US – Page 220 – TechConnect Briefs

AltelaRain Produced Water Treatment & Re-use

Godshall N.A., Bruff M.J., Altela Inc., US

Altela Inc. offers a fundamentally new water desalination product, the AltelaRainSM System (ARS) that inexpensively removes nearly 100% of dissolved salts and other contaminants from industrial wastewaters and undrinkable brackish waters. Altela has taken the [...]

Sustainable Desalination of Fresh Water

Stover R.L., Energy Recovery Inc, US

Seawater reverse osmosis is an advanced desalination process used to filter water in which seawater is forced through a semi-permeable membrane, producing pure water on one side and concentrated brine on the other. The process, [...]

Accelerating Change in the Power Grid Infrastructure

Toteda S., Dust Networks, Inc., US

There are a multitude of initiatives working towards the upgrade and improvement of the North American power grid, in essence creating a "Smart Grid". Central to this is the need for advanced technologies and standards [...]

Business Case Development for Smart Power Programs

Roehr A.J., Capgemini, US

SmartGrid business cases are undergoing whirlwind changes as conventional measures of return based primarily on O&M reductions developed for Smart Meter programs are expanded to include what have been historically “soft” benefits. Stimulus funding, a [...]

Innovative Technologies in Demand Response: Delivering Increased Value for Utilities, Grid Operators, and Electricity Consumers

Dixon G., Harper S., Clement D., EnerNOC Inc, US

Demand response is the reduction of consumption on an electric grid in response to peak demand, high prices or other system contingencies. Over the past several years, technology advancements have enhanced the capabilities of demand [...]

Demand Response: A “Green” Approach to Addressing Capacity-Transmission Constraints While Empowering Customers

Hoss F., Capgemini, US

In the near-term, Utilities cannot build new generation or transmission lines fast enough, to address the problems of having adequate capacity to meet the ever-increasing peak demand requirements. Demand Response (DR) Programs – changes in [...]

Hydrogen-Steel Compatibility Research at NIST-Boulder

Siewert T.A., Slifka A.J., McColskey J.D., Lasseigne A.N., Nanninga N.E., Levi Y., NIST, US

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is establishing a new national test facility in Boulder, Colorado to evaluate the mechanical properties of materials proposed to store, transport, and distribute hydrogen fuels. Many of [...]

Silica Nanosprings – A Novel Nanostructured Material for Hydrogen Storage

Norton M.G., McIlroy D.N., Corti G., Miller M.A., Washington State University, US

Hydrogen storage for transportation applications remains a challenge. Current approaches are still short of published goals, in particular in being able to operate at acceptable temperatures. Physisorption, or non-dissociative approaches, where the hydrogen is stored [...]

Plasma Torch Process for Hydrogen Production at Small Distributed Stations

Miley G.H., Gough W.C., Leon H., University of Illinois, US

Small distributed hydrogen generating stations have been proposed. However, they are generally assumed to use water electrolysis units or various gas reforming processes. In this study we examine an alternate approach using the exhaust plasma [...]

Engineering High Surface Area Catalysts for Clean Tech Applications

McIlroy D.N., Corti G., Cantrell T., Beaux M., Prakash T., Norton M.G., Washington State University, US

Since catalytic performance is a limiting factor for many essential elements of the hydrogen economy, the need for improved catalysts is great. One-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials are ideal catalysts because of their large surface area to [...]