AMO to Co-Sponsor the 2016 World Energy Engineering Congress – Sept. 21–23

AMO’s Better Plants Program will be showcased at the 2016 World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC), which is the largest energy conference and technology expo held in the U.S. specifically for business, industrial and institutional energy users. Over the course of the three-day conference, the Better Plants program team will host a series of panels to discuss key energy management issues such as the value of ISO 50001, onsite generation, water and energy, and smarter data use. DOE will also issue a 2016 Better Plants progress update.

The WEEC will be held September 21–23, 2016 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Register here for the conference and tradeshow by September 9, 2016. Advance registration is required for conference and special events.

DOE’s Small Business Vouchers Pilot Selects 43 Small Businesses for Lab Collaboration

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Small Business Vouchers (SBV) Pilot announced the selection of 43 new small business collaborations for its second round of the SBV Pilot, including 8 businesses selected by the Advanced Manufacturing Office to focus on the following areas: improvements in manufacturing, including developing cheaper, more energy-efficient manufacturing methods for recycling and recovery of high value materials and for creating materials like high performance carbon, ceramics, and quantum dots used in producing turbine blades, batteries, circuit boards, and hydrogen fuel cells.

The U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Vouchers Pilot is a collaborative, national effort that provides $20M for U.S. small businesses to work with National Laboratories. Vouchers range from $50-$300K and focus on nine clean energy technologies.

A full list of the SBV projects may be viewed here.

RFI: AMO Seeks Feedback for Technical Focus Areas for Traineeships

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), on behalf of its Advanced Manufacturing Office, seeks feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on technical focus areas for graduate-level traineeship programs. EERE-funded and AMO-funded traineeship programs are designed and implemented to advance specific Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workforce competencies. EERE is specifically interested in information on potential technical focus areas for traineeships where there are identified needs and/or gaps in the expected knowledge workforce relative to advanced manufacturing technical topics.

This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting applications. Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically no later than 5:00 PM EST on October 14th, 2016.

A Call to Action to Celebrate Manufacturing Day

Manufacturing Day℠ is an occasion during which manufacturers are encouraged to open their doors to showcase the potential of modern manufacturing and foster interest in manufacturing careers. To celebrate this year’s Manufacturing Day℠ on October 7, 2016, the White House has issued a call to action to identify special announcements or events you are planning for Manufacturing Day. The White House is specifically looking for efforts that are actionable and will be announced publicly for the first time on Manufacturing Day℠. Register your announcements or ongoing efforts by completing this online form by Friday, September 9, 2016.

Click here to register your organization’s event or to find an event near you.

DEADLINE: REMADE in America Institute Full Application Submission – September 28

Full application submissions for the Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute for Reducing EMbodied-energy And Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) in Materials Manufacturing funding opportunity are due September 28 at 5:00 PM EST.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), invests in cutting-edge research, development, and demonstration activities focused on sustainable transportation, renewable power, and energy efficiency. The estimated period of performance for the award will be 5 years with the goal of the Institute to be self-sustaining by the end of the project period.

View the funding opportunity and submission instructions HERE, which includes more information about the proposed applicant eligibility requirements.

New Software Will Enable Chemical Manufacturers to Optimize System Configuration and Save Energy

The Advanced Manufacturing Office provided $900,000 for applied research and development for software that will generate low-energy solutions for a large class of multicomponent distillation applications found in typical chemical and petrochemical plants. This software is being developed by Purdue University in partnership with Dow Chemical Company, Eastman Chemical Company, and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, which will use algorithms to analyze feeds with up to six different components and determine the optimized distillation column configuration. Manufacturers will be able to use the software both to design new distillation systems and also to retrofit and reconfigure existing systems. Additionally, the software will be compatible with other software, like process simulators, currently used by the chemical manufacturing industry.

Read our blog to learn more about this project.

Critical Materials Institute, Oddello Industries Pursue Recovery of Rare-Earth Magnets from Used Hard Drives

Under a new agreement between the Advanced Manufacturing Office’s Critical Materials Institute and Oddello Industries LLC, a process for large-scale recovery of rare earth magnets from used computer hard drives will undergo industrial testing. Researchers at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory will test the process on a production line under construction at an Oddello facility in Morristown, Tennessee. These magnets are essential to the operation of everything from computer hard drives to electric and hybrid vehicles, electric bicycles, wind turbines, cell phones, air conditioners, and other appliances and industrial equipment.

For more information about the partnership and the recovery process of rare-earth magnets, read the full press release.