October 24, 2018, De Pere, WI – CompRex, LLC, a Wisconsin-based small business that specializes in the provision of compact heat exchanger and reactor solutions, announced that it has received a $1.2 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office(SETO) to advance concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) research and development.
CompRex was selected as a part of the Energy Department’s FY2018 SETO funding program, an effort to invest in new projects that will lower solar electricity costs and support a growing solar workforce. CompRexis one of several CSP projects that will develop materials and designs for collectors, power cycles, and thermal transport systems that can withstand high temperatures and resist corrosion.
The two-year project will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Special Metals Corporation. Using advanced 740H alloy and CompRex’s proprietary compact design, the project aims to develop highly efficient and cost-effective heat exchangers for high temperature and pressure applications such as CSP.Successful completion of this project can help addressa currently unmet need for recuperators and salt-to-sCO2 heat exchangers that can withstand high stresses due to thermal loads in CSP systems.
“CompRex is honored to have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to further develop its compact heat exchange technology,” said Dr. Zhijun Jia, Chief Executive Officer of CompRex. “Removal of the current performance and cost bottlenecks in these key components is not only critical to accelerating commercialization of CSP systems but also beneficial for various applications across the power industry.”
About CompRex, LLC
CompRex, LLC, of De Pere, Wisconsin, specializes in the design, engineering, and manufacture of compact heat exchangers and heat exchange reactors targeted for high temperature and pressure applications such as Brayton-cycle supercritical CO2 power systems, treatment and recycling of fracking wastewater, and process intensification for the energy and petrochemical industries.
About the Solar Energy Technologies Office
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office supports early-stage research and development to improve the affordability, reliability, and performance of solar technologies on the grid. Learn more at energy.gov/solar-office.