Energy Efficiency Opportunities at Los Alamos National Laboratory

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities at Los Alamos
National Laboratory
Renewable Energy Forum October 1, 2008
Dr. Steven Girrens Division Leader for Technology
Transfer
LA-UR-08-05909
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Renewable Energy Innovations at LANL
Meeting future energy needs in an environmentally
responsible way requires scientific breakthroughs
to efficiently generate, store, transmit, and use
large amounts of power.

• Our unique blend of scientific disciplines,
  capabilities, and facilities stemming from our
  national security missions are being used to
  develop new materials and processes to overcome
  key technical barriers to widespread deployment
  of renewable and alternative energy.
• We integrate high-performance computing and
  simulation with advanced experimentation to
  understand, design, and control materials and
  their properties.
• We pursue intellectual property protection and
  license our technologies to the private sector
  for commercial development and deployment.

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Aligned Crystalline Silicon (ACSi)
Novel materials technology for use in solar cells
and flat panel displays

• Film deposition process for high-performing,
  near-single-crystalline Si films
• Applications low-cost, large size,
  non-single-crystalline substrates (metal tape,
  glass, etc.) including flexible surfaces
• LANL holds multiple patents for ACSi technology
• Currently evaluating ACSi applications to solar
  power production with a potential partner. Other
  fields of use are available.

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The ACSi Technology
Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD)
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ACSi Price Comparison

• Based on Capital Costs /Watt
• Single Crystal Si Module 3.48 Cell 2.20
• Polycrystal Si Module 3.20 Cell 2.02
• Thin-Film Amorphous Si Module lt3.20 Cell lt2.02
• Exotic thin films Module 3-4 Cell
  1.25-3.85
• ACSi Target Module 2.00 Cell 1.00
• Source U.S. DOE Energy Information
  Administration average price per watt basis
• (2006)

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Produced Water Treatment System (ProAqua)

• 3-part system removes all organic compounds
  (acids and VOCs)
• Successful field test at Conoco-Philips
  reinjection site in Farmington, NM
• Pre-treatment system coupled with a traditional
  RO unit resulted in clean water
• Automation design will be completed by Dec. 2008
• Patent Application filed
• Call for Commercialization Plans has been issued
  and can be found at
• http//www.lanl.gov/source/orgs/tt/pdf/techs/proaq
  ua_call_.pdf

Field Test Results, Summer 2007 Beaker on left
shows untreated co-produced water typically
re-injected into depleted well at Farmington
field site. Beaker on right shows co-produced
water after pre-treatment and RO-ready for
industrial or agricultural use.
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Produced Water Treatment System (ProAqua)

• Produced water from oil and gas industry
  introduces billions of gallons of brackish
  wastewater annually in the U.S. alone.
• Associated costs for disposal may represent as
  much as 10 of total production.
• LANLs 3-part system offers industry a
  cost-effective treatment process to decontaminate
  produced water for beneficial use
• Surfactant-Modified Zeolite (SMZ) - adsorbs
  organic compounds, filters out metals
• Vapor Phase Bioreactor (VPB) - biologically
  converts volatile components to innocuous
  by-products
• Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) - removes organic acids
• Treated water is run through a reverse osmosis
  system to remove salts.
• Usable for industrial and agricultural purposes

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Polymer Assisted Deposition (PAD)

• The PAD Process
• Metal oxides or nitrides are dissolved in
  inexpensive polymers
• The solution is applied to a substrate
• The polymers are baked off
• A uniform thin film of metal oxide (lt 500nm) is
  deposited on the substrate
• Applications
• Semiconductors
• LEDs
• Corrosion/erosion reduction on a variety of
  surfaces

• Options to license will expire
• December 31, 2008 for photovoltaics, electronics
  fabrication, electronics (semiconductors) and
  display technology applications
• September 30, 2009 for sensors and actuators

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The PAD process
Mix with polymer (adjust pH)
Polymer filtration and removal of all
non-bound cations anions
Select metal precursor
Mix different metal - polymer solutions
Adjust viscosity
De-polymerizing and/or decomposing the polymer
Apply coating
Thermal treatment
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CPU Power Optimization Software

• Transparent software layer (not a Kernel Hack)
  based on a novel, patented algorithm
• Predicts real time CPU speed requirements
• Slows CPU to the minimum required speed and
  lowers power consumption directly using Dynamic
  Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS)
• License execution with EnergyWare Corporation
  pending.

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EnergyFit Applications and Benefits

• Applications
• High Performance Computing (HPC) data centers
• Financial data centers / data center servers
• Internet service providers / search-engine farms
• Embedded processing systems (e.g., cell phone,
  network routers in the Internet, video-gaming
  consoles).
• Benefits
• Significantly reduces processor power consumption
  with minimal impact on performance
• Enhances equipment reliability by reducing waste
  heat
• Lowers energy consumption expenses
• Shrinks data center footprint
• Lowers capital expenditures and recurring expenses

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Spin-Off Innovations Position Us to Tackle New
Challenges
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Enhancing Capabilities Through Collaborations

• Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Storage
• Nuclear Energy
• Energy Conversion, Storage and Transmission
• Geothermal, Wind and Biofuels

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Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Storage
Los Alamos contributions in polymer-electrolyte
membrane fuel cell design have been applied in
commercial fuel cells powered by both hydrogen
and methanol.

• Challenges development of inexpensive catalysts
  and safe, high-capacity storage of hydrogen
• RD Focus polymer membranes, system modeling,
  catalyst development, thermo-chemistry, hydrogen
  fuel storage
• LANL provides independent testing for all fuel
  cell manufacturers
• DOE Center of Excellence for Chemical Hydrogen
  Storage at Los Alamos, one of 3 DOE Hydrogen
  Centers, addresses these challenges

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Uniquely Qualified to Improve Nuclear Energy
Los Alamos has strong science, nonproliferation,
and nuclear weapons capabilities that are applied
to nuclear energy.

• Developed the Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP)
  the gold standard for neutronic calculations
• Can simulate the entire process of nuclear power
  plant physics, operations, and nuclear materials
  
• Pioneered the multi-scale approach to modeling
  nuclear fuels in severe radiation environments
• Extensive laboratory experience with actinides,
  monitoring, and fuel fabrication
• Working on improvements in
• fuel cycle (getting the maximum amount of energy
  possible out of uranium fuel while minimizing the
  amount of high-level waste produced)
• Advanced reactor design
• Radiation-resistant material
• Waste storage

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Energy Conversion, Storage and Transmission

• High temperature superconducting tape, wire and
  processing facility
• Non-precious metal catalysts to replace platinum
• Quantum dots research for carrier multiplication
  for solar cells
• Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
• DOE Chemical Hydrogen Storage Center of
  Excellence
• Los Alamos Neutron Scattering Center
• Superconducting Technology Center

Non-precious metal fuel cell catalysts
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Quantum Dots for Energy Production and
Conservation
Nanomaterials Research Overcoming fundamental
limitations for efficient solar cells, solid
state lighting and compact lasers.

• High Efficiency Solid-State Lighting

• Solar Harvesting 2 or more electrons per 1
  photon
• Lab-on-a-chip for Threat Reduction compact lasers

• Breakthrough could lower optical pumping
  thresholds by orders of magnitudein applications
  from telecommunications to medical diagnostics.
• (Nature, News and Views, May 2007)

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Capabilities in Renewables

• Geothermal Production Over 20 years of
  geothermal research at Fenton Hill Facility
  underpinning a broad capability set ranging from
  geothermal modeling and simulation software to
  the use of innovative heat exchange media
  (supercritical carbon dioxide) to development of
  geologic tracers.
• Wind Turbine Optimization HIGRAD modeling and
  simulation software can evaluate critical
  variables in any combined atmospheric and
  topographical condition to predict how wind
  streams will interact with wind turbine blades at
  very high resolution.
• Algal Biodiesel Patented growth enhancements and
  benchtop research affecting algae genetics and
  lipid separation are under investigation
  including integrated solutions addressing
  scale-up.

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Climate Modeling Los Alamos Leads the World
2007 Nobel Peace Prize research relies on Los
Alamos climate and sea ice models.

• Los Alamos developed the Coupled Sea-Ice Model
  the global standard used by the Intergovernmental
  Panel on Climate Change
• Los Alamos makes key contributions to the DOE/NSF
  Community Climate System Model the first
  interactive model of molecular to planetary scale

Ground-breaking and influential research in the
physics and numerical modeling of the ocean
and its ice cover.
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Enabling Energy Innovation into the Marketplace

• LANL Technology Transfer staff would be very
  happy to discuss your specific renewable energy
  interests and connect you with the most
  appropriate LANL researchers to solve your
  problem.
• For more details, visit our Web site at
• Licensable Technologies
• http//www.lanl.gov/orgs/tt/license/technologies
• Fact Sheets
• http//www.lanl.gov/orgs/tt/license/fact_sheets.sh
  tml
• Contact me, Steven Girrens at
• [phone]
• sgirrens_at_lanl.gov