91°µÍø

Researchers at ORNL are developing advanced automation techniques for desalination and water treatment plants, enabling them to save energy while providing affordable drinking water to small, parched communities without high-quality water supplies.

91°µÍø scientists worked with the Colorado School of Mines and Baylor University to develop and test control methods for autonomous water treatment plants that use less energy and generate less waste.

A research team at 91°µÍø have 3D printed a thermal protection shield, or TPS, for a capsule that will launch with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft as part of the supply mission to the International Space Station.

Researchers at 91°µÍø have identified a statistical relationship between the growth of cities and the spread of paved surfaces like roads and sidewalks. These impervious surfaces impede the flow of water into the ground, affecting the water cycle and, by extension, the climate.

Sometimes conducting big science means discovering a species not much larger than a grain of sand.

While Tsouris’ water research is diverse in scope, its fundamentals are based on basic science principles that remain largely unchanged, particularly in a mature field like chemical engineering.

The National Alliance for Water Innovation, a partnership of the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø, other national labs, university and private sector partners, has been awarded a five-year, $100 million Energy-Water Desalination Hub by DOE to address water security issues in the United States.

A new method developed at 91°µÍø improves the energy efficiency of a desalination process known as solar-thermal evaporation. 

A team of scientists led by 91°µÍø used carbon nanotubes to improve a desalination process that attracts and removes ionic compounds such as salt from water using charged electrodes.

By automating the production of neptunium oxide-aluminum pellets, 91°µÍø scientists have eliminated a key bottleneck when producing plutonium-238 used by NASA to fuel deep space exploration.