LAB REPORT
Science and Technology Making Headlines
Feb. 2, 2024
Wounds could heal faster
The development of new antibiotics has stalled — new strategies are needed as the world enters the age of antibiotic resistance. To combat this challenge, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have found that synthetic antibacterial minerals exhibit potent antibacterial activity against topical MRSA infections and increase the rate of wound closure.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections.
Previous research showed that naturally occurring clays have been effective in killing antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, these natural clays are too variable to be used in clinical settings.
"Our research shows that synthetic antibacterial minerals can successfully eliminate MRSA biofilms in topical wounds and increase wound closure rates," said LLNL scientist Keith Morrison, lead author of a paper appearing in Scientific Reports.
Hydrogen as aircraft fuel
US-UK zero carbon emissions aviation company ZeroAvia and US hydrogen storage and refuelling technology startup company Verne have signed an agreement to collaborate in the evaluation of opportunities to employ cryo-compressed hydrogen as an aircraft fuel, and for refuelling aircraft with it using both gaseous hydrogen (GH2) and liquid hydrogen sources.
Cryo-compressed hydrogen is gaseous hydrogen stored at cold temperatures, an approach that increases its energy density and so would allow an aircraft to achieve a greater range than it could using standard GH2 as fuel.
Verne has received grants from US government agencies, including the Department of Energy, to support its work.. It has developed cryo-compressed hydrogen storage systems, focused on surface transport, which it has been demonstrating in cooperation with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
In December, Verne and LLNL announced that they had successfully demonstrated a 29-kg capacity cryo-compressed hydrogen fuel system, which was three-times larger than the previous largest known such system, and is at a suitable scale for heavy duty vehicles.
All roads lead to the Tri Valley
Last month, the first-of-its-kind high-resolution assessment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in the United States was published. LLNL researchers worked with scientists from more than a dozen institutions to produce “Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States.”
This report examines concrete ways for the United States to achieve its official national goal of a net-zero greenhouse gas economy by 2050. “Uniquely, Roads to Removal takes a bottom-up approach, characterizing the local opportunities available to deploy CDR, by addressing the benefits and tradeoffs of implementing these technologies and land management decisions, allowing communities to make informed decisions.
While California was analyzed in the report, the Tri-Valley region was not specifically analyzed. In terms of CDR, “based on our local knowledge, some of the best options involve putting the wastes generated in the Tri-Valley to work for carbon removal,” according to Sarah Baker, one of the LLNL authors. “These wastes include food waste, construction waste, green waste, wastewater, and agricultural wastes from wineries. These materials in most cases would degrade in a landfill or be converted to biogas and flared. If we used them for carbon removal, they could be converted to useful fuels or materials, and the carbon dioxide from the process could be stored, either through geologic storage in California or in durable products such as biochar, which could be applied to the fields or used in wastewater treatment.”
Streamlining biomethane production
Electrochaea, Lawrence Livermore and SoCalGas have partnered to revolutionize biomethane production, enhancing energy security and combating climate change.
Under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, Electrochaea is working with LLNL and SoCalGas to develop and test a single-stage electro-bioreactor that can operate using excess renewable electricity and upgrade biogas to carbon-neutral synthetic biomethane. This biomethane can displace conventionally sourced natural gas to help decarbonize gas infrastructure. The project is funded with $1 million from the Department of Energy and will run for two years.
The project's objective is to merge the two essential steps in methane production, namely electrolysis and methanation, into a single, streamlined process unit. This technology can enable both processes to seamlessly integrate within a single reactor, leading to increased energy efficiency.
From agricultural residue to fuel
Research led by UC Davis and including Lawrence Livermore sheds new light on how to access the sugars locked up in plant materials to convert byproducts into new feedstocks to produce fuels, materials and chemicals.
Converting grasses, weeds, wood and other plant residues into sustainable products normally produced using petroleum products will be key to achieving carbon neutrality.
Tina Jeoh, a professor of biological and agricultural engineering at UC Davis, and her team used a spectromicroscopy tool at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to measure enzyme reactions in real time to changes in the environment. The technology allows for simultaneous imaging and chemical analysis.
Biocatalysts, which accelerate chemical reactions, need sugars for certain conversions, such as fermentation. Cheap, renewable and sustainable sugars that don’t compete with food demands are key to that transformation.
“These sugars are key to establishing a bioeconomy built on cycling renewable carbon for biofuel, biochemical and biomaterial alternatives to fossil fuel sourced versions,” Jeoh said.