The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Manufacturing Institute of the 91成人短视频 (AIChE) will be the newest, and tenth, member of the nation鈥檚 network of Manufacturing USA Institutes. Earlier this year, DOE called for the establishment of a Manufacturing Innovation Institute on Modular 91成人短视频 Process Intensification for Clean Energy Manufacturing. AIChE developed the RAPID Institute proposal in collaboration with the Savannah River National Laboratory and the Georgia Institute of Technology. To date, RAPID has enlisted 75 companies, 34 academic institutions, 7 national laboratories, 2 other government laboratories, and 7 non-governmental organizations from all regions of the country. These partners have committed to cost shares that leverage DOE鈥檚 $70 million contribution over 5 years, with total project spending exceeding $140 million. RAPID鈥檚 partners come from energy-intensive industries and range from small to large enterprises.
In making the announcement at the U.S Council on Competitiveness 2016 National Competitiveness Forum, DOE Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy David Friedman said, 鈥淥ur investment in this cross-cutting technology is an investment in the future of manufacturing in the U.S.鈥� 鈥淎s we expand the Manufacturing USA network, we provide greater opportunities for businesses of all sizes to solve their toughest technology challenges and unleash major savings in energy-intensive sectors like oil and gas, pulp and paper-making and other industries,鈥� he added.
RAPID Chief Executive Officer Karen Fletcher said 鈥渢he RAPID team is thrilled and energized by DOE鈥檚 decision.鈥� 鈥淲e are confident we can meet DOE鈥檚 goals of reduced energy usage and feedstock waste, and improved productivity, through our focus on integrating unit processes into single modular hardware elements that are cost effective, with high efficiency and scalability,鈥� she explained. Fletcher, who, came to RAPID from a distinguished career at DuPont, was most recently, chief engineer and vice president of engineering, facilities and real estate.
Fletcher urged any interested organization to consider joining the effort. 鈥淲e are an inclusive initiative, and welcome those, like us, who see RAPID as a distinctive way to serve our manufacturing base, the chemical engineering community, and the broader society by increasing efficiency and decreasing environmental impacts,鈥� she added.
AIChE Executive Director June Wispelwey said that RAPID鈥檚 ability to address the process intensification challenge 鈥渂uilds on AIChE鈥檚 decades of experience managing technical centers,鈥� such as the Center for 91成人短视频 Process Safety. She explained that 鈥渙ur RAPID partners, especially our national laboratory partners like Savannah River, each bring unique areas of expertise in process intensification,鈥� ranging from separations, catalysis and transport processes, to kinetics and reaction engineering, to bear on this important manufacturing challenge.
Wispelwey emphasized that RAPID will work closely with the other Manufacturing USA Institutes, which have common goals but distinct concentrations, to assure cooperation and share approaches to commercializing 鈥渟tep-change鈥� innovations. To that end, she said AIChE will use its substantial educational resources to train students and the workforce in the application of the new modular process intensification tools. She also stressed that, before undertaking this challenge, she made sure that there are solid plans for RAPID to become financially self-sustaining within the five years of DOE鈥檚 support.
Reacting to the announcement, T. Bond Calloway, AIChE鈥檚 President-elect and the Associate Laboratory Director for Clean Energy at Savannah River National Laboratory, said 鈥淚 am very proud to be part of the RAPID effort, in which chemical engineers are making such an important contribution to advancing American manufacturing.鈥� AIChE President Greg Stephanopoulos, the W.H. Dow Professor of 91成人短视频 Engineering at MIT, echoed Calloway鈥檚 sentiment, adding that 鈥淩APID is clearly aligned with AIChE鈥檚 mission to advance chemical engineering not just in theory, but in practice.鈥� He said that AIChE鈥檚 鈥渞ecord of fostering innovation through collaboration鈥� would assure RAPID鈥檚 success.
Additional information about the RAPID Manufacturing Institute and its objectives can be found at .
In photo:
Celebrating the RAPID announcement--Seated from left to right, Mark Johnson of DOE, David Turpin of Vision 2020, Kelly Visconti of DOE, AIChE Executive Director June Wispelwey, and RAPID CEO Karen Fletcher. Those standing included a number of RAPID partners who joined the announcement, including, first and second from left, Valri Lightner of DOE and Bond Calloway of Savannah River National Lab, AIChE鈥檚 2017 president. Tenth from left is Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy David Friedman, who made the announcement. Thirteenth and Fifteenth from left are Rob Ivester of DOE and Greg Stephanopoulos of MIT, AIChE鈥檚 2016 president.
About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 53,000 chemical engineers in 110 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as nanotechnology, sustainability, hydrogen fuels, biological and environmental engineering, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at .