The U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, announces that an ARPA-E program called Modern Electro/Thermochemical Advancements for Light-metal Systems (METALS), will provide $32 million to find cost-effective and energy-efficient manufacturing techniques to process and recycle metals for lightweight vehicles. Manufacturers, laboratories, and universities taking part in the program will develop innovative technologies for cost-effective processing and recycling of aluminum, magnesium, and titanium.
For example, Alcoa, Pittsburgh, is to develop a highly advanced electrochemical system for low-cost and energy-efficient aluminum production. The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Calif., will develop a new electrochemical diagnostic probe that can identify the composition of light metal scrap for efficient sorting, which could reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, and costs by enabling recycling of typically discarded light metal scrap. The University of Colorado will develop a new gasification process that uses concentrated solar power to produce magnesium and synthesis gas (syngas), a precursor for synthetic gasoline.
METALS is one of two new programs and 33 new projects. For more information, click here.
