Award Data

The accurate detection of neutrons can make invaluable contributions to the physical, chemical, and biological sciences, and the DoE operates neutron user facilities to support these endeavors. The utility of prisms for neutron detection has long been established, but a single neutron prism has never been able to provide sufficient deflection for practical applications. This project will design ...

Gas separation devices are needed in a variety of advanced energy systems (e.g., high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells). For such devices, a reliable sealing technology is needed to enable the hermetical joining of the ceramic membranes used in high temperature gas separation to their underlying support structures (e.g., a metallic body). This project will develop and demonstrate a reliable, r ...

Many refinery product streams, particularly those from Ultra Low Hydrodesulfurisation units, are prone to haze due to water emulsions. Haze is also problematic for biodiesel production, as hazy fuel cannot be used until the haze settles or is removed, which creates costly scheduling and shipping delays. This project will develop a novel membrane process for the removal of dissolved and dispersed ...

Attaining high peak fields at terahertz (THz) frequencies is among the highest priorities among the common R&D goals of the DOE-NSF-NIH triad. However, THz science and technology have been underdeveloped because of the unavailability of effective and affordable THz sources. The few THz facilities currently available are based on free electron lasers (FELs), which are too bulky, expensive, and in ...

Compared with conventional processes used to produce many oxygenated chemicals, processes based on the selective catalytic oxidation of alkanes to produce oxygenates could yield enormous economic, energy, and environmental benefits. However, commercial development of such processes has been hindered, in part, because the excessive heat released by alkane oxidation causes over-oxidation (burning) ...

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) and the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) programs are searching for (1) separations technologies for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and (2) devices that allow for fission product separation of highly radioactive, low-atomic-mass isotopes from spent transuranic and minor actinide wastes, and that are compatible with the UREX+ process. The innovative, pla ...

Due to political instability in oil-producing nations, growing concern about global warming and a need for indigenous energy resources, the scientific community shoulders the responsibility to identify and develop an economically viable and environmentally friendly fuel alternative. Higher alcohols, such as butanol and isobutanol that can be produced from the same biomass as ethanol are attractive ...

The ability to simulate magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) flow of liquid metals in fusion relevant conditions is vital to US interests in liquid breeder reactors. This project will use a software environment that has demonstrated unique capabilities in modeling such flows accurately in complex and realistic geometries. These calculations tend to be enormously time consuming due to the extreme sensitivity ...

Dual-coolant blanket designs for fusion reactors currently under development benefit from flow channel inserts that possess low electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity. Such flow channel inserts will advance the state of fusion technology closer to producing continuous low cost, non-polluting power. In addition to low electrical and thermal conductivity, the desired properties of the ...

This project will use spectroscopy technology to develop, deploy and test a field-portable methane isotope analyzer for measurements of carbon isotope ratios and methane concentrations in ambient air. This instrument will be capable of providing in-situ, accurate, quantification of both methane concentration and carbon isotope ratio for real-time monitoring of methane sources and sinks in the bios ...