PNNL

The fuel was used in a 747 flying from Florida to London

Aircraft

"Recycled-carbon" jet fuel gets its first commercial use

It was back in 2011 that we first heard how Virgin Atlantic Airways was planning to use an eco-friendly aviation fuel made from captured steel mill waste gases. A successful test flight followed in 2016, and the fuel has now been utilized in a commercial flight for the first time.

This first gram of yellowcake was produced from uranium captured from seawater with modified yarn

Energy

Cost-effective method of extracting uranium from seawater promises limitless nuclear power

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in association with LCW Supercritical Technologies has made a potentially important breakthrough for the nuclear industry by extracting five grams of powdered uranium, called yellowcake, from ordinary seawater.

Scientists melt radioactive waste into glass in a test platform at PNNL designed to mimic a Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste system being constructed at Hanford

Environment

Researchers turn low-level nuclear waste into glass

PNNL has vitrified low-level radioactive waste taken from a tank at the decommissioned Hanford Site nuclear production complex in Washington state for the first time in a continuous process. The waste was turned into durable glass that immobilizes the radioactive and chemical compounds inside.

A PNNL researcher puts the chemically modified sawdust to work on a small oil spill inside a lab that mimics the Arctic's icy conditions

Environment

Sprinkling of sawdust could soak up Arctic oil spills

Amateur mechanics have long used sawdust to clean up oil spills in their garages. Now, scientists are looking to see if this low-tech solution can be adapted to protect the Arctic in case of an oil spill in its icy waters.

Sludge from Metro Vancouver’s wastewater treatment plant has been dewatered prior to conversion to biocrude oil at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Energy

Mimicking nature turns sewage into biocrude oil in minutes

The US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has found a way to potentially change the 34 billion gal (128 billion liters) of raw sewage that Americans create every day into 30 million barrels of biocrude oil per year.

PNNL's self-powered acoustic fish-tracking tag is designed to track long-living fish such as sturgeon

Environment

Now fish can charge their own tracking tags

Scientists at PNNL in Richland, Washington have developed a piezoelectric self-charging tracking tag that generates electricity from the fish's own movements, allowing researchers to keep tabs on them more accurately for longer periods of time.

Researchers have accidentally created nanorods that can absorb water at low humidity and expel it as the humidity increases

Materials

Scientists accidentally create nanorods that harvest water from the air

Learning from your mistakes is a key life lesson. After unintentionally creating nanorods, researchers realized their accidental invention behaves weirdly with water, demonstrating a 20-year old theory and potentially paving the way to low-energy water harvesting systems and sweat-removing fabrics.

Energy

Power dense zinc-manganese power unit as cheap as a car battery

Zinc-manganese batteries are back in the spotlight now that a team of researchers has made them much more reliable, with greater numbers of charging cycles than ever before. And all for around the same price as a standard lead-acid car battery.

The new material is reported 10-15 percent stronger than any commercial titanium alloy currently on the market

Materials

Turning up the heat on titanium alloy leads to increase in strength

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed the strongest titanium alloy ever made. They believe the new material could be used in the production of lighter and cheaper vehicle components, and lead to the development of other high strength alloys.

A new flow battery technology is expected to cost substantially less and be better for the environment thanks to its organic water-based electrolytes, as seen here in a small demonstration by PNNL researcher Xiaoliang Wei

Energy

New flow battery projected to cost 60% less than existing standard

A new flow battery technology promises to drastically lower the cost and sustainability of running energy storage systems. The battery uses low-cost and sustainable organic materials for electrolytes rather than the usual commodity metals, and it could be retrofitted to existing batteries.

Scanning electron microscope images that show how normal electrolyte promotes dendrite growth (a, left), while PNNL’s new electrolyte produces smooth nodules that don’t short-circuit cells (b, right)

Electronics

New electrolyte promises to rid lithium batteries of short-circuiting dendrites

Dendrites – thin conductive filaments that form inside lithium batteries – reduce the life of these cells and are often responsible for them catching fire. Now researchers claim to have produced an electrolyte that completely eliminates them while also boosting carrying capacity and efficiency.

PNNL's high performance zinc-polyiodide flow battery approaches the performance of some lithium-ion batteries (Image: PNNL)

Energy

High-performance flow battery could rival lithium-ions for EVs and grid storage

A new redox flow battery developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) more than doubles the amount of energy that this type of cell can pack in a given volume, approaching the numbers of lithium-ion batteries.