TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER Annual Report 24 24 Idaho National Laboratory had an all-time best year at the R&D 100 Awards, sometimes referred to as the “Oscars of Innovation.” Since they were started by R&D Magazine in 1963, R&D 100 Awards have identified and celebrated the top technology products from the public and private sectors. The U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories typically have dozens of finalists every year. This year, there were 60 finalists from 13 national labs, with 11 coming from INL. Among the 100 winning technologies, INL had four. Phosphate Sponge The Phosphate Sponge provides an environmentally safe solution for remediating freshwater algae blooms caused by phosphate pollution. Filled with a proprietary powder developed by Rocky Mountain Scientific Corp., the beads in the Phosphate Sponge are made of an INL-developed sorbent material. When contaminated water is passed through a column or bed containing the beads, contaminants are absorbed by ion exchange. This reduces phosphate levels in water to merely a few parts per billion. Jack Law, Troy Garn and Mitchell Greenhalgh with Steve Hammon of Global Phosphate Solutions Battery Health Sentry The multibillion-dollar lithium-ion battery industry has lacked a fast, affordable method for detecting internal shorts in cells that can result in fires, explosions and toxic discharges. Using basic equipment, Battery Health Sentry offers the ability to detect self- discharge not just in single cells but within battery architectures consisting of several parallel strings. The method can detect shorts long before a thermal runaway or catastrophic failure occurs. Conventional instrument hardware or battery management systems can be used with minor changes in software algorithms. Sergiy Sazhin, Kevin Gering, Eric Dufek, David Jamison R&D 100 Awards Electrochemical Recycling Electronic Constituents of Value (eRECOV) Electrochemical Recycling Electronic Constituents of Value (eRECOV) offers a brand new solution to the growing challenge of electronic waste. The unique process incorporates an electrochemical cell to efficiently dissolve metals from cellphones, laptops and other devices, reclaiming precious metals (gold, silver, palladium) as well as ordinary but still valuable elements (zinc, lead, nickel and rare earths). Tedd Lister, Luis Diaz Aldana General Line Ampacity State Solver (GLASS) GLASS (General Line Ampacity State Solver) is a Java-based software program that can help the end user determine, in real time, the limiting amperage capacities and thermal ratings for any given transmission line segment. This capability enables utility companies to use dynamic line rating (DLR) to adjust power production throughout their grid networks. GLASS offers similar accuracy and resolution as existing methods on a broader scale. It is lower cost, lower maintenance and doesn’t require utilities to directly install sensors or monitoring equipment on the energized transmission lines. Jake Gentle, Seth Hayes, Jacob Lehmer, Alex Abboud, Timothy McJunkin, Katya LeBlanc, Ben Fehringer, Kurt Myers and Gary Seifert, with Donna Rennemo and Catherine Meissner of WindSim, and Phil Anderson and Shane Wood of Idaho Power Company Antenna Coupled THz (ACT) Film Converting waste heat into power represents one of the largest opportunities for bringing greater efficiency and reduced emissions to the energy sector. Using nanorectifying antenna research from INL, RedWave Energy, Inc. has developed Antenna Coupled Thz (ACT) Film capable of harvesting low-temperature waste heat at power plants. Each sheet of ACT Film is made of tiny, square, gold- wire rectennas embedded in polyethylene, plastic sheeting that can be used nearly anywhere. The ACT Film absorbs heat between 70 and 250 degrees Celsius and converts it to electricity. Submitted with Dale Kotter of RedWave Energy, Inc. WINNER 2018 WINNER 2018