AIChE’s Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Manufacturing Institute — one of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE’s) Manufacturing USA institutes — has received a funding renewal from DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO).
The five-year, $40 million investment by DOE will propel research, development, and demonstrations (RD&D) of advanced process technologies to enable more-resilient, lower-cost, and reduced carbon footprint manufacturing in the process industries. This includes the production of chemicals and fuels, which account for more than a third of all U.S. industrial emissions and energy consumption.
Energy Earthshot initiative
RAPID’s work will rethink traditional unit operations by transitioning them to efficient, integrated processes via advanced reactors and separators that can use low-carbon energy sources and sustainable feedstocks. Developing and deploying sustainable feedstocks are key priorities for DOE, and RAPID’s work will align with DOE’s Clean Fuels & Products Shot — the Energy Earthshot initiative focused on decarbonizing the chemicals supply chain by advancing cost-effective technologies that use alternative sources of carbon.
Expanding core competencies
This next phase of work will expand on the core competencies that RAPID has developed. These include improving centralized processing systems to enable flexible, distributed manufacturing using process intensification principles such as combining multiple process steps (e.g., mixing, reaction, and separation) into integrated processes — aimed at reducing the emissions footprint of the process industries.
A particular focus will be on difficult-to-decarbonize products, including specialty and performance chemicals, high-volume chemicals, and sustainable aviation fuels and efuels, among others. Intensified process approaches using technologies such as advanced reactors that radically improve heat and mass transfer properties can unlock cost-competitive reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Industrial Heat Shot initiative
RAPID’s work to reduce process heat demand will contribute to DOE’s Industrial Heat Shot initiative aimed at developing cost-competitive industrial heat decarbonization technologies with at least 85% lower GHG emissions by 2035.
About RAPID
Launched by AIChE in 2017, RAPID has exceeded its goals to date, with a more than 20% increase in energy efficiency across multiple technologies, and by generating more than 240 peer-reviewed publications and over 20 inventions. RAPID’s membership has grown to more than 80 organizations across industry, small businesses, academia, and national laboratories.
RAPID is one of the 17 member institutes of Manufacturing USA, a national network of manufacturing innovation institutes created to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing through large-scale public-private collaboration on technology, supply chain, and education and workforce development.
This article originally appeared as Institute News in the February 2024 issue of CEP. Members have access online to complete issues, including a vast, searchable archive of back-issues found at www.aiche.org/cep.