en-us Fri, 09 May 2008 11:02 EDT DOE Pulse - Research Highlights http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/pulse_v259_08.htm DOE Pulse highlights work being done at the Department of Energy's national laboratories. DOE's laboratories house world-class facilities where more than 30,000 scientists and engineers perform cutting-edge research spanning DOE's science, energy, National security and environmental quality missions. webmaster@ornl.gov Oak Ridge National Laboratory http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/ http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss/doe_pulse.gif Mon, 5 May 2008 11:33:00 EDT NETL researchers study novel approach to CO2 removal Researcher Tom Simonyi analyzes a coal-metal oxide sample in a thermogravimetric analysis unit at NETL. This analysis contributes to NETL research on the direct combustion of coal by chemical looping combustion. NETL researchers are addressing the challenges standing in the way of a novel energy production method—chemical looping combustion (CLC)—that produces sequestration-ready carbon dioxide (CO2). In CLC, an oxygen carrier is prepared by first oxidizing a metal with air. The hot metal oxide is then reduced in contact with a fuel in a second reactor, thus combusting the fuel and producing CO2 and water. The researchers demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing oxygen carriers for coal combustion by heating samples of coal mixed with oxides of copper, nickel and manganese in the presence of CO2. The coal was fully combusted. [Linda Morton, 304/285-4543, Linda.morton@netl.doe.gov] Better farming could avert Gulf dead zone http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/pulse_v259_08.htm Improved management of crops and perennials could go a long way toward alleviating the problem of hypoxia, which claims thousands of fish, shrimp and shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico each spring. Mon, 5 May 2008 11:33:00 EDT LLNL postdoc.s theory on molecular dynamics materializes http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/pulse_v259_08.htm Raymond Friddle, a postdoc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has come up with a complete theory to model how force can assist a molecule to change from one configuration to another. Mon, 5 May 2008 11:33:00 EDT Collaboration to explore revolutionary solar energy conversion Arthur Nozik The newest research center of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory aims to find ways to directly convert the sun's energy to low-cost electricity and fuels. The Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion (CRSP) will be dedicated to basic and applied research at the Collaboratory's four member institutions, DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Twelve companies also have joined CRSP as founding members. NREL Senior Research Fellow Arthur Nozik will serve as scientific director of CRSP. Initial shared research projects will be selected by CRSP members and funded through membership fees and the Colorado Renewable Energy Authority. [George Douglas, 303/275-4096, george_douglas@nrel.gov] Lifelong surfer guides waves for electrons http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/pulse_v259_08.htm Arne Freyberger remembers, almost to the moment, when he chose physics as his life's work. "I was always taking things apart as a kid," he recalled. Mon, 5 May 2008 11:33:00 EDT Quantum Computers – “Spinning” Toward Reality http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/pulse_v259_08.htm Researchers at Ames Laboratory; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Microsoft Station Q are teaming up to learn how quantum mechanical states break down.