Plofchan Commended for DHS Service
Former U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan recently commended Thomas Plofchan for his service in the DHS front office
HYDROFLUOROCARBON (HFC)-BASED SAFE ELECTROLYTE FOR SECONDARY BATTERIES (iEdison No. 0685901-22-0118)
The present application relates to the technical field of secondary batteries and, specifically, relates to an electrolyte and lithium-related secondary batteries containing the electrolyte. The electrolyte of the present application comprises a lithium salt, organic solvent A and organic solvent B. The solvent A is hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) compounds and the chemical formula is CxHyFz, where x is from 4 to 10, Z:Y ratio is from 2:1 to 10:1. The solvent B is the common component used in state-of-art electrolyte in lithium-related battery technologies, like carbonates, esters or ethers. The molar ratio of the solvent A in the electrolyte ranges from 8 mol% to 80 mol%. The battery of the present application has high flash point, non-flammable and high capacity retention rate.
How Leafcutter Ants Cultivate a Fungal Garden to Degrade Plants and Provide Insights into Future Biofuels
PNNL scientists developed a new method to map exactly how a fungus works with leafcutter ants in a complex microbial community to degrade plant material at the molecular level. The team’s insights are important for biofuels development.
Lesson Learned from Technical and Economic Performance Assessment and Benefit Evaluation of CHP-FCS
Automated NGFC system design tool set (ARPA-E, iEdison No. 0685901-20-0019)
We propose to leverage the conceptual design tools within the Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES) Process Systems Engineering (PSE) framework to develop optimized, next-generation solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) based natural gas fuel cell (NGFC) system designs with > 70% fuel efficiency and