Field Test Laboratory Building

The Field Test Laboratory Building (FTLB) researches new and more efficient methods of using unwanted resources such as waste to create useful fuels, electricity, and chemicals. Forty-one laboratories and the Themochemical Users Facility are housed in the FTLB just west of the SERF in approximately a 126,000 square foot structure.

Thermochemical Users Facility

The Thermochemical Users Facility (TCUF) provides a platform test facility where processes and equipment can be evaluated for potential commercial applications such as converting renewable feedstocks, plastics, waste, and other materials into a variety of products. Electricity, high-value chemicals, and transportation fuels are products of using renewable resources and waste productively. (PDF 928 KB) Download Adobe Reader.

Analytical Laboratories

The Thermochemical Process Development Unit and other FTB analytical laboratories analyze the chemical composition of products produced from renewable feedstocks. The labs also collect and analyze data to characterize feedstock material and evaluate process control, product quality control, energy use, and waste minimization.

Plastics Recycling Laboratory

Recycling plastics and recovering high-value chemicals in a process called selective pyrolysis, and combinations of pyrolysis and other thermal and catalytic treatments, are some of the technologies researched at the Plastics Recycling Laboratory. Selective pyrolysis is adaptable in recycling old carpets into material for new carpets by using a small, fluidized bed reactor to melt carpet made of nylon 6 fiber and then converting the plastic into the chemical caprolactam. Recycled caprolactam can be made at half the cost of new caprolactam and at a third as much energy consumption cost.

Microalgal Biotechnology Laboratories

Research conducted in these labs is aimed at producing biodiesel fuel from microalgae and other plants. Biodiesel fuel generates fewer pollutants than typical diesel fuels, is made from oils and fats found in microalgae, and can be substituted for diesel fuel or used as an additive. Typically, microalgae are grown in ponds, harvested, and the oils extracted. The extracted oils are chemically reacted with alcohols to produce diesel fuels. Research in the laboratory is directed towards genetic enhancement of the fat and oil content of the algae to make biodiesel fuel product more cost effective by 2010.

Biomass Conversion/Organic Synthesis Laboratories

Two major efforts in these laboratories include: 1) exploring new methods to separate the basic components of biomass (cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose, and extractives), and 2) investigating processes to convert bio-based materials into potentially useful chemicals and materials (for example, using processed pyrolysis oils derived from petroleum feedstocks as a suitable replacement for phenol at half the cost). Products resulting from separating components of Biomass include paper, packaging materials, and fabric such as rayon. Bio-based materials such as wood wastes can also be converted by pulping sludge into fuel additives or agrichemicals.

Photobiology Laboratories

In these labs, NREL researchers examine microbes to clean up the environment and make hydrogen and biodegradable plastics. Microbes integrated with electrodes also serve as biosensors to detect explosives, drugs, and organic pollutants. Other examples include:

Binding Leachable Metals

Slime secreted by algae is embedded in special bioreactors and used to bind metals. As contaminated water flows through the reactor, the slime layer traps and binds metal ions, leaving only contaminant-free water.

Photosynthetic Bacteria

Researchers use bacteria to clean up soil and water tainted with contaminants from pesticides, wood preservatives and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) used in electrical insulators. Fueled by sunlight, the bacteria breaks down the contaminants.

Biodegradable Plastics

NREL-developed biodegradable plastics are consumed in weeks by soilbound microbes. The potential market for biodegradable plastics is several billion pounds per year. Several large corporations are considering commercializing the technology.

Hydrogen Production

Algae are used to separate hydrogen from water to produce clean-burning hydrogen to power vehicles and power plants. Because algae are not inherently proficient at this process, researchers genetically engineer algae to more readily produce hydrogen.

Optical Mechanical Characterization Laboratory

Research in module packaging is conducted at this laboratory and includes testing the optical properties of samples for the ability to reflect or transmit light. This lab also characterizes the mechanical properties of samples for strength, adhesion, and the ability to keep out moisture and oxygen. Noteworthy equipment includes the Lambda 9 Spectrophotometer, D&S Instruments Portable Specular Reflectometer 15R, various digitally-equipped microscopes, Instron 5500R Electromechanical test instrument, and many others.

Thin-Film Deposition and Mechanical Characterization Laboratory

Thin-films of metals, oxides, conductors, and insulators are studied and tested in this laboratory. Extensive Barrier deposition equipment is featured in this lab such as the Vac-Tec DC&&RF Sputtering—RF/DC Planar Magnetron and the Pernicka 3-Chamber Vacuum Deposition System.

Accelerated Exposure Testing Laboratory

Weathering durability, corrosion on mirrors, and delamination of polymers under controlled conditions are tested in this laboratory with temperature- and humidity-controlled chambers. Equipment featured in this lab includes temperature, humidity, and vacuum ovens; accelerated weathering machines; and a Q-Panel QUV.

Analysis and Process Control with a Molecular Beam Mass Spectrometer

The NREL-developed Molecular Beam Mass Spectometry (MBMS) system directly extracts and analyzes gases and vapors produced in high temperature or reactive systems. Data from the MBMS helps researchers determine the effectiveness of processes such as solar and thermal destruction of toxic gases and selective pyrolysis of mixed plastics to recover valuable chemicals. NREL has also developed a transportable MBMS system designed to perform field monitoring of effluents, gases, and other emissions produced from biomass power systems. The use of this system for process control is being evaluated in the TCUF.