Symyx Technologies has been awarded a grant by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to conduct research and development of advanced heat transfer fluids for solar thermal power generation.
The company's research will focus on developing breakthrough materials for lowering the cost of electricity and providing cleaner energy sources.
Richard Boehner, president of high-productivity research (HPR) at Symyx, said: 'Being recognised with this award validates our ability to utilise microscale, parallel experimentation and scientific informatics to increase the potential for breakthrough discoveries in this critical area of energy research.
'We're excited to extend our high-throughput experimentation capabilities beyond our environmentally friendly fuels development with leading automotive and energy companies and into solar thermal energy for green technology power generation,' he added.
According to the company, large solar thermal power facilities are currently comprised of many miles of fluid-filled pipes arranged in large grids with reflective mirrors used to capture radiation from the sun.
Solar radiation heats the fluid that is used to produce the steam necessary to power large electricity generation turbines.
Currently, organic, oil-based fluid in the pipes has a maximum temperature threshold of 400C, allowing for the production of electricity at approximately USD0.15 (GBP0.10) per kilowatt hour.
By funding Symyx's work, the DoE hopes to foster the development of an advanced heat transfer fluid that can operate within a temperature range of 80C to 500C.
The heat transfer fluid, when used with other advanced technologies, could significantly decrease solar electricity cost to as low as USD0.05 to USD0.07 per kilowatt hour.
According to the company, lower costs would make solar thermal electricity competitive with gas and coal and would offer a clean, renewable source of energy.
Symyx is utilising proprietary HPR tools such as Symyx Powdernium and its own scientific informatics software, including Symyx Automation Studio to screen deep eutectic salt formations, critical to the discovery of materials with low melting points that are able to withstand higher maximum temperatures.
Following the screening phase, Symyx will conduct field testing of new material candidates, with the goal of developing an advanced heat transfer fluid candidate for commercialisation in the solar thermal power industry.
While the DoE selected more than a dozen organisations and academic institutions to develop improved methods for thermal energy storage, Symyx was the only company chosen to research advanced heat transfer fluids.
Symyx was selected based on the technical merit of its proposed material innovation, as well as its demonstrated experience in high-throughput experimentation in related programmes with energy and chemical companies.
