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Low-temp hydrocarbon cracking could make plastics from natural gas

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

A team of Idaho National Laboratory researchers has hit upon an electrochemical process that could eliminate the need for high-energy steam cracking, creating synthetic fuels and chemical building blocks while using 65 percent less energy and producing up to 98 percent less carbon dioxide.

Peculiar fluids offer clean alternative to traditional rare earth separation

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

Two unique materials that don't behave like normal solids, liquids or gases could displace toxic chemicals used in today's metal production processes.

Metal-eating microbes prove cost-effective for recycling rare earth elements

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

Today's high-tech devices usually contain components made of rare earth elements (REEs), a class of metallic elements including neodymium and dysprosium. Despite this demand, and despite the fact that REEs are relatively common in the earth's crust, REEs are difficult to obtain, and the U.S. currently does not produce a domestic supply. Now, researchers at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have developed an economical way to recycle REEs using a bacterium called Gluconobacter oxydans.

New fuel cell technology runs on solid carbon

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Advancements in a fuel cell technology powered by solid carbon could make electricity generation from coal and biomass cleaner and more efficient, according to a paper published this week. Innovations in the anode, the electrolyte and the fuel allow the fuel cell to utilize more carbon, operate at lower temperatures and show higher maximum power densities than earlier direct carbon fuel cells (DCFCs). The results appear in this week's edition of Advanced Materials.

Journal: Advanced Materials
Funder: Battelle Energy Alliance

New technique could make captured carbon more valuable

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Carbon capture could help coal plants reduce emissions if economic challenges can be overcome. Turning captured carbon into a useable product is one solution. Scientists have developed an efficient process for turning captured carbon dioxide into syngas that can be used to make fuels and chemicals. Results were published Dec. 14 by Green Chemistry. "For the first time it was demonstrated that syngas can be directly produced from captured CO2," the researchers wrote.

Journal: Green Chemistry

Eight-lab simulator linkup aims to boost future electric grid stability

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

A team of researchers in the US and Europe are part of the Real-Time Super Lab concept to study how electricity can be rerouted across vast distances to address disruptions. The team envisions that large-scale blackouts can be prevented by moving electricity intercontinentally, the same way utilities currently do regionally but at a much larger scale. Such global interaction can reduce the cost of outages and make electrical power grids of the future more resilient.

Electric vehicle charging habits revealed

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory
Business Announcement

This week, Idaho National Laboratory is reporting analysis results from the largest collection of light-duty plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) and charging infrastructure demonstrations in the world. The key finding was that public charging infrastructure is not needed everywhere to enable PEV adoption.

Funder: General Motors Volt Demonstration, Charge Point America Project, South Coast Air Quality Management District/Via Motors PHEV Demonstration, DOE/Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Chrysler Ram PEV Demonstration, and others

Factors underlying nuclear fuel swelling seen at nanoscale for first time

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

Understanding factors that drive nuclear fuel swelling will help engineers develop higher performance fuels, which could be even safer and more efficient than those used in current nuclear energy plants. As uranium atoms split to produce energy, fission products build up within fuel rods, which impacts nuclear fuel performance inside a reactor. But, a clear picture of the size and location of these solid fission products has been elusive until now.

Junior researchers showing world the way to advanced nuclear fuel design

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

Two early-career Idaho National Laboratory researchers are earning international attention for their groundbreaking work. They're getting a long-sought look into the 3-D microstructure of irradiated nuclear fuel, then feeding that data into cutting-edge fuel behavior models. Their work will make the design and testing of even safer nuclear fuels more informed and efficient.

A model for success

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

Idaho National Laboratory researcher Blaise Collin works with software called PARFUME (particle fuel model) as part of an effort to find new, safer fuel sources for use in nuclear reactors.

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