$2.26M DOE ARPA-E Grant Advances Research on Electric Aviation

Congratulations to Dr. Xiao-Dong Zhou, Director of the Institute for Materials Research and Innovation (IMRI) and Stuller Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering, on receiving a U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) research project for $2,263,000.

The project entitled “High Performance Metal-Supported SOFC System for Range Extension of Commercial Aviation” will design and optimize an energy storage and power generation (ESPG) system for aircraft propulsion. The proposed system will consist of optimally sized fuel-to-electric power conversion devices; metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells (MS-SOFCs) and turbogenerators using carbon-neutral synfuel. The design concept will ensure adequate propulsive thrust and system power for a future airplane configuration by optimizing the ESPG and component performance, especially the synfuel-powered MS-SOFC. The team will use innovative fabrication techniques for high-performance, ultra-low weight, and low-cost MS-SOFC stacks. They will also develop reforming catalysts for synfuel and biojet fuel.

This is a major research project for several reasons says Dr. Zhou. “DOE ARPA-E program is immensely competitive and has been highly lauded by National Academies, top research centers, government labs, and universities, to push the technology to market.”

UL Lafayette's team consists of Dr. Subhash Singhal and Dr. Dave Daggett, who are co-principal investigators and Institutional Fellows at IMRI, as well as Dr. Rafael Hernandez (Department Head, Chemical Engineering) and Dr. Jonathan Raush (Mechanical Engineering).

The team's project summary was selected as one of two exemplary projects for “REEACH—Range Extenders for Electric Aviation with Low Carbon and High Efficiency” on DOE’s website.