Northern Virginia Energy Innovation Forum Dorene M. Price Office of Intellectual Property and Sponsored Research October 1, 2008

Northern Virginia Energy Innovation Forum

Dorene M. Price

Office of Intellectual Property

and Sponsored Research

October 1, 2008

October 1, 2008 2

Aerial View ofBrookhaven National Laboratory

Energy Research Quick Picks fromBrookhaven National Laboratory

1. Electrochemically Enhanced Bioethanol Production

2. Fuel Cell Electrocatalysts

3. Aluminum Hydride Hydrogen Storage

4. Artificial Photosynthesis

5. BNL OIPSR (Office of Intellectual Property

and Sponsored Research)

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Electrochemically Enhanced Bioethanol Production

October 1, 2008 4

Provisional patent application filed April 7, 2008.

Bio-Ethanol: Enhancing Production via Electron Removal or BEEPER technology - the goal is to accelerate the production of bio-ethanol by modifying the fermentation step.

Ethanol Production - Domestic Outlook

Source: EIA, http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/forecasting.html

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

Year

Mill

ions

of B

arre

l per

Day

U.S. Ethanol Production

2 per. Mov. Avg. ( U.S. EthanolProduction)

October 1, 20085

Reduction in Fossil Fuel Dependence

October 1, 20086

Source: “From Biomass to Biofuels”, NREL, www.nrel.gov/biomass/pdfs/39436.pdf

Production Cost

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7

The Food v. Fuel Debate

October 1, 20088

Editorial Responses to April 7, 2008 TIME article, “The Clean Energy Myth”

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Technology for making ethanol already exists but has not been developed to the point that it is economically competitive

with gasoline.

The cost of E85 is reported to be, in July, 2007, $2.62 per gallon ($3.71 to get energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline) versus $3.03 for gasoline.

It is projected that about 60 billion gallons per year of EtOH will be needed to meet 30 by 30 goal set by Congress (there is also a 20 in 10 initiative)

Either now or in the future, the fermentation process can be modulated to accelerate ethanol production.

This technology is applicable to any advancement using microbes to produce ethanol and other metabolites.

In addition, the electricity generated by the process can be recycled back into the process or the facility thereby further cutting the cost of production.

October 1, 20089







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Brookhaven National LaboratoryFuel Cell Electrocatalysts

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The best fuel cell catalysts on the market use nearly bulk platinum, that peaked around $2000/troy oz.

• Merely making Pt nanoparticles has not improved the mass catalytic activity of catalyst-bearing electrodes.

Using Pt monolayers on ruthenium substrates as anodes, and Pt monolayers on palladium nanoparticles as cathodes, a BNL PI has been able to increase the mass catalytic activity for fuel cells by up to 20 times over Pt/C catalysts.

The overall value of the project for the fuel cell market alone is estimated to be $2 to $20 million.

• Platinum is also used in many other catalytic reactions.

Pt

Ru

Pt Pd







October 1, 2008 12


Brookhaven National LaboratoryAluminum Hydride Hydrogen Storage

Offers a means for practical room temperature

hydrogen desorption from aluminum hydride.

Uses activated aluminum hydride (AlH3) to

control and efficiently store hydrogen gas for

vehicles and other applications at low

temperatures including RT and with acceptable

gravimetric H-capacity (e.g., around 6 wt.%

H).

Decomposition of aluminum hydride particles

is metallurgically stimulated by mixing in

small levels of dopants (e.g., LiH, NaH,

LiAlH4, and others) to react with the aluminum

hydride particles.

October 1, 2008 13

SEM micrographs of α AlH3 prepared by DOW Chem. Co. showing large cuboids 50-100 microns in diameter. (below) crystal structure of α-AlH3 (R-3c) showing the H atoms in an octahedral coordination around the Al.

Brookhaven National LaboratoryAluminum Hydride Hydrogen Storage

Further developments:

To prepare aluminum hydride. Samples used were an alpha

trigonal/rhombohedral version made by Dow Chemical in 1975 from LiAlH4 and

AlCl3 by a wet (ether solvent) chemical process;

To optimize the dopants; and

To develop offboard techniques for rehydriding spent Al back to AlH3.

Rehydriding is a term that is being used by BNL researchers to characterize the

process of regenerating aluminum hydride from spent Al.

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Brookhaven National LaboratoryArtificial Photosynthesis

Catalyzing O2 Production from Water-

studying ruthenium complex with bound quinone molecules that can drive the conversion of water into oxygen, protons, and electrons; ruthenium holds water molecules in place to make oxygen while the protons and electrons are transferred among the molecules and the catalyst, providing the charges necessary to continue the photosynthesis process.

Building a Bio-inspired Catalytic Cycle for Fuel Production –

using a ruthenium-based complex for a functional model this artificial complex has been shown to work similar to NADP+/NADPH coenzyme that cycles back and forth picking up a proton and 2 electrons and depositing them for use in the eventual production of carbohydrates.

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Water oxidation by Ru dinuclear complexes and cobalt hydrous oxide

Sunlight absorption by BGNSCs and metal complexes

CO2 and proton reduction by photogenerated hydrides

(and/or hydrogenase model complexes)

Photogeneration of NADPH-model complexes

Artificial Photosynthesis Studies at BNL

http://photoscience.la.asu.edu

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17

Proposed catalytic pathway for H2O oxidation by [Ru2(Q)(btpyan)]4+, the oxidized form of the catalyst.

(Listed for each species is the O-O distance and the Ru-C-Ru angle, where the C atom is at the top center of the anthracene moiety. )

First, two water molecules or two hydroxide ions bind to vacant coordination sites to form the “far” singlet dihydroxo species with an O-O distance of 4.527 Å. This species has a barrier comparable to kBT to form the “near” singlet, hydrogen-bonded species of the same composition. This “near” singlet species is likely the species isolated and characterized by Tanaka’s group.

Upon geometric distortion of this species along a proton dissociation coordinate, the system likely crosses over to a triplet manifold for the remainder of the catalytic cycle. All of the triplet species shown are considerably more stable than the corresponding singlets. It is likely that all four protons are removed before the catalyst/water moiety complex is externally oxidized.

Accompanying proton removal, electron transfer occurs from the bound water moieties to the quinone ligands as indicated. The involvement of the final 4+ O2-bound intermediate is unlikely.

October 1, 2008

18

Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 47, No. 6, 2008

Brookhaven National LaboratoryArtificial Photosynthesis

Photoelectrolysis cell with a BGNSC photoanode (red) and a catalyst (purple) at the anode surface. A small bias potential may be required in some cases to produce H2 at a cathode electrode with a

catalyst (pink).

Photocatalysis Research in the BNL AP Group

http://photoscience.la.asu.edu Fe

CO

CO

CN

CN

CO

S

1

H

H

FeS

S

N

2

2+

NiPPP

P

3

2+

NiPPP

P N

N

4

2+

NiPPP

P N

NH

H

NADPH Fe hydrogenase

AP

•Energy is required to drive reactions of these molecules uphill to generate fuels• Solar energy is the most abundant source of energy for such use

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Technology Transfer MechanismsBrookhaven National Laboratory

What is the Role of Tech Transfer?• Technology Licensing for laboratory inventions that

demonstrate a commercial potential; involves obtaining patents for those inventions and seeking licensees that demonstrate commercialization capability.

• Work for Others (WFO) provides a tool for performing research and development at BNL.

• Collaborative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) provides a means for industry to benefit from the vast scientific and technological capabilities at BNL.

• Proprietary and Non-Proprietary Research at BNL User Facilities provide experimenters from around the world an opportunity to conduct outstanding science.

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21

Research Facilities at BNL

Center for Functional Nanomaterials

Positron Emission Tomography Facility

National Synchrotron Light Source-II

STAR detector at RHIC

NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

Molecular Beam Epitaxy oxide system

Transmission Electron Microscopy

Facility

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Office of Intellectual Property & Sponsored Research

(OIPSR) Staff

Maria Pacella

Dorene Price

Christine Brakel

Lori-Anne Neiger

Maria Pacella

Cyrena Condemi

Kimberley Elcess

Mike Furey Alison Schwarz

Ginny Coccorese


Dorene Price 2. Fuel Cell Electrocatalysts

Kimberley Elcess 3. Aluminum Hydride Hydrogen Storage

Dorene Price 4. Artificial Photosynthesis

Dorene Price

October 1, 2008 24


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Sponsored Research

Michael Furey –Manager, Research [email protected]

www.bnl.gov/techxfer

Thank-youAny Questions??

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.bnl.gov/techxfer

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Technology Transfer Mechanisms

How Can BNL Facilities Work for You?• Proprietary and Non-Proprietary Research at

BNL User Facilities - contract for use by research teams from industry, university or non-profit of a BNL Designated User Facility

• Collaborative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) - contract for collaborative research projects with industry that may be cost-shared or fully funded by industry

• Technology Licensing

October 1, 2008 27

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAMBROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY (cont.)

WORK FOR OTHERS

Non-federal sponsorscontract for research performed by BNL research staff which is fully funded by a utility, university, hospital, state or local government, or non-profit and which utilizes unique BNL expertise

Other federal agenciesresearch performed by BNL research staff on behalf of and fully funded by another federal agency, such as DARPA, NIH, NASA. Research performed under an inter-agency agreement between DOE and the other federal agency.

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User Facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory

National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) Scanning Transmission Electron

Microscope (STEM) Tandem Van de Graff (Tandem) Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Center for Functional Nanomaterials

October 1, 2008 29

CRADA (Cooperative Research and

Development Agreement)

Industry partner’s proprietary information is protected

“Protected CRADA Information”• Results/data generated in the course of the project• Protected from public release for up to five years

Patent and Data Rights are negotiated• Partner gets first option to license “Subject Inventions”• Option period is negotiated• Data can be withheld from public release

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Cooperative Research and DevelopmentAgreements (CRADA)

Brookhaven’s costs can be funded by funds from DOE, licensing income, the industry participant, or any combination of these

BNL contributions can include:• Facilities, instruments, materials, people • No funds-out to partner

Partner contributions can include:• Funds to Brookhaven, facilities, instruments, materials,

people Research usually conducted at both BNL and participant’s

facilities Exchange of results

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TECHNOLOGY LICENSING

obtain patent protection on BSA inventions developed at BNL with commercial applications

license patents covering BSA developed inventions to industry to foster commercialization

licenses can be exclusive, for a specific field of use, or for a specific geographical area

potential licensee must present plans for commercialization

more than 100 technologies are in BSA’s licensing portfolio; includes molecular biology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, optics, instrumentation, environmental remediation, and energy production

October 1, 2008 32

US ethanol market revenue forecast, 2006-2012 Year Revenue ($ billion)

2006 - 22.1 2007 - 24.4 2008 - 26.3 2009 - 31.6 2010 - 34.9 2011 - 35.7 2012 - 39.3

Source: BioWorld Research Published in: The Biofuels Market Outlook

© Business Insights Limited, 2007

October 1, 200833

PEM Drivers and Resistors

From: The Outlook For Fuel Cells To 2010. Source: Authors research & analysis© Business Insights Limited, 2002

October 1, 200834

Documents

Northern Virginia Energy Innovation Forum Dorene M. Price Office of Intellectual Property and Sponsored Research October 1, 2008