For the second year, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern PA are offering a half-million dollar pool of matching grants for great alternative energy ideas.
The Translational Research in Energy Support Program casts a research net over consumption, production and conservation. Academic researchers are encouraged to work with commercial partners. A collaboration among Gannon University, industrial partner TM Industrial Supplies of Erie and Gannon researcher Johnson Olanrewaju, one of last year’s eight grantees, is a case in point. The group designed and fabricated a reactor to break down glycerin into component parts including hydrogen, an alternative fuel. Ben Franklin assisted the project with a $53,201 grant.
“We have been able to gather critical data” for the project, says Olanrewajuj, who says the prototype will be operational in April.
Awards will be made on a competitive basis depending on the funds available and the relative merits of the projects submitted for review. The grants, which require a matching component, typically run between $25,000 and $100,000. Last year, 28 applications were received and eight awards were made totaling nearly $600,000.
The deadline for brief preliminary applications (with non-proprietary detail) is April 5, 2010. Full proposals are due May 17.
Source: Johnson Olanrewaju, Gannon University
Writer: Chris O’Toole