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August 22, 2024

Reach out to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) at ammto@ee.doe.gov with any manufacturing musings.

• Sept. 4, 2024: Submit Phase 1 materials for the Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize by 5 p.m. ET.
• Sept. 19, 2024: Submit responses for the Enhancing Coordination of the Lab Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) RFI by 5 p.m. ET.
• Sept. 30, 2024: Provide information for the Energy Efficiency Scaling for Two Decades (EES2) RFI by 5 p.m. ET.
• Oct. 22, 2024: Submit Phase 2 materials for the Re-X Before Recycling Prize by 5 p.m. ET.

Three New Selections Will Advance Materials and Manufacturing for Offshore Wind 🌬️

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) announced funding for three additional projects focusing on various materials and manufacturing technologies for offshore wind. The three selections will address advanced manufacturing needs of large offshore wind blades including the repair of wind turbine gears using digital manufacturing (Siemens Corporation), the development of a real-time manufacturing monitoring and feedback system for large wind turbine blades (TPI Composites Inc), and the advancement of magnetic component manufacturing technologies for lower cost and higher performance offshore wind generators (National Renewable Energy Laboratory).

Congratulations Clean Energy & Manufacturing Track PROGRESS Phase Winners!

That’s a wrap on the PROGRESS Phase for the Community Energy Innovation Prize! 10 electrifying teams from the Manufacturing Ecosystem Track, supported by AMMTO, were selected to each receive $100,000. The teams will use these funds for projects that support historically underserved communities and organizations, while also furthering the development of clean energy manufacturing innovation ecosystems.

The winning projects feature a variety of ambitious initiatives, including the implementation of indigenous stewardship in recycling, the jumpstarting of an industrial symbiosis in the Columbia Corridor, and the re-imagining of Kentucky metals manufacturing by planning clean energy conversion and an innovative workforce.

Teams will now move on to the IMPACT Phase, where they are eligible to win both a $10,000 award and a chance for part of the $1.5 million Grand Prize. 💸

Four AMMTO-Funded Projects Win 2024 R&D 100 Awards

The 2024 R&D 100 Awards—a renowned worldwide science and innovation competition—have been announced! Check out the winning projects funded by AMMTO below. Congratulations to the winners!   Process/Prototyping Winner: “MedUSA: Large-Scale Multiagent Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing.” Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Lab. Process/Prototyping Winner: “High Lithium Capacity Sorbents for Direct Lithium Extraction Toward Increased Domestic Critical Mineral Supply Chain.” Oak Ridge National Lab, with funding from the Critical Materials Innovation Hub. Process/Prototyping Winner: “APEX CDR–Amino acid Process for EXtreme Carbon Dioxide Removal.” Holocene, an Innovation Crossroads 2022 Cohort company (LEEP). Process/Prototyping Winner: “Selective Mixed Plastic Recycling.” Re-Du, an Innovation Crossroads 2023 Cohort company (LEEP).

Making It!

For the Love of Corn, Say Hello to Fellow Gary DeBoer 🌽          

Have you caught up on our Making It! series? This series spotlights the fresh perspectives of our fantastic fellows who are making next-generation materials and manufacturing processes possible for our clean energy future. Growing up around Iowa’s lake-sized cornfields, surrounded by an extended family of Dutch farmers, DeBoer was a happy camper as a child. One day, though, his dad “popped the corn kernel” of this charming, idyllic life. A current oil-embargo was greatly limiting the amount of gas his dad could sell to farmers. No gas meant no functioning farm equipment—young DeBoer could sense the stress.

“That’s when I started thinking, ‘Well, what if I could build a machine that worked without gas?’” DeBoer said. “All the tractors could run on some electrified batteries or something.” Today, DeBoer—who is a professor of chemistry at LeTourneau University and just finished his American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology fellowship with AMMTO—gets to help make his dream become the new norm.

Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) RFI Webinar

Webinar: Aug. 29, 2024, 12–1 p.m. ET, Virtual

Join AMMTO for a webinar on the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) request for information (RFI). The webinar will present information on the RFI, encourage audience members to respond, and provide an opportunity to answer questions. Register here. 

LEEP Cohort 2025 Potential Applicants Webinar

Webinar: Sept. 04, 2024, 1–2 p.m. ET, Virtual

Join DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for a webinar on LEEP, a two-year funded fellowship program that supports early-stage clean energy startups and/or emerging technologies with the help needed to develop and transition their ideas into the market. The webinar will present information to potential applicants interested in joining LEEP’s 2025 Cohort, which opens on Sept. 4, 2024. Register here. 

DOE-NSF Workshop on Digital Twins for Manufacturing

Workshop: Nov. 11–14, 2024, Storrs, CT, & Virtual

Join this DOE-sponsored event where industry leaders, researchers, and practitioners come together to share insights and best practices in Digital Twin technology. We encourage early registration to secure your spot at this exclusive workshop. This workshop aims to accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing systems through the use of Digital Twins.

• The Geothermal Technologies Office selected National Labs to receive more than $6 million for critical materials research.
• Learn the basics about today’s most-used batteries and tomorrow’s next-generation batteries—like flow, sodium-ion, and solid-state batteries—in the first installation of ‘Breaking It Down,’ our new manufacturing basics explainer series!
• DOE’s Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Office just invested $10 million to develop new and alternative supplies of Critical Minerals and Materials.
• Share your opinions on commercialization pathways for nascent renewable marine energy technologies.
• The Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains released funding for state and local governments to advance battery recycling. Submit applications by Sept. 16, 2024!
• Apply for funding from the Vehicle Technologies Office to advance electric vehicle battery R&D. Concept papers are due Sept. 9, 2024.
• Submit Round 2 materials for the American-Made Upskill Prize for the Solar Manufacturing Workforce by Nov. 20, 2024 at 5 p.m. ET.

Job & Fellowship Openings

ORISE Fellowship Opportunities

Are you a scientist or engineer who would love to inspire researchers and industry to make materials more sustainable? AMMTO is seeking a talented and passionate individual to join our team as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellow in circular economy.  

AMMTO in the News

• Turning trash🗑️ into treasure💎: Dive into the efficient and sustainable ways we're recovering critical materials from electronic scrap in this Chemical & Engineering story featuring AMMTO Technology Manager Jeremy Mehta and AMMTO’s Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize.
• EV Batteries🔋 for Solar Storage ☀️: Learn how California-based ReJoule (a Re-X Phase 1 prize winner!) is innovating a simpler, more affordable way to test EV battery life, as well as repurposing decommissioned EV batteries to store solar energy in this Signal Hill Tribune story.

EXPLORE AMMTO

Learn more about AMMTO and its efforts to advance energy-related materials and manufacturing technologies to increase domestic competitiveness and build a clean, decarbonized economy.

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