Modular Energy Production Systems in sight at RAPID Manufacturing USA Institute
In Iowa, Iowa State University is reporting that it will bring its expertise in biorenewable technologies and pilot plant operations to the country’s 10th Manufacturing USA Institute. The recently announced advanced manufacturing institute is dedicated to improving the productivity and efficiency of chemical manufacturing, and could save the chemical industry more than $9 billion annually, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The new institute will be known as RAPID, the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment Institute. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers in New York City will lead the effort, which was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
The proposal that won the Department of Energy’s approval includes $8 million to support development and testing of biorefineries that that feature modular design and construction for ease of manufacturing and mass production.
“This institute is intended to take technologies – ideas that are well beyond basic research – and translate them into workable processes that can be demonstrated in the field,” said Robert C. Brown, the director of Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute, an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and the leader of RAPID’s Distributed Biorefinery program.
Iowa State researchers are managing the project’s biorefinery efforts because they are “an extremely talented and well-known team that’s highly regarded in the industry,” said Karen Fletcher, RAPID’s chief executive officer, speaking during a recent tour of Iowa State’s BioCentury Research Farm.
A possible projects highlighted in the application includes the pyrolysis-based Modular Energy Production Systems for conversion of wastes and biomass into fuels, chemicals and other products, with $3.2 million from the energy department and additional support from Easy Energy Systems of Emmetsburg; the State of Iowa; Stine Seed Co. of Adel; and the Iowa Energy Center.
Anaerobic digestion of grassy biomass and wet wastes to convert waste biomass into carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals, with $4 million from the energy department and additional support from Earth Energy Renewables of Bryan, Texas; Roeslein Alternative Energy of St. Louis; the State of Iowa; the Iowa Energy Center; and Iowa State. The project will build on technology developed by Mark Holtzapple of Texas A&M University to efficiently ferment biomass for production of carboxylic acids. The acids can be converted into valuable industrial chemicals and fuels, all the way up to gasoline.
Brown said both projects and the dollars associated with them are still subject to final contract negotiations between the Department of Energy and the leaders of RAPID. But he says they’re good candidates to move ahead.
“We believe these projects fit the institute well and can very quickly advance,” Brown said. “These are also projects that will be developed at a scale that addresses the commercially significant issues.”
Category: Research
