Award Data

Several hundred beam lines are used around the world at today¿s third-generation synchrotron facilities. These facilities must deal with monochromator-based performance problems due to high heat load. Many have resorted to the use of costly, complicated, high maintenance cryogenic cooling of silicon crystals. Single crystal diamond monochromators present an advantage over the silicon crystals ...

Higher gas transport membranes would enhance membrane separations, especially those associated with energy savings (e.g., oxygen or nitrogen enriched air). In these systems, gas transport is inversely proportional to the thickness of the membrane¿s active layer. This project will explore a novel route for preparing ultrathin (100-1000 angstroms) membranes with very high selectivity. First, memb ...

Biomass fast pyrolysis fuel (BioOil) is a liquid fuel made from wood chips and the low-grade wood byproducts of timber harvesting. However, when BioOil is stored, its chemicals polymerize, aided by the oxygen present in the BioOil. As a consequence, the viscosity of the BioOil increases over time, and, under extreme conditions, it can become a solid. In addition, the presence of water results i ...

Natural gas offers cost and environmental benefits over other conventional energy sources and decreases our dependence on oil imports. However, many sources of natural gas also contain large amounts of non-hydrocarbon gases, which make them uneconomical to market. Removal of these non-hydrocarbon impurities, in order to raise low quality raw gas to pipeline quality, could have significant econom ...

There continues to be a need to produce fuel-grade ethanol from renewable sources. However, the cost of agricultural-based ethanol is quite severe, despite the fact that existing and new legislation provides significant incentives for its use. This project addresses novel routes to enhance the low-cost production of high-quality dry-fuel-grade ethanol by means of a novel water-ethanol separation ...

The development of very small, versatile, rugged, low power, low noise, one or three-axis short-period seismometers is needed to monitor nuclear detonations. Specifications include total sensor size less than 1 cubic inch, low power consumption, low sensor self noise below the USGS Low Earth Noise Model, and dynamic range of at least 120 dB over a frequency band of 0.2 to 40 Hz. However, all com ...

Most biomass materials, such as switchgrass and corn stover, are very bulky (fluffy) when first collected,making them costly to handle, store, and transport. Current densification methods ¿ include baling, pelletizing, etc, ¿ are too costly, too energy-intensive, or both. A better method to solve these problems is needed to enhance the utilization of biomass. This project will test and devel ...

The bacteria genus, Clostridium, includes many species that are naturally capable of degrading cellulose and producing valuable chemicals and fuel alcohols. Unfortunately the genetic engineering tools for developing improved strains are limited for all clostridia. This project will develop novel approaches for enhancing chromosomal integration in all clostridia species. With an enhanced recombi ...

The United States is the second largest producer and also the largest importer of natural gas in the world. The increasing price of natural gas along with a decreasing domestic supply presents an opportunity to develop low-cost replacements for natural gas. Thermo-chemical production of Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) from abundant, low-cost, domestic coal offers a viable solution to several concerns ...

Geologic carbon sequestration has become an effective technology for reducing atmospheric levels of CO2 by capturing emissions and injecting them into underground geologic formations where they can be permanently isolated. In order to assure that the CO2 is effectively sequestered for long periods of time and to reduce the likelihood of local environmental impacts, cost-effective methods are need ...