2008 Third Frontier Advanced Energy Awards for Alternative Fuels Technologies included:

• Velocys, Inc., located in Plain City (Union County), $1 million for its Microchannel Enabled Process for Synthetic Biofuels and Chemicals project. Velocys will use its proprietary microchannel reactor technology to produce transportation fuels from biomass feedstocks. Using techniques developed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Velocys will be able to produce synthetic jet fuel and diesel.

• The Ohio State University Research Foundation, located in Columbus (Franklin County), $1 million for its Engineering Clostrida for Economic Production of Biobutanol as a Biofuel project. The Ohio State University Research Foundation will modify biological organisms in order to attain a high butanol tolerance and to introduce a patented fibrous bed bioreactor to modify the production process.

• Arisdyne Systems, Inc., located in Cleveland (Cuyahoga County), $1 million for its Application of Static, Hydrodynamic Cavitation to Improve Efficiency, Productivity and Yield in the Production of Ethanol project. Arisdyne Systems has a patented method for producing cavitation and will test and evaluate its technology on several ethanol production operations for its effectiveness. The goal is to improve starch recovery by 2% - 5%.

• Ohio University, located in Athens (Athens County, $972,992 for its Facility for the Development and Commercialization of Ammonia-Based Fuel Integrated Power project. Ohio University will create a “Center of Excellence for Electrochemical Engineering Technologies” to be housed within its existing Electrochemical Engineering Research Laboratory. Teaming with its collaborators, it will pursue integrated ammonia catalytic electrolyzer (ACE) and fuel cell products aimed at power generation for residential and commercial buildings. In addition to supporting ACE commercialization, the facility will provide education opportunities for the work force designing, fabricating, and operating AEC products and will serve as an R&D center for ACE enhancement.

• Catacel Corp., located in Garrettsville (Portage County), $759,502 for its Durability and Performance Evaluation of Catalysts on Metals project. Catacel will upgrade an existing reactor with better instrumentation; a high-pressure reactor will be modified to improve performance; and an additional reactor capable of simultaneous testing of multiple catalysts will be constructed. This equipment will allow Catacel to better respond to customer data requests, which is expected to hasten supplier qualifications and time-to-market.

• Phycal, LLC, located in Shaker Heights (Cuyahoga County), $250,000 for its Development of Non-Destructive Algal Oil Extraction Process project. In the production of oil from algae, separation of the oil from the algae is a third of the total processing cost due to the small cell size and low biomass concentrations. Phycal has licensed a non-destructive extraction technology that could potentially reduce processing costs to the target oil cost of $1 per gallon. This project will develop bench and pilot scale systems to evaluate the concept and improve performance.

• University of Toledo, located in Toledo (Lucas County), $250,000 for its Novel Cellulosic Biomass Fermentation Process for Ethanol Production project. The University of Toledo has developed and patented a fermentation process using technology that has been successful in fermenting both glucose and xylose sugars. The University of Toledo will conduct additional research to 1) optimize the design and performance of the enzyme, 2) develop enzymes for different feed stocks, 3) incorporate a novel biomass pre-treatment process, and 4) develop suitable yeast strains for fermentation. A complete performance evaluation and economic analysis will be conducted.

• The Ohio State University Research Foundation, located in Columbus (Franklin County), $408,801 for its Carbon Negative Chemical Looping Process for Hydrogen or Liquid Fuel Synthesis Using Refuse Derived Fuel, Biomass, and/or Ohio Coal project. The Ohio State University will scale up testing from the previous bench-scale 2.5 kWt unit to a sub-pilot scale 25 kWt unit and operate continuously for 100 hours. Process performance and reliability will be evaluated under commercial conditions. The hydrogen produced will be evaluated for purity by the OSU Center for Automotive Research. A comprehensive technical and economic analysis will be performed to attract major investments from the federal government and private investors.

2008 Third Frontier Advanced Energy Awards for Energy Storage Technologies included:

• Applied Sciences, Inc., located in Cedarville (Greene County), $999,999 for its Development of Specialty Carbons for Energy Storage project. Applied Sciences, Inc. will develop and demonstrate a commercially feasible, advanced electrode material for lithium ion batteries with increased energy and power densities.

• University of Akron Research Foundation, located in Akron (Summit County), $250,000 for its Novel Polymeric Membranes for Advanced Energy Storage Devices, Batteries and Fuel Cells project. This project’s objective is to convert a prototype battery that uses a new membrane developed by eVionyx, Inc. into a commercial battery. The University of Akron will conduct polymer engineering activities to improve performance to meet specific end-use application requirements, improve product quality and uniformity, and develop a process for mass manufacture.

• Inorganic Specialists, Inc., located in Miamisburg (Montgomery County), $250,000 for its Manufacturing the Next Generation Lithium Ion Anode project. Inorganic Specialists has developed a carbon nanofiber (CNF) paper that can be used in various applications including lightweight composites. This project will optimize a CNF paper for use as an anode material in lithium ion batteries. This anode material has shown the potential of increasing battery storage capacity by a factor of 4X.

The Advanced Energy Program Funds are made available to support organizations seeking to commercialize new products, manufacturing processes or technologies, or to adapt or modify existing components or systems that can reduce the cost of advanced energy systems or address technical and commercialization barriers.