Clean Vision Corp (CLNV)

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ASU to lead new DOE Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute

May 16, 2023

Institute will seek to eliminate industrial use of onsite fossil fuels for process heating

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Arizona State University to receive up to $70 million to establish a new Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute devoted to the challenge of fighting greenhouse gas emissions from industrial process heating. ASU will lead the multi-institution effort known as Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon, or EPIXC.

“The industrial sector accounts for more than 30% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and fossil fuel-driven process heating — from pasteurizing milk to melting steel — is the most significant contributor to those emissions,” said Sridhar Seetharaman, vice dean for research and innovation in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU and the director of EPIXC. 

Seetharaman said the new institute will support expanded use of clean electricity for process heating — the thermal energy used to prepare materials and produce manufactured goods — and a dramatic reduction of CO2 emissions across industrial sectors, including iron and steel, chemicals, petroleum, food and beverage, forest products and cement. It will operate as a public-private partnership conducting innovative research, development, demonstration and deployment of relevant technologies as well as necessary workforce training. 

“Additionally, this is part of society’s broader transition to clean energy, and we need to look at the social justice aspects of what we are doing,” Seetharaman said. “Our current energy landscape positioned petrochemical plants in an unjust way. Certain communities suffered health consequences from their proximity, and they continue to suffer from them. As we move forward with the new energy landscape, we need to make it happen in a truly just manner.” 

Alongside ASU’s leadership of EPIXC, key partners include the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Tuskegee University, North Carolina State University, Navajo Technical University, Idaho National Laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. KB Science provided strategic guidance for the proposal’s development. 



https://news.asu.edu/20230516-university-news-asu-lead-new-doe-clean-energy-manufacturing-innovation-institute-0