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Tag: Oak ridge national laboratory

  • Zeroing in on EV batteries with more storage and faster charging

    Zeroing in on EV batteries with more storage and faster charging

    Newswise — Currently, the biggest hurdle for electric vehicles, or EVs, is the development of advanced battery technology to extend driving range, safety and reliability.

    New research has shown how a novel lithium-based electrolyte material (Li9N2Cl3) can be used to develop solid-state batteries that charge faster and store more energy than conventional designs. Experiments revealed the solid-electrolyte was not only stable in normal air environments, but it also inhibited the growth of dendrites — dangerous, branchlike formations that cause batteries to catch fire.

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist Jue Liu conducted neutron experiments to observe how lithium moved through the material.

    “The material’s dry air stability, efficient lithium-ion transport, and high compatibility toward metallic lithium are crucial advances. It’s the best of both worlds,” he said. “It offers all the performance benefits of liquid-electrolyte batteries that we use every day, but it’s safer and more reliable.”


    Journal Link: Science Advances

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  • ORNL scientists close the cycle on recycling mixed plastics

    ORNL scientists close the cycle on recycling mixed plastics

    Newswise — Little of the mixed consumer plastics thrown away or placed in recycle bins actually ends up being recycled. Nearly 90% is buried in landfills or incinerated at commercial facilities that generate greenhouse gases and airborne toxins. Neither outcome is ideal for the environment.

    Why aren’t more mixed plastics recycled? It’s usually easier and less expensive to make new plastic products than reclaim, sort and recycle used ones. Conventional recycling of mixed plastics has previously meant manually or mechanically separating the plastics according to their constituent polymers.

    Addressing the issue, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used carefully planned chemical design, neutron scattering and high-performance computing to help develop a new catalytic recycling process. The catalyst selectively and sequentially deconstructs multiple polymers in mixed plastics into pristine monomers — molecules that react with other monomer molecules to form a polymer. The process offers a promising strategy for combating global plastic waste, such as bottles, packaging, foams and carpets.

    The researchers’ analysis, published in Materials Horizons, compared using the new multipurpose catalyst to using individual catalysts for each type of plastic. The new catalyst would generate up to 95% fewer greenhouse gases, require up to 94% less energy input, and result in up to a 96% reduction in fossil fuel consumption.

    “Our approach involves a tailored synthetic organocatalyst — a compound comprised of small organic molecules that facilitate organic chemical transformations. The organocatalyst can convert batches of mixed plastic waste into valuable monomers for reuse in producing commercial-grade plastics and other valuable materials,” said Tomonori Saito, an ORNL synthetic polymer chemist and corresponding author. “This exceptionally efficient chemical process can help close the loop for recycling mixed plastics by replacing first-use monomers with recycled monomers.

    “Today, nearly all plastics are made from fossil fuels using first-use monomers made by energy-intensive processes. Establishing this kind of closed-loop recycling, if used globally, could reduce annual energy consumption by about 3.5 billion barrels of oil,” Saito added.

    A recycling solution for over 30% of all plastics

    The new organocatalyst has proven to efficiently and quickly deconstruct multiple polymers — in around two hours. Such polymers include those used in materials such as safety goggles (polycarbonates), foams (polyurethanes), water bottles (polyethylene terephthalates) and ropes or fishing nets (polyamides), which together comprise more than 30% of global plastic production. Until now, no single catalyst has been shown to be effective on all four of these polymers.

    The process provides many environmental advantages by replacing harsh chemicals for deconstructing polymers, as well as offering good selectivity, thermal stability, nonvolatility and low flammability. Its effectiveness against multiple polymers also makes it useful for deconstructing the increasing amounts of multicomponent plastics, such as composites and multilayer packaging.

    Small-angle neutron scattering at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source was used to help confirm the formation of deconstructed monomers from the waste plastics. The method scatters neutrons at small angles to characterize the structure at different levels of detail, from nanometers to fractions of a micrometer.

    Converting mixed plastics polymers to true recycled plastics

    The organocatalyst deconstructs the plastics at different temperatures, which facilitates sequentially recovering the individual monomers separately, in reusable form. Polycarbonates deconstruct at 266 F (130 C), polyurethanes at 320 F (160 C), polyethylene terephthalates at 356 F (180 C) and polyamides at 410 F (210 C). Other plastics, additives and associated materials such as cotton and plastic bags are left intact because of the differences in their reactivity and can subsequently be recovered.

    “The deconstructed monomers and the organocatalyst are water soluble, so we can transfer them into water, where any impurities such as pigments can be removed by filtration,” said Md Arifuzzaman, the study’s lead author and former postdoctoral synthetic organic chemist at ORNL. He is now an Innovation Crossroads Fellow and CEO and Founder of the Re-Du Company. “The nearly pure monomers are then extracted, leaving the catalyst, which is almost entirely recovered by evaporating the water and can be directly reused for multiple deconstruction cycles.”

    The study included researchers from ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division and Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences within the Physical Sciences Directorate, the Neutron Sciences Directorate and the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

    CNMS and SNS are Department of Energy Office of Science user facilities.
    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. 

     

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  • Scientists illuminate the mechanics of solid-state batteries

    Scientists illuminate the mechanics of solid-state batteries

    Newswise — As current courses through a battery, its materials erode over time. Mechanical influences such as stress and strain affect this trajectory, although their impacts on battery efficacy and longevity are not fully understood.

    A team led by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a framework for designing solid-state batteries, or SSBs, with mechanics in mind. Their paper, published in Science, reviewed how these factors change SSBs during their cycling.

    “Our goal is to highlight the importance of mechanics in battery performance,” said Sergiy Kalnaus, a scientist in ORNL’s Multiphysics Modeling and Flows group. “A lot of studies have focused on chemical or electric properties but have neglected to show the underlying mechanics.”

    The team spans several ORNL research areas including computation, chemistry and materials science. Together, their review painted a more cohesive picture of the conditions that affect SSBs by using perspectives from across the scientific spectrum. “We’re trying to bridge the divide between disciplines,” said Kalnaus.

    In batteries, charged particles flow through materials known as electrolytes. Most are liquids, like in the lithium-ion batteries found in electric cars — but solid electrolytes also are being developed. These conductors are typically made from glass or ceramic and could offer advantages such as enhanced safety and strength.

    “True solid-state batteries don’t have flammable liquids inside,” said Kalnaus. “This means that they would be less hazardous than the batteries commonly used today.”

    However, solid electrolytes are still in the early stages of development due to the challenges associated with these novel materials. SSB components swell and shrink during charge and mass transport, which alters the system. “Electrodes constantly deform during the battery operation, creating delamination and voids at the interfaces with the solid electrolyte,” said Kalnaus. “In today’s systems, the best solution is applying a large amount of pressure to keep everything together.”

    These dimensional changes damage solid electrolytes, which are made from brittle materials. They often break in response to strain and pressure. Making these materials more ductile would allow them to withstand stress by flowing instead of cracking. This behavior can be achieved with some techniques that introduce small crystal defects into ceramic electrolytes.

    Electrons leave a system through anodes. In SSBs, this component can be made from pure lithium, which is the most energy dense metal. Although this material offers advantages for a battery’s power, it also creates pressure that can damage electrolytes.

    “During charging, nonuniform plating and an absence of stress-relief mechanisms can create stress concentrations. These can support large amounts of pressure, enabling the flow of lithium metal,” said Erik Herbert, the leader of ORNL’s Mechanical Properties and Mechanics group. “In order to optimize the performance and longevity of SSBs, we need to engineer the next generation of anodes and solid electrolytes that can maintain mechanically stable interfaces without fracturing the solid electrolyte separator.”

    The team’s work is part of ORNL’s long history of researching materials for SSBs. In the early 1990s, a glassy electrolyte known as lithium phosphorous oxynitride, or LiPON, was developed at the lab. LiPON has become widely used as an electrolyte in thin-film batteries that have a metallic lithium anode. This component can withstand many charge-discharge cycles without failure, largely due to the ductility of LiPON. When met with mechanical stressors, it flows instead of cracking.

    “In recent years we have learned that LiPON has robust mechanical properties to complement its chemical and electrochemical durability,” said Nancy Dudney, an ORNL scientist who led the team that developed the material.

    The team’s effort highlights an under-studied aspect of SSBs — understanding the factors that shape their lifespan and efficacy. “The research community needed a road map,” said Kalnaus. “In our paper, we outlined the mechanics of materials for solid-state electrolytes, encouraging scientists to consider these when designing new batteries.”

    UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. 

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  • ORNL is poised to have a major role in the future of nuclear physics

    ORNL is poised to have a major role in the future of nuclear physics

    Newswise — The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a bastion of nuclear physics research for the past 80 years, is poised to strengthen its programs and service to the United States over the next decade if national recommendations of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, or NSAC, are enacted.

    “The 2023 Long Range Plan lays out a compelling vision for nuclear science in the United States under multiple budget scenarios,” said Gail Dodge, physicist at Old Dominion University and chair of the NSAC. “Implementation of the Long Range Plan’s recommendations will maintain the nation’s leadership and workforce in nuclear science.”

    On Wednesday the NSAC, which advises DOE and the National Science Foundation on nuclear physics, approved a 10-year roadmap, or Long Range Plan. It includes four key priorities that would advance the nation’s nuclear science research program and set the direction of research for another generation of scientists.

    The recommendations would give ORNL a continuing critical role in helping maintain the nation’s leadership in nuclear physics for at least the next decade — solving mysteries of how the smallest particles in the universe behave and using that understanding to advance medicine, quantum science, energy, national security and other areas that improve the lives of people everywhere.

    Research in nuclear physics — the science of atomic nuclei and their constituents — helps us understand how virtually all ordinary matter in the universe originated and evolved. The cutting-edge research on particles is also used in isotope production, medical diagnosis, national security, energy, nuclear treaty verification, the environment and nuclear applications.

    The highest priority, according to the plan, is increasing the budget for nuclear physics in theoretical, experimental and computational research “to capitalize on the extraordinary opportunities for scientific discovery made possible by the substantial and sustained investment of the United States.” This would expand “discovery potential, technological innovation, and workforce development to the benefit of society.” This recommendation, if adopted, would ensure user facilities throughout the country would continue to operate at the highest level and reap the most scientific benefit.

    “Each one of the four recommendations has a large impact for ORNL,” said David Radford, ORNL physicist and head of the lab’s Fundamental Nuclear and Particle Physics Section. For example, another recommendation is for funding of multiple large experiments to search for neutrinoless double beta decay; one of these experiments has leadership and significant participation from ORNL scientists. The advisory committee recommends that construction of ton-scale detectors addressing fundamental physics should be a top budgetary priority.

    That research, which aims to solve the problem of how matter came to dominate over antimatter, will provide insight into the origin and mass of the neutrino, and in so doing could rewrite the Standard Model of particle physics. The research includes experiments known as CUPID, LEGEND and nEXO proposed by international collaborations. ORNL scientists, including Radford, are leading DOE’s contribution to building LEGEND.

    “This could help explain the matter-antimatter imbalance in the universe,” Radford said. “This plan reiterates that the experiment should go forward. That’s very important for this extremely compelling and exciting physics.”

    Radford and Cynthia Jenks, ORNL’s associate laboratory director for the Physical Sciences Directorate, said the ORNL impacts at a rollout of the plan on Friday after the plan was released to the public on Wednesday.

    Another committee recommendation calls for the “expeditious completion” of the Electron-Ion Collider, a massive particle accelerator that would be built at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Already, ORNL physicists are hard at work designing and building a detector for the system, which, like a precision microscope, will illuminate three-dimensional images of nuclear matter, uncovering how particles like quarks and gluons interact and behave. Experiments on the machine could help answer longstanding questions about the fundamental particles of matter.

    An additional recommendation is to advance discovery science for society by investing in scientific projects that offer new strategic opportunities. Such opportunities advance computing, nuclear data for medicine, clean energy, national security, nonproliferation, the environment and space — all areas that are in ORNL’s wheelhouse of research and that would bolster ORNL’s research programs, Radford said.

    “ORNL certainly does work in these areas, using emerging technologies to meet national needs,” Radford said, adding that programs in nuclear data, advanced computing, sensing, quantum information and nuclear data all make use of not only physicists but engineers, data scientists and other experts. An example is ORNL’s Advanced Radiation Detection, Imaging, Data Science and Applications group, which is invested in these research areas. Also, high-performance computing research impacts physics experiments around the world, including at CERN in Switzerland and elsewhere.

    DOE facilities, such as ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, or SNS, an Office of Science user facility, are critical to fundamental nuclear physics research by ORNL researchers and other laboratory and university scientists around the world. An important experiment at SNS is the neutron electric dipole moment experiment, which aims to make the world’s best measurement of this property, an accomplishment that would be “paradigm shifting,” the committee says. Similarly, ORNL scientists use DOE’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, also a DOE Office of Science user facility, at Michigan State University, which is producing exciting results on decays of never-before-produced isotopes. ORNL helped lead construction of a day-one detector for that facility that has already produced high-impact results.

    Such scientific advances rely on a workforce trained in science, and the plan calls for resources to help build the next generation of STEM researchers. This includes ensuring graduate students are fairly compensated and “expanding policies and resources to ensure an environment that is safe and respectful to everyone,” said Shelly Lesher, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. One of the architects of the workforce development section of the plan, Lesher added that the plan calls for exposure of the field to broader populations to increase representation. Like all 17 of America’s DOE national laboratories, ORNL stands to benefit from policies that make it possible for people from all walks of life to join the field, Radford said.

    Said Radford, “The training of the future workforce at this lab will help the security and economic prosperity of the country. This is the voice of the community saying what its priorities are and that the nation would benefit tremendously by buying into that and funding nuclear physics at the appropriate level.”

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.. — Lawrence Bernard

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  • World-class neutron source takes a break for major Proton Power Upgrade

    World-class neutron source takes a break for major Proton Power Upgrade

    Newswise — The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory — already the world’s most powerful accelerator-based neutron source — will be on a planned hiatus through June 2024 as crews work to upgrade the facility.

    Much of the work — part of the facility’s Proton Power Upgrade project — will involve building a connector between the accelerator and the planned Second Target Station at SNS. When complete, the PPU project will bring the accelerator up to 2.8 megawatts from its current record-breaking 1.7 megawatts of beam power.

    Workers will add about 3,000 square feet of concrete tunnel, the “stub,” which will integrate with an existing tunnel. Construction tasks include associated structures, roofing, geomembrane liner, tunnel waterproofing, electrical, fire alarm, ventilation systems and controls.

    “The construction crews have performed all of the excavation work and are transitioning to tunnel base and wall construction,” said ORNL’s Mark Champion, PPU project manager.

    The stub is scheduled to be completed within six months, by the end of February, and most of the rest of this outage will involve installing new components and systems to complete the PPU project.

    That work includes:

    • Installing three new cryomodules, adding more radio-frequency stations and upgrading two high-voltage units to support new 3.0 megawatt klystrons.
    • Installing an injection dump imaging system and new magnets and upgrading deionized water systems, power supplies and a beam power limit system.
    • Installing a new liquid hydrogen refill system, mercury overflow tank and target complete with gas injection and recirculation system.
    • Completing controls integration.

    The upgrade will increase the flow of neutrons — known as the neutron flux — to the First Target Station, or FTS, and eventually also power the STS.

    Power to the FTS — which produces thermal neutrons to analyze samples down to the atomic scale — will increase to 2.0 megawatts, enabling new scientific discoveries in such areas as superconductors, energy materials such as those used in batteries, and basic physics. The additional power will be split via the stub, to power the STS, which will have the world’s highest peak brightness of neutrons, tailored for probing soft matter such as polymers and biological materials, and complex engineering materials. This is used in vaccine research, advanced batteries and for decarbonization studies.

    “It’s very gratifying to reach one of the final stages of the project after several years of planning, design and engineering,” said ORNL’s John Galambos, PPU project director. “It’s a huge tribute to the skills and dedication of the entire PPU team and our partner labs that the project has remained on schedule and on budget despite unprecedented challenges, including Covid-19 and subsequent supply chain issues.”

    The Spallation Neutron Source is an Office of Science user facility at ORNL.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • Benefit breakdown, 3D printed vs. wood molds

    Benefit breakdown, 3D printed vs. wood molds

    BYLINE: Jennifer J Burke

    Newswise — Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have conducted a comprehensive life cycle, cost and carbon emissions analysis on 3D-printed molds for precast concrete and determined the method is economically beneficial compared to conventional wood molds.

    Precast concrete is used in building construction and produced by pouring the material into a reusable mold. For decades, these molds have been made from wood — a technique that requires a highly specialized skillset. As an alternative, molds made from fiber-reinforced polymer composites can be 3D printed.

    “We developed a techno-economic model that compared costs associated with each method, evaluating materials, equipment, energy and labor,” ORNL’s Kristina Armstrong said. “3D printing can make complex molds faster, and the composites can be recycled, leading to more economical molds when used many times for precast concrete parts.”

    Optimizing mold designs also reduces energy demand and carbon emissions. Future studies will further evaluate the recycling impact.

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  • Scientists uncovered mystery of important material for semiconductors at the surface

    Scientists uncovered mystery of important material for semiconductors at the surface

    Newswise — A team of scientists with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has investigated the behavior of hafnium oxide, or hafnia, because of its potential for use in novel semiconductor applications.

    Materials such as hafnia exhibit ferroelectricity, which means that they are capable of extended data storage even when power is disconnected and that they might be used in the development of new, so-called nonvolatile memory technologies. Innovative nonvolatile memory applications will pave the way for the creation of bigger and faster computer systems by alleviating the heat generated from the continual transfer of data to short-term memory.

    The scientists explored whether the atmosphere plays a role in hafnia’s ability to change its internal electric charge arrangement when an external electric field is applied. The goal was to explain the range of unusual phenomena that have been obtained in hafnia research. The team’s findings were recently published in Nature Materials.

    “We have conclusively proven that the ferroelectric behavior in these systems is coupled to the surface and is tunable by changing the surrounding atmosphere. Previously, the workings of these systems were speculation, a hypothesis based on a large number of observations both by our group and by multiple groups worldwide,” said ORNL’s Kyle Kelley, a researcher with the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. CNMS is a DOE Office of Science user facility.

    Kelley performed the experiments and envisioned the project in collaboration with Sergei Kalinin of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

    Materials commonly used for memory applications have a surface, or dead, layer that interferes with the material’s ability to store information. As materials are scaled down to only several nanometers thick, the effect of the dead layer becomes extreme enough to completely stop the functional properties. By changing the atmosphere, the scientists were able to tune the surface layer’s behavior, which, in hafnia, transitioned the material from the antiferroelectric to the ferroelectric state. 

    “Ultimately, these findings provide a pathway for predictive modeling and device engineering of hafnia, which is urgently needed, given the importance of this material in the semiconductor industry,” Kelley said.

    Predictive modeling enables scientists to use previous research to estimate the properties and behavior of an unknown system. The study that Kelley and Kalinin led focused on hafnia alloyed, or blended, with zirconia, a ceramic material. But future research could apply the findings to anticipate how hafnia may behave when alloyed with other elements.

    The research relied on atomic force microscopy both inside a glovebox and in ambient conditions, as well as ultrahigh-vacuum atomic force microscopy, methods available at the CNMS.

    “Leveraging the unique CNMS capabilities enabled us to do this type of work,” Kelley said. “We basically changed the environment all the way from ambient atmosphere to ultrahigh vacuum. In other words, we removed all gases in the atmosphere to negligible levels and measured these responses, which is extremely hard to do.”

    Team members from the Materials Characterization Facility at Carnegie Mellon University played a key role in the research by providing electron microscopy characterization, and collaborators from the University of Virginia led the materials development and optimization.

    ORNL’s Yongtao Liu, a researcher with CNMS, performed ambient piezoresponse force microscopy measurements.

    The model theory that underpinned this research project was the result of a long research partnership between Kalinin and Anna Morozovska at the Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

    “I have worked with my colleagues in Kiev on physics and chemistry of ferroelectrics for almost 20 years now,” Kalinin said. “They did a lot for this paper while almost on the front line of the war in that country. These people keep doing science in conditions that most of us cannot imagine.”

    The team hopes that what they have discovered will stimulate new research specific to exploring the role of controlled surface and interface electrochemistries — the relationship between electricity and chemical reactions — in a computing device’s performance.

    “Future studies can extend this knowledge to other systems to help us understand how the interface affects the device properties, which, hopefully, will be in a good way,” Kelley said. “Typically, the interface kills your ferroelectric properties when scaled to these thicknesses. In this case, it showed us a transition from one material state to another.”  

    Kalinin added: “Traditionally, we explored surfaces at the atomic level to understand phenomena such as chemical reactivity and catalysis, or the modification of the rate of a chemical reaction. Simultaneously, in traditional semiconductor technology, our goal was only to keep surfaces clean from contaminants. Our studies show that, in fact, these two areas — the surface and the electrochemistry — are connected. We can use surfaces of these materials to tune their bulk functional properties.”

    The title of the paper is “Ferroelectricity in hafnia controlled via surface electrochemical state.”

    This research was supported as part of the Center for 3D Ferroelectric Microelectronics, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by DOE’s Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences program, and was partially performed as a user proposal at the CNMS.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • Mukherjee elevated to senior member of IEEE

    Mukherjee elevated to senior member of IEEE

    Newswise — Subho Mukherjee, an R&D associate in the Vehicle Power Electronics Research group at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elevated to the grade of senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE. Senior IEEE members have made significant contributions to the profession and worked in the engineering field for 10 years or more.

    As an electrical engineer, Mukherjee focuses on wireless power charging and developing wide bandgap semiconductor-based power converters. His research supports the development of integrated onboard and wireless chargers for electric vehicles and fuel cell-based power trains for heavy duty vehicles. He first joined ORNL in 2019 as a postdoctoral research associate, where he spent a year in power electronics work, and returned in 2023 as R&D associate staff.

    Prior to his work with ORNL, Mukherjee was an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. He also served as a senior engineer for Honeywell Technical Solutions and Infineon Technologies. He has two patents, has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal papers and serves as a reviewer for IEEE journals and conferences.

    Mukherjee has a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

     

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  • ORNL Buildings Researchers Earn Top ASHRAE Honors

    ORNL Buildings Researchers Earn Top ASHRAE Honors

    Newswise — Kashif Nawaz and Mahabir Bhandari, building technologies researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, were recognized for research achievements in support of ASHRAE during the 2023 annual conference of the national heating, refrigerating, and air-conditioning engineering society.

    Nawaz, a distinguished researcher and head of ORNL’s Buildings Technologies Research Section, received the Crosby Field Award, which honors the highest-rated paper presented before a technical session, a symposium or poster session or at a society meeting. He was recognized for the paper, “Impact and Value of ASHRAE’s Standards and Technology (RP-1848).”

    Nawaz has more than 15 years of research and development experience and is a recognized leader in different aspects of a building’s heating, cooling and dehumidification systems, including novel heat exchangers. He has pioneered the development of a new generation of high-temperature heat exchangers manufactured with ceramics and composites using additive manufacturing. His recent research has led to the development of unique concepts for direct air capture of carbon dioxide from buildings. Nawaz previously received ASHRAE’s Exceptional Service Award and the Distinguished Service Award.

    Bhandari, a researcher in the Building Envelope and Materials Research group, received the Distinguished Service Award, which salutes members who have served the society with distinction by giving their time and talent in chapter, regional and society activities. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of building energy performance. Bhandari’s research focuses on whole-building energy simulation and the integration of energy-efficient technologies in buildings. He also leads the combined heat and power deployment support program for DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office. He has served as a chair of ASHRAE’s fenestration technical committee.

    “We are proud of these distinguished researchers for all that they do, not only for ORNL but also for the larger professional community,” said Robert Wagner, director of ORNL’s Buildings and Transportation Science Division. “Both Mahabir and Kashif have made significant contributions to the advancement of building envelope and equipment research.”

    Founded in 1894, ASHRAE is a global professional society committed to serving humanity by advancing the arts and sciences of heating ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and allied fields.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • Decarbonizing industry

    Decarbonizing industry

    Newswise — Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a training camp to help manufacturing industries reduce energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and improve cost savings.

    As part of the Department of Energy’s Better Plants Program, the Oct. 16-19 Energy Bootcamp will provide hands-on training for energy and sustainability managers, analysts, plant engineers and facility supervisors with industrial plant oversight responsibilities.

    “Petroleum, chemical, iron and steel, cement, and food and beverage manufacturers contribute more than 50% of CO2 emissions in the U.S. industrial sector and 15% of U.S. economywide total emissions,” ORNL’s Thomas Wenning said. “This bootcamp gives plant managers a better understanding of the resources available and approaches for decarbonizing these facilities.”

    The bootcamp will offer training on two ORNL-developed free software tools for identifying and quantifying energy savings — MEASUR and VERIFI — and demonstrate diagnostic tools including infrared cameras, leak detectors and combustion analyzers.

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  • Five ORNL scientists to receive DOE Early Career Research awards

    Five ORNL scientists to receive DOE Early Career Research awards

    Newswise — The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has selected five Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists for Early Career Research Program awards. 

    Since its inception in 2010, the program bolsters national scientific discovery by supporting early career researchers in fields related to the Office of Science’s eight major program offices: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Biological and Environmental Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Accelerator R&D and Production and Isotope R&D and Production.

    The awards are typically restricted to scientists in the first 10 years of their careers, but eligibility this year was extended to 12 years in recognition of complications from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many researchers complete their most formative work in these early career years.

    “Supporting America’s scientists and researchers early in their careers will ensure the United States remains at the forefront of scientific discovery,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The funding announced today gives the recipients the resources to find the answers to some of the most complex questions as they establish themselves as experts in their fields.”

    A total of 93 scientists nationwide, employed across 12 DOE national laboratories and 47 universities, will receive funding through this year’s program.

    “Support for these talented researchers is vital to ORNL’s goal of furthering the nation’s scientific priorities,” ORNL Interim Director Jeff Smith said. “Their scientific contributions will help in addressing challenges in quantum materials and computing, environmental systems and fusion energy.”

    The ORNL researchers receiving awards include:

    Matthew Brahlek, an R&D staff scientist in the Materials Science and Technology Division, was selected by the Basic Energy Sciences program for his proposal, “Epitaxially Imposed Control of Chiral Transport Phenomena.”

    Due to their exotic states, materials with chiral symmetry, or a lack of mirror symmetry, offer key advantages in quantum-based technologies. To fully exploit their properties, however, scientists must simultaneously control a material’s underlying symmetry and dimensionality. In this project, Brahlek will create new chiral systems by combining dissimilar materials at the atomic level as atomically thin crystalline films. These new materials will allow for targeted control of symmetry and dimensionality to enable the discovery of new exotic superconductors and unusual low dimensional states. The resulting fundamental design principles established will drive the development of a new generation of quantum materials.

    Jack Cahill, an R&D associate scientist in the Biosciences Division, was selected by the Biological and Environmental Research Program for his proposal, “Elucidation and Validation of Genes Associated with Biological Nitrification Inhibition in Populus.”

    Nitrogen use efficiency, the amount of nitrogen used by a crop compared to the amount of nitrogen added, greatly impacts natural carbon sequestration. Bioenergy crops typically have low nitrogen use efficiency – as much as 70% of added nitrogen is lost as waste – which leads to poor carbon sequestration. Biological nitrification inhibitor molecules released from plants prevent such nitrogen loss by slowing nitrification processes. With this proposal, Cahill will conduct experiments to identify genes associated with such molecules in common bioenergy crop poplar, analyze nitrification in the soil surrounding poplar roots and ultimately improve crops’ efficiency and carbon sequestration.

    Eugene Dumitrescu, a staff research scientist in the Computational Science and Engineering Division, was selected by the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program for his proposal, “MLRep4QC3: Multi-Linear Representations for Quantum Characterization, Control, and Computation.”

    Quantum processes have greatly expanded the boundaries of modern science, but scientists lack high-level operational methods for controlling quantum states. Dumitrescu aims to accelerate computational science by identifying where quantum control is possible with classical computing resources. To overcome scalability problems with prior models, Dumitrescu will develop multi-linear representation, or MLRep, algorithms, powerful tools to represent quantum states and minimize computational requirements for quantum characterization. Dumitrescu will then assess the quality of quantum processes and demonstrate the feasibility of MLRep algorithms for controlling quantum states. Finally, the algorithms will be compiled into a linear algebra package evaluating classical computing’s potential in quantum control.

    Takaaki Koyanagi, an R&D staff scientist in the Materials Science and Technology Division, was selected by the Fusion Energy Sciences Program for his proposal, “Mechanistic framework for additive manufacturing of highly radiation-resistant SiC components.”

    Despite its potential as a carbon-free energy source, fusion power still faces several challenges, including a need for irradiation-resistant components. Koyanagi aims to develop these critical parts by combining the benefits of silicon carbide, a promising material for fusion energy system components, with the flexibilities of additive manufacturing. Specifically, Koyanagai will use binder jet 3D printing and chemical vapor infiltration of silicon carbide, a novel process developed at ORNL, to additively manufacture components. He will determine the products’ ideal microstructure for fusion through neutron irradiation experiments at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, high-throughput processing and machine learning data analysis.

    Dan Lu, a senior staff scientist in the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, was selected by the Biological and Environmental Research program for her proposal, “Integrating Machine Learning Models into E3SM for Understanding Coastal Compound Flooding.”

    Coastal urban regions have a unique importance to economic and environmental health. Because of population increases and coastal development, these areas are acutely threatened by the risk of severe flooding. Further research is needed to understand backwater effects, which occur when downstream water levels are higher than river water levels and are often responsible for coastal flooding. To address this need, Lu will use DOE’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM, alongside machine learning methods to create a data- and physics-driven river model for evaluating backwater effects and modeling floods, with the goal of establishing reliable predictions to mitigate floods.

    Awardees will receive a combined $135 million across five years to cover salary and research expenses. The final details for each project award are subject to final grant and contract negotiations between DOE and the awardees. 

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • Spallation Neutron Source accelerator achieves world-record 1.7-megawatt power level to enable more scientific discoveries

    Spallation Neutron Source accelerator achieves world-record 1.7-megawatt power level to enable more scientific discoveries

    Newswise — The Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory set a world record when its particle accelerator beam operating power reached 1.7 megawatts, substantially improving on the facility’s original design capability.

    The accelerator’s higher power provides more neutrons for researchers who use the facility to study and improve a wide range of materials for more efficient solar panels, longer–lasting batteries and stronger, lighter materials for transportation. The achievement marks a new operational milestone for neutron scattering in the United States and opens the door to tackling more difficult questions and problems in materials science research.

    “This increase in beam power represents another milestone in the Proton Power Upgrade project, an essential component in enabling new science at the SNS, including insights into advanced materials for clean energy applications,” said interim ORNL Director Jeff Smith. “I commend our staff for their efforts in accomplishing this new record.”

    Since construction was completed in 2006, the SNS has been a world-leading DOE Office of Science user facility that provides powerful advanced scientific capabilities for thousands of researchers from around the world to study energy phenomena and materials down to the atomic scale.

    The facility produces neutrons by accelerating protons down a 300-meter-long linear accelerator, around an accumulator ring and into a liquid mercury target. Upon impact, a “spall” of neutrons is routed to surrounding research instruments, which enables scientists to study the atomic structure and behavior of various materials. Neutrons scatter off atoms within the material and are captured by high-speed detectors, revealing fundamental information for research teams to analyze.

    A megawatt is a unit of measure of the beam power of a particle accelerator. The SNS’ 1.7-megawatt power level was reached after the recent installation of additional accelerating systems, part of the ongoing Proton Power Upgrade project at the accelerator.

    ORNL’s Proton Power Upgrade will continue to push the particle accelerator’s beam power up to 2.8 megawatts. This will increase the number of neutrons available for experiments at the existing First Target Station to enable new discoveries and power the planned Second Target Station, a complementary third neutron source at ORNL. STS will address emerging science challenges through experiments not currently feasible nor routine, with the ability to study smaller or less-concentrated samples or those under more extreme environmental conditions.

    Besides SNS, ORNL is home to the High Flux Isotope Reactor. Completed in 1965 and operating at 85 megawatts, HFIR’s steady-state neutron beam is the strongest reactor-based neutron source in the United States.

    The SNS and HFIR facilities produce neutron beams that help spur innovations that lead to improvements in daily life, such as more powerful computers, cleaner air, more effective drugs and longer-lasting batteries.

    SNS and HFIR are DOE Office of Science user facilities.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • Direct air capture technology licensed to Knoxville-based Holocene

    Direct air capture technology licensed to Knoxville-based Holocene

    Newswise — An innovative and sustainable chemistry developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory for capturing carbon dioxide from air has been licensed to Holocene, a Knoxville-based startup focused on designing and building plants that remove carbon dioxide from atmospheric air.

    “ORNL is tackling climate change by developing numerous technologies that reduce or eliminate emissions,” said Susan Hubbard, ORNL deputy for science and technology. “But with billions of tons of carbon dioxide already in the air, we must capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow and reverse the effects of climate change.”

    “Direct air capture allows us to collect legacy emissions,” said Radu Custelcean, a scientist in ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division and inventor of the licensed technology. “Our technology is one of the few approaches that can do that. It offers a new, energy-efficient approach to removing CO2 directly from air.”

    In direct air capture, a large fan pulls air through a contacting chamber where the air interacts with chemical compounds that filter and capture carbon dioxide. The CO2 can then be released from the capture material and stored deep underground.

    Holocene’s founder and chief executive officer Anca Timofte said there are several chemical approaches to direct air capture, or DAC, each with benefits and drawbacks.

    “ORNL’s chemistry combines the best features of existing approaches to DAC to create a water-based, low-temperature process,” she said.

    Custelcean’s process uses an aqueous solution containing ORNL-discovered receptors called Bis-iminoguanidine, or BIGs, to absorb carbon dioxide. As this happens, BIGs turn into an insoluble crystalline salt, which can easily be separated from the liquid solution. Custelcean and his research team discovered this new chemistry by chance while conducting fundamental crystallization experiments. The resulting Bis-Iminoguanidine Negative Emission Technology, or BIG-NET, received an R&D 100 Award in 2021.

    The BIGs discovery propelled Custelcean’s research in a new direction.

    “Doing basic research under DOE’s Basic Energy Sciences program, I have the flexibility to change direction if I find something interesting,” Custelcean said. “The basic research allows us to better understand all the elementary reactions and processes involved. But through licensing, we get to see a progression with our partners in the development of the technology. We’re involved in the full spectrum of research.”

    Timofte, originally from Romania, has a background in chemical engineering and worked at one of the world’s first direct air capture companies, Switzerland-based Climeworks. She contributed to the design of the company’s largest plant, which is in Iceland. With a growing interest in the market and finance aspects of carbon capture, she left Climeworks to enroll in the Master of Business Administration program at Stanford University to focus on climate technology and entrepreneurship.

    Timofte avidly followed the published literature around carbon capture. Custelcean’s publications caught her eye — she recognized the name as being Romanian — and she saw how his chemistry could address the major hurdles of the two established direct air capture processes.

    “The more I learned about his research, the more I saw the potential and the more I wanted to start my own company to pursue it,” she said. “With the encouragement of my professors, I founded Holocene and licensed the technology so I could work on it in a lab and think more about commercialization.”

    With Holocene established and the ORNL technology licensed, Timofte is further developing her business plans through Innovation Crossroads, a DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program funded by DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, Building Technologies Office and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

    “When you’re in the position of starting a new company, having a group of mentors like the ones at Innovation Crossroads and the ability to work with ORNL is very appealing,” Timofte said. “I was happy to get into the program. It helps with the normal challenges that all startups have, but also very importantly, it connects us with the local ecosystem in Knoxville and gives us access to the scientists who developed the chemistry. We can work together and transfer knowledge — we can learn more about how the licensed technology works, work on features, troubleshoot issues, de-risk and optimize the chemistry. It’s a nice continuation of the collaboration.”

    Innovation Crossroads provides Holocene with a two-year cooperative research and development agreement to continue working with Custelcean and ORNL. Through this partnership, Holocene staff learn more about the science behind the technology, troubleshoot issues in testing and scale-up and connect with mentors at the lab and in the community.

    “Holocene is a great example of how the interconnected climate tech ecosystem can support a new company through the stages of development,” said Dan Miller, Innovation Crossroads program lead.

    Timofte is a Breakthrough Energy Fellow, a program launched by Breakthrough Energy — which was founded by Bill Gates — focused on accelerating innovation in sustainable energy and other technologies to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Holocene is also part of the Spark Incubator Program, an entrepreneurial support program at the University of Tennessee Research Park’s Spark Innovation Center.

    Next up, Holocene and ORNL will conduct bench-scale testing funded by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management with the aim of using ORNL’s chemistry to further develop and deploy direct air capture at a commercial scale.

    ORNL senior commercialization manager Alex DeTrana negotiated the terms of the license. To connect with Holocene, complete this online contact form.

    The invention development team includes ORNL’s Costas Tsouris, Gyoung Gug Jang and Diana Stamberga. Charles Seipp and Neil Williams, formerly of ORNL, also participated. Read more about Custelcean’s carbon-removal research work.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Robert Wagner receives 2023 SAE Medal of Honor

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Robert Wagner receives 2023 SAE Medal of Honor

    Newswise — SAE International has awarded Oak Ridge National Laboratory Buildings and Transportation Science Division Director Robert Wagner with the SAE Medal of Honor for his dedication and support of the organization’s mission of advancing mobility solutions.

    Wagner was presented with the award at a ceremony in Detroit. This is the most prestigious award that the automotive engineering society annually bestows upon one of its more than 128,000 members for individual achievement.

    Wagner has been a champion of SAE since the late 1990s and has founded, organized or chaired more than 20 SAE International symposiums, panels and conferences. In 2011, during a time of significant and rapid breakthroughs in engine technologies, he co-founded the High Efficiency Internal Combustion Engine Symposium and helped develop it into a premier global transportation event. Building on that success, in 2016 he co-founded a symposium that focused on range extenders and brought together leaders from the U.S. government and across the profession to share insights into the challenges and opportunities of integrating high-efficiency engines into electrified drivetrains. This was one of the first SAE events focused on electric vehicles and hybridization, helping the organization remain at the forefront of new technology innovations on the global stage.

    More recently, as transportation research focus has shifted to net-zero-carbon fuels, Wagner recognized the need to create an opportunity for a diverse group of global stakeholders to have a neutral forum setting in which to convene and exchange ideas. This led to a series of symposiums dedicated to net-zero initiatives and the interface with engines and fuel.

    Wagner has focused on passing down the legacy of planning and organizing to other researchers, inspiring and mentoring a new generation of engineers to understand the importance that symposiums can have on securing SAE International’s reputation as a world authority on automotive engineering.

    “I am pleased to see that SAE has recognized Robert for his contributions to advancing transportation research, both nationally and internationally,” said Xin Sun, associate laboratory directory for ORNL’s Energy Science and Technology Directorate. “His leadership at ORNL has been instrumental to maintaining the laboratory’s reputation as a leader in transportation and mobility research and development.”

    At ORNL, Wagner has led transportation research and initiatives for more than 20 years and is well regarded as a scientific leader, strategic planner, mentor and collaborator, working with the Department of Energy, other national laboratories, academia and industry partners. Within this role, he stewards two DOE user facilities — the National Transportation Research Center and the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center. He originally came to ORNL as an undergraduate student in 1992 and then joined ORNL as a postdoctoral research fellow in 1999, advancing to a distinguished research staff role followed by leadership roles in which he directed a diverse portfolio of transportation research. For 10 years, Wagner served as DOE’s laboratory relationship manager for advanced combustion, emissions and fuels and was a founding member of the DOE initiative on the Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines.

    He is an SAE Fellow, two-time winner of the SAE International Forest R. McFarland Award, and a recipient of the SAE International Leadership Citation. In 2019, Wagner was named in the Inaugural SAE Top Contributor Class based on his volunteer and engagement contributions. He has co-authored 40 SAE publications, presented 14 invited talks at SAE International events and served on multiple committees and the editorial board of the SAE International Journal of Engines. Wagner is also a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has won numerous awards from other organizations for research, leadership and service.

    A native of Missouri and first-generation college graduate, he earned his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from the Missouri University of Science & Technology, where he delivered the commencement address to Ph.D. graduates in December 2022.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • Andrew Ullman, Wigner Fellow, gets a charge out of batteries

    Andrew Ullman, Wigner Fellow, gets a charge out of batteries

    Newswise — Andrew Ullman had the pleasure of graduating high school not once, but twice.

    He had enough academic credits in Delaware, where he grew up, to graduate midway through senior year, and then he graduated, again, from a high school in Adelaide, Australia, where his father, a professor, was taking a year’s sabbatical.

    “School started in February; that’s their fall, so I just went straight from finishing my first semester (senior year) in Delaware to doing another full year of grade 12 in Australia,” said Ullman, a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

    Two diplomas were plenty for Carleton College, where Ullman earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry, and for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he enrolled in the inorganic chemistry doctoral program. He ultimately earned his doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University, where he transferred when his mentor, professor Daniel G. Nocera, moved there midway through his program.

    Ullman’s dissertation focused on polynuclear cobalt complexes as models of a cobalt-based water oxidation catalyst. His research provided the understanding needed to further optimize the activity of metal-oxide-based water oxidation catalysts in neutral pHs.

    That interest brought him to DOE’s Sandia National Laboratories, where he worked on projects related to metal-organic frameworks for electronic devices and sensing applications after receiving his doctorate. He then went to work for Sepion Technologies, a battery company in San Francisco, before coming to ORNL in 2020.

    Ullman was always interested in math and science. “It just came naturally to me,” he said. “I found it interesting, and it challenged me intellectually. Writing a paper for English class was excruciating, but diving into a problem set for chemistry I really enjoyed.”

    As a Distinguished Staff Fellow in the Chemical Sciences Division focused on energy storage and conversion, Ullman is using chemistry to devise a better battery. He is broadly interested in electrochemical energy conversion — how electrons are transported and how chemical reactions are controlled by electrochemistry. That interest led him to batteries research within ORNL’s Energy Storage and Conversion group.

    Today’s batteries do not last as long as people need, particularly for their cellphones or electric vehicles. Ullman also is interested in replacing the materials currently used in batteries with ones that will be robust and allow for the efficient plating and stripping of lithium metal. That change would remove a significant amount of mass and volume from a battery’s anode. “In the end, you get a safer battery that stores more energy in a smaller volume,” Ullman said.

    A battery that has high energy density, inherent safety and a long life is the trifecta of energy storage. It could be used, Ullman said, for “anything that moves: cars, cellphones, flights, drones — you could reimagine a whole new industry.”

    Ullman himself appears to be full of energy. He is a big fan of ultimate frisbee — he’d play every weekend if he could. Ullman now spends a lot of his nonresearch time with his wife raising three girls, who demand a lot of time. He enjoys rock climbing, hiking and camping with the family. “Anything that makes me a better dad is important to me,” he said.

    Working at ORNL is a terrific fit for his career interests. “There is a huge amount of incredibly talented people around,” Ullman said. “As I meet more and more people, I realize there are more and more opportunities for building scientific collaborations. In my experience, that is the true superpower of working at a national lab; you can team up with experts in different subfields, come together and get really impactful things done quickly.”

    Although he studied at the University of Adelaide for six months and traveled much of the country, he would not mind returning to Australia’s west coast. “Maybe I could visit a mine where they produce lithium and nickel used in today’s batteries,” he said.

    ORNL’s Distinguished Staff Fellowship program aims to cultivate future scientific leaders by providing dedicated mentors, world-leading scientific resources and enriching research opportunities. Fellowships are awarded to outstanding early-career scientists and engineers who demonstrate success within their academic, professional and technical areas. Fellowships are awarded for fundamental, experimental and computational sciences in a wide range of science areas.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. — Lawrence Bernard

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  • Story tip: A wise tool for modifying microbes

    Story tip: A wise tool for modifying microbes

    Newswise — A DNA editing tool adapted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists makes engineering microbes for everything from bioenergy production to plastics recycling easier and faster.

    The Serine recombinase-Assisted Genome Engineering, or SAGE system, lets scientists quickly insert and test new DNA designs in a variety of microorganisms. Engineered microbes hold promise for making biofuels, recycling mixed plastics, aiding soil carbon storage and treating health disorders.

    “SAGE works in virtually all microorganisms, revolutionizing what we’re able to do with microbes,” said ORNL’s Adam Guss. Microbes were modified in a few days with SAGE, compared with a tailoring process that can take weeks using existing methods.

    SAGE can advance fundamental biology as well as bioengineering, Guss said. “As a national lab, enabling science everywhere is part of our mission. SAGE is a tool that can speed the work of industry and academic researchers in their own organisms of interest.”

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov.


    Journal Link: Science Advances

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  • ORNL malware ‘vaccine’ generator licensed for Evasive.ai platform

    ORNL malware ‘vaccine’ generator licensed for Evasive.ai platform

    Newswise — Access to artificial intelligence and machine learning is rapidly changing technology and product development, leading to more advanced, efficient and personalized applications by leveraging a massive amount of data.

    However, the same abilities also are in the hands of bad actors, who use AI to create malware that evades detection by the algorithms widely employed by network security tools. Government agencies, banking institutions, critical infrastructure, and the world’s largest companies and their most used products are increasingly under threat from malware that can evade anti-virus systems, hijack networks, halt operations and expose sensitive and personal information.

    A technology developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and used by the U.S. Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, or NAVWAR, to test the capabilities of commercial security tools has been licensed to cybersecurity firm Penguin Mustache to create its Evasive.ai platform. The company was founded by the technology’s creator, former ORNL scientist Jared M. Smith, and his business partner, entrepreneur Brandon Bruce.

    “One of ORNL’s core missions is to advance the science behind national security,” said Susan Hubbard, ORNL’s deputy for science and technology. “This technology is the result of our deep AI expertise applied to a big challenge — protecting the nation’s cyber- and economic security.”

    Smith, who worked in ORNL’s Cyber Resilience and Intelligence Division for six years, created the technology — the adversarial malware input generator, or AMIGO — at the request of the Department of Defense. AMIGO was created as the evaluation tool for a challenge issued by NAVWAR for AI applications that autonomously detect and quarantine cybersecurity threats. NAVWAR is an operations unit within the Navy that focuses on secure communications and networks.

    “ORNL’s Cyber Resilience and Intelligence Division is a world leader in cybersecurity technology,” said Moe Khaleel, associate laboratory director for the lab’s National Security Sciences Directorate. “Moving AMIGO into the marketplace will help protect our nation’s critical infrastructure from attack.”

    “We put AMIGO to the test in a realistic environment. It’s been through the wringer and has been validated at a high technical readiness level,” Smith said. “The core technology is designed to build evasive malware, like a virus, that can bypass an existing detection technology.”

    Drawing on more than 35 million malware samples — some publicly available and others never before seen — AMIGO generates optimally evasive malware in tandem with the training information needed for a security system to detect it in the future.

    Smith likens the process to vaccine development. “It’s as if we generated a million virus variants and a million vaccines to protect against them — we can collapse that into one vaccine and inoculate everyone. They’re protected against the threat, but also all the natural evolutions of the threat going forward.”

    Luke Koch, who in 2019 worked on the AMIGO development team through the DOE Office of Science’s SULI, or Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program, is now a doctoral student at the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, a collaboration between ORNL and the University of Tennessee, as well as a graduate research assistant in ORNL’s Cybersecurity Research Group. With Smith’s direction, Koch wrote the binary instrumentation code used in AMIGO.

    “Cybersecurity commercialization is important because our adversaries are always probing for weaknesses throughout the supply chain,” Koch said. “One single flaw is all it takes to invalidate a clever and expensive defense.”

    Amid a growing public understanding of the power of AI, the team is eager to see AMIGO integrated into Evasive.ai and implemented by national security agencies to protect government assets and infrastructure.

    “Bad actors are already using artificial intelligence to advance their attacks,” Bruce said. “As open AI tools improve, attempts to penetrate security systems will increase in volume and sophistication.”

    Additionally, long-term use of the Evasive.ai platform could inform a more complete understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to adversarial samples. This insight will make the next generation of machine learning defenses more robust.

    And what does any of this have to do with penguins? The company’s playful name is a riff on the problem of a small mutation enabling a virus to evade existing defenses — a penguin disguised with a mustache.

    ORNL commercialization manager Andreana Leskovjan negotiated the terms of the license. For more information about ORNL’s intellectual property in information technology and communications, email ORNL Partnerships or call 865-574-1051. To connect with the Evasive.ai team, complete the online form on the Evasive.ai website.

    The Bredesen Center program is part of the University of Tennessee Oak Ridge Innovation Institute.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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  • DOE funds next-generation Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL to advance renewable jet fuel

    DOE funds next-generation Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL to advance renewable jet fuel

    Newswise — The Center for Bioenergy Innovation has been renewed by the Department of Energy as one of four bioenergy research centers across the nation to advance robust, economical production of plant-based fuels and chemicals. CBI, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is focused on the development of nonfood biomass crops and specialty processes for the production of sustainable jet fuel to help decarbonize the aviation sector.

    The DOE announcement provides $590 million to the centers over the next five years. Initial funding for the four centers will total $110 million for Fiscal Year 2023. Outyear funding will total up to $120 million per year over the following four years, contingent on availability of funds.

    “To meet our future energy needs, we will need versatile renewables like bioenergy as a low-carbon fuel for some parts of our transportation sector,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Continuing to fund the important scientific work conducted at our Bioenergy Research Centers is critical to ensuring these sustainable resources can be an efficient and affordable part of our clean energy future.” 

    CBI’s national laboratory, university and industry partners will take a multipronged, accelerated approach over the next five years to producing sustainable jet fuel. Focus areas include:

    • Developing perennial crops that require less water and fertilizer and yield high amounts of biomass with the desired qualities for conversion to bioproducts.
    • Refining an efficient, cost-effective consolidated bioprocessing and co-treatment process using custom microbes to break down plants and ferment intermediate chemicals.
    • Advancing the extraction of lignin from plants and chemically converting it into aviation fuel.
    • Improving the chemical catalyst-based upgrading of intermediate bioproducts into jet fuel that can be blended with conventional fuel to significantly reduce aircraft carbon emissions.

    CBI intends to reach Tier 1 validation of its jet biofuel, an aviation industry standard that determines the fuel’s properties are fit-for-purpose in existing and future airplane fleets. The development of renewable fuels is a key strategy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from commercial aircraft.

    “Our researchers are excited to apply the best of biology and chemistry and create sustainable jet fuel to help clean up our skies and stimulate a thriving bioeconomy,” said ORNL’s Jerry Tuskan, CBI chief executive officer. “CBI’s feedstocks-to-fuels process will support upgrading carbohydrates and lignin from corn stover, process-advantaged switchgrass and poplar biomass into a tunable portfolio of chemicals for jet biofuel.”

    The new centers follow the success of pioneering bioenergy research centers established by DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research within DOE’s Office of Science in 2007.

    The ORNL-led CBI and its predecessor, the BioEnergy Science Center, demonstrated significant scientific breakthroughs in their mission to design ideal biomass feedstock crops and microbes to overcome the natural resistance of plants to being broken down and converted into fuels and products. In the last five years, CBI authored or co-authored 449 peer-reviewed journal articles that were cited 12,295 times by the scientific community In the same period CBI generated 57 invention disclosures, 32 patent applications, four license/option agreements and one start-up. The center has also reached more than 310,000 students, parents and teachers as a result of its educational outreach programs.

    “CBI’s collaborative science model and foundational success are key to accelerating the innovation needed for widespread, sustainable and profitable production of jet fuel from lignocellulosic feedstocks,” said Stan Wullschleger, ORNL associate laboratory director for Biological and Environmental Systems Science.

    “CBI builds on 15 years of success in applying scientific breakthroughs to meet the nation’s energy and decarbonization challenge,” said interim ORNL Director Jeff Smith. “CBI represents the national laboratory system at its best—developing scientific solutions to benefit the nation and inspiring the next generation of scientists through unique educational outreach.”

    Current partners in the next generation of CBI with ORNL include the University of Georgia; National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Dartmouth College; University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Brookhaven National Laboratory; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Poplar Innovations Inc.; Pennsylvania State University; University of California, Davis; University of California San Diego; University of Tennessee; University of Wisconsin–Madison; University of Virginia; Washington State University; and France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/.

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  • Sutharshan named ORNL deputy for operations

    Sutharshan named ORNL deputy for operations

    Newswise — Balendra Sutharshan has been named chief operating officer for Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He will begin serving as ORNL’s deputy for operations and as executive vice president, operations, for UT-Battelle effective April 1. He will succeed Alan Icenhour, who is retiring this spring after serving in the role since 2021. UT-Battelle operates ORNL for the Department of Energy.

    Sutharshan joined ORNL in February 2021 as the associate laboratory director for the Isotope Science and Engineering Directorate. Under his leadership, ISED has achieved remarkable growth in isotope research and development, as well as production to meet the increased demand for isotopes used in medicine, research and security.

    “Balendra brings comprehensive experience to the position, including an extensive knowledge of ORNL’s nuclear capabilities, strong relationships across the national lab and Battelle systems, and a history of driving operational performance improvements and organizational strategy,” interim ORNL Director Jeff Smith said. “I am excited for Balendra to serve in this important role for ORNL.”

    During Sutharshan’s tenure as ALD, ISED has deployed new enrichment technology capabilities and stewarded new projects that will help to secure the domestic isotope supply chain, including the Stable Isotope and Production Research Center, the Stable Isotope Production Facility and the Radioisotope Processing Facility. He established the Isotope Processing and Manufacturing Division in 2022 to further improve production performance and introduced predictive maintenance into the lab’s hot cell facilities to reduce downtime.

    He has also been active in developing new partnerships to grow and train the pipeline of future talent needed to conduct isotope science and production, and he has placed a significant emphasis on improving ISED’s culture.

    As the chief operating officer of UT-Battelle, Sutharshan will lead the formulation and implementation of cross-cutting operation plans and integrated facility strategies to enable ORNL’s missions. He also will play a lead role in the lab’s commitment to community engagement.

    “It’s an honor to be part of an organization that empowers leaders and teams to pursue breakthrough science and technology and has roots back to the Manhattan Project,” Sutharshan said. “I look forward to strengthening ORNL’s operations and facilities strategies and continuing to support the lab’s engagement with communities where we work and live.”

    Prior to joining ORNL, Sutharshan served as COO for the Operational Systems Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In this position, he provided leadership of the directorate responsible for all of PNNL’s infrastructure and facilities as well as its environmental, health, safety, security, project management and nuclear operations programs. Before joining PNNL, Sutharshan served as COO for the Energy and Global Security Directorate at Argonne National Laboratory and served on the DOE review team that analyzed the 2018 High Flux Isotope Reactor fuel event. In addition, he spent nearly 20 years in a series of leadership roles with Westinghouse Electric Company.

    Sutharshan holds a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; a master’s in chemical and nuclear engineering and a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto; and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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  • A Machine Learning Company in California Using Quantum Computers at Mathlabs Ventures is Building the First Q40 ME Fusion Energy Generator Using Advanced AI & Neural Networks

    A Machine Learning Company in California Using Quantum Computers at Mathlabs Ventures is Building the First Q40 ME Fusion Energy Generator Using Advanced AI & Neural Networks

    Harvard Mathematicians using Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain and Neural Networks on a Quantum Computer have developed breakthrough algorithms and simulations that will enable the world’s most efficient Fusion Energy Power Plants to be opened 20 years earlier than planned with a Q40 Mechanical Gain by Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms

    Press Release
    –

    Jan 10, 2022


    IRVINE, Calif., January 10, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms LLC (KFEA-Q40) and MathLabs Ventures announced today that after 60 years of global research, the Fusion Energy industry is now poised to accelerate their growth rapidly to build commercially viable power plants 20 years earlier than planned because of three recent major advances in technology. The three major problems with reaching commercial success in Fusion Energy have recently been overcome with these three new technological advancements that together will make it possible to build efficient Fusion Energy Power Plants on Earth by the mid-2030s. These innovations, ongoing contracts & patents put KFEA’s current valuation at $530m with $1.2B in projected earnings over the next 2 years.

    “We at Kronos are building a world-class team of mathematicians, physicists, scientists and other professionals whose mission is to reverse global warming by helping to make  Fusion Energy commercially viable in the near future,” said Michael Pierce Hoban, the CEO of Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms

    Recreating the power of the sun on earth in a controlled manner takes computing power, machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum computers, neural networks, and other technological advances that were not even dreamed of 60 years ago when Fusion Energy research began globally. But now, with these three technological breakthroughs, the global competition to design the next-generation Fusion Energy Power Plants that are more efficient than today’s carbon-burning power plants is underway in full swing.

    The first technological barrier that was overcome is that the computing power now exists to model the sun in simulations more accurately with the launch of the Summit Supercomputer in Oak Ridge that set the world record in 2018, and in June 2021, Japan’s Fugaka Supercomputer set a new world record of 422 petaflops.

    The second technological barrier that was overcome in September 2021 was the announcement of the most powerful magnet ever created on earth (https://news.mit.edu/2021/MIT-CFS-major-advance-toward-fusion-energy-0908). This is the first magnet with enough power capable of containing a fast-moving plasma field at heats in excess of 150M degrees Celsius without touching and melting the containment barrier.

    The third technological barrier that has been the most difficult to overcome is the 1% efficiency rate (Q1 Mechanical Gain) of the top fusion energy demo reactors on earth today. The first two breakthroughs will enable the world’s top Fusion energy designers to reach a 25% efficiency rate (Q25 Mechanical Gain) by 2050. This has been a major technological barrier because there has been no fusion energy reactor solution that has been proposed in the world that exceeds 25% efficiency until now.

    Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms LLC announced that after five years studying the global research in Fusion Energy, we have developed advanced algorithms and simulations to achieve a 40% efficiency rate (Q40 Mechanical Gain) for Commercial Fusion Energy Power Plants that will enable a 20-year advancement in the launch dates of the world’s first Fusion Energy Power Plants that are more efficient than today’s carbon burning power plants. Our algorithms and simulations use Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, neural networks, blockchain, quantum computing and other advances to reduce the error rate at a Fusion Energy Reactor from the 15% error rate experienced today at the International Thermodynamic Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France to a 1% error rate after our simulations have optimized the numerous variables to identify the disruptions that cause 31% of the maintenance shutdowns at ITER.

    Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms: Developing ALGORITHMS & SIMULATIONS to build Micro Fusion Energy Generators with Q40 Mechanical Gain for a CLEAN + LIMITLESS Energy Future

    MEDIA CONTACT:

    PRIYANCA FORD  

    Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms

    Priyanca_Ford@post.harvard.edu

    Source: MathLabs Ventures

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