ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL 

MATERIALS 

ENGINEERED CERAMICS/ 

CONTINUOUS FIBER CERAMIC 

COMPOSITES 

INDUSTRIAL COMBUSTION 

SENSORS AND CONTROLS 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY U. S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES • ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES • ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

Supporting the 

development and use of 

innovative, energy-efficient, 

and environmentally friendly 

products and processes 

ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
THE OPPORTUNITIES 

Enabling technologies reduce 

energy use, improve environmental 

performance, and boost productivity 

and competitiveness across 

multiple industry sectors. 

Advanced Materials 

U.S. industry needs enabling materials that are stronger and 

lighter, with resistance to high-temperature fatigue and improved 

resistance to corrosion and wear. 

intermetallic alloys and advanced ceramics have the potential to 

meet the challenges of the Industries of the Future. 

Combustion 

The manufacturing industries obtain over 85 percent of their 

energy from the on-site combustion of fuels. 

burners, boilers, and process heating systems can lower energy 

costs, reduce emissions, enhance fuel options, and increase safety 

and reliability. 

Sensors and Controls 

Robust, integrated measurement devices linked to intelligent 

control systems will enable U.S. industry to use resources more 

efficiently and improve product quality. 

monitoring and adjustment of parameters, these systems can 

reduce energy use and labor, minimize waste and pollution, and 

boost productivity. 

Efficiency enhancements to certain key technologies and processes used by a broad cross-section 

of U.S. industry will mean substantial 

energy and cost savings. 

The Enabling Technologies Program is designed to address the 

cross-cutting needs of the Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT). 

OIT partners with industry to promote the development and use of 

energy-efficient, pollution-preventing technologies. s 

environment benefits from greater use of these technologies, and 

industries benefit from cost savings, improved productivity, and 

increased competitiveness. 

As part of its Industries of the Future strategy, OIT has developed 

cooperative partnerships with the following energy-intensive 

industries: 

• Agriculture 

• Aluminum 

• Chemicals 

• Glass 

• Forest Products 

• Metalcasting 

• Mining 

• Petroleum 

• Steel 

Partnering for a Clean and Competitive 

Industry of the Future 

Our nation’s strength is based in large part on our 

access to affordable and reliable energy. 

into the new millennium, our mission is to develop 

and deploy new ways to meet our energy needs and 

improve our environmental quality through use of 

renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. 

Through the Industries of the Future Program, the 

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is 

actively engaged with U.S. industry to capture energy 

and natural resources savings by developing and 

deploying clean and energy efficient technologies 

and practices. Working 

energy intensive industries, we are mapping a vision of the energy future of American 

industry and developing the technology needed to implement that vision. 

profile describes a few of the many ways that the DOE-industry alliance is working 

towards a more competitive future for U.S. industry and our nation. 

DAN W. REICHER 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY 

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND 

RENEWABLE ENERGY 

2 

New industrial materials such as 

Enhancements to 

Through constant process 

The Nation’

As we move 

with the nation’s most 

This 
U.S. industry needs materials 

that can 

• withstand high-temperature, 

caustic, and other harsh 

environments 

• perform selective chemical 

separations 

• simplify processing 

Industry has identified the clear need for a variety of advanced 

materials as part of the Industries of the Future strategy. 

Industry-specific assessments of materials needs and 

opportunities have been provided by the end users and advanced 

material suppliers. 

Successful development of 

these materials will reduce 

energy use, lower emissions, 

and increase component life. 

Benefits will accrue from 

optimization of process 

operating conditions and 

reductions in down time 

and waste. 

The Advanced Industrial Materials (AIM) Program acts as a catalyst 

and facilitator, forming teams from industry, the National Laboratories, and universities to determine and assign priorities to the real 

materials needs of industry. Once the functional and structural 

materials needs have been clearly defined, the AIM Program 

identifies research teams capable of addressing the relevant 

technical and developmental issues and supports these teams in 

applied research, development, and applications engineering to 

bring the materials and processes to commercialization. 

Efforts are focused on those materials and processes that will 

provide energy and productivity benefits to more than one of the 

Industries of the Future, and those that offer the greatest potential 

benefits in an early time frame. Every project addresses a critical 

need identified by industry, including research on longer-range 

technologies for new materials and processes. In most cases, the 

intellectual property rights to the material and processes belong to 

the DOE National Laboratories and licensing strategies have been 

developed to ensure widespread industrial application. Materials 

producers are granted exclusive licenses in narrow fields to 

manufacture and market materials to all segments of industry. 

ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS Case Studies 

The Advanced Industrial Materials Program 

focuses on advanced metallic and intermetallic 

alloys, advanced structural polymers and membrane materials, advanced ceramics and composites, and advanced materials processing methods. 

Novel Membrane 

Sandia National Laboratories, working with Amoco, is developing a 

new membrane material, using a new generation of molecular sieves 

called zeolites. This material is able to separate p-xylene for 

production of an acid used in the manufacture of polyester. Amoco 

is the world’s largest producer of p-xylene. Separation and 

purification is currently accomplished by cryogenic distillation or 

crystallization, which are capital- and energy-intensive processes. In 

addition to reducing energy consumption and capital costs, the new 

membranes could save approximately 400 million Btu per year if 

they were used by the entire U.S. chemicals industry. This technology is now being funded for demonstration by the Chemicals 

Industry Team. 

More Efficient Chloralkali Process 

Los Alamos National Laboratory, working with Dow Chemical 

Company, has developed a new method for producing chlorine and 

caustic soda from salt solutions. Currently, this chloralkali process 

uses 1-2 percent of all the electrical energy generated in the United 

States. The new technology, derived from previous fuel cell work at 

Los Alamos, could save at least 30 percent of the energy required for 

the chloralkali process. The technology is now being funded for 

demonstration by the Chemicals Industry Team. 

Intermetallic Alloys 

Intermetallic alloys, which include a wide variety of aluminide and 

silicide materials, exhibit outstanding resistance to corrosion and 

high-temperature fatigue. The intrinsic problems of low-temperature 

brittleness and high-temperature creep have been solved by AIM 

investigators at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and casting and 

welding methods have been developed for several of these alloys. 

As a result, Ni3

Al, NiAl, and FeAl are finding widespread applications 

in the Industries of the Future. Trays and fixtures for carburizing and 

other heat-treating applications, in which these alloys last at least ten 

times longer than conventional materials, are now fully commercialized. Long-lasting rolls for handling hot steel in heat-treating 

applications have proven very beneficial to the steel industry, and the 

Steel Industry Team is now funding this application and many others 

in the industry. Nickel aluminide dies, lasting 20 times as long as 

conventional materials, are now fully commercialized. Materials 

needs in the glass, chemicals, refining, and forest products 

industries have been identified, and it is likely that intermetallic alloys 

will solve many of the corrosion and high-temperature fatigue 

problems they currently encounter. 

3 
4 

Case Studies 

Reverberatory Screens 

Allied Signal has been working with Alzeta Corp. to optimize the 

design and installation of radiant burners with CFCC reverberatory 

burner screens. 

the efficiency of natural gas burners in industrial applications such as 

paper or paint drying, metal treating, and glass forming. 

fatigue testing, including 10,000 thermal cycles to temperatures of 

2,000°F-2,200°F and 15,000 on-off cycles, has been conducted with 

no damage to the CFCC screens. 

this temperature yielded no change in the properties of the screens. 

Radiant burners incorporating the CFCC screens have been installed 

in an industrial plant for field testing and evaluation. 

Immersion Tubes 

A major automotive manufacturer is currently evaluating CFCC 

immersion tubes developed by Textron Systems Corporation through 

cost-shared funding with OIT’s CFCC program. 

SiC-reinforced immersion tubes are being tested in an aluminum 

casting furnace. 

ceramic tubes in order to achieve longer life and reduce downtime. 

The CFCC tube in the furnace operates at approximately 1,600°F 

(150°F less than that needed for conventional monolithic tubes to 

hold the tank at the proper temperature), and has an improved 

overall heat-transfer efficiency of at least 40 percent. 

performed at the automotive manufacturer’s development laboratory, 

one immersion tube lasted more than two months, through two cold 

starts and 31 heating and removal cycles. 

being evaluated. 

1,700 hours and is expected to survive for 5 months. 

these results, the automotive manufacturer is planning to test similar 

CFCC immersion tubes in another of its facilities under actual 

operating conditions. 

the manufacturer’s other casting facilities to CFCC immersion 

tube heating. 

Engineered ceramics, such as 

Continuous Fiber Ceramic 

Composites (CFCCs), offer all the 

advantages of 

the disadvantage of ceramics’ 

brittleness. CFCCs and other 

engineered ceramics are recognized 

as a new generation of materials for 

use in many industrial applications. 

Although many ceramics 

perform well at considerably 

higher temperatures than 

conventional metal alloys, they 

are generally brittle and, as a 

result, can exhibit catastrophic 

failure in service. 

The Engineered Ceramics 

Program is developing and 

demonstrating structural ceramics (including CFFCs) technologies 

for industrial applications, including power generation. 

CFCC material systems are being successfully developed and scaled 

up to sizes and shapes consistent with industry needs for key nearterm and intermediate-term applications. 

components are being tested in application-specific environments. 

These applications include gas turbine components, immersion 

tubes for molten metals, hot gas filters, radiant burners, heat 

exchangers, refinery pipe hangers, and heat-treating furnace fans. 

Engineered ceramics will enable advanced engines such as 

microturbines and reciprocating engines to have lower emissions 

and greater durability (greater than 18,000 hours), while meeting 

high-efficiency targets. 

advanced ceramic materials have the potential to reduce emissions 

to less than 9 ppm NOX

 and would be able to use natural gas and a 

variety of liquid fuels. arget applications of ceramics include a 

high-speed rotor, combustor, and heat-recovery (recuperation) 

system. 

ENGINEERED 

These screens are expected to substantially increase 

Thermal 

In addition, tests of 1,000 hours at 

The nitride-bonded 

The goal is to replace the existing monolithic 

In testing 

A second tube is now 

It has been running successfully for more than 

Based upon 

The goal is to eventually convert many of 

ceramics without 

CFCC sub- and full-scale 

Advanced microturbines/generators with 

T

CERAMICS 
5 

Case Studies 

Oxy-Fuel Firing for Glass Furnaces 

OIT, working with Praxair, Inc., and Gallo Glass, sponsored the first 

demonstration of oxy-fuel firing in a large glass furnace in 1991. By 

late 1998, over 100 glass furnaces representing one-quarter of all 

U.S. glass production capacity had been converted. X

 emissions, 

a key driver for conversion in many areas, have been reduced by as 

much as 90 percent and fuel use has been cut by up to 45 percent, 

cumulatively saving over 13 trillion Btus. 

High-Temperature Radiant Burner 

Under OIT sponsorship, Alzeta Corporation has developed a hightemperature radiant burner. 

processor (manufactured by Edwards High Vacuum International) 

that destroys up to 99 percent of perfluorocarbons, a potent class of 

global warming gases generated during the semiconductor 

manufacturing process. 

Products Award from Semiconductor International magazine. 

less than two years since introduction, over 250 processors, each 

containing a high-temperature burner, have been sold worldwide. 

Forced Internal Recirculation Burner 

OIT has been working with the Institute of Gas Technology and 

Detroit Stoker Company (DSC) to produce a burner that can meet 

NOX

 emission requirements without costly post-combustion 

controls. 

below 9 ppm NOX , and since late 1997 has logged over 5,000 hours 

of continuous operation heating DSC’s manufacturing facilities. 

extended field demonstration will take place in California this year. 

The Industrial Combustion Program 

produces improvements in burners, 

boilers, and process heating systems. 

The industry-produced combustion 

vision has set ambitious goals for 

combustion technology. 

include energy-efficient, lowemission boilers (2 ppm NOX is a 

long-term goal) that are fuelflexible, cost-effective, reliable, and 

safe. 

furnaces and process heaters that 

produce uniform, high-quality end 

products at high production rates 

with low specific fuel consumption and minimum environmental 

impact. 

systems are envisioned to be robust, energy-efficient, processfriendly, and reach “beyond compliance” emission levels. 

burners will also use advanced flame-management systems to make 

them user friendly, highly reliable, and very safe. 

tion systems will be fuel-flexible, capable of burning fuels derived 

from industrial by-product fuels that are currently landfilled. 

OIT’s Combustion Program focuses on industry’s priority research 

and development needs that also help fulfill the OIT mission of 

improving industrial energy efficiency and environmental performance. 

systems, OIT combustion activities strive to help industry meet 

stringent emissions targets at the lowest cost. 

COMBUSTION 

Petroleum Refining 

Forest Products

Steel 

Chemicals

Glass 

Metal Casting 

Aluminum 

0 

20 

40 

60 

80 

100 

% TOTAL ENERGY FROM COMBUSTION IN THE 

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES OF THE FUTURE 

NO

The burner forms the core of a thermal 

The thermal processor has received a Best 

In 

The forced internal recirculation burner has realized well 

An 

The goals 

Additional targets call for 

The burners that will be used by these combustion 

These 

These combusWhile increasing the efficiency of industrial combustion 
6 

Case Studies 

Intelligent Extruder 

GE Corporate Research and Development, in partnership with GE 

Industrial Systems Solutions and Krupp Werner-Pfleiderer 

Corporation, has recently entered into a cooperative agreement 

with OIT to develop and demonstrate a novel monitoring, 

diagnostic, and control software system for compounding extruder 

lines widely used in the polymer resin manufacturing business. 

The technology being developed builds on inferential sensors that 

extract process and equipment state information from readily 

available, low-cost sensors and utilize that information to rapidly 

detect and correct process variations. 

extruder automation system include an increase in first-pass yield 

and a reduction in product variability, energy use, and landfill 

waste. 

Thermal Imaging Control System 

The Institute of Gas Technology has joined forces with Combustion 

Tec, Owens Brockway, the Gas Research Institute, and the University 

of Illinois to develop, demonstrate, and commercialize a nearinfrared thermal imaging control system for high-temperature 

furnaces and combustors. 

system that will measure temperatures in the full field of the 

combustion space, including walls, load, and flames, and to use that 

information to eliminate hot spots, improve thermal efficiency and 

production rate, and decrease NOx emissions. 

specifically designed to work with existing furnace controllers to 

provide finer control than is commonly achieved. 

steel, aluminum, glass, chemicals, and metalcasting industries. 

SENSORS & CONTROLS 

Intelligent control systems improve 

resource efficiency (energy use, 

labor, and capital productivity) and 

product quality, as well as minimize 

generation of waste and pollutants. 

The primary goals of the Sensors 

and Controls (S&C) Program are 

to develop and deploy integrated 

measurement systems for 

operator-independent control of 

manufacturing processes with 

broad applicability across multiple 

industry sectors. 

The S&C Program is a concerted 

technology development strategy to advance the science and 

technology components underlying the entire intelligent control 

systems industry, including advanced sensor technology, improved 

information processing, and open-architecture systems. 

benefits from this focused program include facilitating quick 

adaptation of technology from one process application to another 

and avoiding unnecessary duplication of technology development. 

S&C team members work with Industries of the Future teams to 

meet industry- and process-specific requirements. 

The S&C Program will assist each of the Industries of the Future in 

addressing their sensor and control technology needs as identified 

in their technology roadmaps. 

www.arttoday.com 

Benefits of this intelligent 

The goals of the research are to develop a 

The control system is 

It will benefit the 

Major 
HOW TO GET INVOLVED 

Industry/government partnerships can bring clear 

competitive advantages to U.S. industry. 

pants benefit from reduced cost and risk associated with collaborative research, and they also 

gain streamlined access to Federal scientific 

resources. 

ogy development, these companies reap the 

benefits of more efficient and productive technologies and, in turn, contribute to our Nation’s energy 

efficiency, industrial competitiveness, and environmental quality. 

Ways to participate 

By aligning R&D resources within industry and government to 

meet industry priorities, U.S. Industry will be poised to compete 

more effectively than ever in the global market. There are many 

ways to participate with the Enabling Technologies Program, 

including: 

• Monitor our Web pages for news and announcements of R&D 

solicitations, meetings and conferences, and research projects 

(www.oit.doe.gov/). 

• Team with other organizations and respond to solicitations for 

cost-shared research issued by Enabling Technologies, OIT’s 

Industries of the Future, and our Financial Assistance programs. 

Information on upcoming solicitations can be found on the OIT 

home page. 

• Upgrade your company’s manufacturing efficiency, lower your 

production costs, and achieve industry recognition by 

participating in a demonstration of an OIT-developed technology 

in one of your company’s facilities. 

• Purchase and use in your own plants the energy-efficient 

products resulting from OIT technology development and 

demonstrations. 

• Begin saving energy, reducing costs, and cutting pollution in 

your plant today by participating in any of the technical 

assistance programs. 

• Call Marilyn Burgess, manager of OIT’s Resource Room, 

at (202) 586-2090 to learn more about the listed activities 

and services. 

• Contact the Laboratory Coordinating Council (LCC) to find out 

how to work with the National Laboratories and what resources 

are available (http://www.oit.doe.gov/LCC/). 

7 

SUPPORTING 

OF THE FUTURE 

By facilitating the development of 

essential industrial technologies, the 

Enabling Technologies Program is 

helping the Industries of the Future 

achieve their goals. 

OIT’s primary strategy is the Industries of the Future, a partnership 

process that engages each participating industry in developing its 

vision of a more resource-productive, energy-efficient future, and 

in defining technology developments critical to realizing this 

vision. 

R&D efforts. 

in focusing our Nation’s top scientific and engineering capabilities, including those of National Laboratories and leading 

universities, on novel, high-risk technologies identified as 

priorities by industry. 

Participating Industries are 

Key Targets for Energy Efficiency Improvements 

Nine major industries — agriculture, aluminum, chemicals, 

forest products, glass, metalcasting, mining, steel, and petroleum 

refining — are participants in the Industries of the Future 

initiative. 

75 percent of the energy consumed in industry. 

Development of enabling technologies will allow each of these 

nine industries to reduce their energy consumption and costs. 

ParticiPositioned at the forefront of technolINDUSTRIES 

Based on the industry visions, OIT selectively co-funds 

The Industries of the Future process is instrumental 

These energy-intensive industries account for about 
For more information 

on the Enabling Technologies 

Program, please contact: 

U.S. Department of Energy 

Office of Industrial Technologies 

1000 Independence Avenue SW 

Washington, D.C. 

Debbie Haught 

202-586-2211 

debbie.haught@ee.doe.gov 

Eric Lightner 

202-586-8130 

eric.lightner@ee.doe.gov 

Merrill Smith 

202-586-3646 

merrill.smith@ee.doe.gov 

Charles Sorrell 

202-586-1514 

charles.sorrell@ee.doe.gov 

Gideon Varga 

202-586-0082 

gideon.varga@ee.doe.gov 

Please send any comments, 

questions, or suggestions to 

webmaster.oit@ee.doe.gov 

Visit the OIT Web site at 

www.oit.doe.gov 

U. S. Department of Energy 

Office of Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy 

Office of Industrial Technologies 

February 1999 

20585-0121