Award Data

High energy physics accelerators and instruments in other fields require the use of thousands of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities that are made of high purity niobium (Nb) material. The purity of Nb is critical for these cavities to reach the highest accelerating fields. Tantalum (Ta) is the most prolific of metal contaminants, can cause thermal breakdown, and can prevent the cavitie ...

Superconducting radio frequency (SRF) power couplers are used to introduce RF power into evacuated accelerating cavities typically operating at a few degrees Kelvin. These couplers are historically a problematic component that adversely affects the cost and reliability of the entire accelerator system. This project will develop a coupler which is low in capital and operating cost, highly reliable, ...

The ability of nuclear physics research to continue to make a significant impact on the scientific community relies on advances in accelerator performance, particularly on improvements in superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. In order to obtain optimal performance, the inner surfaces of the SRF cavities must be clean, smooth, and free of damage. However, current methods of treating the s ...

Current methods to break-down biomass into simple sugars for fermentation constitute the core barrier to the production of ethanol with minimal energy and water input, and waste output. In particular, the present practice of enzymatically hydrolyzing biomass into its constituent sugars in aqueous media suffers from slow reaction rates. This project will develop an ionic liquid pretreatment process ...

There is no reasonable way for teachers, parents or students to search on the Web for science content, especially Department of Energy research that is suited for a specific grade level or degree of difficulty. There are thousands of small collections scattered through the Web. The only way to search them is one by one, which is too difficult. This project will develop a grade level stratification ...

The primary industrial hydrogen production method today is Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) of natural gas (NG) at medium centralized facilities. This method has several shortcomings: (1) the natural gas feedstock is not renewable, (2) carbon emissions require costly mitigation systems to be compliant with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, (3) reformation results in a dilute hyd ...

As grain ethanol production capacity becomes constrained by the available supply of corn grain, production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass is widely seen as necessary to meet the surging demand for fuel ethanol. However, the high cost of biomass pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis make cellulosic ethanol too expensive. This project will develop technology to improve the quality of ensi ...

Because environmental mercury poses significant challenges to global public health, reducing mercury levels in air, soil, and water is an international priority. However, the widespread distribution of mercury (Hg) through the atmosphere makes current methods of addressing Hg contamination ¿ such as excavation and replacement of soil, or pump-and-treat techniques for water ¿ too expensive to be ...

Generation-IV nuclear energy systems, especially the very high temperature reactors are planned to operate at temperatures above 1000 degrees C and with neutron fluence up to cm. Accurate temperature measurements will be needed to identify hot spots, control thermal cycles, and perform temperature compensation of sensors, functions that are critical to the safe operation of these reactors. Howev ...

The global rise of oil prices in the past few years has resulted in parallel increases in the costs of practically every chemical and petroleum derived material: fuels, fine chemicals, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. New non-traditional and renewable feedstocks for these chemical processes need to be developed for both economic and environmental reasons. This project will demonstrate the techni ...