Description
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) High-Performance Computing for Energy Innovation Initiative will issue a Fall 2022 solicitation in November 2022. HPC4EI programs provide access to national laboratory supercomputing resources, including expertise for high performance computing projects, to reduce carbon emissions, improve manufacturing processes, address products’ lifecycle energy consumption, and increase the efficiency of energy conversion and storage technologies. The fall solicitation will include the High-Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) program and the High-Performance Computing for Materials (HPC4Mtls) program, which are supported by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) and by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, respectively. These programs harness the raw processing power of national laboratory supercomputers to decarbonize U.S. industry and move us closer to an equitable clean energy future that benefits all Americans. HPC4EI conducts two regular solicitations annually, one in the fall and one in the spring. The fall solicitation will target qualified industry partners to participate in short-term, collaborative projects with DOE National Laboratories that address key manufacturing challenges and accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies to move us closer to the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Eligibility for the program is limited to entities that manufacture products ' in the United States - and to organizations that support these entities. The solicitation will encourage applicants to partner with a diverse range of universities, community colleges, and non-profit organizations, especially those located in disadvantaged communities. This focus ensures the equitable use and benefits of HPC national laboratory resources and technologies. Selected projects will be awarded up to $300,000 to support computing cycles and work performed by DOE National Laboratories, universities, and non-profit partners. All DOE National Laboratories are eligible to participate. The industry partner must provide a participant contribution of at least 20% of the total project funding. DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy , is the primary sponsor of the High Performance Computing for Manufacturing program. AMO partners with private and public stakeholders to decarbonize industry and increase the competitiveness of the U.S. manufacturing and clean energy sectors through process innovations, collaborations, research and development, and technical assistance and workforce training. The Advanced Energy Materials program funded by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) is the primary sponsor for the High Performance Computing for Materials program. FECM funds research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects to decarbonize power generation and industrial production, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and mitigate the environmental impacts of fossil fuel production and use. Learn more about the HPC4EI initiative. https://hpc4energyinnovation.llnl.gov Topics of interest specific to the offices supporting this solicitation are below. HPC4Manufacturing DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is the primary sponsor of the HPC4Mfg Program. Other Technology Offices within EERE and DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) may also sponsor select projects in this portfolio. AMO partners with private and public stakeholders to decarbonize industry and increase the competitiveness of the U.S. manufacturing and clean energy sectors through process innovations, research and development, and technical assistance and workforce training. AMO supports cost-shared research, development, and activities in support of crosscutting next-generation technologies and processes that hold high potential to significantly improve energy efficiency and reduce energy-related emissions, industrial waste, and the life‐ cycle energy consumption of manufactured products. The primary goal of the HPC4Mfg Program is to reduce carbon emissions across the industrial sector and improve the efficiency and productivity of U.S. manufacturing. The program solicits proposals that require HPC modeling and simulation to overcome impactful manufacturing process challenges resulting in reduced energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and/or increased productivity. Proposals should provide a realistic assessment of the carbon emissions reduction, energy impact, emission reduction, the improvement in U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, and the increase in U.S. manufacturing jobs that a successful outcome of the project could have across the industrial sector. Of particular interest to AMO are: Improvements in manufacturing processes which result in significant national carbon emissions reduction and energy savings. Examples include: Process improvements in industries with high decarbonization potential such as chemicals, primary metal manufacturing, cement, food processing industries, paper and pulp, and glass; Improvements in material performance in harsh service environments such as very high temperature or highly corrosive processes (e.g. high-temperature thermal energy storage and conversion); Improvements in modeling prediction and closed-loop control for smart manufacturing systems (e.g., advanced sensors and process controls); Improvements in recyclability or material recovery from systems or components at their end of life, or from waste products generated along the supply chain; Improvements of material quality or purity from materials recovery that facilitate requalification or remanufacturing processes that have lower energy or carbon footprints than mining and refinement of equivalent materials; Improvements in separation and processing for critical materials (e.g., rare earth elements); and Electrification of industrial processes. Improvements in semiconductor technologies that will result in operational energy efficiency improvements. Examples include: Improvements in modeling of advanced materials crucial to more energy efficient semiconductor devices and systems. Process improvements in semiconductor manufacturing that lower the embodied energy of or otherwise result in more energy efficient semiconductor systems. Carbon emissions reduction and efficiency improvements in energy conversion and storage technologies. Examples include: Improvements in waste heat recovery for thermal energy storage systems. Improvements in design and process optimization for battery component manufacturing and system assembly that improve capacity, operational lifetime, or reduce embodied energy/carbon. Conversion of combined heat and power units to low carbon fuels. Reductions in CO2 or CO2-equivalent emissions. Examples include improvement in the performance of carbon-capturing processes; modification of fossil-fueled systems to accept low-to-zero carbon fuels; and electrification of processes to replace combustion-driven processes. HPC4Materials The Advanced Energy Materials program, funded by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and managed by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, is the primary sponsor of the High-Performance Computing for Materials program. FECM funds research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects to decarbonize power generation and industrial production, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and mitigate the environmental impacts of fossil fuel production and use. The Advanced Energy Materials program works to characterize, produce, and certify advanced alloys and high-performance materials that are key to realizing the dispatchable, reliable, high- efficiency, decarbonized power generation from gas, biomass, or hydrogen. In addition, the program aims to encourage change and stimulate innovation in the high-performance materials value chain to spur U.S. competitiveness. FECM partners with industry, academia, national laboratories, and research facilities on research, development, demonstration, and deployment of carbon management technologies that are essential for decarbonizing key sectors, including power and industrial sectors, some of the largest sources of carbon emissions today. Clean hydrogen is expected to play a considerable role in decarbonizing these sectors. Today, roughly 95% of the hydrogen in the United States is produced from natural gas without carbon capture, which is carbon intensive. However, there is significant potential in applying carbon capture technologies to help advance a cost-effective and low-carbon hydrogen economy. Proposals for the HPC4Materials Program should provide a realistic assessment of the proposed project’s benefits to the domestic materials supply chain and/or fossil energy application (e.g., reduced energy consumption and/or greenhouse gas emissions for power plants or clean hydrogen producers/users). Of particular interest to FECM in this solicitation are: Advanced Structural Materials for Hydrogen Applications Improving the understanding of the material impacts including corrosion and erosion effects of gasification of feedstock blends (e.g., waste coal, sustainably sourced biomass, and waste plastics) on materials in high temperature regions of a gasifier, including sensitivity analysis of blend percentages and types of feedstocks. Improving the understanding of the material impacts including hydrogen embrittlement effects of blends of natural gas and hydrogen on materials in pipelines, welded joints or compressors, including sensitivity analysis of blend percentages. Use of computational databases and machine learning for thermal barrier coating (TBC) development for hot gas path components of combustion turbines firing natural gas-hydrogen blends or 100% hydrogen. Use of computational databases and machine learning for development of ceramic metal composites for use in components of combustion turbines firing natural gas- hydrogen blends or 100% hydrogen. Advanced Functional Materials for Hydrogen Applications Use of computational databases and machine learning for catalyst development to synthesize, test, characterize, and scale materials which convert carbon oxides into value-added products with increased energy efficiency, higher selectivity, and lower environmental impacts based on a lifecycle analysis relative to conventional products. Use of computational databases and machine learning for catalyst development to synthesize, test, characterize, and scale materials for reforming natural gas/methane to produce syngas or hydrogen. Developing machine learning capabilities to predict composition, thermal performance, and mechanical properties of new materials for thermal energy storage. Developing machine learning capabilities to identify promising new materials for non-battery energy storage technologies that can be efficiently integrated with fossil energy power generating units. Improving performance and performance stability of fuel and oxygen electrocatalysts in reversible solid oxide fuel cells (R-SOFCs). Understanding and mitigation of microstructural changes due to uneven heat transfer into the reversible solid oxide fuel cells (R-SOFCs) for the oxygen-ion conducting R-SOFCs.