Award Data

To ensure safe and reliable power production by nuclear power plants, a wide variety of materials and components need to undergo inspections and maintenances at pre-determined intervals. Condition based maintenance is highly desirable because it can potentially avoid unnecessarily costly maintenance actions and associated error induced failures. Consequently, it can help achieve nearly all the mai ...

Current lighting technologies are relatively energy inefficient and heavy resulting in considerable energy consumption, particularly in aircraft interiors. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED), potentially an inexpensive diffuse source, may compete directly with conventional lights, and also with inorganic electroluminescent lamps in energy efficient diffuse lighting applications. We have identifie ...

For many years, electrically driven heat pumps have proven to be an effective method of extracting heat from ambient air. As air temperature falls, however, heat pump performance falls off, essentially limiting their year round usefulness to warmer climates. In colder climates heat pump-equipped heating systems typically have a secondary means to provide heat, usually natural gas or electricity. ...

The recycling of CO2, primarily from flue gas, into useful materials is a major technological step towards stemming the damaging effects of burning fossil fuels. However, upgrading CO2 requires a significant input of energy, either directly through heating or indirectly by reacting it with a high-energy co-reactant. Making such a process truly carbon-neutral (or negative) requires the clever use o ...

Fossil fuels currently supply more than 85% of the worlds energy needs with the ensuing generation of 80% of all anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas is considered to be a major contributor to global warming. There is a concerted effort towards capturing carbon dioxide at the source of generation and sequestering the gas. However, with existing technologies ...

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) is a high value organic chemical with many potentially important applications. DMC can be made from CO2 directly or indirectly. With the development of CO2 capture and sequestration technology, huge amounts of low cost CO2 will be available as a feed stock. The conversion of CO2 to DMC will be an attractive chemical production investment. A major problem associated the D ...

Monomers and other chemical intermediates are typically obtained from non-renewable resources, specifically petroleum. Renewable resources, such as plant derived biomass, may become a significant source of these critical materials but new technology is required for their safe and efficient production. Compact Membrane Systems (CMS), in collaboration with the group of Professor Robin Rogers at th ...

Phthalates are a class of petroleum-derived chemicals used as plasticizers to improve the properties of polymeric materials like PVC. However, they are currently being phased out of use in the US and elsewhere due to concerns about their toxicity and action as endocrine disruptors. One viable substitute for phthalates is esters of isosorbide. Isosorbide is a di-alcohol containing two fused oxolane ...

Energy costs are the main cost drivers for large industries like chemicals & amp; gaseous products & amp; they depend on massive economies of scale and an efficient supply chain to stay competitive. Todays approaches to supply chain optimization are based on static snap-shot data and are not suitable for real-time use in tactical demand fulfillment. Companies have yet to effectively harness the po ...

An effective approach to addressing the needs of the American energy market includes both the exploration and implementation of alternative energy sources along with improvements in the efficiency. Thus far, a relatively untouched sector of energy consumption has been the efficiency of household and consumer devices. Small, incremental improvements in energy consumption by air conditioners, comput ...