With the award, Marathon Fusion aims to advance the development of commercially viable fuel processing solutions on a timeline consistent with the decadal vision for the first pilot plants on the grid.
The award will be used to fund work with Professor Colin Wolden at the Colorado School of Mines on engineered membranes used to recycle deuterium and tritium fuel from vessel exhaust. Professor Wolden was previously funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) for research into efficient tritium processing with membranes "engineered for high performance, stability, and environmental compatibility".
The INFUSE program is designed to spur fusion energy development by funding collaborations between private companies and DOE's National Labs or US universities, with the aim of enabling "research for the development of cost-effective, innovative fusion energy technologies in the private sector."
"The INFUSE program is an excellent example of how public-private partnerships can drive innovation in the fusion energy sector," said Adam Rutkowski, co-founder and CTO of Marathon Fusion. "This partnership with the Colorado School of Mines will allow us to accelerate the development of our fuel processing technology, which is crucial for improving the economics and scalability of upcoming fusion power plants."
Established in 2019, INFUSE is sponsored by the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program office within DOE's Office of Science. It is part of the DOE Fusion Energy Strategy, announced in June 2024, which seeks to enable the near-term viability of commercial fusion energy in partnership with the private sector.
