Amine functionalized graphene oxide yields laminates with an enhanced capacity to adsorb rare earth elements, improved water transport, and greater stability for effective membrane-based separation of critical minerals.

PNNL has formed a partnership with the Orlando-based firm Refinity, which has licensed a key process from PNNL that will help the company convert mixed plastic waste into valuable industrial products like chemicals, plastics, and fuels.

Replacing commercial acid with acidic waste enables researchers to improve nickel extraction efficiency, lower projected costs, and improve process economics.

Localized gradients in magnetic fields have long-range effects on the concentration of rare earth ions in solution, facilitating field-driven extraction of critical minerals.

Studying a series of rare earth element compounds revealed differences in their magnetic behavior that will be leveraged for separations.

In a recent study, PNNL researchers found that noncrystalline mineral surfaces can bind microbial residues to build soil organic matter.

Soil mineral preferentially incorporates rare earth elements based on size, with implications for critical mineral extraction.

PNNL researchers have found yet another way to turn trash into treasure: using algal biochar, a waste production from hydrothermal liquefaction, as a supplementary material for cement.

Understanding molecular modifications of proteins in the red yeast could help scientists re-engineer the organism’s phenotype.

PNNL chemical engineer Mariefel Olarte shares passion for mentoring students and the next-generation workforce.

Francesca Pierobon holds a joint appointment with UW and WSU to advance low-carbon technologies.

PNNL has developed a decision tool that provides contractors and installers with the information they need to properly select and install cold climate heat pumps, which are a key technology for achieving decarbonization.

Recycling polyolefin materials is challenging. One waste management strategy is plastic upcycling. New work demonstrates a single-step upcycling route coupling cracking and alkylation, recycling carbon and keeping valuable resources active.

PNNL helps deliver efficiency-related rules and requirements that steadily improve performance of America’s buildings, saving energy and costs and reducing carbon emissions.

An initiative from Washington State University and Snohomish County leaders is aiming to make Paine Field a nexus for testing and improving sustainable aviation fuels made from non-petroleum materials.

Mandy Mahoney, director of the DOE Building Technologies Office, visited PNNL in late November. One key agenda item involved meeting with staff for a discussion of effective equity and justice integration in buildings-related research.

Leaders from the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy visited PNNL October 19–20 for a firsthand look at capabilities and research progress.

SAGE is a high-efficiency genome integration strategy for bacteria that makes the stable introduction of new traits simple for newly discovered microbes.

A PNNL innovation uses steam to recover heat from the high-temperature reactor effluent in the HTL process, substantially reducing the propensity for fouling and potentially reducing costs.

PNNL researchers discovered a faster, more economical method to verify the amount of biofuel in mixtures of bio and fossil fuel.