GT/ Next-generation sustainable electronics are doped with air
Energy & green technology biweekly vol.70, 17th May — 31st May
TL;DR
- Semiconductors are essential for modern electronics, and a new method enhances organic semiconductors’ conductivity using air as a dopant, promising cost-effective, sustainable options.
- Researchers propose using solar heat to replace fossil fuels in steel smelting and cement cooking, with synthetic quartz trapping solar energy over 1,000 C (1,832 F).
- Wind farms can offset their carbon emissions within two years, maintaining a net positive environmental impact over a 30-year lifespan compared to thermal power plants.
- Studying bubble formation in biodiesel drops can optimize energy extraction in future engines.
- Advancements in record-breaking solar cells now allow self-assembled monolayers to be used in both inverted and regular structure perovskite solar cells.
- New battery technologies are being developed to store renewable energy and convert captured industrial carbon dioxide into solid forms usable in other products.
- Researchers identified 28 major heat loss areas in a multi-unit residential building, with potential energy savings of 25% if 70% of these regions are fixed.
- Lithium extracted from Marcellus shale gas wastewater could meet up to 40% of the U.S. demand if extraction were fully efficient.
- Low-carbon concrete models can double coal ash recycling, halve cement usage, and maintain high performance over time.
- Coal phase-out plans often include monetary compensation for affected workers and communities, amounting to USD 200 billion globally, with potential costs exceeding USD 2 trillion if China and India participate.
- And more!
Green Technology Market
Green technology is an applicable combination of advanced tools and solutions to conserve natural resources and environment, minimize or mitigate negative impacts from human activities on the environment, and ensure sustainability development. Green technology is also referred to as clean technology or environmental technology which includes technologies, such as IoT, AI, analytics, blockchain, digital twin, security, and cloud, which collect, integrate, and analyze data from various real-time data sources, such as sensors, cameras, and Global Positioning System (GPS).
Green technology, also known as sustainable technology, protects the environment by using various forms of sustainable energy. Some of the best examples of green technologies include solar panels, LED lighting, wind energy, electric vehicles, vertical farming, and composting.
The global Green Technology and Sustainability market size to grow from USD 11.2 billion in 2020 to USD 36.6 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26.6% during the forecast period. The growing consumer and industrial interest for the use of clean energy resources to conserve environment and increasing use of Radio Frequency Identification sensors across industries are driving the adoption of green technology and sustainability solutions and services in the market.
Latest Research
Photocatalytic doping of organic semiconductors
by Wenlong Jin, Chi-Yuan Yang, Riccardo Pau, Qingqing Wang,et al in Nature
Semiconductors are the foundation of all modern electronics. Now, researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a new method where organic semiconductors can become more conductive with the help of air as a dopant. The study is a significant step towards future cheap and sustainable organic semiconductors.
“We believe this method could significantly influence the way we dope organic semiconductors. All components are affordable, easily accessible, and potentially environmentally friendly, which is a prerequisite for future sustainable electronics,” says Simone Fabiano, associate professor at Linköping University.
Semiconductors based on conductive plastics instead of silicon have many potential applications. Among other things, organic semiconductors can be used in digital displays, solar cells, LEDs, sensors, implants, and for energy storage.
To enhance conductivity and modify semiconductor properties, so-called dopants are typically introduced. These additives facilitate the movement of electrical charges within the semiconductor material and can be tailored to induce positive (p-doping) or negative (n-doping) charges. The most common dopants used today are often either very reactive (unstable), expensive, challenging to manufacture, or all three.
Now, researchers at Linköping University have developed a doping method that can be performed at room temperature, where inefficient dopants such as oxygen are the primary dopant, and light activates the doping process.
“Our approach was inspired by nature, as it shares many analogies with photosynthesis, for example. In our method, light activates a photocatalyst, which then facilitates electron transfer from a typically inefficient dopant to the organic semiconductor material,” says Simone Fabiano.
The new method involves dipping the conductive plastic into a special salt solution — a photocatalyst — and then illuminating it with light for a short time. The duration of illumination determines the degree to which the material is doped. Afterwards, the solution is recovered for future use, leaving behind a p-doped conductive plastic in which the only consumed substance is oxygen in the air.
This is possible because the photocatalyst acts as an “electron shuttle,” taking electrons or donating them to material in the presence of sacrificial weak oxidants or reductants. This is common in chemistry but has not been used in organic electronics before.
“It’s also possible to combine p-doping and n-doping in the same reaction, which is quite unique. This simplifies the production of electronic devices, particularly those where both p-doped and n-doped semiconductors are required, such as thermoelectric generators. All parts can be manufactured at once and doped simultaneously instead of one by one, making the process more scalable,” says Simone Fabiano.
The doped organic semiconductor has better conductivity than traditional semiconductors, and the process can be scaled up. Simone Fabiano and his research group at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics showed earlier in 2024 how conductive plastics could be processed from environmentally friendly solvents like water; this is their next step.
“We are at the beginning of trying to fully understand the mechanism behind it and what other potential application areas exist. But it’s a very promising approach showing that photocatalytic doping is a new cornerstone in organic electronics,” says Simone Fabiano, a Wallenberg Academy Fellow.
Solar thermal trapping at 1,000°C and above
by Emiliano Casati, Leo Allgoewer, Aldo Steinfeld in Device
Instead of burning fossil fuels to smelt steel and cook cement, researchers in Switzerland want to use heat from the sun. The proof-of-concept study uses synthetic quartz to trap solar energy at temperatures over 1,000°C (1,832°F), demonstrating the method’s potential role in providing clean energy for carbon-intensive industries.
“To tackle climate change, we need to decarbonize energy in general,” says corresponding author Emiliano Casati of ETH Zurich, Switzerland. “People tend to only think about electricity as energy, but in fact, about half of the energy is used in the form of heat.”
Glass, steel, cement, and ceramics are at the very heart of modern civilization, essential for building everything from car engines to skyscrapers. However, manufacturing these materials demands temperatures over 1,000°C and relies heavily on burning fossil fuels for heat. These industries account for about 25% of global energy consumption. Researchers have explored a clean-energy alternative using solar receivers, which concentrate and build heat with thousands of sun-tracking mirrors. However, this technology has difficulties transferring solar energy efficiently above 1,000°C.
To boost the efficiency of solar receivers, Casati turned to semitransparent materials such as quartz, which can trap sunlight — a phenomenon called the thermal-trap effect. The team crafted a thermal-trapping device by attaching a synthetic quartz rod to an opaque silicon disk as an energy absorber. When they exposed the device to an energy flux equivalent to the light coming from 136 suns, the absorber plate reached 1,050°C (1,922°F), whereas the other end of the quartz rod remained at 600°C (1,112°F).
“Previous research has only managed to demonstrate the thermal-trap effect up to 170°C (338°F),” says Casati. “Our research showed that solar thermal trapping works not just at low temperatures, but well above 1,000°C. This is crucial to show its potential for real-world industrial applications.”
Using a heat transfer model, the team also simulated the quartz’s thermal-trapping efficiency under different conditions. The model showed that thermal trapping achieves the target temperature at lower concentrations with the same performance, or at higher thermal efficiency for equal concentration. For example, a state-of-the-art (unshielded) receiver has an efficiency of 40% at 1,200°C, with a concentration of 500 suns. The receiver shielded with 300 mm of quartz achieves 70% efficiency at the same temperature and concentration. The unshielded receiver requires at least 1,000 suns of concentration for comparable performance.
Casati and his colleagues are now optimizing the thermal-trapping effect and investigating new applications for the method. So far, their research has been promising. By exploring other materials, such as different fluids and gases, they were able to reach even higher temperatures. The team also noted that these semitransparent materials’ ability to absorb light or radiation is not limited to solar radiation.
“Energy issue is a cornerstone to the survival of our society,” says Casati. “Solar energy is readily available, and the technology is already here. To really motivate industry adoption, we need to demonstrate the economic viability and advantages of this technology at scale.”
Developing onshore wind farms in Aotearoa New Zealand: carbon and energy footprints
by Isabella Pimentel Pincelli, Jim Hinkley, Alan Brent in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand
After spinning for under two years, a wind farm can offset the carbon emissions generated across its entire 30-year lifespan, when compared to thermal power plants.
That’s according to a new study, which also shows within six months a turbine can generate all the energy consumed across its life-cycle. The research uses data from the Harapaki onshore wind farm in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand — however the authors of the paper explain that their findings would be replicated across most, if not all, wind farms internationally.
“The wind turbine technology employed in New Zealand is consistent with that used internationally,” explains lead author Isabella Pimentel Pincelli from the Sustainable Energy Systems research group, Wellington Faculty of Engineering, at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.
“Although the carbon offset depends on the exact older technology the wind turbines are replacing, we would expect a similar offset internationally. In New Zealand it is gas turbines, but many countries will be displacing fossil fuel generators.
“The outcomes of our study underscore the environmental efficiency of onshore wind farms and their important role in the energy transition. Notably, the manufacturing of wind turbines is the primary contributor to the carbon and energy footprints, highlighting a critical area for targeted environmental mitigation strategies.”
The study reviewed current literature on wind farms, as well as using real construction data to take into account everything from the manufacturing of individual turbine parts, to transporting them into place, to decommissioning the entire wind farm at Harapaki — which comprises 41 turbines. The results indicate that this particular farm will leave a carbon footprint of 10.8 gCO2eq/kWh, which equates to a greenhouse gas payback time of 1.5–1.7 years for avoided combined cycle gas turbines, and an energy payback time of 0.4–0.5 years. Co-author Professor Alan Brent, Chair in Sustainable Energy Systems at Wellington, explains while the results underscore how onshore wind plants are aligned with the principles of sustainable development, more can still be explored with making the manufacturing process more eco-friendly.
“The environmental impacts of the installation and transportation phases are important. Together they accounted for nearly 10% of the overall emissions,” states Brent, a Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems. “It therefore remains crucial to continue implementing improvements aimed at limiting negative environmental impacts while maximizing positive contributions throughout the supply chain of onshore wind plants.
“Notably, the manufacturing of wind turbines is the primary contributor to the carbon and energy footprints, highlighting a critical area for targeted environmental mitigation strategies.”
To address the carbon outlay of the process of developing such wind farms, the expert team recommend developing a recycling process for end-of-life blades. Currently blades are disposed of in landfill due to commercial feasibility, but by recycling the blades — either mechanically or chemically — could drop the emissions from the current 10.8 gCO2eq to a potential 9.7. Additionally, the team recommend that research is carried out regularly in this area as with the “rapid advancements of technologies” it will be “necessary to ensure research remains reflective of current practices to accurately inform decision-making processes.”
This study has some methodological limitations. First, it focuses only on the energy intensity and emissions throughout the life cycle of the wind farm, even though there are other environmental impacts, such as ozone depletion, human toxicity, acidification, eutrophication, and resource depletion. Social, wildlife, or economic impacts were also not considered.
Bubble dynamics and atomization of acoustically levitated diesel and biodiesel droplets using femtosecond laser pulses
by Vishal S. Jagadale, Devendra Deshmukh, Dag Hanstorp, Yogeshwar Nath Mishra in Scientific Reports
By studying how bubbles form in a drop of biodiesel, researchers at the University of Gothenburg can help future engines get the most energy out of the fuel.
In an internal combustion engine, the fuel is distributed in small droplets in injection valves to maximise combustion. In the engine, the fuel droplets are pressurised to turn into gas and burn. When gas is formed, bubbles form inside the droplets and it is these that the researchers at the University of Gothenburg have studied using femtosecond lasers.
“The bubbles have a significant impact on the atomisation of biodiesel in engines. Therefore, our research is very important to address fundamental questions about the efficiency of the biodiesel engine,” says Dr. Yogeshwar Nath Mishra, who led the study at the University of Gothenburg together with Professor Dag Hanstorp.
“Research on biodiesel is crucial in our transition from fossil fuels to combat climate change. In engines, bubbling affects fuel combustion and contributes to the formation of larger droplets that do not evaporate and burn completely, leading to increased emissions,” says Dr. Yogeshwar Nath Mishra.
Studying bubble formation in engine injection valves is difficult because of their structure, with narrow channels in metal bodies. But with the latest technology, physicists can set up an experiment in the lab that allows them to study the process in a millimetre-sized drop of biodiesel. First, a fuel droplet is levitated, i.e. trapped in the air, using a standing sound wave.
“We then energise the droplet with our femtosecond laser, which focuses light energy at a point inside the droplet for a very short time, 100 femtoseconds, 10–13 seconds. This forms the gas bubbles, the number, growth and fine distribution of which are studied using a high-speed camera,” explains Dag Hanstorp, Professor of Physics at the University of Gothenburg.
The results have provided significant insights into the phenomenon of bubble formation that are not only useful in the development of more efficient fuels and combustion engines.
“Bubble formation is important in industries such as chemical engineering for example carbonated drinks, ultrasonic imaging, boiling processes for heat transfer and processes such as gas release from water bodies and cloud formation. But what we have achieved is basic research. There is still a lot of development to be done before it can be used,” says Dag Hanstorp.
Nonfullerene Self-Assembled Monolayers As Electron-Selective Contacts for n-i-p Perovskite Solar Cells
by Drajad S. Utomo, Lauryna M. Svirskaite, Adi Prasetio, Vida Malinauskiene, Pia Dally, Erkan Aydin, Artem Musiienko, Vytautas Getautis, Tadas Malinauskas, Randi Azmi, Stefaan De Wolf in ACS Energy Letters
Researchers from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania, who contributed to the development of record-breaking solar cells a few years ago, expanded their invention. The self-assembled monolayers can now be applied not only in inverted but also in regular structure perovskite solar cells.
Self-assembling molecules arrange themselves into a single-molecule-thick layer and in this case, they act as an electron-transporting layer in solar cells.
“The molecules that make up these monolayers, like a clever glue, coat the surface of the constructed devices with a thin one molecule thick layer. And this is not random, they don’t stick wherever they go, but attach themselves by chemical bonds only where they are in contact with conductive metal oxide,” explains Tadas Malinauskas, Professor at KTU’s Faculty of Chemical Technology and one of the inventors of the new technology.
According to Malinauskas, the development of such a layer is a relatively simple and material-efficient process that requires a glass substrate with an electrically conductive metal oxide layer to be immersed in or sprayed with a highly diluted solution of the compound. In this way, the self-assembling molecules are only attached to the surface of the metal oxide, and those that do not stick are washed away. This way a thin layer is created only where it is needed.
A team of KTU researchers has been synthesising and studying charge-transporting organic materials for several years. Previous experiments have focused more on molecules used for positive charge transfer in the perovskite solar cells.
“We can already say with confidence that these molecules have given a major boost to the development of the next generation solar cells. So, our next step is quite logical: to develop analogous molecules that can carry negative charges, and to apply these materials in perovskite solar cells,” says Vytautas Getautis, professor at the KTU Faculty of Chemical Technology and Head of the research group in charge of invention.
Although it is a very thin layer, the role it plays in solar cells is extremely important. Malinauskas says that the best analogy for its function is the subway. “This layer, like an automatic gate on the subway, allows only one type of charge to pass through and continue its journey towards the electrode,” he says. In this way, self-assembled molecules increase the efficiency of solar cells.
Perovskite solar cell structures differ in the sequence of layers. In the regular structure, a negative charge transporting layer is formed on a transparent substrate, followed by light-absorbing and positive charge transporting layers. In solar cells with an inverted structure, the positive and negative charge transport layers are swapped. Inventor and KTU PhD student Lauryna Monika Svirskaite says that the main difference between the two structures is the areas of their application.
“The regular structure is more widely used to study low-cost, easier-manufactured but less efficient solar cells. The inverted architecture allows them to be used in the construction of much more efficient combined devices, also known as tandem devices,” says Svirskaite.
At the moment, as both structures are being intensively researched, the KTU scientists believe that the new invention is just as significant and promising as the last one.
“We, KTU chemists, were responsible for the development, improvement, and optimisation of the materials and coating technology, while our colleagues from Saudi Arabia investigated the performance of it in solar cells,” reveals Malinauskas.
Origin of deactivation of aqueous Na–CO2 battery and mitigation for long-duration energy storage
by Ruhul Amin, Marm Dixit, Mengya Li, Rachid Essehli, Sabine Neumayer, Yaocai Bai, Anuj Bisht, Yang Guang, Ilias Belharouak in Journal of Power Sources
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing battery technologies to fight climate change in two ways, by expanding the use of renewable energy and capturing airborne carbon dioxide.
This type of battery stores the renewable energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines. Utilizing this energy when wind and sunlight are unavailable requires an electrochemical reaction that, in ORNL’s new battery formulation, captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and converts it to value-added products.
ORNL researchers recently created and tested two different formulations for batteries that convert carbon dioxide gas, or CO2, into a solid form that has the potential to be used in other products. One of these new battery types maintained its capacity for 600 hours of use and could store up to 10 hours of electricity. Researchers also identified, studied and overcame the primary challenge, a deactivation caused by chemical buildup, that had been an obstacle for the other battery formulation.
“The Transformation Energy Science and Technology, or TEST, initiative at ORNL is precisely the kind of effort needed to address climate change. We are excited that ORNL is investing in innovative ideas and approaches that can transform the way we think about storing energy beyond lithium-ion batteries and other conventional electrochemical energy storage systems,” said Ilias Belharouak, an ORNL Corporate Fellow and initiative director. “What a fantastic scenario: Using free electrons to store CO2 and converting it to revenue-generating products is a concept I never would have imagined 10 years back, but this is just a start.”
Batteries operate through electrochemical reactions that move ions between two electrodes through an electrolyte. Unlike cell phone or car batteries, those designed for grid energy storage do not have to function as a portable, closed system. This allowed ORNL researchers to create and test two types of batteries that could convert CO2 from stationary, industrial sources. For example, CO2 generated by a power plant could be pumped through a tube into the liquid electrolyte, creating bubbles similar to those in a carbonated soft drink. During battery operation, the gas bubbles turn into a solid powder.
Each component of a battery can be made of different elements or compounds. These choices determine the battery’s operational lifetime, how much energy it can store, how big or heavy it is, and how fast it charges or consumes energy. Of the new ORNL battery formulations, one combines CO2 with sodium from saltwater using an inexpensive iron-nickel catalyst. The second combines the gas with aluminum. Each approach uses abundant materials and a liquid electrolyte in the form of saltwater, sometimes mixed with other chemicals. The batteries are safer than existing technology because their electrodes are stable in water, said lead researcher Ruhul Amin.
Very little CO2 battery research has been conducted. The previously-tried approach relies on a reversible metal-CO2 reaction that regenerates carbon dioxide, continuing to contribute greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In addition, solid discharge products tend to clog the surface of the electrode, degrading the battery performance.
However, the CO2 batteries developed at ORNL do not release carbon dioxide. Instead, the carbonate byproduct dissolves in the liquid electrolyte. The byproduct either continuously enriches the liquid to enhance battery performance, or it can be filtered from the bottom of the container without interrupting battery operation. Battery design can even be tuned to create more of these byproducts for use by the pharmaceutical or cement industries. The only gases released are oxygen and hydrogen, which do not contribute to climate change and can even be captured to produce energy or fuel.
ORNL researchers used an almost completely new combination of materials for these CO2 batteries. The few similar previous designs worked for only short periods or incorporated expensive metals.
The sodium-carbon dioxide, or Na-CO2, battery was developed first and faced some obstacles. For this system to function, the electrodes must be separated in wet and dry chambers with a solid ion conductor between them. The barrier slows the movement of ions, which in turn slows down battery operation, reducing battery efficiency.
One significant challenge for this Na-CO2 battery is that after prolonged use, a film forms on the electrode surface, which eventually causes the battery to deactivate. Amin’s research team used highly specialized microscopes and X-ray techniques to examine the battery cell when it failed and at various stages of operation.
Studying how the film formed helped researchers understand how to break it down again. They were intrigued to realize the battery could be reactivated, or prevented from deactivating at all, simply through operational changes in the charge/discharge cycle. Uneven pulses of charging and discharging prevented film buildup on the electrode.
“We are reporting for the first time that the deactivated cell can be reactivated,” Amin said. “And we found the origin of the deactivation and activation. If you symmetrically charge-discharge the battery too long, it’s dead at one stage. If you use the protocol we established for our cell, the chance of failure is very slim.”
Next, researchers focused on the design of the aluminum-carbon dioxide, or Al-CO2, battery. The team experimented with various electrolyte solutions and three different synthesis processes to identify the best combination. The result was a battery which provides enough storage for more than 10 hours of electricity to be used later.
“That’s huge for long-duration storage,” Amin said. “This is the first Al-CO2 battery that could run with stability for a long time, which is the goal. Holding just a few hours of stored energy doesn’t help.”
Testing found that the ORNL battery could operate more than 600 hours without losing capacity, Amin said — far more than the only previously reported Al-CO2 battery, which was only tested for eight hours of cycling. The cherry on top is that this battery captures almost twice as much carbon dioxide as the Na-CO2 battery. It can be designed for the system to operate in a single chamber, with both electrodes in the same liquid solution, so there is no barrier to ion movement.
The challenge for the Al-CO2 battery is to bring it closer to scale-up, Amin said. Even so, the team will continue systematically studying its properties to extend the operating lifetime and capture CO2 more efficiently. For the Na-CO2 battery to be competitive, the team will focus on developing a very fine, dense, mechanically stable ceramic membrane to separate the battery chambers.
Machine learning-aided thermography for autonomous heat loss detection in buildings
by Ali Waqas, Mohamad T. Araji in Energy Conversion and Management
University of Waterloo researchers have developed a new method that can lead to significant energy savings in buildings. The team identified 28 major heat loss regions in a multi-unit residential building with the most severe ones being at wall intersections and around windows. A potential energy savings of 25 per cent is expected if 70 per cent of the discovered regions are fixed.
Building enclosures rely on heat and moisture control to avoid significant energy loss due to airflow leakage, which makes buildings less comfortable and more costly to maintain. This problem will likely be compounded by climate change due to volatile temperature fluctuations. Since manual inspection is time-consuming and infrequently done due to a lack of trained personnel, energy inefficiency becomes a widespread problem for buildings.
Researchers at Waterloo, which is a leader in sustainability research and education and a catalyst for environmental innovation, solutions and talent, created an autonomous, real-time platform to make buildings more energy efficient. The platform combines artificial intelligence, infrared technology, and a mathematical model that quantifies heat flow to better identify areas of heat loss in buildings.
Using the new method, the researchers conducted an advanced study on a multi-unit residential building in the extreme climate of Canadian prairies, where elderly residents reported discomfort and higher electricity bills due to increased demand for heating in their units. Using AI tools, the team trained the program to examine thermal images in real time, achieving 81 percent accuracy in detecting regions of heat loss in the building envelope.
“The almost 10 per cent increase in accuracy with this AI-based model is impactful, as it enhances occupants’ comfort as well as reduces energy bills,” said Dr. Mohamad Araji, director of Waterloo’s Architectural Engineering Program and head of the Symbiosis Lab, an interdisciplinary group at the university that specializes in developing innovative building systems and building more environmentally friendly buildings.
The new AI tools helped to remove the element of human error in examining the results and increased the speed of getting the data analyzed by a factor of 12 compared to traditional building inspection methods. Future expansions to this work will include utilizing drones equipped with cameras to inspect high-rise buildings.
“The hope is that our methodology can be used to analyze buildings and lead to millions in energy savings in a much faster way than previously possible,” Araji said.
Estimates of lithium mass yields from produced water sourced from the Devonian-aged Marcellus Shale
by Justin Mackey, Daniel J. Bain, Greg Lackey, James Gardiner, Djuna Gulliver, Barbara Kutchko in Scientific Reports
Most batteries used in technology like smart watches and electric cars are made with lithium that travels across the world before even getting to manufacturers. But what if nearly half of the lithium used in the U.S. could come from Pennsylvania wastewater?
A new analysis using compliance data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection suggests that if it could be extracted with complete efficiency, lithium from the wastewater of Marcellus shale gas wells could supply up to 40% of the country’s demand.
Already, researchers in the lab can extract lithium from water with more than 90% efficiency according to Justin Mackey, a researcher at the National Energy Technology Laboratory and PhD student in the lab of Daniel Bain, associate professor of geology and environmental sciences in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.
The US Geological Survey lists lithium as a critical mineral, (although, as Mackey was quick to point out, lithium is an element, not a mineral). The designation means the U.S. government wants all lithium to be produced domestically by 2030, and so the search for sources has intensified. Currently, much of it is extracted from brine ponds in Chile. Then it’s shipped to China, where it’s processed.
There are lithium mining operations in the U.S., but, Mackey said, “This is different. This is a waste stream and we’re looking at a beneficial use of that waste.”
Finding lithium in the wastewater in Marcellus shale wasn’t a surprise: Researchers had analyzed the water recycled in hydraulic fracking and knew that it picked up minerals and elements from the shale. “But there hadn’t been enough measurements to quantify the resource,” Mackey said. We just didn’t know how much was in there.”
Thanks to Pennsylvania regulatory requirements, the research team was able to figure it out. Companies are required to submit analyses of wastewater used in each well pad, and lithium is one of the substances they have to report, Mackie said. “And that’s how we were able to conduct this regional analysis.”
Meeting 30% to 40% of the country’s lithium needs would bring the country much closer to the 2030 requirements. But there’s lithium-rich wastewater outside of the state’s boundaries, too.
“Pennsylvania has the most robust data source for Marcellus shale,” Mackey said, “But there’s lots of activity in West Virginia, too.” The next step toward making use of this lithium is to understand the environmental impact of extracting it and to implement a pilot facility to develop extraction techniques.
“Wastewater from oil and gas is a burgeoning issue,” Mackey said. “Right now, it’s just minimally treated and reinjected.” But it has to potential to provide a lot of value. After all, he said, “It’s been dissolving rocks for hundreds of millions of years — essentially, the water has been mining the subsurface.”
Unified hydration model for multi-blend fly ash cementitious systems of wide-range replacement rates
by Yuguo Yu, Chamila Gunasekara, Yogarajah Elakneswaran, Dilan Robert, David W. Law, Sujeeva Setunge in Cement and Concrete Research
New modelling reveals that low-carbon concrete developed at RMIT University can recycle double the amount of coal ash compared to current standards, halve the amount of cement required and perform exceptionally well over time.
More than 1.2 billion tonnes of coal ash were produced by coal-fired power plants in 2022. In Australia, it accounts for nearly a fifth of all waste and will remain abundant for decades to come, even as we shift to renewables. Meanwhile, cement production makes up 8% of global carbon emissions and demand for concrete — which uses cement as a key ingredient — is growing rapidly.
Addressing both challenges head-on, engineers at RMIT have partnered with AGL’s Loy Yang Power Station and the Ash Development Association of Australia to substitute 80% of the cement in concrete with coal fly ash. RMIT project lead Dr Chamila Gunasekara said this represents a significant advance as existing low-carbon concretes typically have no more than 40% of their cement replaced with fly ash.
“Our addition of nano additives to modify the concrete’s chemistry allows more fly ash to be added without compromising engineering performance,” said Gunasekara, from RMIT’s School of Engineering.
Comprehensive lab studies have shown the team’s approach is also capable of harvesting and repurposing lower grade and underutilised ‘pond ash’- taken from coal slurry storage ponds at power plants — with minimal pre-processing. Large concrete beam prototypes have been created using both fly ash and pond ash and shown to meet Australian Standards for engineering performance and environmental requirements.
“It’s exciting that preliminary results show similar performance with lower-grade pond ash, potentially opening a whole new hugely underutilised resource for cement replacement,” Gunasekara said.
“Compared to fly ash, pond ash is underexploited in construction due to its different characteristics. There are hundreds of megatonnes of ash wastes sitting in dams around Australia, and much more globally.”
“These ash ponds risk becoming an environmental hazard, and the ability to repurpose this ash in construction materials at scale would be a massive win.”
A pilot computer modelling program developed by RMIT in partnership with Hokkaido University’ Dr Yogarajah Elakneswaran has now been used to forecast the time-dependent performance of these new concrete mixtures. According to Dr Yuguo Yu, an expert in virtual computational mechanics at RMIT, a longstanding challenge in the field has been to understand how newly developed materials will stand the test of time.
“We’ve now created a physics-based model to predict how the low-carbon concrete will perform over time, which offers us opportunities to reverse engineer and optimise mixes from numerical insights,” Yu explained.
This pioneering approach reveals how various ingredients in the new low-carbon concrete interact over time.
“We’re able to see, for example, how the quick-setting nano additives in the mix act as a performance booster during the early stages of setting, compensating for the large amounts of slower-setting fly ash and pond ash in our mixes,” Gunasekara says. “The inclusion of ultra-fine nano additives significantly enhances the material by increasing density and compactness.”
This modelling, with its wide applicability to various materials, marks a crucial stride towards digitally assisted simulation in infrastructure design and construction. By leveraging this technology, the team aims to instil confidence among local councils and communities in adopting novel low-carbon concrete for various applications.
Compensating affected parties necessary for rapid coal phase-out but expensive if extended to major emitters
by Lola Nacke, Vadim Vinichenko, Aleh Cherp, Avi Jakhmola, Jessica Jewell in Nature Communications
Coal phase-out is necessary to solve climate change, but can have negative impacts on workers and local communities dependent on coal for their livelihoods. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and Central European University in Austria have studied government plans for coal phase-out around the world and discovered that more than half of such plans include monetary compensation to affected parties. This planned compensation globally amounts to USD 200 billion, but it excludes China and India, the two largest users of coal that currently do not have phase-out plans. The study shows that if China and India decide to phase out coal as fast as needed to reach the Paris climate targets and pay similar compensation, it would cost upwards of USD 2 trillion.
To slow global warming, coal use needs to end. Many governments, mostly in Europe, have begun to phase-out coal, but these policies can harm companies, risk unemployment, and lead to economic hardship for coal-dependent regions. In response, some countries have adopted what are known as ‘just transition’ strategies, where governments support negatively impacted companies, workers, and regions. Germany for example, has pledged over EUR 40 billion to support those affected by coal phase-out.
“Previously, coal phase out has often been blocked by the interests opposing it. Many countries have put money on the table through ‘just transition’ strategies which has made coal phase-out politically feasible,” says Jessica Jewell, Associate Professor at Chalmers University of Technology, and one of the authors of the study.
The researchers have studied all countries with coal phase-out plans around the world and found that those with the most coal power production and with plans for rapid phase-out, have compensation policies in place.
In total, these 23 countries with 16 percent of the world’s coal power plants have pledged about USD 209 billion in compensation. This may sound like a lot of money, but the researchers point out that it equates to roughly 6 gigatons of avoided CO2 emissions and the cost of compensation for coal phase-out per tonne of avoided CO2 emissions (USD 29–46 per tonne) is actually well below recent carbon prices in Europe (~USD 64–80 per tonne).
“So far these ‘just transition’ policies are consistent with, or lower than, the carbon prices within the EU, which means they make sense in terms of climate change. But more funding is likely needed if we want to reach the Paris climate target,” says Jewell.
This is because achieving the goals of the Paris climate agreement will not be possible without participation of the world’s major coal consumers, China and India, which have more than half of the world’s coal plants, but no phase-out plans currently in place. The study finds that, for China and India to adopt compensation policies similar to those already in place, the estimated compensation amount for both countries would be USD 2.4 trillion for the 2°C target and USD 3.2 trillion for the 1.5°C target.
“The estimated compensation for China and India is not only larger in absolute terms, but would also be more expensive compared to their economic capacities,” says Lola Nacke, a doctoral student at Chalmers University of Technology, and one of the authors of the study.
A big question thus is where such large sums of money would come from. Today about half of all compensation is funded from international sources such as Just Energy Transition Partnerships supporting coal phase-out in Vietnam, Indonesia and South Africa. International finance might also be needed to support future coal phase-out compensation in major coal consuming countries. However, the researchers point out that the estimated amounts of compensation for China and India alone are comparable to the entire international climate finance pledged in Paris, and larger than current international development aid to these countries.
“Discussions about the cost of climate change mitigation often focus on investments in renewable energy technologies — but we also see it’s essential to address social implications of fossil fuel decline to enable rapid transitions,” says Lola Nacke.
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