Fraunhofer TechBridge Announces Challenge Seeking Advanced Surface Technologies for Improving Industrial Energy Efficiency

BOSTON, Jan. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fraunhofer TechBridge is now accepting applications for its newest TechBridge Challenge, presented in collaboration with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

This TechBridge Challenge seeks novel surface technologies that improve energy efficiency through new material formulations, manufacturing methods, deposition techniques, or other innovations that can achieve significant energy improvements in petroleum and chemical processing plants.

Fraunhofer TechBridge, a program of the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE, will award up to $100,000 in prototyping, demonstration, and/or validation services from the world-renowned Fraunhofer R&D network to selected teams working on innovative cleantech solutions. Such projects have been proven to lower barriers for private investment and strategic partnerships.

As the petroleum and chemical processing industries are two of the largest energy-consuming industries in the US, even small energy efficiency improvements in this space can have enormous economic and environmental benefits. The TechBridge Challenge on Advanced Industrial Surfaces seeks to accelerate the development of technologies to enable the scalable, cost-effective deployment of advanced surfaces that could improve energy efficiency in petroleum and chemical processes. Improvement examples include:

• Improved performance of surface-enhanced features (e.g., improved heat exchange, reduced frictional losses, fouling, or adhesion)
• Improved thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability of equipment surfaces
• Improved deployment of surface modifications in retrofit applications and hard-to-reach locations
• Increased affordability and ease of adoption at scale
• Optimization for process fluids other than water

Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals by February 17, 2016 at www.FhTechBridgeChallenge.org/surfaces. Awardees' intellectual property is fully protected throughout this process.

About Fraunhofer TechBridge & Fraunhofer CSE
Launched at Fraunhofer CSE in 2010, the Fraunhofer TechBridge program identifies and de-risks promising technologies to solve industry challenges. By performing targeted technical searches and conducting validation and demonstration work, TechBridge evaluates and prepares innovative early-stage products for investors and industry.

Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE is an applied R&D clean energy technology center that engages in collaborative research with private companies, government entities, and academic institutions, and works with sustainable energy inventors to help develop their technologies, bridging the gap from laboratory to production.  Fraunhofer CSE is one of seven centers of Fraunhofer USA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit contract R&D organization, a subsidiary of Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Europe's largest contract R&D organization.

Fraunhofer CSE Media Contact

Lindsey Dillon
Fraunhofer CSE
617-714-6512
[email protected]

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SOURCE Fraunhofer USA, Center for Sustainable Energy Systems