Brooks Receives Department of Energy Award for Information Security
Kriston Brooks received the 2023 Department of Energy Office of Classification Outstanding DC Award, which is given to those in the classification community who have made significant contributions.
Lithium Extraction Nanoparticle Research Earns Regional FLC Award
PNNL receives a 2023 Federal Laboratory Consortium Far West Regional Award for a technological innovation that could help make the U.S. a producer of critical minerals used in electronics and energy production.
Regulating Space Junk: Doty Talks Orbital Debris, International Law
Kathleen Doty recently shared legal insight on the challenge of space debris in her presentation “Regulating Space Junk” as part of the University of Georgia School of Law’s Spring 2023 Space Law Speaker Series.
Early Career Scientists Win JSM Data Challenge Expo
PNNL data scientist in the Biological Sciences Division won the 2023 JSM Data Challenge Expo. The award-winning analysis focused on the ability to identify crime patterns by correlating them with historical events and trends.
Two PNNL Staff Receive Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Awards
PNNL Chief Diversity Officer and Director for STEM Education and PNNL Battery Materials and System group leader will receive Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) awards at the 2023 C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium.
E3SMv0-HiLAT
The software, titled E3SMv0-HiLAT, is a novel, modified version of the Community Earth System Model version 1 (Hurrell et al., 2013, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12), intended for study of high-latitude processes. E3SMv0-HiLAT incorporates changes and new features in the atmospheric model; these changes affect aerosol transport to high northern latitudes and reduce shortwave cloud bias over the Southern Ocean. Additionally, new features are introduced to the ocean biogeochemistry to improve representation of high-latitude phytoplankton groups, and two-way coupling is implemented between the biogeochemistry in the sea ice and ocean models. The modifications also include a dynamic coupling of the ocean flux of aerosol precursors into the atmosphere model, which enables these marine emissions of aerosol precursor emissions to respond to changes in sea ice extent, ocean stratification and associated nutrient availability, and atmospheric state.
Community Emissions Data System (CEDS)
The community emissions data system is a software system developed for research use, using the R open source programing language that produces consistent estimates of global air emission species over the industrial era (1750- latest full year) by country, sector, and fuel. The system focuses on aerosol and aerosol precursor emissions, e.g. emissions that impact atmospheric chemistry and aerosol loadings. Emissions are also mapped to spatial grids, produced in netCDF format, for use by Earth system and other atmospheric models. Data inputs to this system include emission inventories and driver data, such as energy consumption and population estimates, and default emission factors, which are used together to produce consistent estimates of emissions over time. The data system is unique in its blending of emission data from multiple sources together with driver data, to consistently estimate emission trends over time in an open source framework. This software was planned, from original conception and in the project proposal and FWP, to be released as open-source software.
CARBON DIOXIDE ENHANCED HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION (iEdison No. 0685901-22-0241)
The invention is injecting carbon dioxide into hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) in order to increase biocrude product yield and/or decrease byproduct yield. 1) Injection of carbon dioxide into a hydrothermal liquefaction process including, but not limited to In the feeding section And/or the preheating section And/or the reactor section And/or the product handling and collection section 2) The carbon dioxide is optionally obtained from the waste product gas from an HTL process This invention improves product yield, reduces byproduct yield, and may enhance operation of HTL when carbon dioxide is injected into one or more unit operations into an HTL process. As a source of CO2 is available from the HTL process byproduct gas, it can be easily collected, recompressed, and injected into the HTL system at various locations. As the CO2 is captured from the HTL process, this also enables simple recovery/recycle of the injected carbon dioxide as a normal function of HTL. This recovery may also be used to capture carbon dioxide in order to reduce atmospheric emission.
Emissions Cause Delay in Rainfall
Rising greenhouse gases and declining aerosols have triggered an approximate four-day delay in rainfall over tropical land and the Sahel.
TOROIDAL MULTIPASS ABSORPTION DEVICE
U.S. Patent No. 7,876,443 and references therein discloses a method of creating a multipass cell having a toroidal configuration in which light is injected into the cavity via a hole or penetration into the wall of the reflective toroidal surface. Subsequent to this, a similar cavity is described in the scientific literature that provides additional design guidance for constructing a typical cell.[i],[ii] Both of the referenced papers also describe an absorbing mask that is placed against the cell wall to suppress unwanted reflections which the authors state contribute to coherent noise, often referred to as 'fringing" as the main laser beam interferes with stray reflections that can occur if the launch angle into the cell does not adhere to the value determined by the design equations. These interference patterns contribute noise to the desired signal and degrade the instrument's sensitivity. We disclose an alternate method of injecting light into a toroidal multipass cell using a small mirror (either plane or with optical power) affixed to the wall of the cell in place of a hole or penetration. This approach simplifies construction and offers a path to reduced construction costs and potential replication methods such as casting, injection molding, 3D printing, electroforming or metal spinning. [i] B. Tuzson, M. Mangold, H. Looser, A. Manninen, and L. Emmenegger, 'Compact multipass optical cell for laser spectroscopy", Opt. Lett., Vol 38 (3), 257-259 (2013) [ii] M. Mangold, B. Tuzson, M. Hundt, J. Jagerska, H. Looser, and L. Emmenegger, 'Circular paraboloid reflection cell for laser spectroscopic gas analysis", JOSA A, Vol. 33 (5), 913-919 (2016). U.S. Patent No. 7,876,443 and references therein discloses a method of creating a multipass cell having a toroidal configuration in which light is injected into the cavity via a hole or penetration into the wall of the reflective toroidal surface. Subsequent to this, a similar cavity is described in the scientific literature that provides additional design guidance for constructing a typical cell.[i],[ii] Both of the referenced papers also describe an absorbing mask that is placed against the cell wall to suppress unwanted reflections which the authors state contribute to coherent noise, often referred to as 'fringing" as the main laser beam interferes with stray reflections that can occur if the launch angle into the cell does not adhere to the value determined by the design equations. These interference patterns contribute noise to the desired signal and degrade the instrument's sensitivity. We disclose an alternate method of injecting light into a toroidal multipass cell using a small mirror (either plane or with optical power) affixed to the wall of the cell in place of a hole or penetration. This approach simplifies construction and offers a path to reduced construction costs and potential replication methods such as casting, injection molding, 3D printing, electroforming or metal spinning. [i] B. Tuzson, M. Mangold, H. Looser, A. Manninen, and L. Emmenegger, 'Compact multipass optical cell for laser spectroscopy", Opt. Lett., Vol 38 (3), 257-259 (2013) [ii] M. Mangold, B. Tuzson, M. Hundt, J. Jagerska, H. Looser, and L. Emmenegger, 'Circular paraboloid reflection cell for laser spectroscopic gas analysis", JOSA A, Vol. 33 (5), 913-919 (2016).