Within the Energy Systems Research Cluster at the OSU College of Engineering, faculty, students, and industry partners are innovating new ways to generate clean, sustainable energy to meet the growing demands of the global economy. From harnessing the wind and waves for power, to super efficient biodiesel production, passive nuclear reactors, and hydrogen fuel cells powered by bacteria, collaborative teams of OSU researchers are driven to discover new pathways to energy independence.
| BIODIESEL |
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In the area of biodiesel, OSU faculty, students, and industry partners are at the cutting edge of research aimed at improving biodiesel production using microtechnology. OSU chemical engineering professor Goran Jovanovic has developed a working prototype of a tiny chemical reactor for manufacturing biodiesel that is so efficient, fast, and portable it could enable farmers to produce a cleaner-burning diesel substitute on their farms using seed crops they grow on their own land. |
| OCEAN ENERGY |
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If only 0.2 percent of the untapped energy of the oceans could be harnessed, it could generate enough power to supply the entire world.
Anyone who's ever walked near the pounding surf on an ocean beach or watched a tide charge through a channel knows that the perpetually moving waters of the world's oceans hold vast amounts of untapped energy. But figuring out how to harness that energy and turn into electricity is an age-old challenge. Researchers in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University are developing cutting edge technology that taps the motion of the ocean as a source of clean energy. Annette von Jouanne and Alan Wallace, OSU professors of electrical engineering, are designing, testing, and implementing a revolutionary buoy prototype energy extraction system that would be anchored offshore in an energy wave park. Research shows that the Oregon coast near Reedsport is one of the best locations in the U.S. for such a park.
The wave energy researchers utilize OSU facilities, which include the Motor Systems Resource Facility, the highest power laboratory of any university in North America; the Energy Resources Research Laboratory, where researchers are developing turbine models; and the O. H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory, home to the world's largest tsunami wave basin.
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| BIO-BASED HYDROGEN |
"Imagine an ideal energy device. It wouldn't burn fossil fuels, and it wouldn't pollute. It would be made of low-cost, non-toxic material, and would un on the power of the sun, and would be safe, clean, and economical."
-Roger Ely |
Enough solar energy strikes the earth in one hour to power the world for one year.
That's the main point behind the Ananke Project at Oregon State University. The project, led by Biological and Ecological Engineering Professor, Roger Ely, focuses on the development of a solar-supported, hydrogen energy device that integrates hydrogen production, storage, and conversion to electrical energy. It's a device that could change fuel production across the globe. Hydrogen as a fuel source has incredible potential. It's clean and energy rich, plentiful and sustainable. Unlike the burning of fossil fuels, burning hydrogen produces no greenhouses gases and does not contribute to global warming. However, for hydrogen to truly be a sustainable and environmentally benign fuel source it must be produced using a renewable form of energy. The OSU research uses tiny photosynthetic cyanobacteria to produce hydrogen. These bacteria naturally generate energy from sunlight and, under certain conditions, can make hydrogen rather than their normally produced sugars. These naturally existing bacteria may be a perfect living source for the safe, efficient, and economical production of hydrogen fuel. |
| WIND ENERGY |
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An early frontrunner in wind research, OSU's Energy Resources Research Laboratory (ERRL) specializes in assessing wind-power potential for private and public landowners. For wind to become a dependable energy resource in a region, it is critical to be able to predict and measure wind. A student team of engineering students recently designed, built, and demonstrated a wind-powered hot water heater! |
| PASSIVE NUCLEAR |
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In traditional nuclear power plants the weakest links are the pipes, pumps, and moving parts. A team of OSU nuclear engineering researchers have created a bold new reactor design that eliminates these weak links by using passive forces like gravity and natural convection. The result? A safer, smaller, more streamlined reactor. The team's innovative approach also enables the reactor to fit on a single railcar, run for five years between refueling shutdowns, and be installed for a fraction of the cost of building a traditional nuclear power plant. The OSU team is led by nuclear engineering professor Jose Reyes and includes professors Brian Woods, Qiao Wu, and Todd Palmer, as well as partners at the Idaho National Engineering Lab and Nexant/Bechtel.
"Because our design is so simple, the reactor is much safer,” says nuclear engineering professor Jose Reyes, who leads the design team. “And it's all contained within a single 60-foot cylinder." |
| SOLAR |
"There's so much solar energy available, it's incredible to me that the world's solar program isn't 10 times its current size."
-Doug Keszler |
Working together, OSU chemists and engineers are developing novel compounds that could give new life to the solar energy industry. These advanced solar-cell compounds absorb more light, produce higher voltage, and work more efficiently, which is why they could lead to an exponential expansion of sun-based power generation. With funding from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, OSU researchers are investigating oxides as the optimal materials to replace yesterday's solar cell mainstays—silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium diselenide.
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