Industrial Technologies
Developing and de-risking technologies to advance the competitiveness of the U.S. industrial sector
Research Areas of Focus
Energy-intensive Industries
Sandia National Laboratories partners with industry on custom approaches to address complex challenges for a more competitive, secure, and efficient U.S. industrial sector.
Concrete & Cement
Researching, testing and demonstrating pathways to advance next-generation cement and concrete technologies.
Chemicals
Targeting more efficient production of building-block chemicals via solar thermal process-es, biopathways, and electrochemical pathways.
Iron & Steel
Developing and expanding the underlying science to support advanced metallurgical processes to improve energy and cost efficiency.
Food & Beverage
Partnering with food and beverage sector industries to provide reliable and cost-efficient thermal duty solutions.
Cross-cutting Technologies
Thermal Energy Storage
Researching emerging resilient thermal energy storage systems for 24/7 industrial heat processes.
Systems Integration
Developing, adapting, and integrating critical industrial components for broad use and application.
Water Desalination/Wastewater Management
Site-specific modeling and process design for large scale water use, reuse, and desalination to optimize energy requirements.
Work with Us
We partner with large and small businesses, universities, and government agencies. With multiple agreement types to select from, partners can access world-class science, engineering, experts, and infrastructure.
Research and Development Capabilities
By leveraging the unique capabilities across Sandia we are able to address the nation’s most complex challenges. From cutting-edge scientific research and advanced engineering to state-of-the-art facilities and multidisciplinary expertise, our resources empower innovation and drive impactful solutions.
Carbon Capture, Use and Storage
Carbon capture, use and storage capabilities at Sandia can be integrated and applied to industrial settings to reduce emissions and increase efficiency and offset costs:
- New materials and process development for CO2 capture as well as thermochemical and electrochemical CO2 conversion
- Expertise in geologic science and storage technologies stemming from more than 50 years of experience in repository science
- Proficiency that spans topics such as biological carbon sequestration and microalgal biomanufacturing
Chemical Processes and Low-carbon Fuels and Feedstocks
- Hydrogen technologies, including hydrogen production, combustion, materials compatibility and component co-development
- Solar thermochemistry, including ammonia, solar carbon monoxide and hydrogen, water splitting and thermochemical energy storage
- Alternative hydrocarbon synthesis routes, for example, methane, ethane and ethylene
- Biofuels and bioenergy
Industrial Heating
- Large-scale demonstration and testing capabilities, such as the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF), which provides experimental facilities, equipment, and personnel for testing, validating and improving new concentrating solar thermal components and systems
- Renewable energy technologies research and the development of concentrating solar process heat for higher temperature applications used to produce cement, steel and in high-value chemical production
- Advanced thermal materials, for example, refractory high entropy refractory alloys and additively manufactured composites development and characterization
- High-performance computing for detailed computational fluid dynamics modeling, discrete element modeling and large system optimization
- Heat capture, transfer and conveyance capabilities with megawatt-scale high-temperature and high-pressure heat exchanger test facilities
- Long-duration thermal energy storage research and development with testing and demonstration up to multi-megawatt scale
Technology Development to Electrify Industrial Processes
- Power electronics and smart controls for grid applications
- Renewable energy technologies
- Nuclear power, safety, security and waste disposal
- Long-duration energy storage
- Smart grid applications
- Cybersecurity for electric infrastructure
Process Integration and Systems Engineering for Onsite Industrial Systems
- Design and analysis tools, for example, high-fidelity modeling, and technical design and feasibility, such as those developed for the Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES)
- Data modeling and analysis to improve the resilience and sustainability of energy and water supplies
- Control system design, verification and validation testing
- Techno-economic and life-cycle analyses to evaluate cost-effective materials, processes and strategies
- Industrial component design, testing and validation
- Numerical analysis with uncertainty quantification and optimization
Energy Storage for Manufacturing and Industrial Decarbonization (Energy StorM)
Sandia brought together industry members, national laboratories, universities and government representatives to discuss the needs, challenges and opportunities related to energy and energy storage for manufacturing and industrial decarbonization. Learn more on the Energy StorM webpage.