PROCESS FOR PREPARING SCALABLE QUANTITIES OF HIGH PURITY MANGANESE BISMUTH MAGNETIC MATERIALS FOR FABRICATION OF PERMANENT MAGNETS ( (iEdison No. 0685901-12-0012))
A scalable process is detailed for forming bulk quantities of high-purity α-MnBi phase materials suitable for fabrication of MnBi based permanent magnets.
POROUS MULTI-COMPONENT MATERIAL FOR THE CAPTURE AND SEPARATION OF SPECIES OF INTEREST
A method and porous multi-component material for the capture, separation or chemical reaction of a species of interest is disclosed. The porous multi-component material includes a substrate and a composite thin film. The composite thin film is formed by combining a porous polymer with a nanostructured material. The nanostructured material may include a surface chemistry for the capture of chemicals or particles. The composite thin film is coupled to the support or device surface. The method and material provides a simple, fast, and chemically and physically benign way to integrate nanostructured materials into devices while preserving their chemical activity.
INTEGRATED REFUELING STATION (iEdison No. 0685901-15-0006)
A system comprising: (a) a liquid natural gas compression module having a compressed liquid natural gas conduit; (b) an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator H2 liquefier module; (c) at least one H2 gas source fluidly coupled to the active magnetic regenerative refrigerator H2 liquefier module via an H2 gas conduit; and (d) a heat exchanger that receives the compressed liquid natural gas conduit and the H2 gas conduit.
Production of bio-based materials using photobioreactors with binary cultures
Solar energy is renewable, whereas all other fuels including those of fossil and nuclear origins are limited in amount and are exhaustible. One efficient method of capturing solar energy is through the use of the photosynthetic process to produce biomass (a renewable raw material resource for the production of food, fuel and chemicals) through appropriate conversions. There is currently great interest in using microalgae for the production of biofuels, mainly due to the fact that microalgae can produce biofuels at a much higher productivity than conventional plants and that they can be cultivated in aquatic environments, including seawater, and not compete for land resources with conventional agriculture. There are a number of limitations that hamper the current cultivation techniques used for algal biomass production; most important are high costs associated with increasing the mass transfer and by-product (O2) removal. The invention described here provides a cost-efficient way to eliminate problems associated with CO2 delivery and O2 removal. It is based on utilizing a consortium of microorganisms that produces large quantities of high-value biomass and/or valued metabolic byproducts by utilizing sun light, atmospheric CO2 and organic matter. As a proof of principle, we have used a binary culture of a photoautotrophic cyanobacterium and a heterotrophic bacterium and cultivated it in a non-aerated photobioreactor with only minimal addition of organic C. During this process, the binary culture produced higher amounts of microalgal biomass without air sparging (to remove O2 produced during photosynthesis) or additional CO2 injections. Utilization of binary cultures of phototrophic organisms opens new perspectives for designing efficient and cost effective production processes and means of directing carbon and nutrients from CO2 and waste towards algal production of biofuels: lipids, hydrocarbons.
Composite Separators and Redox Flow Batteries Based on Porous Separators
In this disclosure, we report development of porous fluoropolymers/silica composite separators for applications in redox flow batteries. These separators, conprised of a fibril matrix of fluorinated polyolefins and silica particles enmeshed therein, were prepared by shear-blending the silica particles and the aqueous dispersion of fluoropolymers, followed by calendering the resulting admixture into flat sheets. Flow batteries using these separators demonstrated high energy density and high efficiencies. These separators combine the advantages of exceptional chemical stability and significantly low cost of fluorinated polyolefins. Therefore, these separators have shown great potential to reduce the capital cost of redox flow batteries and promote their commercialization.
BATTERY SYSTEM MANAGEMENT THROUGH NON-LINEAR ESTIMATION OF BATTERY STATE OF CHARGE
Systems, methods, and computer media for battery system management and non-linear estimation of battery state of charge are provided herein. Battery data is received for a time period over which a battery system has operated. The battery data represents the actual performance of the battery system over the time period. Sub-periods of charging or discharging can be identified in the time period. For the sub-periods of time, a curve can be fit to the battery data. Using the curves for the battery data for the sub-periods of time, an expected performance of the battery system, over a range of states-of-charge, can be determined. Operating instructions for the battery system can be provided based on the expected performance.
Controller for Thermostatically Controlled Loads
This centralized load controller is used to provide continuous regulation reserves (CRRs) using thermostatically controlled appliances (TCAs). A temperature-priority-list method is developed to dispatch TCA loads to meet CRR requirements while maintaining customer-desired indoor temperatures and the load diversity. The key steps are to group and prioritize TCA resources based on a forecaster prediction of the HVAC behaviors for the next time step. Before the controller starts the dispatch algorithm, all the controllable HVAC units are first divided into two groups based on their forecasted on/off status. For example, if space heating units are used, the units in the “on” group are prioritized in descending order based on their room temperatures, i.e., if the room temperature is closer to the upper thermostat setting T+, the unit is at the top of the queue to be turned off. The units in the “off” group are prioritized in ascending order based on their room temperatures, i.e., if the room temperature is closer to the lower thermostat setting , the unit is at the top of the queue to be turned on. The HVAC units that are “on” under direct load control will switch off immediately when they receive an “off” signal from the central controller, and vice versa. The forecaster is used to estimate room temperatures of the HVAC units for the next time step, determine the on/off status of the HVAC units, and create two priority (turn-on and turn-off) lists for the two groups of HVAC units. The forecasts, , can be tuned and corrected based on actual measurement, , collected from HVAC units every 15 minutes. The forecaster can use a simplified HVAC thermal model as described in Section II.A. An update process can be seen in Fig. 10. This forecast-and-update process will reduce the amount of data traffic from each controlled HVAC unit to the central controller. 1000 HVAC units in their heating modes can be controlled by the central controller to provide a ±1-MW CRRs 24 hours a day. The controller is robust to forecasting errors, minimum HVAC turn-off times, response delays, and consumer overrides.
HIGH PERFORMANCE REDOX FLOW BATTERY STACK
A redox flow battery stack cell frame comprising a support frame and a monolithic bipolar plate integrated within the support frame is disclosed. The bipolar plate comprises a plurality of interdigitated flow channels on at least one surface. The support frame comprises an inlet manifold formed into a facing surface of the first side of the frame, the inlet manifold comprising fluid inlet distribution channels in a serpentine arrangement, each fluid inlet distribution channel aligned with a single inlet flow channel of the bipolar plate; and an outlet manifold formed into the facing surface of the opposing side of the frame, the outlet manifold comprising fluid outlet distribution channels in a serpentine arrangement, each fluid outlet distribution channel aligned with a single outlet flow channel of the bipolar plate. Redox flow battery stack cells and stacks comprising the stack cell frame are also disclosed.
Enhanced Citric Acid Production in Aspergillus with Inactivated Asparagine-Linked Glycosylation Protein 3 (ALG3) and/or increased LAEA Expression
Industrial strain of Aspergillus niger has been used to produce citric acid for almost one century and is currently the primary source of commercial citric acid production. This complex bioprocess is known to depend on both endogenous and exogenous factors. Those factors execute their effects on this complex bioprocess via regulation of gene expression and post-translational modification. One common post-translational modification is protein glycosylation. Protein glycosylation plays important roles in proper protein folding, stability, secretion and functions. It also involves in cell signaling, protein translocation and cell wall biogenesis. There exist two types of protein glycoylation: N-linked glycosylation on asparagines and O-linked glycosylation on serine/threonine. There are many enzymes involve in both N- or O-glycosylation pathways. In this study, several enzymes involving in the protein N-glycosylation were examined for the potential effects on fungal morphology and citric acid production via gene deletion in A. niger. The results from our study demonstrated that the deletion of Dolichyl-P-Man:Man(5)GlcNAc(2)-PP-dolichyl mannosyltransferase gene (alg3∆) significantly affect fungal morphology and enhance citric acid production in A. niger.
Systems and Processes for Removing Elemental Sulfur Compounds from Desulfurized Fuels
A system and process are disclosed for removing elemental sulfur compounds from hydro-desulfurization (HDS) treated hydrocarbon products including liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Low (sub-ppm) concentrations of sulfur remain in the hydrocarbons, providing, e.g., fuel products suitable for use in various modalities including, e.g., jet fuels and fuel cell Auxiliary Power Units (APUs)..