Andlinger Center supports five projects with industry partners tackling challenges in energy and the environment
Research projects wrestling with issues ranging from improving plastic waste recycling to making better systems models to guide the energy transition are being supported as part of the Andlinger Center’s Fund for Energy Research with Corporate Partners. With three research grants and two seed grants, these experimental, computational, and modeling projects represent the third year of awards for work aimed at fostering corporate collaboration and partnerships around cutting-edge energy research relevant to corporate activities and sustainability goals.
“Partnering with industry in our work at the Andlinger Center is a great way to ensure we are tackling real-world problems and finding solutions that can make a meaningful difference,” said Iain McCulloch, director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment. “The variety of Fund for Energy Research topics and corporate partners this year is inspiring and of course reflects the wide range of subjects that our faculty explore.”
Projects are funded at one of two tiers. Energy Research Grants provide up to three years of project support and require a minimum 25% contribution from the corporate partner. Energy Seed Awards provide support for a one-year project and require a letter of interest from a corporate partner. Projects are evaluated based on their intellectual merit and potential to have transformative impacts on fundamental energy research as well as industry practice.
The Fund for Energy Research with Corporate Partners reflects the University’s ongoing commitment to leading on innovative energy and environmental research. The faculty-initiated projects it supports provide a unique opportunity for knowledge exchange between academia and industry that recognizes the critical role the private sector will play in securing a sustainable future.
Energy Research Grants
Bridging energy systems modeling and societal impact
Energy systems models are vital tools for shaping national decarbonization strategies, but they often overlook local realities, air quality, health outcomes, and other societal impacts. To address this gap, Wei Peng received an energy research grant to lead a new project to develop an integrated modeling framework that connects advanced energy systems models with a global integrated assessment model.
Carried out in collaboration with Google, the project will explore how decarbonization strategies affect global supply chains, trade, and public health. Along with co-PI Eric Larson and in partnership with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the team will apply this modeling framework to South Korea to inform the country’s national climate policy.
Thermal energy storage and gas-fired power plants
Thermal energy storage (TES) is an emerging technology that temporarily stores energy by heating or cooling a medium and could help mitigate emissions from natural gas power plants. The TES systems can be charged via excess heat from combustion turbines as they start up or shut down or from excess electricity from the grid, allowing operators to later use that stored heat to supplement or replace natural gas combustion. Jesse Jenkins has been awarded an energy research grant to lead a team that includes co-PIs Eric Larson and Christos Maravelias, the Anderson Family Professor in Energy and the Environment, to analyze how integrating TES can help natural gas combined cycle power plants respond quickly to grid demands, support renewable energy integration, and reduce emissions. A corporate partnership has been initiated for the project.
Exploring the voids in solid-state battery research
Solid-state batteries offer many advantages for electric vehicles over today’s lithium-ion batteries, such as higher energy densities, faster charging, lower cost and less flammability. However, major barriers remain to their widespread use, including as challenges like uneven lithium plating and stripping during operation. This unevenness can lead to the formation of voids in the metal anode, which degrades the battery’s performance and lifespan. Kelsey Hatzell has secured an energy research grant to study how voids form in real-time as solid-state batteries are operated. In doing so, Hatzell’s team will address fundamental knowledge gaps in solid-state battery behavior and inform the design of more robust and reliable solid-state battery technologies. The project will be carried out with Rana Mohtadi at Toyota Research Institute in North America as the corporate partner.
Energy Seed Grants
Modeling complex power systems
Jürgen Hackl, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, received an energy seed grant to develop a modeling framework for power systems that captures the complex interactions of the modern grid more effectively than existing network models. Hackl’s team will build scalable grid forecasting models that support both short-term grid management and long-term grid planning strategies, with a goal of increasing grid forecasting accuracy, robustness, and overall power system efficiency. The project will be carried out with Beacon Power Services as the corporate partner, bringing industry expertise in power systems operations to support the research.
Improved circularity from waste plastics
Michele Sarazen, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, received an energy seed grant to research applications of iron-based zeolites as catalysts in converting polyolefins — the largest component of plastic waste — to light oxygenates, which are fuel additives used to promote full combustion. Sarazen will investigate the design of the iron-based zeolites as well as the best reaction conditions for the efficient conversion of polyolefins into value-added products, helping to increase the circularity of the chemicals industry. The project will be carried out with The Dow Chemical Company as the corporate partner.
The Fund for Energy Research with Corporate Partners was established in 2022 as part of Princeton’s Energy Research Fund. In addition to the Fund for Energy Research with Corporate Partners, the Energy Research Fund established the Dean for Research Innovation Fund for Exploratory Energy Research, which is separately administered by the Office of the Dean for Research.
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