{"304551":{"#nid":"304551","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Awarded $11.2 Million Grant for Energy Frontier Research Center","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech receives an $11.2 million grant from the U.S Department of Energy to fund a multi-institution research center led by The School of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). The Center for Understanding and Control of Acid Gas-Induced Evolution of Materials for Energy (UNCAGE-ME) is one of only 10 new Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) to be funded through the federal program and is the first EFRC to be led by Georgia Tech. Krista Walton, a ChBE professor, will serve as director for the center, which aims to advance the understanding of how acid gases interact with wide range of energy-related materials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cThe overall goal of our EFRC is to provide a fundamental understanding of acid gas interactions with a broad class of materials and establish strategies for extending material stability and lifetime,\u201d Walton said. \u201cThese results will ultimately enable us to accelerate materials discovery for large-scale energy applications.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFive other ChBE professors \u2014 Christopher Jones, Michael Filler, Ryan Lively, Sankar Nair and David Sholl, and Thomas Orlando, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry \u2014 also will serve as principal investigators at the center. The center will involve work at six partner institutions: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tenn.; the Department of Energy\u2019s largest multiprogram science and energy laboratory), the University of Florida, the University of Alabama, the University of Wisconsin, Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pa.) and Washington University in St. Louis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cOur multifaceted approach to this important problem is unique, and one of our proposal reviewers even pointed out that this will be the first research center in the world specifically dedicated to this topic, said Walton.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;The research center\u2019s start date is Aug. 1. The awards announced on June 18 are the second round of funding for EFRCs. The 32 projects receiving funding were competitively selected from more than 200 proposals.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about the EFRC program, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/science.energy.gov\/bes\/efrc\/\u0022\u003Eclick here\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Center led by the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering to explore acid gas interactions with broad range of materials"}],"uid":"27869","created_gmt":"2014-06-23 13:41:57","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:37","author":"Allison Caughey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"304591":{"id":"304591","type":"image","title":"Krista Walton","body":null,"created":"1449244637","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:57:17","changed":"1475895009","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:09","alt":"Krista Walton","file":{"fid":"199664","name":"walton.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/walton_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/walton_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":106855,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/walton_1.jpg?itok=f4yta3Ef"}}},"media_ids":["304591"],"groups":[{"id":"217141","name":"Georgia Tech Materials Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"213","name":"energy"},{"id":"167445","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"304571":{"#nid":"304571","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Professor Meilin Liu Awarded $1M Grant from U.S. Department of Energy to Develop New Fuel Cell Technology","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMeilin Liu, Regents\u0027 Professor and Associate Chair in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, has received a prestigious Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to expand work with fuel cells. ARPA-E\u2019s new Reliable Electricity Based on Electrochemical Systems (REBELS) program, recognizes researchers with high-potential, high-impact, pre-commercial projects in fuel cell technologies for distributed power systems. Dr. Liu\u2019s project utilizes methane, a cheap and abundant natural gas, to develop more efficient, lower-temperature and cost-effective fuel cells for grid-level power-generation. Liu\u2019s project was awarded $1 million and was one of only 13 new projects selected nationwide.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech has a long-standing reputation for excellence in materials science and engineering,\u201d said Materials Science and Engineering School Chair Dr. Naresh Thadhani. \u201cDr. Liu\u2019s ARPA-E project presents an exciting opportunity for our program to have an even broader impact in solving challenges of great societal importance.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFuel cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel source into electrical energy and are optimal for distributed power generation systems, which generate power close to where it is used. Though fuel cells have been viewed as a potential eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels, durability, performance, and cost have been barriers to widespread commercial use of fuel cells. Over the last decade, research advances have improved many of the materials and engineering challenges contributing to fuel cells\u2019 cost and performance issues. But these research efforts have been primarily focused on exploring technologies that either operate at high temperatures (600\u003Csup\u003E\u00b0\u003C\/sup\u003EC or higher) for grid-scale applications or low temperatures (180\u003Csup\u003E\u00b0\u003C\/sup\u003EC) for vehicle technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELiu\u2019s project will focus on developing fuel cell devices that operate in an intermediate temperature range (200-500\u00b0C). The fuel cells will directly process methane and will use nanocomposite electrolytes that enable the fuel cells to operate at lower temperatures and utilize lower-cost materials to produce, store, and distribute power. Designed for household application, the fuel cells offer a viable low-cost, high-performance solution for mass distributed power generation and storage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cMethane fuel cells are particularly well-suited for household use because homes are already equipped to run on natural gas,\u201d said Liu. \u201cThe fuel cell would just replace the water heater or furnace and enable families to power their homes without connecting to the grid, which offers a cleaner, more efficient energy option.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETim Lieuwen, director of the Strategic Energy Institute, said distributed power generation solutions such as Liu\u2019s offer great promise in mitigating many of the challenges associated centralized generation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn our current centralized approach, electricity is primarily produced at large generation facilities and often require long transmission distances that can result in power losses and leave lines vulnerable to disruption during inclement weather or natural disasters,\u201d said Lieuwen.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELiu is also a collaborator on another ARPA-E fuel cell project with The University of California \u2013 Los Angeles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Projects aims to utilize methane fuel cells for distributed power generation and storage"}],"uid":"27869","created_gmt":"2014-06-23 13:51:34","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:37","author":"Allison Caughey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"68420":{"id":"68420","type":"image","title":"Meilin Liu with fuel cell","body":null,"created":"1449177176","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:12:56","changed":"1475894594","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:14"}},"media_ids":["68420"],"groups":[{"id":"217141","name":"Georgia Tech Materials Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"95961","name":"distributed power generation and storage"},{"id":"95951","name":"energy ARPA-E"},{"id":"2044","name":"Fuel Cell"},{"id":"1692","name":"materials"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}