The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has officially completed the construction of its Materials Exploration (MatEx) facility, a building designed to accelerate pilot-scale research involving hazardous materials, processes, and conditions.
The MatEx represents a significant advancement in the EERC’s research infrastructure, replacing legacy capabilities with a modern, highly controlled facility engineered to specifically support complex, high-hazard experiments at scale.
This facility serves as a solution to a problem many of our clients face when transitioning from laboratory validation to pilot-scale demonstration: regulatory, safety, and infrastructure limitations that slow progress and require costly redesign. The MatEx was built to eliminate those barriers.
“This facility bridges the gap where most clients get stuck,” said Tyler Curran, Director of Design & Research Operations and Interim Director of Facilities at the EERC. “If a process can fit within these bays, we’ve already built the infrastructure to safely manage a number of challenging process hazards without requiring clients to navigate complex regulatory hurdles and complicated design requirements on their own.”
The MatEx features three fully independent research bays, each engineered to support a wide range of hazardous conditions. Slightly larger than a two-car garage with high ceilings, each bay operates as a self-contained environment fully equipped with dedicated ventilation, independent utilities and power supply, integrated gas detection systems, and isolated safety controls to allow multiple research projects with different process hazards to operate independently under one roof. This modular design is built to meet rigorous design and regulatory standards, incorporating multiple layers of engineered controls to safely handle flammable and poisonous gases, hazardous liquids, and combustible materials.
In addition to the three research bays, the facility also houses an advanced material processing bay, dedicated space for future analytical laboratory spaces, a high-capacity overhead crane for handling large-scale equipment, a centralized operations control room, and modern office and locker room spaces for operations staff.
“This is about removing friction from the innovation process,” Curran said. “We’ve built a facility where clients can focus on their technology. We can handle the challenges of how to safely operate these systems so the client can focus on innovation and development.”
With the MatEx now fully operational, the EERC is positioned to support a broader range of advanced energy, materials, and process development projects—delivering faster, safer, and more scalable solutions for industry partners.
Images show MatEx facility construction over time. Click on images to enlarge.