DOE RAPID Institute Opens Call for Proposals
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $3 million for projects that address barriers to modular chemical process intensification to enable development of breakthrough technologies that can boost energy productivity and energy efficiency in industries such as oil and gas, pulp and paper, and chemical manufacturing. DOE’s Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) manufacturing institute will fund up to six research and development (R&D) projects that align with RAPID’s research focus areas in chemical and commodity processing, natural gas upgrading, renewable bioproducts, intensified process fundamentals, modeling and simulation, and module manufacturing.
RAPID’s project call seeks proposals that advance the following institutional goals:
- Double energy productivity through a process intensification technology;
- Intensify process modules with 10x reduction in capital cost, 20% improvement in energy efficiency, and 20% lower emissions/waste;
- Reduce manufacturing costs of process intensified modules by 20% with each doubling cumulative module production; and
- Reduce the cost of deploying modular chemical process intensification by 50%.
Ideal projects will meet the RAPID institute’s federal vs. private cost-share ratio. While projects with less than a 1.5:1 cost-share ratio will be considered, a minimum cost-share ratio of 1:1 is required. The targeted R&D project length is approximately 18 months, with federal budgets of $300,000 to $500,000. Full proposals are due on Thursday, January 15, 2020.
Learn more about the areas of emphasis and submission requirements.
Founded in December 2016, in partnership with the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office, RAPID is the 10th institute in the federally-funded Manufacturing USA network. In partnership with industry, academia, and the DOE National Laboratories, the RAPID Institute leverages approaches to modular chemical process intensification with the goal of improving productivity and efficiency, cutting operating costs, and reducing waste.
