NGVAmerica Applauds DOE R&D Investment in Natural Gas Transportation Technologies

Washington, DC – NGVAmerica today applauded the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) announcement that it is immediately investing nearly $3.5 million in projects to advance medium- and heavy-duty natural gas vehicle technologies. The announcement also includes $10.2 million in advanced methane storage, as well as waste-to-energy projects, that should benefit the natural gas vehicle market. The investments were part of $50 million for new and innovative research of technologies for trucks, off-road vehicles, and the fuels that power them.

“These crucial investments made by the DOE publicly affirm the federal government’s belief that natural gas vehicles are an important part of our nation’s transportation mix yesterday, today, and well into the future,” said NGVAmerica President Dan Gage.  “Natural gas is ready-right-now technology for all vehicle applications, and this investment further expands NGVs’ capability and reliability and increases their emissions- and carbon-free performance.  When fueled by captured biomethane, natural gas truck and bus engines are the cleanest and most-immediate solution for those seeking a net carbon-negative fleet footprint.”

NGVAmerica has worked successfully with Congress to encourage further use of research, development, and deployment funds for NGVs. DOE’s leadership on development and deployment of alternative fuel vehicles continues to improve our environment and enhance our energy security. Reduction of technology and infrastructure costs and developing new novel approaches to storage of natural gas and refueling with natural gas will help ensure that NGVs continue to be deployed, utilizing domestic and increasingly renewable energy. 
The selected projects are highlighted below:

Natural Gas Vehicle Maintenance Cost Study
Clean Fuels Ohio, Columbus, OH
NGV U.P.-T.I.M.E. Analysis: Updated Performance Tracking Integrating Maintenance Expenses
Total Allocation: $500,000

Smart Compressed Natural Gas Infrastructure Projects
Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, IL
Smart CNG Station Deployment
Total Allocation: $1,999,789

Next Generation CNG Driver Information Systems
Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, IL
Next-Generation NGV Driver Information System
Total Allocation: $1,000,000

Advanced Storage of Gaseous Fuels
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Optimal Adsorbents for Low-Cost Storage of Natural Gas: Computational Identification, Experimental Demonstration, and System-Level Projection
Total Allocation: $1,000,000

Advanced Storage of Gaseous Fuels
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Theory-Guided Design and Discovery of Materials for Reversible Methane and Hydrogen Storage
Total Allocation: $1,000,000

Advanced Storage of Gaseous Fuels
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Methane Storage with Porous Cage-Based Composite Materials
Total Allocation: $918,500

Advanced Storage of Gaseous Fuels
Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Heteroatom-Modified and Compacted Zeolite-Templated Carbons for Gas Storage
Total Allocation: $800,000

Advanced Storage of Gaseous Fuels
Penn State University, University Park, PA
Developing New NG Super-Absorbent Polymer (NGSAP) for a Practical NG Storage System with Low Pressure, Ambient Temperature, and High Energy Density
Total Allocation: $895,065

Advanced Storage of Gaseous Fuels
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Uniting Theory and Experiment to Deliver Flexible MOFs for Superior Methane (NG) Storage
Total Allocation: $800,000

Waste to Energy
North Carolina State, Raleigh, NC
Renewable Natural Gas from Carbonaceous Wastes via Phase Transition CO2/O2 Sorbent Enhanced Chemical Looping Gasification
Total Allocation: $2,499,461

Waste to Energy
Washington State University, Pullman, WA
Develop an Efficient and Cost-effective Novel Anaerobic Digestion System Producing High Purity Methane from Diverse Waste Biomass
Total Allocation: $2,234,051