Department of Energy Announces $33 Million for 2020 Technology Commercialization Fund Projects

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced over $33 million in funding for 82 projects supported by the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). With over $36 million in matching funds from the private sector, these projects will advance the commercialization of promising energy technologies and strengthen partnerships between DOE’s National Laboratories and private sector companies to deploy these technologies to the marketplace.

“In order to maintain America’s technological leadership on the global stage, the Trump Administration has tapped an unprecedented response from government, academia, and our mission-critical, private-sector innovators to advance U.S. technology,” said Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. “The Technology Commercialization Fund is a critical component of the Department’s commercialization strategy, meant to provide a bridge that connects America’s innovators to the research and expertise of our world-class National Lab system.”

“The TCF model is an important link in the U.S. energy innovation ecosystem, beginning at basic science research and development and reaching maturity in the form of commercial products and services,” said DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and OTT Director Conner Prochaska. “When we allow the nation’s entrepreneurs and creators to harness the full power of our National Lab complex, we build strong connections that energize this process and bolster American competitiveness.”

The TCF was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to promote promising energy technologies by supporting entrepreneurs’ efforts to engage with the DOE National Laboratory complex. The TCF selections announced today will expand DOE’s efforts to catalyze the commercial impact of the Department’s portfolio of research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities. 

DOE received over 220 applications for 2020 TCF funding, with project teams engaging more than 130 different partners across multiple diverse disciplines. Teams must receive a 50 percent match of non-federal funds from private partners to receive a TCF award.

Selected Labs and Partners

Ames Laboratory

Mechanically Robust High Magnetic Performance Sm-Co Sintered Magnets, $250,000

Electron Energy Corporation, Lanisville, PA

Argonne National Laboratory

A Comprehensive Validation Methodology For Benchmarking Wide Bandgap Power Devices for Aerospace Application and Improving Manufacturing Process, $250,000

Boeing, El Segundo, CA
Kyma Tech, Raleigh, NC

A User-Friendly AI Manufacturing Toolkit for Generation of Metastable Phase Diagram, $250,000

Sentient Science, West Lafayette, IN
UTRC, East Hartford, CT

Advanced Drivetrain lubricants for enhanced reliability in harsh conditions, $1,000,000

Exxon Mobil, Annondale, NJ
GE Renewable Energy, Schenectady, NY
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO
Pixelligent Technologies, Baltimore, MD
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing of Nickel Alloy Based Low-Cost Heat Exchangers for Harsh Environments, $250,000

ExOne Company, St. Clairsville, OH

Demonstration of Ceramicrete® as a Robust Geothermal Well Cement, $250,000

Dual-Fuel Technology for Diesel Combustion Engines, $650,000

Progress Rail, A Caterpillar company, La Grange, IL

Extending PDC Capabilities to TerraPower Direct-Cycle Supercritical CO2 (“Pascal”) Nuclear Reactor Concepts, $250,000

TerraPower, Bellevue, WA

Preparing Large Area of Thermochromic Nanocomposite Films for Smart Window Application, $250,000

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Maturation of Technology for Trapping Xenon and Krypton, $160,626

Forge Nano Inc., Louisville, CO

Surface Modification of Graphite Anodes Enabling Fast Charging of Li-ion Batteries, $250,000

State University of New York, Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY

Sustainable Well Cement for Geothermal, Thermal Recovery and Carbon Storage Wells, $249,999

HERO, Seattle, WA
Imerys, Chesapeake, VA
Resourcecementing, Rio Vista, CA
Trabits Group, Wasilla, AK

Idaho National Laboratory

A Longitudinal Finned Heat Exchanger for Thermal Energy Storage and Recovery, $100,000

Rapid Cutting, LLC, Maumelle, AR

Accelerated Deployment of Economic Benefits for Advanced Technology and High-Efficiency Fuels Employing Predictive Tools for Analyzing DNB and Time-at-Temperature Criteria, $1,500,000

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Washington, D.C.

Automated Logging of Analog Control Rooms, $250,000

Development of a Prototype Control Room for an Advanced Reactor Vendor, $750,000

Kairos Power, Alameda, CA
University of Idaho, Moscow, ID

EMRALD Technology Advancements for Commercial Grade Dedication Readiness, $125,000

FPoliSolutions, Pittsburgh, PA

Fractionation of Lignocellulosic Biomass into High-Value Products, $120,000

Golden Leaf Energy, New Orleans, LA
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN

High Accuracy Self-Navigation of Indoor Environment Drones, $250,000

LPI, Inc., New York, NY

Operational Integration and Scalable Deployment of Microgrid Control Algorithms into Nanogrid Inverter+PV+Storage Applications, $220,000

Inergy Holdings, LLC, Pocatello, ID

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Adaptation of CRAGE for Clostridium Strains To Enable Rapid Strain Engineering for Production of Biofuels and Bioproducts from Low-Cost Gas Feedstock, $250,000

LanzaTech, Inc, Skokie, IL

Expanding Access and Scalability of Microgrid and DER Analysis with DER-CAM, $200,000

Nanosegregated Bimetallic Oxide Anode Catalyst For Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer, $300,000

IRD Fuel Cells, Albuquerque, NM
Pajarito Powder, Albuquerque, NM
Proton OnSite/NEL, Wallingford, CT

Production of a New Aviation Biofuel Precursor from Cellulosic Biomass Using an Engineered Strain of Novozymes’ C5/C6 Sugar Consuming Yeast, $250,000

Novozymes North America Inc., Franklinton, NC

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Advanced Magnetic Radiation Shielding for Nuclear Energy Applications, $240,000

American Ceramic Technology, Escondido, CA
Ames Laboratory, Ames, IA

Materials Design Simulator: A Practical Tool for Advanced Alloys Development, $250,000

MolyWorks, Cloverdale, CA

Micro-liter Fuel Ignition Tester for Accelerated Discovery of Advanced Combustion Fuels, $100,000

System Integration of Rationally Designed Dilute Alloy Catalysts for Energy-Efficient Electrochemical CO2-to-Fuel Conversion, $250,000

Opus-12, Berkeley, CA
TOTAL American Services, Inc., Hopkinton, MA

Zero-order Reaction Kinetics: Enabling the Use of Detailed Chemical Kinetics in Combustion Simulations, $545,000

Convergent Science, Madison, WI
Gamma Technologies, LLC, Westmont, IL

National Energy Technology Laboratory

Catalyst Development for Automotive Exhaust Treatment, $101,146

Pyrochem Catalyst Company, Louisville, KY

Rare Earth Element Extraction from Powder River Basin Coal Byproducts and Mining Waste, $810,568

Campbell County Board of Commissioners, Gillette, WY
City of Gillette, Gillette, WY
Energy Capital Economic Development Fund, Gillette, WY
University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

3D Printed Desiccant Wheel with Thermo-responsive Desiccants for Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort in Buildings, $250,000

Blue Mountain Energy, Las Vegas, NV
Gas Technology Institute, Woodland Hills, CA
TCPoly, Inc., Atlanta, GA

A Customizable Metric to Quantify the Quality of Mobility, $438,149

Street Light Data, San Francisco, CA

Advanced OT Edge-level Data-Driven Threat Detection, $249,752

Eaton Research Labs, Golden, CO

Advanced Power Distribution Sensing and Communications Through the Cable TV Broadband Network, $250,000

Cable Television Laboratories, Inc., Louisville, CO
Commscope, Inc, Suwanee, GA
Holy Cross Energy, Glenwood Springs, CO
Northern Lights, Inc., Sagle, ID
Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, Exton, PA

Carbon Free Data Center Control & Assessment, $150,000

Daimler AG, Stuttgart, Germany
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Spokane, WA
Power Innovations, Highland, UT

Commercialization of Fully Renewable Non-Isocyanate Polyurethanes, $729,918

Algix, Meridian, MS
Honda R&D Americas, Raymond, OH
Patagonia, Ventura, CA

Commercializing Biographite for Lithium Ion Batteries, $100,062

Ensyn, Ontario, Canada

Cracked Film Lithography For Metal Grids in CdTe Modules, $250,000

First Solar, San Francisco, CA

Full Area Quality Control for Advanced Membrane R2R Fabrication Lines By In-Line, High Resolution, Multi-Layer Thickness Mapping, $124,986

Middleton Spectral Vision, Middleton, WI

Geothermal Resource Portfolio Optimization & Reporting Technique, $112,500

CanGEA, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Hungarian Geological Survey, Budapest, Hungary
International Geothermal Association (IGA), Bonn, Germany
Jacobs Engineering, Inc., Auckland, New Zealand
Reykjavik Energy, Reykjavik, Iceland

High Fidelity Modeling Toolkit for Wind Farm Development, $850,000

GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY
GE Renewable Energy, Schenectady, NY
Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM

Impacts of Hydrogen Blending in Natural Gas Networks, $175,000

Encoord, LLC, Edgewater, CO
Institute of Gas Innovation and Technology, Stony Brook, NY
Southern California Gas Company, Los Angeles, CA

Improving the Accuracy of Building Energy Models used in the Design Process, $1,000,000

Autodesk, Boston, MA
Cedar Stack, Seattle, WA

Passivated Contacts for Direct Wafers, $149,905

1366 Technologies, Bedford, MA

Scribe and Interface Modification for Stable Halide Perovskite Modules, $450,000

Tandem PV, Inc., Santa Clara, CA

Surface Modified Electrolyzer Components for Corrosion Resistance and Electrical Conductivity, $124,900

Treadstone Technologies, Inc., Princeton, NJ

Technical and Commercial Assessment of a Newly Developed Secondary Reflector Design for Linear Fresnel Technology, $600,000

Hyperlight Energy, Lakeside, CA

Technology Agnostic Loss and Life Informed Dispatch of battEry Assets (TALLIDEA), $250,000

Centrica Business Solutions, Bellevue, WA

Urban Algal Forests to Capture Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Wastewater Nutrients: Algal Strain Development to Enhance Efficiencies, $240,000

Gross-Wen Technologies, Ames, IA
MWRD Chicago, Chicago, IL

Wet Waste for High-Performance Sustainable Aviation Fuels, $249,660

ALD Nanosolutions, Broomfield, CO
Earth Energy Renewables, Bryan, TX

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

3D Printing Catalysts for Improved Efficiency and Selectivity: Converting Waste to Jet Fuel, $150,000

Honeywell UOP, McCook, IL

3D Reality Energy Modeling Software, $100,000

Bentley Systems, Washington, D.C.

Expansion of Atmospheric CO2 Plasma Conversion Coatings on Lightweight Magnesium Alloys, $120,000

Integrated Process for Direct Air Capture of CO2 and its Electrochemical Conversion to Ethanol, $1,500,000

Reactwell, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA

LNG based energy storage concept for behind the meter energy storage, $250,000

ThermoFisher Scientific, Asheville, NC

Misalignment Tolerant Three-Phase Wireless Fast Charging System for Electric Vehicles, $750,000

FCA US LLC, Auburn Hills, MI

Nanofluids with Enhanced Heat Transfer and Reduced Corrosion Properties for Advanced Molten Salt Reactors, $400,000

ThorCon US, Inc., Stevenson, WA
University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Knoxville, TN

Primer-Less Self-Healing Sealant for Building Envelopes, $100,000

Recovery of Lithium from Geothermal Brine with Lithium-Aluminum Layered Double Hydroxide Chloride Sorbents, $500,000

All American Lithium, Brawley, CA
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID

Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, $1,200,000

Redox Power Systems, College Park, MD

sCO2 to Molten Salt Heat Exchanger for Ultra-High Temperature Applications, $250,000

Baryton Energy Inc., Hampton, NH
General Atomics, San Diego, CA

Self-Healing Films for Vacuum Insulation Panels and Air/Vapor Barrier Membranes, $200,000

FLEXcon Industrial Park, Spencer, MA

Simulation Capability for Fuel Assembly Bow Distortion in PWRs, $750,000

Westinghouse Electric Company, Cranberry Township, PA

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Deep Learning for Fish Identification from Sonar Data, $489,000

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA
Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Traverse City, MI
SOUND METRICS, Bellevue, WA
The Eel Passage Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
The Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
USGS, Great Lakes Science Center, Millersburg, MI

Electrolyte Development for Fast-Charging High-Energy-Density Lithium Batteries, $250,000

American Lithium Energy Corporation (ALEC), Carlsbad, CA
Navitas Advanced Solutions Group (Navitas), Ann Arbor, MI

HIPPO – An Electricity Market and Power System Research Platform, $250,000

MISO Energy, Carmel, IN

Magnetic Nanoparticle Extraction of Lithium from Produced Waters, $182,990

Canada Natural Resources Limited, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Conoco-Phillips Corporation, Houston, TX
Hatch Engineering, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Moselle Technologies LLC, Farmers Branch, TX

Manufacturing Hybrid Copper – Aluminum Rotors for High Power Induction and Permanent Magnet Electric Motors, $200,000

General Motors Research and Development, Warren, MI

Multi-purpose Advanced Coatings for Protection of High Temperature Alloys in Harsh Industrial Processes, $600,000

Praxair, Inc., Tonawanda, NY

Optimization and Commercialization of the Juvenile Eel/Lamprey Acoustic Transmitter and Micro-battery, $600,000

Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS), Isanti, MN
Innovasea, Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
MicroBatt Technologies Inc, Bellevue, WA

Optimize the Autonomous Sensor Fish Device for Understanding Interactions of Aquatic Animals with Marine and Hydrokinetic and Hydro Systems., $600,000

Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS), Isanti, MN
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA
Natel Energy, Inc., Alameda, CA
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Production of High-Pressure Hydrogen from the Decomposition of Formic Acid, $700,000

OCO Chem, Blue River, OR

Retro-Commissioning Sensor Suitcase for Energy Efficiency, $250,000

BC Hyrdro, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
GreenPath Energy Solutions, Windermere, FL
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Sacramento, CA
University of Idaho, Boise, ID
Zepher, Bingen, WA

Smart Building Start (SBS), $250,000

Verdicity, Newton, MA

Smart Monitoring and Diagnostic System (SMDS) for Packaged Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps for Small/Medium Commercial Buildings: Preparation for Commercialization, $250,000

JouleSmart Solutions, Inc., Portland, OR

Sandia National Laboratories

Continuous Interoperability for Distributed Energy, $500,000

SunSpec Alliance, San Jose, CA

Development of Microfabricated Sensor Solutions for Petrochemical Applications, $469,406

Honeywell PMT UOP HPS, Des Plaines, IL

Dry Cooling Technology to Reduce Costs and Water Use at Power Plants, $1,000,000

Palo Verde Generating Station/Arizona Public Service, Tonopah, AZ

Heliostat Observation System Commercial Qualification (HOS-C-Q), $300,000

Heliogen, Pasadena, CA

High-Temperature, Self-Healing Advanced Superalloy Components for High-Performance Reactors, $1,500,000

Dynetics, Huntsville, AL
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Westwind Computer Products, Albuquerque, NM

Robotic Handling of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel to Support Implementation of a Consolidated Rod Canister, $1,500,000

NAC International Inc., Peachtree Corners, GA

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