The Department of Energy's (DOE) High-Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) program recently announced the funding of $4 million for 10 new projects, including three collaborations involving Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) aimed at improving carbon capture, energy savings and CO2 reduction.
In a partnership of LLNL, First Light Solutions and the University of California, Davis, researchers will employ high-performance computing (HPC) simulations to discover and manufacture carbon-capturing zeolites - absorbent microporous materials often used to remove hard water - that could improve CO2 uptake in point-source capture humidity levels. The project is anticipated to result in an annual energy savings of 25 million gigajoules (GJ) and reductions of 86 million tons of CO2 emission. The project was funded through the High-Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) program, one of the pillars of HPC4EI.
In a project funded through the High-Performance Computing for Materials (HPC4Mtls) pillar of HPC4EI, ArcelorMittal and LLNL scientists will use HPC to predict and reduce defects in steel slab production, with a predicted impact of up to 745,000 gigajoules per year in energy savings and a reduction of 1.71 million tons per year in CO2 equivalent emissions nationwide.
The third project, also funded through HPC4Mtls, is a partnership between Nucor and LLNL to apply Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations to improve the design of Electric Arc Furnace exhaust stream filters, with a predicted impact up to 48 million gigajoules of energy savings and 2.3 million tons per year of CO2 reduction.
The HPC4EI program is managed by LLNL for DOE. The 18th HPC4EI solicitation was released in spring 2024 and was sponsored by the HPC4Mfg and HPC4Mtls pillars. DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office funds the HPC4Mfg program. HPC4Mtls is funded by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM).
Other projects receiving funding under the HPC4Mfg umbrella include collaborations between RTX Technology Research Center and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to accelerate design of film cooling technologies for high-performance turbines and ClearSign Technologies Corporation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to improve the design of hydrogen burners.
Additional projects funded under the HPC4Mtls program (by AMMTO and FECM) include collaborations by RTX Technology and ANL to expedite design of film cooling technologies for high performance turbines; GE Vernova Advanced Research and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to enhance the durability of gas turbine components against hydrogen embrittlement; DNV and the National Energy Technology Laboratory to accelerate design and development of high strength nickel alloys that are resistant to hydrogen embrittlement; EarthEn Energy Inc. and ORNL to employ high-performance computing simulations of a supercritical CO2 compressor-as-a-turbine for energy storage systems; Shell Global Solutions and ANL to optimize the design of carbon capture units under uncertainties in feed compositions and operational conditions; and Helix Earth Technologies and ANL to enhance CO2 capture rates of micron-scale droplet spray reactors.
In all, DOE estimates the projects could potentially reduce tens of millions of tons of CO2 emissions annually.
In addition to the newly funded projects, the HPC4EI program also announced the start of the fall 2024 solicitation, which seeks proposals from industry to collaborate with DOE national laboratories on projects that address key energy and decarbonization related challenges for domestic manufacturers.
Selected projects will be awarded up to $400,000 each to support compute cycles and work performed by the national laboratories. The industry partner must provide a participant contribution of at least 20% of the total project funding. The industry contribution must come from non-federal funding sources. Concept papers are due on Dec. 11. Full proposals are due in March 2025.
