Nano-Energy Applications
Part I
Wade Adams, Ph.D.
Director
Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale
Science and Technology
Rice University
1
Topics
• Why is Energy Important Today?
• Overview of Energy
• Why Nanotechnology is Essential for Meeting Energy Needs
• Nanotech Energy Challenges
• Greenhouse Gases/Global Warming
• Efficiency
• Fossil Fuels
• Hydrogen
• Nuclear Power
• Fusion Energy
2
Why is Energy Important Today?
Humanity’s Top Ten Problems over Next 50 Years:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Energy
Water
Food
Environment
Poverty
Terrorism and War
Disease
Education
Democracy
Population
Figure 6.1: Photo of Earth.
2003:
2050:
6.5 Billion People
8-10 Billion People
3
Overview of Energy
World Power Consumption for 2005
Figure 6.2a: World power usage in terawatts.
Figure 6.2b: Global power usage in successive detail.
4
Overview of Energy, Continued
Peak Oil?!
Figure 6.3: World production forecast Made by Khebab
of The Oil Drum. (December 2006)
5
Overview of Energy, Continued
Global Energy Demand Growth
Figure 6.4: World Marketed Energy Consumption, 1980-2030.
6
Overview of Energy, Continued
1,286
Projected World Energy Consumption
• World population now is 6B; in 2050, 10B?
826
Figure 6.5: World energy consumption (Quads).
7
Overview of Energy, Continued
Projected World Energy Consumption by Region
Figure 6.6b: World regions.
Figure 6.6a: World energy consumption by region (Quads).
Figure 6.6c: Energy consumption.
8
Overview of Energy, Continued
Energy Use Correlates with National Prosperity
Figure 6.7: GNP versus Energy Consumption.
9
Overview of Energy, Continued
World Energy Supply and Demand
Figure 6.8: Estimates of 21st Century world energy supplies.
10
Overview of Energy, Continued
Energy Revolution: The Terawatt Challenge
50
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2003
2003
45
14 Terawatts
210 M BOE/day
40
2050
2050
30 – 60 Terawatts
450 – 900 M BOE/day
35
30
25
20
15
10
0.5%
5
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Source: Internatinal Energy Agency
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Figure 6.9: The basis of prosperity.
11
Overview of Energy, Continued
United States Energy Perspective
Figure 6.10: Total world oil reserves.
12
Overview of Energy, Continued
U.S. and World Energy Consumption Today.
412 U.S.
Quads
Share of World, 2002
98 Quads
Figure 6.11: Equivalent ways of referring to energy used by the U.S. in 1 year (approx. 100 Quads):
100.0 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Quads)
105.5 exa Joules (EJ)
3.346 terawatt-years (TW-yr)
U.S. and British unit of energy
Metric unit of energy
Metric unit of power (energy/sec)x(#seconds in a year)
13
Overview of Energy, Continued
Energy Sources
Energy Consumption Sectors
U.S. Energy Flow
• 34% of U.S. primary energy is imported.
Figure 6.12: U.S. Energy Flow, 2006 (Quadrillion Btu ).
14
Overview of Energy, Continued
U.S. Energy Flow, 2006, Continued
Figure 6.13: U.S. breakdown of energy flow.
 85% of primary energy is from fossil fuels; 8% is from nuclear; 6% is from renewables.
 Most imported energy is petroleum, which is used for transportation.
 End-use sectors (residential, commercial, industrial, transportation) all use comparable amounts of energy.
15
Why Nanotechnology is Essential
for Meeting Our Energy Needs
Vik Rao, CTO of Halliburton:
• “The debate is no longer about producing enough energy to
meet demand, but about producing hydrocarbons and energy in
a sustainable manner. At the same time, it is also about
producing more environmentally friendly fluids for transportation
and power.”
16
Why Nanotechnology is Essential
for Meeting Our Energy Needs,
Continued
R.E. Smalley, 2003:
• Actions involving energy occur at the nanometer level.
- Harvesting
- Transformation
- Transport
- Use
• Improvements will be made most effectively at the same scale.
17
Nanotech Energy Challenges
•
Photovoltaics – drop cost by 100 fold.
•
Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methanol.
•
Direct Photoconversion of light + water to produce H2.
•
Fuel Cells – drop the cost by 10-100x + low temp start.
•
Batteries and Supercapacitors – improve by 10-100x for automotive and
distributed generation applications.
•
H2 storage – light-weight materials for pressure tanks and LH2 vessels,
and/or a new light-weight, easily reversible hydrogen chemisorption
system.
•
Power Cables (superconductors or quantum conductors) to rewire
electrical transmission grid and enable continental, even worldwide,
electrical energy transport; to replace aluminum and copper wires
essentially everywhere – particularly in the windings of electric motors
and generators (especially good if eliminate eddy current losses).
18
Nanotech Energy Challenges,
Continued
•
Nanoelectronics to revolutionize computers, sensors, and devices.
•
Nanoelectronics-Based Robotics with AI to enable construction
maintenance of solar structures in space and on moon; to enable
nuclear reactor maintenance and fuel reprocessing.
•
Super-Strong, Light-Weight Materials to drop cost to LEO, GEO, and
the moon by > 100 x; to enable huge, but low cost light harvesting
structures in space; to improve efficiency of cars, planes, etc.
•
Thermochemical Processes with catalysts to generate H2 from water
that work efficiently at temperatures lower than 900 C.
•
Nanotech Lighting to replace incandescent and fluorescent lights.
•
Nanomaterials/Coatings to enable vastly lower cost of deep drilling; to
enable HDR (hot dry rock) geothermal heat mining.
•
CO2 Mineralization schemes that can work on a vast scale, hopefully
starting from basalt and having no waste streams.
19
DOE Research Targets
Nanoscience for Energy Needs
• Scalable methods to split H20 with sunlight for H2 production.
• Highly selective catalysts for clean and energy-efficient
manufacturing.
• Harvesting of solar energy with 20% power efficiency and 100X
lower cost.
• Solid-state lighting at 50% of power use.
• Super-strong, light-weight materials for transportation efficiency.
• Reversible H2 storage materials at RT.
• Power transmission lines with 1 GW capacity.
• Low-cost fuel cells, batteries, thermoelectrics, and ultra-capacitors.
• Materials synthesis and energy harvesting based on efficient,
selective bio-mechanisms.
20
Greenhouse Gases/Global Warming
Figure 6.14: Greenhouse Effect.
21
Greenhouse Gases/Global Warming,
Continued
Global Warming Over Past Millennium
• We have entered
uncharted territory – what
some call the anthropocene
climate regime.
• Over the 20th Century,
human population
quadrupled and energy
consumption increased
sixteenfold.
• Near end of last century,
global warming from fossil
fuel greenhouse became a
major, dominant factor in
Figure 6.15: Global warming over the century.
climate change.
22
Greenhouse Gases/Global Warming,
Continued
Global Warming Over Past Millennium, Continued
Figure 6.16: Rise of CO2.
23
Greenhouse Gases/Global Warming,
Continued
Cost of Capture
• Single largest impediment to implementation of carbon
sequestration at a grand scale.
Figure 6.17: DOE fossil energy.
24
Greenhouse Gases/Global Warming,
Continued
Nanotechnology for Greenhouse Gas (CO2) Remediation
• Efficient capture mechanisms – membranes, high surface area.
• Catalytic or other chemical conversion to useful compounds such
as methanol.
• Photochemical reduction to CO for fuel.
• “Artificial” photosynthesis.
• Convert to carbon nanotubes or graphene.
25
Efficiency
Primary Energy
Figure 6.18: Overall, 58% of primary energy is lost energy.
26
Efficiency, Continued
Petroleum Consumption
Figure 6.18a: Petroleum consumption by sector
Figure 6.19b: Liquid fuels consumption
by sector 1990-2030.
27
Efficiency, Continued
Household Vehicles
Figure 20: Energy-intensity indicator for household vehicles, by
vehicle type and age, 1985, 1988, and 1991.
28
Efficiency, Continued
Technology and Energy Supply
• Improving faster for efficient end-use than for energy supply.
Figure 6.21: Energy-intensity indicator by passenger transportation mode,
1985, 1988, and 1991.
29
Efficiency, Continued
Boeing
• The Boeing 787
Dreamliner will be more
fuel-efficient than earlier
Boeing airliners. Boeing
will also be the first major
airliner to use composite
materials for most of its
construction.
PHEVs
• Plug-in hybrid electrical
vehicles (PHEVs) can reduce
air pollution and dependence
on petroleum, and lessen
greenhouse gas emissions
that contribute to global
warming.
Figure 6.22a: Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
30
Efficiency, Continued
Petroleum Consumption of PHEVs
Figure 6.23: Potential per-vehicle reduction of petrolum consumption in PHEVs
31
Efficiency, Continued
Lighting Large Fraction of Energy Consumption
• Lighting consumes ~20% of U.S electricity, but has very low efficiency.
Energy Consumption (Quads)
1000
U.S. Energy Consumption
Efficiencies of Energy
Technologies in Buildings
~96 Quads
100
~37 Quads
Energy
Electricity
10
Illumination
42% Incandescent
41% Fluorescent
17% HID
~8 Quads
Projected
Heating:
70-80%
Electrical Motors:
85-95%
Incandescent Lighting:
~5%
Fluorescent Lighting:
~25%
Metal Halide Lighting:
~30%
1
1970
1980
1990
2000
Year
2010 2020
Figure 6.24b: Efficiencies of energy technologies.
Figure 6.24a: U.S. consumption of illumination.
32
Efficiency, Continued
Synergy Between Solar Photovoltaic and LED
Electricity
V
LED
SOLAR PV
V
Figure 6.25: Converting between electricity and light – LED works as a reverse solar PV cell.
33
Efficiency, Continued
Solid-State Lighting: Semiconductor-Based Lighting Technology
Inorganic Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).
• III-V semiconductorsbased device.
• High brightness point
sources.
• Potential high
efficiency and long
lifetime.
Solid-state lighting is a
new technology.
• Potentially 10 times
more energy efficient
than an incandescent
lamp.
• Provides revolutionary
ways to illuminate
homes, offices, and
public spaces.
Figure 6.26: Closeup view of a LED’s
substrate. (photo by Randy Montoya)
34
Efficiency, Continued
• Ultralight-weighting everything by new strong nanocomposites
• Nanostructured materials for insulation.
• Efficient nanodesigned lighting, reflectors to reduce heating.
• Improved combustion, higher fuel density.
• Light-weight energy storage devices in transportation.
35
Fossil Fuels
Integrated Gasified, Combined Cycle Plants (IGCC)
• High efficiency
(50%), high wattage
(>500 MW) plants.
• British Coal
Gasifier: burns
sewage sludge.
Figure 6.27: Integrated Gasified, Combined Cycle Plants.
36
Fossil Fuels, Continued
FutureGen (Zero Emissions Plant)
• In 2003, President G.W. Bush announced:
“… $1 billion, 10-year demonstration project to create the world’s first
coal-based, zero-emissions electricity and hydrogen power plant.”
• Carbon Capture
- Initial goal: 90% capture
- Ultimate goal: 100% capture
• Economics
- <10% increase in cost of electricity.
- H2 production at $4/million Btu’s.
- S and N2 used for fertilizers.
• Power Generation
- ~275 MW (small prototype).
- 50-60% efficiency.
Figure 6.28: Fossil energy prototype.
37
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Challenges in Oil Patch
• Lighter systems for deep offshore operations (stronger, stable).
• Better sensors downhole (harsh environment).
• Smarter fluids.
• Enhanced recovery methods.
• Better catalysts.
• Better materials – corrosion, hardness.
38
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Nanotechnology for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (E&P) – Part 1
• Stronger Pipe, Casing, Structures.
– Metals, Ti, alloys and composites, nanotextured.
– Composite, nanocomposite.
• Complex Fluids.
– Mud, nano additives, conducting at 0.02%, shape, size.
– Viscosity, friction, thermal conductivity, control surface interactions.
• Sensors.
– Wide variety, multifunctional chemical, physical.
– Imbedded, composite, concrete, in fluids, smart dust?
– Reliability through redundancy – emulate jet engine sensors?
• Seals, Elastomers with nano fillers.
– High temperature resistance, toughness, and elongation.
39
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Impact of Nanostructured Materials
• Revolution of Available Materials
• New Paradigms
- Designed and tailorable materials with combination of characteristics:
Property,
Cost, Performance
Current
options
•Data Transmission
Bio-Compatibility
requirements
options
•Sensing
Responsive
•Mechanical
Durability
Future
Property,
Cost, Performance
•Information Processing
Data Storage
Property, Cost, Performance
Property, Cost, Performance
Figure 6.29: Optimize contradicting material performance requirements.
40
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Nanowires in Electrical Sensing
• Why is small good?
- Decrease thermal noise since
electrode is smaller.
- Binding depletes charge carriers at
surface, which is all device.
- Smaller sensors enable sensor array
developments.
Figure 6.30: A Nanowire that
generates power by harvesting
energy from the environment.
.
Source
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
41
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Seals, Elastomers with nano fillers.
Figure 6.31a: Annular blowout preventers.
Figure 6.31b: A is a schematic drawing of an unstressed
polymer. The dots represent cross-links. B is the same
polymer under stress. When the stress is removed, it will
return to the A configuration.
42
Fossil Fuels, Continued
NanoComposites, Inc.
• NanoComposites, Inc. develops nanotechnologyenhanced materials for use in seals and gaskets for
the energy market.
• NanoComposites’ proprietary technology is enabling
practical applications of these carbon nanotubes in
elastomers - with the potential for many more
applications.
43
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Nanotechnology for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (E&P) – Part 2
• SWNTs (Single Wall Nanotubes) – metallic conductors.
– Power at the bit, rotation, plasma, laser.
– (Embedded) signal wiring.
– Energy from the bottom of the well.
• Thermoelectric.
• Direct conversion of oil to electrons (catalysts).
• Hydrogen (catalysts).
• Microwave (and optical) Sensors.
• Thermal Control/Transport.
• (Trailing) Cables for moles.
• Percolation Conductivity (0.02%).
• Fracturing Fillers, Particles.
• Vibration damping SWNT composites.
• Elastomer Composites (NanoComposites, Inc.).
44
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Nano Approach to Buoyant Proppants
aqueous solution alumoxne,
fire to 220 °C
amorphous alumina
polystyrene bead
toluene
wash
polystyrene bead
-Al2O3
A-alumoxane sintered
to 1000 °C
hollow core
1000 °C
Porous -alumina
infiltrated by alumina
hollow -alumina
spheres
Figure 6.32: Buoyant proppants.
corrundum
0
500
1000
1500
2000
Hardness (H v, Kgf.mm -2)
45
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Nanotechnology for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (E&P) – Part 3
• Smart Dust/Matter – ubiquitous computing.
– Communication/interaction through media.
• Raw Computing/Visualization Power.
– Approaching power of human brain.
• Data Storage – Petabyte CDs.
– All corporate data on one disk in your shirt pocket.
• Grind Cuttings to nano-size – blow out!
– Solve Mole cuttings problem?
• Nanoenergetics – shaped, smaller explosives (100X).
• Smaller Motors – stronger nanocomposite magnets, lighter wire.
• Lighter, Stronger Batteries (10x over Li already demonstrated –
nanostructured electrodes).
• Coatings–hard, corrosion-resistant, durable, multifunctional, chameleon.
• Nanotextured Membranes and Filters.
• Self-protecting, self-diagnosing, self-healing (Space) Systems.
46
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Limiting Friction and Wear
• Material limitations/opportunities for nanomaterials.
- Challenge – mechanism.
Performance and life are limited by
lubricant supply; having effective
lubricant replenishment/film repair
could extend life indefinitely.
- Possible roles for nanotechnology.
• Self-repairing lubricant films.
• Nano-structured thin films with
optimized adhesion, friction,
hardness, life, CTE.
• Smart liquid lubricants that adapt
to conditions.
• Wear resistant nanostructured
materials.
Figure 6.33: Nano diamond.
47
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Molecular Electronics Corp. (MEC)
• Present market for nanomolecular paints.
• Super C for electro coatings.
Figure 6.34: Paint.
48
Fossil Fuels, Continued
“chameleon” coating
with lubricant
reservoirs
gradient interface
Substrate
solid lubricant
nanoparticle
1-3 nm
wear debris
Lubricant Reservoirs
amorphous matrix
with solid lubricant
adaptive transfer film (“triboskin”) on contact surfaces
3-10 nm
Adaptable “Chameleon” Coatings
• Transfer film formation.
hard crystalline
nanoparticle
Figure 6.35: Jeffrey Zabinski, Air Force Research Laboratory.
49
Fossil Fuels, Continued
Nanoscale Revolutions to Mega Scale Challenges in Upstream E&P
• Introduce nanotechnologies to E&P.
• Clarify science versus sci-fi.
• Draw analogies to other industries.
• Demonstrate nanotech capabilities/relevance to E&P.
• Stimulate thinking and encourage investment.
• Plan for an international nanotech roadmap.
50
Hydrogen
Hydrogen – Not a Primary Fuel
Figure 6.36: Elements of a hydrogen economy.
51
Hydrogen, Continued
Nanotechnology and Hydrogen Storage
• Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory are taking a new approach to "filling up" a fuel cell car with a
nanoscale solid, hydrogen storage material.
• Their discovery could hasten a day when vehicles will run on hydrogenpowered, environmentally friendly fuel cells instead of gasoline engines.
• The challenge, of course, is how to store and carry hydrogen. Whatever
the method, it needs to be no heavier and take up no more space than a
traditional gas tank, but provide enough hydrogen to power the vehicle
for 300 miles before refueling.
Figure 6.37: Hydrogen powered vehicle.
52
Hydrogen, Continued
DOE Hydrogen Storage Target
Figure 6.38: Comparison of storage solutions available on the market .
53
Hydrogen, Continued
Chahine’s Rule for Carbon vs. Kittrell’s Rule for 3D Nanoengineered Carbon
2.5
Kittrell’s Rule
3.7 wt%/1000 m2/g
@ 2 atm, 77 K
Hydrogen Uptake (77K)
2
Chahine’s slope
Kittrell’s slope
1.5
1
Figure 6.39: Nanoengineered carbon.
Chahine’s Rule
2.0 wt%/1000 m2/g
@ 40 atm, 77 K
0.5
0
0
100
200
300
400
Surface Area (m2/g)
500
600
.
54
Nuclear Power
• The pebble bed modular reactor, or PBMR, is a particular design of
pebble bed reactor under development by South African company
PBMR, Ltd. in partnership with Eskom and other companies.
• PBMR is fueled and moderated by fuel spheres each containing
TRISO coated oxide fuel grains and a surrounding hollow sphere of
graphite moderator. These are stacked in a close packed lattice and
cooled by helium, which is used to drive a turbine directly, or may be
used to provide process heat for the production of hydrogen fuel.
• PBMR is modular in that only small to mid-sized units will be designed;
larger power stations will be built by combining many of these modules.
• Core is annular with a centre column as a neutron reflector. Operating
fuel temperature is to be kept below 1130°C to minimize fission product
release from fuel during operation.
• First commercial units could start construction in 2016.
55
Nuclear Power, Continued
Fission Reactors
• About 500 operating in the world now.
• To produce 10 TW, need 5000 new 2 GW reactors – one every
other day for 28 years.
• Proven Uranium reserves at 10 TW last only 6-30 years.
• Uranium from the ocean to produce 10 TW requires 5 times the flow
rate of all rivers on Earth.
• Still have issues with public fear, waste, proliferation, and terrorism.
• FY08 DOE Fission R&D totals $560 million.
• Nanotech needs include strong, corrosion, and radiation-resistant
materials.
56
Nuclear Power, Continued
Source: The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)
Figure 6.40: Fusion.
57
Nuclear Power, Continued
Fusion Attractive Domestic Energy Source
• Abundant fuel, available to all nations.
– Deuterium and lithium easily available for thousands of years.
• Environmental advantages.
– No carbon emissions, short-lived radioactivity.
• Can’t blow up, resistant to terrorist attack.
– Less than 5 minutes of fuel in the chamber.
• Low risk of nuclear materials proliferation.
– No fissile or fertile materials required.
• Compact relative to solar, wind, and biomass.
– Modest land usage.
• Not subject to daily, seasonal, or regional weather variation.
– No large-scale energy storage, nor long-distance transmission.
• Cost of power estimated similar to coal, fission.
• Can produce electricity and hydrogen.
– Complements other nearer-term energy sources.
58
Nuclear Power, Continued
ITER Provides Cooperative Opportunity to Make Sun on Earth
• Science Benefits
-Extends fusion science to
larger size, burning (self-heated)
plasmas.
• Technology Benefits
- Fusion-relevant technologies;
high duty-factor operation.
• Goal
- To demonstrate the
scientific and technological
feasibility of fusion energy,
by producing industrial
levels of fusion power.
Figure 6.41: ITER.
59
Fusion Energy
• Fusion is an attractive energy option for the future.
• Progress towards fusion energy has been very rapid, but is
severely limited by budget constraints.
– Japan and Europe are each investing much more in fusion
than the U.S.
– DOE proposed FY08 funding of $428 million for Fusion
Energy with $160 million tagged for ITER, a joint
international research and development project.*
• A plan for the development of fusion requires:
– Fundamental Understanding.
– Configuration Optimization.
– Materials and Technology.
• Nanotechnology is needed for improved HT and radiationresistant materials…and could have revolutionary impacts
through improved magnet systems.
*Update: Funding ITER was not approved in FY08 budget.
60