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It would be a challenge for any scientist to match Alexey Serov’s rate of inventions related to green hydrogen fuel. Serov, a researcher at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has 84 patents with at least 35 more under review, so his electrifying pace is unlikely to slow down any time soon.

Serov’s research focuses on the materials and performance of fuel cells that power electric vehicles or buildings by converting hydrogen and oxygen into heat, water and electricity. Fuel cells create energy through an electrochemical reaction rather than by burning liquid fuel like gasoline or diesel.

Most modern ocean models focus on two categories of waves: a barotropic system, which has a fast wave propagation speed, and a baroclinic system, which has a slow wave propagation speed. To help address the challenge of simulating these two modes simultaneously, a team from DOE’s Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories has developed a new solver algorithm that reduces the total run time of the Model for Prediction Across Scales-Ocean, or MPAS-Ocean, E3SM’s ocean circulation model, by 45%. 

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory became the first to 3D-print large rotating steam turbine blades for generating energy in power plants. Led by partner Siemens Technology, the U.S. research and development hub of Siemens AG, the project demonstrates that wire arc additive manufacturing is viable for the scalable production of critical components exceeding 25 pounds. These parts have traditionally been made using casting and forging facilities that have mostly moved abroad.

Magnesium oxide is a promising material for capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and injecting it deep underground to limit the effects of climate change. But making the method economical will require discovering the speed at which carbon dioxide is absorbed and how environmental conditions affect the chemical reactions involved.

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Caterpillar Inc. have entered into a cooperative research and development agreement, or CRADA, to investigate using methanol as an alternative fuel source for four-stroke internal combustion marine engines. The collaboration supports efforts to decarbonize the marine industry, a hard-to-electrify transportation sector.

Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are turning air into fertilizer without leaving a carbon footprint. Their discovery could deliver a much-needed solution to help meet worldwide carbon-neutral goals by 2050.

Published in the Royal Chemical Society's Energy & Environmental Science, the study describes a sustainable electrochemical — rather than chemical — process for producing ammonia, a key ingredient for nitrogen fertilizer. In essence, the researchers used neutron scattering to understand how cycling an electric current during the conversion of nitrogen to ammonia, also known as the nitrogen reduction reaction, increases the amount of ammonia produced. This process has the potential to enable farmers to convert nitrogen, the most abundant element in our atmosphere, into ammonia-based fertilizers without emitting carbon dioxide.

Four researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been named ORNL Corporate Fellows in recognition of significant career accomplishments and continued leadership in their scientific fields.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Karen White, who works in ORNL’s Neutron Science Directorate, has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. White, who manages the section that provides the machine controls,, computing infrastructure, and protection systems across all neutron science technical areas, received the award during the biennial International Conference on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems, held October 7-13, 2013, in Cape Town, South Africa. The award by ICALEPCS honors and celebrates an individual or individuals who throughout their careers have made exceptional, invaluable and lasting contributions to the field of control systems for large experimental physics facilities.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have made a significant stride toward understanding a viable process for direct air capture, or DAC, of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This DAC process is in early development with the aim of achieving negative emissions, where the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the envelope of gases surrounding Earth exceeds the amount emitted.

• Since UT-Battelle began managing ORNL in 2000, 97 ORNL researchers have reached this milestone.
• The inventors are Justin Baba, Brian Davison, James Kiggans and Vlastimil Kunc.
• Baba is the first scientist of African origin to be named a Battelle Distinguished Inventor from ORNL.