The Utah Innovation Center congratulates eight Utah companies who received awards from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for R&D projects that pursue scientific, clean energy and climate solutions. A total of nine projects were funded through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs among the eight companies.
Two of the companies, Coreform, LLC, winner of two awards, and Wasatch Ionics LLC, worked with the Innovation Center on their proposals. Among other companies, InnoSys, GlycoSurf and Particle Flux Analytics, have been clients of the center.
“Seeing these companies receive funding from this competitive program is a testament to the level of technical expertise in these companies and the work they are doing,” said Linda Cabrales, Innovation Center director. “It’s a great acknowledgement of the important work being done here in Utah.”
Two Awards:
Integrating MFEM For Commercial IGA Simulation Acceleration – Award Amount: $256,500
- Engineering simulation allows the development of safer products and brings them to market faster. However, next-generation engineering designs require more capable methods. This project accelerates the development of new simulation technology capable of running highly complex simulations to enable more efficient product design.
Improving Isogeometric Analysis Post-Processing For Use In Industry – Award Amount: $256,500
- Next-generation simulation technology enables more efficient product design, but legacy software applications lack the capabilities necessary to provide efficient user experience. This project will accelerate the development of an all-in-one engineering analysis application capable of modeling, simulating, and visualizing next-generation simulation results.
Wasatch Ionics LLC (Sandy, UT):
Informatics-Driven Discovery And Design Of Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) For The Recycling Of High-Value Metals From Li-Ion Batteries – Award Amount: $250,000
- Widespread recycling of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries is constrained by current costly energy intensive recycling processes. This project proposes a better solution that promotes the expansion of an economically-sustainable and environmentally-friendly lithium-ion battery recycling industry in the US.
GlycoSurf, LLC (Salt Lake City, UT)
Development Of Novel Ligands Used In Ion Flotation For Produced Water Value Extraction – Award Amount: $206,487
- Both Uranium and rare earth elements are designated as critical minerals, and the byproducts of fracking, known as produced water, contain significant quantities of these strategic metals. This technology will separate the metals of interest from produced water using our glycolipid bio-based surfactants.
INNOSYS, INC. (Salt Lake City, UT)
Split Laser Sensor For Harsh Environment Sensing Applications – Award Amount: $199,989
- Rapid environmental monitoring of water, air and soil that is cost-effective and easy-to-use is in demand. This proposal provides a solution and also supports domestic manufacturing of lower cost, carbon sequestration/fossil-based energy monitoring and related products that significantly reduce nondomestic energy dependency while increasing environmental quality.
Particle Flux Analytics, Inc. (Salt Lake City, UT)
Miniaturized Weather Station With Rapid Switching Between Precipitation And Meteorological Measurement Modes – Award Amount: $247,655
- This project brings to market a highly advanced, automated precipitation and wind sensor suited for deployment in dense networked arrays for the scientific, weather, agricultural, insurance, military, and transportation safety sectors.
Reaction Engineering International (Midvale, UT)
Web-Based Decision Support Software For Hybrid Energy Systems Based On The IDAES Framework – Award Amount: $199,737
- A significant barrier to large-scale deployment of hybrid energy systems with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to combat climate change is the lack of access to decision-making software. This project will develop advanced hybrid energy CCS decision-making software to help quantify the costs and risks associated with the technology.
American Physics and Technology LLC (Richmond, UT)
Ultra-Precision Substrate Figuring For Coherency-Preserving X-Ray Mirrors – Award Amount: $200,000
- Smoother and more accurately figured x-ray optics will be fabricated using new surface nano-polishing technologies based on focused energetic beams of cluster ions. The improved optics will increase the number, precision, and capabilities of x-ray scattering and imaging experiments, thereby accelerating the advance of nano-science and technology for physics, chemistry, materials, biology, and medicine.
Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals, Inc. (Provo, UT)
Predicting Naturally Fractured Reservoirs For Subsurface Characterization Using Machine Learning And The EDX Database – Award Amount: $199,914
- There is an urgent need to bring on additional sources of carbon-free energy sources if the U.S. is going to meet its carbon reduction targets. This project will increase efficiency and lower the cost of geothermal exploration that currently hinders geothermal energy development by using the current subsurface data index to predict the location of carbon storage sites and geothermal resources.