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Novozymes launches commercial enzyme technology to convert waste oils into biodiesel

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waste oils with high FFAs have not been a viable feedstock option. The enzymatic process eliminates the need for sodium methoxide, one of the most hazardous chemicals in traditional biodiesel plants. The enzymatic process uses less energy, and the cost of waste oil as a feedstock is significantly lower than refined oils.

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Faraday Institution commits a further $31M to battery research to deliver commercial impact

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Accurate simulations of batteries will provide battery makers with the ability to design advanced batteries without incurring the costs of creating numerous prototypes to test every new material, or new type and configuration of the cells which make up a pack.

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Vanderbilt/ORNL team discovers new form of crystalline order that could be attractive for thermoelectric applications

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The discovery of materials with improved thermoelectric efficiency could increase the efficiency of electrical power generation, improve automobile mileage and reduce the cost of air conditioning. If you put a pair of sodium and chlorine atoms at each lattice point, they form sodium and chlorine sub-lattices and you get salt.

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ORNL advancing LDH sorbent to recover lithium from geothermal brine wastes

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The LDH sorbent is made up of layers of the materials, separated by water molecules and hydroxide ions that create space, allowing lithium chloride to enter more readily than other ions such as sodium and potassium. In a bench-scale demonstration, the LDH sorbent recovered more than 91% of lithium from a simulated brine.

Waste 314
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US DOE Issues Request for Information on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Market Development; Reports to Congress on Program

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Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), waste streams from food and beverage processing plants, crop farms and animal feed facilities, and municipal landfills are all biogas sources. Analysis of excess and/or waste hydrogen sources. The 2015 cost target was $2-$3/gge. System cost remains an issue.

Congress 150
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CalSEED awards $4.2M to early-stage clean energy innovations

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A system of low-cost vibration sensors will monitor poles, conductors and equipment on the electricity distribution grid to predict where they may fail and ignite a wildfire. Hago Energetics, Inc aims to help farms become more profitable by converting farm waste to high-value products, such as hydrogen and valuable carbons. technology?that

Clean 371
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ARPA-E Awards $151M to 37 Projects for Transformative Energy Research

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Waste Heat Capture (2 projects). Eagle Picher, in partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will develop a new generation of high energy, low cost planar liquid sodium beta batteries for grid scale electrical power storage applications. Building Efficiency (3 projects). Conventional Energy (1 project).

Energy 231