Samsung Electronics’ research project on its next-generation clothes dryer will get support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the company said Thursday. According to Samsung Electronics, it will collaborate with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of South Carolina’s Department of Chemical Engineering for the project on developing an advanced desiccant clothes dryer with a heat recovery system. The three organizations will receive $1.2 million in funding from the DOE over the next two years and will contribute an additional $1.2 million, bringing the total research budget to $2.4 million. The project aims to develop technology that applies desiccants, a high-functioning moisture absorbing substance, to clothes dryers to significantly reduce energy consumption. Through the project, the organizations aim to cut the power consumption of dryers to about 35 percent of that used by conventional vented dryers, while maintaining comparable drying performance. Vented dryers are popular in the North American market because they vent moist air directly outdoors, allowing for sho