Officials and researchers from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) recently visited the Center for Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2) and Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation (CEI) to exchange information on the field of energy research in Connecticut.

More than 40 technical experts from DEEP’s Energy, Water and Air Bureau attended the meeting and toured the facilities. Special guest speaker, Dr. Richard Metzler, Managing Director of Rauschert, presented information on the importance of ceramic filtration technology for water filtration and the research that will be conducted at the Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation.

The goal of the UConn-DEEP technical meeting was to encourage the exchange of information on energy research being conducted at C2E2 and CEI. During the laboratory tour, DEEP officials learned about the state-of-the-art instrumentation and laboratory capabilities at UConn and Fraunhofer. DEEP officials also toured the materials characterization laboratory and participated in discussions with faculty and graduate students working on scanning electron microscope, 3-D tomography, X-Ray Diffractometer and other state-of-the-art equipment. The state officials then discussed their priorities and policies regarding technology development and implementation in Connecticut. Other topics of discussion included energy sustainability, renewable energy technologies, advanced water filtration and membrane technologies.

Attendees were also given tours of the growing C2E2 and CEI facilities, including fuel cell and photovoltaic systems,  process simulation,

and power electronics laboratories.

“We are pleased to host technical experts from DEEP and showcase UConn’s expertise in the field of energy and water,” said Professor Prabhakar Singh, director of C2E2. “The technology exchange forum along with laboratory tours proved helpful to our colleagues from DEEP and we plan to continue such meetings at regular intervals in the future.”