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Testing Artificial Photosynthesis

By Guest PostJuly 3, 2013Scienceanode, artificial photosynthesis, atmospheric carbon dioxide, berkeley lab, caltech, camilo diaz botia, cathode, charge carriers, diesel, earth abundant elements, energy conversion, fossil fuel energy, gasoline, h2, hydrocarbon, hydrogen, jcap, jcap north, jcap south, joel ager, mean concentration, membrane cap, micro scale, microfluidic test bed, miguel modestino, o2, optimization, rachel segalman, rafael gomez sjoberg, sophia haussener

Berkeley Lab Researchers Develop Fully Integrated Microfluidic Test-bed for Solar-driven Electrochemical Energy Conversion Systems

With the daily mean concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide having reached 400 parts-per-million for the first time in human history, the need for carbon-neutral alternatives to fossil fuel energy has never been more compelling. With enough energy in one hour’s worth of global sunlight to meet all human needs for a year, solar technologies are an ideal solution. However, a major challenge is to develop efficient ways to convert solar energy into electrochemical energy on a massive-scale. A key to meeting this challenge may lie in the ability to test such energy conversion schemes on the micro-scale.

Berkeley Lab researchers, working at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), have developed the first fully integrated microfluidic test-bed for evaluating and optimizing solar-driven electrochemical energy conversion systems. This test-bed system has already been used to study schemes for photovoltaic electrolysis of water, and can be readily adapted to study proposed artificial photosynthesis and fuel cell technologies. (more…)

USGS Releases First Assessment of Shale Gas Resources in the Utica Shale: 38 trillion cubic feet

By Guest PostOctober 7, 2012Environmentappalachian basin, barrel, brenda pierce, conventional oil, domestic, first assessment, gas liquid, geological survey, greater, green, hydrocarbon, marcellus shale, maryland, methodology, natural gas, new york, ohio, Pennsylvania, petroleum basin, protocol, recoverable oil, river basin, rock formation, source rock, southwestern wyoming, tcf, unconventional oil, united states, upper ordovician, US, usgs, utica shale, virginia, west virginia

The Utica Shale contains about 38 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas (at the mean estimate) according to the first assessment of this continuous (unconventional) natural gas accumulation by the U. S. Geological Survey. The Utica Shale has a mean of 940 million barrels of unconventional oil resources and a mean of 208 million barrels of unconventional natural gas liquids.

The Utica Shale lies beneath the Marcellus Shale, and both are part of the Appalachian Basin, which is the longest-producing petroleum province in the United States. The Marcellus Shale, at 84 TCF of natural gas, is the largest unconventional gas basin USGS has assessed. This is followed closely by the Greater Green River Basin in southwestern Wyoming, which has 84 TCF of undiscovered natural gas, of which 82 TCF is continuous (tight gas). (more…)

From Soil Microbe to Super-Efficient Biofuel Factory?

By Guest PostMay 5, 2012Environment, Scienceadvanced biofuel, arpa e program, berkeley lab, bioelectrochemical reactor, biofuel, bioplastic, chris chang, CO2, diesel fuel, electrode, electrofuel, energy source, harry beller, hydrocarbon, hydrogen, ketones, microbe, nathan hillson, organic compound, ralstonia eutropha, soil bacterium, steve singer, swapnil chhabra, team electrofuel, Technology

Berkeley Lab-led team explores a way to create biofuels, minus the photosynthesis

Is there a new path to biofuels hiding in a handful of dirt? Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) biologist Steve Singer leads a group that wants to find out. They’re exploring whether a common soil bacterium can be engineered to produce liquid transportation fuels much more efficiently than the ways in which advanced biofuels are made today.

The scientists are working with a bacterium called Ralstonia eutropha. It naturally uses hydrogen as an energy source to convert CO₂ into various organic compounds. (more…)

Nanocrystals Go Bare: Berkeley Lab Researchers Strip Material’s Tiny Tethers

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2011Scienceanna llordes, april sawvel, berkeley lab, brett helms, carbon hydrogen bonds, chemical solution, delia milliron, devices, diodes, electronic conductivity, energy storage, environments, evelyn rosen, hydrocarbon, ink jet printer, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, ligand free nanocrystal, ligands, meerwein salt, metal oxides, metallic, molecular foundry, molecular vibrations, naked nanocrystals, nano ir, nanocrystal, nanoscale infrared spectroscopy, orders of magnitude, organic compound, organic ligands, organometallic molecules, oxidizing agents, photovoltaics, raffaella buonsanti, selenide nanocrystal, semiconductors, smart windows, solar fuels, spin, spray coating, stripping nanocrystals, strong acids, supercapacitor materials, surface ligands, tether like molecules, triethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate, universal technique, unstripped nanocrystal films, variety of applications

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a universal technique for stripping nanocrystals of tether-like molecules that until now have posed as obstacles for their integration into devices. These findings could provide scientists with a clean slate for developing new nanocrystal-based technologies for energy storage, photovoltaics, smart windows, solar fuels and light-emitting diodes.

Nanocrystals are typically prepared in a chemical solution using stringy molecules called ligands chemically tethered to their surface. These hydrocarbon-based or organometallic molecules help stabilize the nanocrystal, but also form an undesirable insulating shell around the structure. Efficient and clean removal of these surface ligands is challenging and has eluded researchers for decades. (more…)

First Study of Dispersants in Gulf Spill Suggests a Prolonged Deepwater Fate

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2011Environmentbiodegradation, biological exposure, chemical dispersant, chromatographic technique, david valentine, deep ocean, deepwater horizon oil spill, dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, doss, effects on corals, elizabeth b kujawinski, environmental data, fate of dispersants, gas flow, gulf of mexico, gulf spill, hydrocarbon, levels of methane, marshes and coastlines, melissa c kido soule, oil droplets, oil gas plume, toxicity, wellhead

To combat last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as scientists begin to assess how well the strategy worked at breaking up oil droplets, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) chemist Elizabeth B. Kujawinski and her colleagues report that a major component of the dispersant itself was contained within an oil-gas-laden plume in the deep ocean and had still not degraded some three months after it was applied.

While the results suggest the dispersant did mingle with the oil and gas flowing from the mile-deep wellhead, they also raise questions about what impact the deep-water residue of oil and dispersant—which some say has its own toxic effects—might have had on environment and marine life in the Gulf. (more…)

Tag Archives: hydrocarbon

Testing Artificial Photosynthesis

USGS Releases First Assessment of Shale Gas Resources in the Utica Shale: 38 trillion cubic feet

From Soil Microbe to Super-Efficient Biofuel Factory?

Nanocrystals Go Bare: Berkeley Lab Researchers Strip Material’s Tiny Tethers

First Study of Dispersants in Gulf Spill Suggests a Prolonged Deepwater Fate