Biomass-derived oils are important sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based liquid fuels. However, biomass oil mixtures contain much higher concentrations of cyclic nitrogen compounds that contribute to NOx emissions and deactivate refining catalysts. This necessitates their removal by a hydrogen-intensive hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) process that consumes high energy. Therefore, efficient pre-HDN removal of nitrogen compounds is required to lower hydrogen and energy consumption when upgrading nitrogen-rich liquid fuels.

Pumped hydro and battery storage can enable Australia to meet its energy needs without increasing the use of gas to fuel electricity plants, according to a new paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU). The research finds the National Electricity Market could become a low-cost, zero-emissions grid without depending on fossil gas.

Scientists from Diamond Light Source and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source have contributed to the development of the world's first open-access battery imaging library. The library was created through an international collaboration led by Dr. Antony Vamvakeros, Royal Society Industry Fellow at Imperial College London and research and development lead at Finden Ltd., which is co-located with both facilities on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus.

Engineer Rinzin Galley stands on a platform overlooking a former military shooting range on the edge of Bhutan's capital, Thimphu, now home to a gleaming field of solar panels.

Can computers use less energy without compromising performance? That's what computer scientists Ben van Werkhoven and Rob van Nieuwpoort from the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) are studying.

Sandwiched between the electrolyte and electrodes in a lithium-ion battery is a remarkably thin layer of material that strongly dictates battery performance and durability: the interphase. Although typically only a few to tens of nanometers thick, interphases are among the least understood components of an operating battery cell. Their complex and constantly evolving structures make it challenging to determine how their atomic features and microscopic variations translate into macroscopic battery performance.

Carnegie Mellon University researchers developed a framework to help the United States secure the power infrastructure needed to support artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, all while reducing vulnerabilities in the global supply chains that make that infrastructure possible.

Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising clean-energy technology with the potential to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions if widely adopted. As they generate electricity, the only byproduct of their reactions is water. However, improving their performance depends on developing better materials that can more efficiently transport ions.

A company that helped design how astronauts grow and recycle food in space is now applying that thinking to the critical problem of dairy waste here on Earth.

Circular-economy thinking is becoming increasingly important in the construction sector. It helps reduce raw material consumption and emissions and can provide a well-thought-out reuse and recycling scheme to cut costs.

Data centers have become a contentious issue across the country.

Together with partners from research and industry, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has modified the structure of battery electrodes so that the battery cells can store 10%–15% more energy at the same weight. They achieved this by more than tripling the coating thickness of the battery electrodes—for example, in lithium-ion batteries—which simultaneously reduces the number of current collectors in the battery cell. The research team implemented the new electrode architecture in lithium-ion pouch cells manufactured using industry-standard processes. Furthermore, they successfully applied the concept to zinc-ion and sodium-ion battery cells.

Plastic packaging is designed around appearance, convenience and function, but what happens after disposal is often considered separately—yet managing this waste is key to building a circular economy, since good recycling requires sorting plastics correctly by type. Transparent polyethylene terephthalate and polystyrene, for example, can be difficult to distinguish visually, making accurate separation challenging.

A digital scheduling framework combining machine learning, optimization and blockchain technology could reduce carbon emissions at a lower cost in regional energy systems, according to research in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution. The system cut the marginal emission-reduction cost—the additional expense of removing one more ton of carbon—by about 12% when the carbon quota was restricted to half the system's baseline emissions.

A research team has developed a highly durable platinum-nickel (PtNi) hydrogen evolution catalyst that suppresses nickel (Ni) leaching through atomic ordering. Nickel leaching is a major cause of performance degradation in catalysts used for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE). The findings are published in the journal Carbon Energy.

As extreme weather intensifies, Reese Greenlee is testing the limits of 3D-printed concrete to create stronger, more accessible storm shelters for vulnerable communities.

With airlines and consumers increasingly concerned about carbon, nitrogen and hydrocarbon emissions, biofuels have emerged as a green alternative. Among these, those made from coconut oil are particularly attractive because they have fatty acid chain lengths similar to the hydrocarbon chain lengths required for jet fuel, suggesting they could make effective fuels with minimal processing.

Australia's growing mountain of solar panel waste could become far more valuable, with University of Newcastle researchers taking a major step toward making solar panel recycling economically sustainable. The team has successfully scaled up a process that recovers valuable silver from end-of-life solar panels, demonstrating almost 100% silver recovery during the world's first continuous pilot-scale flotation trial for solar-panel recycling.