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Mining Metals From Water | Earth Wise

March 14, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington are working with industry to develop a method of extracting valuable materials from various sources of water. The technique is the 21st-century equivalent of panning for gold in rivers and streams.

The patent-pending technology makes use of magnetic nanoparticles that are surrounded by an absorbent shell that latches on to specific materials of interest that are found in certain water sources. These sources could include water in geothermal power plants (known as geothermal brines), water pulled from the subsurface during oil or gas production, or possibly effluents from desalination plants. Extracting valuable materials from geothermal brines could greatly enhance the economics of geothermal power plants.

The initial focus of the development is on lithium, which is an essential element in many high-technology applications, especially in the batteries that power cell phones, computers, and electric cars. The global market for lithium is projected to reach over $8 billion a year by 2028 and very little of it is currently produced in the United States.

The tiny particles are added to the water and any lithium is drawn out of the water and is bound to them. Using magnets, the nanoparticles can be readily collected. Once the particles are no longer suspended in liquid, the lithium can easily be extracted, and the nanoparticles can be reused.

PNNL is developing the technology in partnership with a company called Moselle Technology as well as with other commercial partners. This new technology offers the promise of extracting critical materials in a quick, cost-effective manner.

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Tri-Cities Scientists “Magically” Mining Metals From Water

Photo, posted June 4, 2012, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Green Steel | Earth Wise

October 5, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Inflation Reduction Act provides $369 billion in investments to ramp up renewable energy generation and manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, energy storage, and electric vehicles.

Every megawatt of solar power deployed requires 35 to 45 tons of steel. Every megawatt of wind power uses 120 to 180 tons of steel. Estimates are that it will take 1.7 billion tons of steel just to build all the wind turbines needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

This is a big problem because steel production accounts for roughly 10% of global carbon emissions and is one of the most carbon-intensive industries in the world.

Making steel is a complex and age-old process that hasn’t changed much over time. Green steel is steel made with little or no carbon emissions. There are a few ways to do it. One is called the direct reduced iron method that uses green hydrogen instead of fossil fuel gas to produce iron and then a renewable-powered electric arc furnace to make the steel.

Molten Oxide Electrolysis is an alternative green steel approach that doesn’t depend on having a green hydrogen infrastructure. It uses electrolysis, powered by renewable energy, to separate the bonds of iron ore and produce liquid metal while releasing only oxygen in the process.

Green steel solutions rely on the availability of renewable energy, but the ultimate success of renewable energy will depend on the success of green steel. The U.S. steel industry will leverage about $6 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act to make progress on it.

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Building tomorrow’s clean energy systems on green steel

Photo, posted October 30, 2008, courtesy of Paul Bica via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Solid State Batteries For Cars | Earth Wise

January 7, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Today’s electric cars run on lithium-ion batteries, the same sort that power our phones, computers, and many other consumer electronic devices. These batteries are far superior to the batteries of the past, offering long-life, high-energy density, and recyclable components.

Lithium-ion batteries do have their drawbacks. They may be lighter than older battery technologies, but because the electrolytes in the batteries are liquid, they are still fairly heavy. The huge number of them in an electric car adds up to a considerable amount of weight. In addition, the flammability of the electrolytes can lead to explosions or fires if the batteries are damaged or exposed to extreme temperatures.

Solid-state batteries are an alternative technology that contain a solid electrolyte. Such batteries are lighter, have higher energy density, offer more range, and recharge much more quickly than lithium-ion batteries. They have been used for years in some small devices like cardiac pacemakers, RFIDs, and some wearable devices.

For all these benefits, scaling up production to the level needed to be used in cars is an expensive and challenging endeavor. The hope is that with sufficient effort, the result will be smaller, lighter battery packs for cars that can be charged in minutes and provide extended range.

Nissan Motor Company has recently announced that it is investing $17.6 billion over the next five years towards developing solid-state batteries for cars. No doubt other companies will also be working on the technology.

Lithium-ion batteries have proven to be quite practical for powering vehicles. But if solid-state batteries can meet the challenges of scaled up production, the lithium-ion era might end up being a relatively brief one.

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Nissan to Spend $18 Billion Developing a Cheaper, More Powerful EV Battery

Photo, posted November 13, 2018, courtesy of FirstEnergy Corp via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fighting Zombie Fires | Earth Wise

April 30, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Peat fires are a global threat to both economies and the environment. They generally burn a smaller area than fast-moving forest fires, but they can burn up to ten times more fuel matter per acre, producing far more smoke and far more carbon emissions. They ignite very easily, are notoriously difficult to put out, all while releasing as much as 100 times more carbon into the atmosphere than flaming fires. Some smoldering peat megafires are the largest and longest burning fires on Earth and are responsible for as much as 15% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

Peat fires are known as “zombie fires” because of their ability to hide and smolder underground and then reemerge as new flames days or weeks after they were supposedly extinguished.

Firefighters use billions of gallons of water to tackle a peat fire. For example, fighting the 2008 Evans Road peat fire in North Carolina used up 2 billion gallons of water. When water alone is used to extinguish peat fires, it tends to create large channels in the soil, which diverts water from nearby smoldering hotspots. This is one reason that it is so difficult to extinguish a peat fire.

Researchers at Imperial College London have combined water with an environmentally friendly fire suppressant – one already used on flaming wildfires – and tested its use on peat fires. They found that adding the suppressant to water helped them put out peat fires nearly twice as fast as using water alone, while using only a third to half of the usual amount of water. The suppressant reduces the surface tension of the liquid, making it less likely to create large channels. Instead, the liquid flows uniformly through the soil. This could be an important tool in battling peat fires.

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‘Magical’ fire suppressant kills zombie fires 40% faster than water alone

Photo, posted in August, 2011, courtesy of Chris Lowie / USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Palm Oil Replacement | Earth Wise

December 15, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In the 1990s, cardiovascular health issues associated with partially hydrogenated oils containing harmful trans fats became a focus of great concern. As a result, food companies looked for substitutes and the alternative they identified was palm oil. Its ability to remain solid at room temperature made it well suited for many food applications. Unfortunately, that property stems from its high saturated fat content, which means it also increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

The widespread use of palm oil has also caused significant environmental problems. Palm oil plantations have replaced millions of acres of tropical forests, destroying the habitat for numerous species and threatening biodiversity.

Other potential replacements for partially hydrogenated oils such as coconut oil tend to be more costly, limited in supply, and also high in saturated fats.

Food scientists at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, recently demonstrated the use of enzymatic glycerolysis (EG) to turn liquid vegetable oils into solid fats. Their process is able to produce solid fats with the textural and structural properties desired by consumers.

The process is fairly simple, relatively easy to scale up, and is amenable to smaller food production or even local production. Using it would enable food producers to use all sorts of readily available vegetable oils that can be produced in parts of the world that are not necessarily tropical regions.

Palm oil use is not going to go away, but this work may point a way to help slow down the destruction of ecosystems and animal habitats as well lead to more sustainable and healthy food sources.

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U of G Food Scientists Find Palm Oil Alternative That’s Good for Human, Planet Health

Photo, posted February 21, 2010, courtesy of Craig Morey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Another Way To Make Solar Cells

March 21, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Millions of rooftops now contain solar panels and the majority of the solar cells that make up those panels today are made from silicon. Silicon solar cells require expensive, multi-step processing conducted at very high temperatures in special clean room facilities. Despite these complications, the price of solar panels has continued to drop dramatically over the years.

But even as the price of solar cells gets lower and lower, there are still widespread efforts to find even better ways to make them. One of those ways is with perovskite solar cells. Perovskites are materials with a characteristic crystal structure and are quite common in nature. Perovskites can be formed with a wide range of elements and can exhibit a variety of properties.

They were first used to make solar cells about 10 years ago and those first cells were unimpressive in most respects. However, there has been steady progress since that time. The potential advantages of perovskite solar cells are that they can be made from low-cost materials and can be manufactured using liquid chemistry, a far cheaper process than what is used to make silicon cells.

Researchers at MIT and several other institutions have recently published the results of research on how to tailor the composition of perovskite solar cells to optimize their properties. What used to be a trial-and-error process can now become much more engineered and should lead to perovskite solar cells with performance that could exceed that of silicon cells.

Silicon solar panels are a huge, worldwide industry and displacing them in favor of an alternative technology is a tall order. But if perovskite cells can be optimized for large-scale manufacturability, efficiency and durability, they could definitely give silicon a run for its money.

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Unleashing perovskites’ potential for solar cells

Photo courtesy of Ken Richardson/MIT.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Liquid Fuel From The Sun

February 21, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Most forms of energy we use ultimately come from the sun in one way or another. Even fossil fuels are the end product of millions of years of plant life that captured solar energy. The advantage fossil fuels have over direct solar power is that they are, in fact, fuels and therefore can be stored for use when needed.

Scientists in Sweden have now developed a specialized fluid that absorbs some of the sun’s energy, holds it for months or even years, and then releases it when needed. This solar thermal fuel is like a rechargeable battery for heat rather than electricity.

The special fluid is pumped through transparent tubes where ultraviolet light from the sun excites its molecules into an energized state. A compound called norbornadiene is converted into quadricyclane. The quadricyclane is a quite stable substance until it is passed over a cobalt-based catalyst, which causes it to turn back into norbornadiene and release copious amounts of heat.

Such a solar thermal fuel could be stored in uninsulated tanks in homes or factories or piped or trucked to where it was needed. It could then be used for water heaters, dishwashers, or clothes driers. The room temperature fluid quickly warms to about 183 degrees when passed over the catalyst, plenty warm enough for heating a home or office. Both the fuel and the catalyst are damaged very little by the reactions, so the process can be recycled many times.

There is much development work needed to optimize shelf life, energy density, good recyclability and other properties before this technology can be commercialized but there are at least 15 groups around the world now studying this intriguing way to get liquid fuel from the sun.

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