Award Data

Concentrations of methane in the atmosphere have increased 150% in the past three centuries, and accurate measurements are need to characterize the sources of this greenhouse gas. Isotope measurements are a candidate technology, but existing measurement approaches are cumbersome, and require that samples be collected and returned to a lab for analysis. This project will use a near-room-temperatu ...

Large uncertainties in the global carbon budget complicate our understanding of how fossil fuel combustion affects the atmosphere and biosphere. To address these uncertainties, a precise and compact instrument for long-term unattended operation will be developed to measure the isotopic ratios of carbon dioxide. The approach will combine a novel signal and noise cancellation circuit with recently ...

The U.S. Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI), overseen by the DOE, has the goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years. However, the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are not well understood. Very high precision instruments to quantify the concentrations and fluctuations of carbon dioxide are essential to improve this understand ...

Verification is a key part of any technology that is designed to capture and contain carbon dioxide as a way to prevent climate change related to the combustion of fossil fuels.  The measurement of carbon in soils and sub-soils is an important component of this verification.  Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) appears to have the capability for measuring carbon in the soil with the ...

Currently, direct-coal liquefaction processes produce limited yields of moderate-quality liquid products, which are not cost-effective compared to petroleum-based liquid fuels. This project will develop a novel catalytic process for the liquefaction of coal into liquid fuels. Phase I provided a proof-of-concept regarding the ability of the catalyst and the processing technology to produce high q ...

The non-scaling Fixed Focus Alternating Gradient (FFAG) Accelerator is of strong interest for DOE facilities and commercial applications as a less expensive, faster cycling, and more-readily-operable device. This project will investigate the feasibility of this concept and plan for the construction of a scaled electron prototype. Phase I will develop an optimum lattice design, which will be scal ...

Currently, the best performing ultra-capacitors, an important technology for hybrid electric vehicles, utilize a non-aqueous electrolyte based on acetonitrile, which is highly flammable and considered toxic. Alternative electrolytes that do not contain acetonitrile are based primarily on propylene carbonate and have about 35% of the conductivity of those with acetonitrile, which significantly deg ...

Department of Energy waste storage tanks require continuous monitoring of species in solid, liquid and gaseous phases. Gas phase species of interest include ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. This project will develop in situ optical sensors that selectively and sensitively detect ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen in the waste tank headspace. The sensors will tak ...

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are best quantified by determining their carbon dioxide isotope ratios. However, the required precision represents a challenge to optical measurement techniques under field deployment conditions. This project will develop a compact, rugged, mid-infrared spectrometer capable of determining isotopic carbon dioxide ratios at atmospherically relevant levels. I ...

High-performance carbon dioxide detection is a critical component of the Department of Energy's greenhouse gas measurement strategy. However, high sensitivity, precision, and selectivity, in the presence of atmospheric contaminants, are a challenge to optical detection methods. In this project, an emerging, ultra-trace photoacoustic spectrometer, initially developed for use with simple laser dio ...