Award Data

Natural gas, which is predominantly methane, is widely used by industry as a chemical feedstock and as a fuel for power generation. The increasing price and diminishing domestic supply of natural gas creates an incentive to develop a low-cost replacement for the fuel. Coal gasification is one approach to provide the alternative fuel. However, the dominant commercially available coal gasifiers are ...

70814 Measurements of atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CO from aircraft and remote sites play a central role in strategies for quantifying the sources and sinks of carbon and for controlling global warming from greenhouse gas emissions. A highly sensitive, automated, and robust sensor for CO2 and CO is needed for this purpose. This project will develop an instrument to measure CO2 ...

Although carbon dioxide is monitored worldwide at hundreds of monitoring stations, existing monitoring methods, which rely on the use of high pressure calibration gas cylinders, are both labor intensive and expensive. Thus, there is a pressing need for an affordable, highly-accurate (1 part in 3000) carbon dioxide monitor for the ambient atmosphere. In addition to being extremely accurate, the r ...

National security interests related to the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction require the remote detection of trace gases associated with the nuclear fuel cycle. Newly developed, mid-infrared, quantum cascade lasers have the potential to contribute to this application. These small solid state lasers produce relatively high power in the infrared band of light where many gases can be ...

Carbon dioxide is monitored worldwide at hundreds of monitoring stations. However, existing methods rely on the use of high pressure calibration gas cylinders, which are both labor intensive and expensive. Thus, there is a pressing need for an affordable, highly accurate (at least 1 part in 3000) carbon dioxide monitor for the ambient atmosphere that can operate unattended for several months or ...

This project will demonstrate a breakthrough detector for the readout of scintillators used for gamma ray detection in Nuclear Physics experiments. The new detector: (1) will overcome the quantum efficiency and high voltage limits of current photomultipliers (PMTs) and Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs); (2) will offer the possibility of improving scintillator detector resolution at least by a factor ...

Improved methods of neutron detection are needed not only for nuclear physics research but also for international control of weapons and neutron based therapies in medical applications. He-3 tube-based neutron detectors and planar solid-state neutron detectors are the two currently available technologies for thermal neutron detection. Although He-3 tube-based neutron detectors have efficiencies ...

Low-temperature superconductors have limited usefulness at very high magnetic fields or in high heat load applications, which are representative of some sections in future particle accelerators. In this project, the suitability of second generation (2G) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wire will be explored for these environments. The characterization of this developing superconductor has b ...

Second generation high temperature superconductors BC50offer potential benefits for many electric power applications, including those that require filamentizated conductors with low ac loss, such as transformers and fault current limiters. However, the use of 2G wire in these applications requires the development of both novel multi-filamentary conductor designs with lower ac losses and advanced ...

Currently, most (85%) of the nation¿s energy requirements are met through burning fossil fuels, of which coal accounts for about 23% of current energy supplies. The ability to further exploit the nation¿s most abundant and lowest cost resource (coal) for meeting future energy needs will require that our power plants function safely and efficiently as they age. In turn, technologies are needed ...