Copyright (c) 2019 by Westfair Communications Inc.
Two Westchester-based technology companies have received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to be used for research and development. Bettergy Corp. in Peekskill will receive $1,049,832 and Hypres Inc. in Elmsford will get $999,817.
In announcing the grants, U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey said, “The technology generated in America”™s small businesses is not only crucial to meeting our energy needs, but it plays a critical role in our national security.”
The funds are made available through two of the Energy Department’s programs: Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer.
Bettergy was founded in 2008 by Lin-Feng Li, its president, to conceive, develop and commercialize new energy and environmental technologies for military and civilian use. Although initially looking at energy storage and ways to make battery performance better, the company also has been investigating membrane technologies and nanopore structures, which have holes so incredibly tiny that only certain molecules can pass through.
The company previously has received grants, contracts or support from the Department of Defense, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Army, among others.
Bettergy’s grant is to further develop technology related to cost-effective capture of carbon dioxide that is produced in industrial processes as well as harnessing atmospheric carbon dioxide to help create long-lasting batteries. Zhong Tang, Bettergy”™s principal investigator for the project, said, “The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is of great importance to society.”
Hypres was founded in 1983 and is involved with various aspects of superconducting electronics, including making supercomputers even more powerful. It said it will use its grant to install ground-based telescopes to study radiation left over from the Big Bang to better understand the early universe.
Richard Hitt, the company”™s CEO, said, “This is an important contribution to our continuing work in applying principles of physics to detection technology for terrestrial-based deep space exploration. It also has secondary application to scalable quantum computing that has been a Hypres focus for several years.”
Hypres has been involved in the field of superconductor electronics and its application in mobile networking, medical imaging and advanced computing. It has collaborated with the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific on a project to produce a high-dynamic range signals intelligence antenna, which could be used in certain weapons systems.
“investing in the scientific research happening in our small businesses will boost the economy in the lower Hudson Valley and fuel research and development across the country,” Lowey said.
