Explore our collection of new stories for this topic.
Search or filter for a specific story using the options below.
June 2022
SAFFiRE Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project Earns Government-Industry Boost
With fuel prices soaring, a new government-industry partnership based at NREL plans to shift the aviation market further away from oil fields and closer to the farmlands.
May 2022
Q&A With Nicholas Rorrer: Plant-Based Plastics and Plastic Plants
As part of the Manufacturing Masterminds Q&A profile series, Nic Rorrer shares why he loves polymers as well as Legos, yoga, RuPaul's drag races, and saving the world.
April 2022
News Release: NREL Calculates Lost Value of Landfilled Plastic in U.S.
Scientists at NREL calculated the energy value of landfilled plastic waste in 2019 was enough to supply 5% of the power used by the country's transportation sector, or 5.5% by the industrial sector.
AlgaePrize Student Finalists Announced
The U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office announced 15 student teams advancing as finalists in the 2022-2023 AlgaePrize competition. Finalist teams receive $5,000 to conduct their proposed research projects over the next 16 months and will present the results next year at NREL.
March 2022
CatCost Online Tool Offers Insight Into Catalyst Manufacturing Cost and Environmental Impact
Scientists from NREL's Catalytic Carbon Transformation and Scale-Up Center have sought to reduce barriers to early-stage catalyst cost estimation by developing CatCost, a free and publicly available cost estimation tool that aims to equip researchers with the information they need to make informed R&D decisions.
Amazon Joins NREL-Led BOTTLE Consortium To Help Change the Way We Recycle
A new collaboration between Amazon and NREL-led BOTTLE Consortium could be a major step toward developing solutions to global plastic pollution.
Research Team Advances Biological Alternative to Producing Common Petrochemical
Engineers have dreamed of programming organisms to sustainably produce ethylene, a chemical nicknamed "king of petrochemicals" for its importance in plastics. Now, one pathway to this petrochemical is nearing reality, via a photosynthetic bacterium that is genetically specialized to turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into ethylene.
Q&A With Meredith Doyle: Impatient To Save the World
As part of the Q&A profile series "Manufacturing Masterminds," Meredith Doyle discusses her perspectives on the future potential for plant-based plastics, equity issues surrounding plastics pollution, and more.
February 2022
NREL Bioengineering Process Prepares To Make a Splash
When Americans turn on a faucet, they rely on public treatment systems to ensure the water is safe to drink. Recently, Mars Materials was granted an option for an exclusive license to use NREL's renewable acrylonitrile technology in producing polyacrylamide flocculants for commercial use in water treatment systems.
Beyond Fossil Carbon? Green Electricity Is Opening Doors to Low-Emission Alternatives for Making Fuels and Chemicals
Petroleum, coal, and natural gas are not the only starting points for making fuels and chemicals. In fact, growing supplies of renewable electricity open exciting new doors for making identical products at potentially a fraction of the climate cost.
Share
Last Updated May 5, 2025