low-carbon fuels burn with less carbon-dioxide emissions, but they cost significantly more to produce than traditional high-carbon emitting fossil fuels. Through the funding, ARPA-E seeks to streamline a cost-effective, sustainable renewable energy-to-liquid process that continues U.S. energy innovation goals.
“The Department of Energy charges forward on its mission of finding and elevating new technologies to ensure that the United States remains innovative and energy independent,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a press release. “Renewables-to-liquids fuel production has the potential to boost the utility of renewable energy.”
Off-grid renewable resources would create cleaner-burning fuels without adding additional strain on the current electrical grid. With the current round of funding, ARPA-E seeks to economically store 50% of incoming intermittent electrical energy with carbon-containing liquids that can be easily and safely transported to hard-to-decarbonize industries like transportation.
The conversion of renewable energy to a transportable liquid state can be achieved with different methods. Of the 14 selected projects, most are developing technologies on converting carbon dioxide, water and renewable energy into methanol or ethanol. Several projects are attempting to optimize electrolyzed reactors with varying rates of temperature and availability of renewable energy. Others are using existing technologies like combustion engine technology to build cost-effective and easily implementable ways of producing low-carbon liquid fuel from renewable energy resources.
Grants were awarded to universities and institutes around the country, including:
- Washington State University ($4 million) – Utilizing a carbon dioxide hydrogenation process to produce hydrocarbon liquids at varying temperature settings.
- University of California at Los Angeles ($3 million) – Developing a prototype carbon dioxide electrolyzer column for stackability and broad implementation.
- Northeastern University ($986,000) – Testing modular electrochemical ethanol production using intermittent power levels.
Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash
