- Number 304 |
- February 1, 2010
Harnessing the power of plasma
A cloud of alumina nano-
particles, cooling down
at a rate of 1 million
degrees C per second,
exits the Plasma Nano-
particle Fabricator's plasma
plume.
Plasma is mysterious and powerful, the stuff of stars, of lightning. Peter Kong, a scientist at DOE's Idaho National Laboratory, has built a career putting the gas-like material to work. He’s using it to mass-produce nanoparticles efficiently and with no byproducts, a project that recently received $1 million in federal stimulus funding. He’s also employing plasma to find ways to store hydrogen efficiently, and he’ll soon start a project using plasma to convert natural gas, coal and heavy oil to gasoline and diesel. These last two efforts, while still in their early stages, could help the United States break its addiction to foreign oil and, perhaps, to fossil fuels altogether.
[Mike Wall, 208.526.0490,
michael.wall@inl.gov]
