Chemical Energy Storage
PNNL is working on storing energy in chemical forms to support the country's electric grid.
Science Supporting Energy Storage
PNNL seeks a fundamental understanding of how energy storage materials work under real operating conditions as the foundation for the discovery and development of next-generation energy storage systems.
Bioenergy Technologies
At PNNL, researchers are making high-quality drop-in fuels and valuable chemical products using plentiful domestic resources (like wood and algae) and waste products (like food and agricultural wastes, manure, and sewage sludge). These biofuels and bioproducts offer cost-effective, domestically sourced alternatives, offering pathways to grow the economy and strengthen supply chains.
Vehicle Technologies
At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, vehicle research is about more than how vehicles are powered—it’s also about how they’re made and used. The Lab’s vehicle technology research portfolio advances all types of vehicles—on-road, rail, maritime, aviation, and off-road—through a range of innovations, from helping manufacturers produce high-performance vehicle components using low-cost domestic materials, to optimizing the movement of goods and people around the nation, to effectively and reliably integrating vehicles with electricity and energy systems.
Waste-to-Energy and Products
PNNL is using in-house-developed tools and expertise to investigate the conversion of waste products such as manures and wastewater into biofuels that power transportation.
Hydrogen & Fuel Cells
Sustainable low-cost hydrogen generation, an effective hydrogen infrastructure, and fuel cell cost, performance, and durability challenge fuel cells for widespread deployment.
Energy-Efficient Mobility Systems
PNNL is leveraging expertise in transportation controls and data analytics to help communities encourage efficient mobility on the nation’s roadways.
Algal Biofuels
PNNL is investigating growth and productivity conditions for multiple algae strains that show promise for conversion to biofuels that power transportation.
ShAPE
Typically, metal extrusion involves the use of external heat to soften or homogenize the feedstock before it is pressed through the die. By contrast, the patented, R&D 100 award–winning ShAPE technique involves the use of a shearing action at the face of the billet to locally heat and plasticize the feedstock material before it is pressed through a shaping die. ShAPE—which is capable of both direct and indirect extrusion—imparts significantly more deformation into the material than does conventional extrusion, offering a number of unique advantages.
Smart Advanced Manufacturing
PNNL—with a rich, successful history of materials research and development—is delving deeper into the world of materials manufacturing. Solid Phase Processing, or SPP, is an emerging approach to producing a wide range of metal and multi-material products that has the potential to decrease the energy intensity of manufacturing and deliver higher-performing components, all at a lower cost.