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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Digital Engineering and Cybersecurity Decision Analysis in Early Phases of SMR-Driven IES Projects

Considerable efforts are underway to ensure cybersecurity is integrated into the systems engineering lifecycle. Cyber-informed engineering and security-by-design frameworks are intended to identify and engineer out cybersecurity risks throughout the lifecycle. While these approaches are valuable for promoting the need to include cybersecurity considerations in early design phases to create more secure systems, they may not consider the entirety of digital risks. Digital risks in a digital instrumentation and control system include adversarial and unintentional risks from internal and external factors, such as human performance errors, design flaws, environmental conditions, and equipment degradation or failure. This report provides a detailed discussion on digital risk prior to describing the background and concept of operations for a small modular reactor-driven integrated energy system connected to industrial applications. The challenges of competing objectives and competing stakeholder requirements are discussed and the impacts on digital engineering, security considerations, and interdependencies are evaluated for mission-level, facility-level, and system-level decisions.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2020

Radiation Signature Training Device Gamma Equivalent Spheres

Radiation signature training device sources are a continuation of a previous effort to produce a highly enriched uranium equivalent sphere. The original research was designed and motivated to produce a Department of Transportation special form source that emulated the passive gamma signature of a solid metal highly enriched uranium sphere. In addition, the mass reduction (i.e., of the 235 U) minimized logistical costs (security, criticality safety, radiological safety and transportation requirements). Radiation signature training device sources expand on the original concept, redesigning the encapsulation in a modular fashion that allows a variety of loadings. The result is a reconfigurable special nuclear material source set that can vary greatly in the magnitude of the gamma flux and the isotopic distribution. Use of the source to test a variety of standards (N42.34-2015, N42.38-2015, N42.43-2015, N42.53-2018, N42.48-2018, DHS-TCS Backpack Based Radiation Detection Systems, DHS-TCS Handheld Instruments Used for the Detection and Identification of Radionuclides, DHS-TCS Vehicle Mounted Mobile Systems) will be discussed.

Blessinger, Christopher S.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Concept of Operations for Advanced Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Management

This presentation presents a preliminary description of a concept of operations to incorporate advanced-reactor spent nuclear fuel (SNF) into an integrated waste-management system (IWMS). The evaluation includes SNF from four advanced-reactor concepts with the following fuel types: (1) small modular reactors using oxide fuels, (2) tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuels, (3) metallic fuels, and (4) fuel salts. To provide context for the proposed concept of operations for advanced reactors, a comparison is made with traditional light-water reactors (LWRs) to identify potential gaps in the IWMS. The technical differences between advanced reactors and LWRs are assessed to determine the feasibility of managing advanced-reactor waste streams using existing operations and technology. This presentation emphasizes fuel types from Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program reactors: Xe 100, which uses TRISO fuel and Natrium, with its metallic fuels while also analyzing management options for molten-salt reactors and advanced light-water reactors (ALWRs). Understanding the storage, transportation, and disposal requirements of SNF is dependent on both the quantity and characteristics of the SNF generated by nuclear reactors. This presentation provides a high level overview, comparing the anticipated concept of operations for different SNFs from advanced reactors. The IWMS includes at-reactor storage, transportation, potential off-site storage, potential treatment, and disposition. To assess the potential effect of advanced-reactor concept of operations on the IWMS, estimates were made for fuel characteristics that contribute to storage, transportation, disposal, and possible treatment of advanced-reactor SNF. These include canister heat load, dose rates, and criticality-control limits, which are important for determining the condition and configuration of the advanced reactor SNF. At-reactor storage of LWR SNF traditionally involves a spent-fuel pool (SFP) before transfer to an independent spent-fuel storage installation. However, some advanced-reactor concepts, particularly those using TRISO and salt fuels, do not anticipate the use of an SFP. This difference in at-reactor storage could impact the IWMS. Additionally, transportation of advanced-reactor SNF may include additional processes tied to potential off gassing, and transportation of microreactor SNF may occur within the reactor vessel. Some advanced-reactor SNF could also undergo treatment to meet requirements of an acceptable waste form for disposition, and the treatment location will be a major contributor to efficiently performing IWMS responsibilities. Moreover, the quantity of SNF generated is an important consideration for IWMS because it could affect the size of the transportation fleet and potential off-site storage requirements. Additionally, volume and heat load are the primary drivers for SNF disposition. This presentation compares potential packaging options for advanced reactor SNF with traditional LWR packaging to provide a high-level comparison for the needs of the IWMS for advanced-reactor SNF.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Open Architecture for Cost Savings in Advanced Nuclear Reactors

Recently, nuclear power plant build projects in the West have run over budget due to high capital costs and schedule overruns. Compared to other sources of energy, nuclear power plants have higher capital costs. Reactors are often different at every site, resulting in a lack of standardization. Nuclear is expected to compete with other low carbon sources of energy which have lower capital costs making it essential for nuclear to develop ways of reducing costs. Strategies such as standardization, learning rates, modularization, and schedule reduction in advanced reactors can reduce nuclear costs by about 40%. Standardization as a way of cutting capital costs has been explored even in large nuclear power plants. Standardization of certain plant components can result in lower component and installation costs and higher learning from experience. Standardization can be achieved by adopting a criterion of key performance indicators and general design principles for a specific system or component such as the balance of plant. Modularization allows the construction of certain components of SMRs in a factory, which saves time, increases productivity, and encourages higher learning rates. Production learning decreases the time and the cost related to an activity. The potential for modularized components of advanced reactors to be manufactured in factories makes it conducive to achieving higher learning rates. Developing large-capacity nuclear programs through sequential builds cultivates a higher learning rate, which in effect may reduce schedule overruns. Open architecture has been identified as a way to drive standardization among advanced reactor designs and result in cost savings. Open architecture (OA) is defined as a design enabling a diverse supply chain by defining and publishing requirements of systems or equipment in functional and/or interface terms, utilizing technical standards in widespread use. Currently, the nuclear industry’s approach is to use closed architecture, making most designs proprietary. However, collaboration between various advanced reactor vendors and suppliers utilizing the concept of open architecture can result in modular and standardized architecture of subsystems or subcomponents of a nuclear power plant. Completely standardizing nuclear power plants may be impossible, however, certain common subsystems amongst the various reactor designs could be standardized and/or access a wider supply chain and leverage existing learning from other sectors. Open architecture will save time and allocate resources to the parts of the plants that have the most unique features. A key advantage of open architecture is its ability to improve production learning across advanced reactors (AR) types in the industry, by providing and utilizing the same kind of component. Sodium fast reactor (SFR), High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) and Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) are the advanced reactors considered for this project. This paper aims to determine the cost savings in advanced reactor programs due to open architecture learning rate. This work is an extension of work done on light water reactor small modular reactors; the cost methodology was utilized to investigate the impact of open architecture on advanced reactors with a particular focus on sodium fast reactors. The cost data on sodium fast reactors used in the model presented the most adequate information required for the analysis.

Advanced Nuclear Reactors↗
DOE OSTI2022

Low-Cost, Easy-To-Integrate and Reliable Grid Energy Storage System with 2 nd Life Lithium Batteries

Batteries retired from electric vehicles have the potential to extend their service as low-cost stationary energy storage systems. However, disperse battery state of health (SOH) and nonuniform battery characters often lead to compromised battery performance and reliability, which greatly hinder their adoption. A Heterogenous Unifying Battery (HUB) system is proposed to stage 2 nd life battery bricks for a period, and enable them to attain improved SOH uniformity, performance, and reliability before being sold for 2 nd life applications, while simultaneously providing grid services. It may offer a technically and economically advantageous solution for the broad utilization of 2 nd use batteries. The goal of this project was to develop the hardware and software that enables the key functions of the HUB system. The first achievement of the project was the development of a 1kW scale proof-of-concept (POC) system, which comprises (i) a modular plug-n-play DC-DC power converter matrix with isolated series output connections to achieve fully independent control of energy flow to each of the connected battery units at low voltage; (ii) enhanced model based control that drives each batteries’ SOH towards uniformity while collectively providing grid energy storage services; and (iii) comprehensive procedures to perform battery diagnostics and prognostics. The second achievement was the development of a 100kW scale HUB system and demonstrated its performance of re-establishing battery SOH uniformity through a period of battery cycling operation. The final HUB system incorporates six DC-DC power converter matrices paired with six battery bricks. Hot swapping of a single battery brick while maintaining consistent system power was demonstrated and system operation was validated to be capable of implementing the approved grid duty cycle and of balancing and conditioning the battery bricks. Through the course of the project, the team optimized the building-block design, form-factors, and adjusted life balancing control. An up-sized 250kW Scale was developed and deployed in October 2022 with pack-level battery form factors, see photo in Figure 1 The third achievement of the project was to perform a techno-economic analysis in order to better understand the cost and revenue potentials in this new “recondition-then-resell" value proposition. The final TEA quantified the economics of new Li-ion batteries as well as second-life batteries processed via reconditioning and traditional binning. Results showed the reconditioned second-life batteries in this project to be economically favorable and viable in grid energy storage markets. The TEA results were published in the Applied Energy journal. The fourth achievement of the project was to deliver a tech-to-market plan for the HUB system that includes funding, IP, and manufacturing strategies. The final T2M plan outlines a business strategy in which the HUB provides a B2B service to EV companies as an alternative to battery recycling that can prepare batteries for 2nd life applications. A company named Smartville Inc. was founded to carry on the commercialization, funding, and technical IP licensing activities of the OPEN project.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Toward Unified Autonomous Scattering Experiments: A Cross-Facility Case Study at ALS and PETRA III

Autonomous experiments rely on the integration of control, data acquisition, analysis, and decision-making frameworks. While such systems have been demonstrated at individual facilities, adapting them to additional instruments remains challenging due to differences in local infrastructure. We present a modular workflow that connects existing open-source tools for data access (Tiled), workflow orchestration (Prefect), analysis and visualization (pyFAI, Plotly Dash), and Gaussian-process-based adaptive sampling (gpCAM) into a unified framework for autonomous scattering experiments. The same configuration operates across two synchrotron beamlines (ALS 7.3.3 and PETRA III P03) with only minimal facility-specific adjustments, as shown in proof-of-concept demonstrations. This validates that a consistent design emphasizing modularity and shared interfaces can ease deployment across diverse experimental environments. The resulting framework provides a flexible foundation for extending autonomous control and analysis capabilities beyond a single beamline or instrument.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Event driven readout architecture with non-priority arbitration for radiation detectors

A novel event driven readout architecture, EDWARD (Event Driven with Access and 8 Reset Decoder) architecture, for highly granular pixel detectors is presented. It incorporates, inter alia, an asynchronous arbitration tree based on Seitz' arbiters, removing the need for an imposed prioritization scheme. It also provides protection against glitches during readout. The system allows not only reading pixel activities, but also retrieving additional data, both analog and digital, from the pixels. A novel in-channel logic allows the entire readout process to be split into consecutive phases for additional flexibility. All operations are controlled by only one edge of the clock signal, seen as an acknowledge token, so there is no dead time between readouts.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

2x2 Demonstrator High-Coverage Light Readout System in a Novel LArTPC

DUNE is a long-baseline Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) neutrino oscillation experiment. Its near detectors, located at Fermi National Laboratory, will constrain systematic errors on far detector measurements. The 2x2 Demonstrator, a novel proof of concept prototype for the ND LArTPC, has a modular TPC design that mitigates event pileup in a high-occupancy nearline beam environment, further aided by a native 3D pixelated charge readout and a 30% coverage, low profile light readout. This will be the first large-scale LArTPC to utilize pixels in place of wire planes

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bioinformatic Teaching Resources – For Educators, by Educators – Using KBase, a Free, User-Friendly, Open Source Platform

Over the past year, biology educators and staff at the U.S. Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) initiated a collaborative effort to develop a curriculum for bioinformatics education. KBase is a free web-based platform where anyone can conduct sophisticated and reproducible bioinformatic analyses via a graphical user interface. Here, we demonstrate the utility of KBase as a platform for bioinformatics education, and present a set of modular, adaptable, and customizable instructional units for teaching concepts in Genomics, Metagenomics, Pangenomics, and Phylogenetics. Each module contains teaching resources, publicly available data, analysis tools, and Markdown capability, enabling instructors to modify the lesson as appropriate for their specific course. We present initial student survey data on the effectiveness of using KBase for teaching bioinformatic concepts, provide an example case study, and detail the utility of the platform from an instructor’s perspective. Even as in-person teaching returns, KBase will continue to work with instructors, supporting the development of new active learning curriculum modules. For anyone utilizing the platform, the growing KBase Educators Organization provides an educators network, accompanied by community-sourced guidelines, instructional templates, and peer support, for instructors wishing to use KBase within a classroom at any educational level–whether virtual or in-person.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

A spatial superstructure approach to the optimal design of modular processes and supply chains

Modularity is a design principle that aims to provide flexibility for spatio-temporal assembly/disassembly and reconfiguration of systems. This design principle can be applied to multiscale (hierarchical) manufacturing systems that connect units, processes, facilities, and entire supply chains. Designing modular systems is challenging because of the need to capture spatial interdependencies that arise between system components due to product exchange/transport between components and due to product transformation in such components. In this work, we propose an optimization framework to facilitate the design of modular manufacturing systems. Central to our approach is the concept of a spatial superstructure, which is a graph that captures all possible system configurations and interdependencies between components. The spatial superstructure is a generalization of the notion of a superstructure and of a p-graph used in process design, in that it encodes spatial (geographical) context of the system components. Here, we show that this generalization facilitates the simultaneous design and analysis of processes, facilities, and of supply chains. Our framework aims to select the system topology from the spatial superstructure that minimizes design cost and that maximizes design modularity. We show that this design problem can be cast as a mixed-integer, multi-objective optimization formulation. We demonstrate these capabilities using a case study arising in the design of a plastic waste upcycling supply chain.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

RAFT: Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines for Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting

Diversifying the energy harvesting portfolio is crucial to achieving the ambitious goal of transitioning to clean energy by 2030. Marine hydrokinetic energy has garnered renewed interest due to its high harvesting potential in the U.S., and the resource's reliability and predictability—remaining relatively constant on a daily basis and available 24/7. However, there are currently few commercial devices capable of harnessing the energy from flowing water. This project aims to bridge that gap by designing and evaluating a novel hydrokinetic turbine concept that can efficiently harvest energy from both rivers and tidal streams. The RAFT (Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines) concept introduces a duct surrounding the turbine rotor and creates an array of small 5-kW units. The duct serves two primary purposes: (1) it enhances hydrodynamic efficiency by accelerating flow to the rotor, and (2) it functions as a structural component, facilitating the formation of modular arrays that lower costs. This project focuses on demonstrating this concept and validating these benefits through simulations and scaled prototype testing. The project team includes 8 faculty members and over 20 students from 3 universities, organized into three core areas: hydrodynamics, electrical systems, and structural analysis, with additional teams dedicated to system integration, environmental assessment and risk management, and tech-to-market strategy. The team successfully demonstrated the increased hydrodynamic efficiency of a ducted turbine compared to an unducted version using high-fidelity simulations and prototype tests. Moreover, design optimization efforts led to surpassing the SHARKS program's goal of 60% reduction of the levelized cost of energy with a significant margin.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Pilot-Scale Modular Research Facility for Acidic Water Pollution Cleanup and Domestic Production of Critical Minerals for National Security

A recent study by Penn State researchers revealed that Pennsylvania AMD streams originate from abandoned mines, with coal refuse piles of the lower Kittanning coal seam containing the most valuable heavy rare earth elements. Penn State has developed a three-stage process to recover these critical minerals, tested it for proof of concept, and secured a patent. Funded by the US DOE, a modular pilot-scale research and development unit has been designed and built to process 1,000 gallons per day of AMD from a site managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP). The system will selectively recover iron, aluminum, rare earth elements, and cobalt-nickel-manganese concentrates from AMD, followed by a proprietary downstream purification process. These operations aim to produce concentrates of critical minerals while treating acid mine drainage to meet environmental standards and evaluate different feedstocks. This presentation will describe the design, operation, and innovations of the proposed process and pilot facility, emphasizing its role in promoting sustainable recovery of critical minerals from legacy waste streams.

Pisupati, Sarma V [Center for Critical Minerals, T↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ceramic Composite Inert Matrix Fuel Forms in High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Microreactors

Here, this work optimizes micro-prismatic high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR) designs to reduce the energy-normalized mass of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW) produced. The optimization was performed for the current graphite moderator and an inert matrix fuel (IMF) concept employing different composite moderators in a prismatic design architecture. The fuel matrix is magnesium oxide (MgO) with entrained tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel. The moderator materials, including beryllium oxide (MgO-BeO) and beryllium (MgO-Be) at 40 vol % loading and yttrium hydride (MgO-YH x=1.9 ) and zirconium hydride (MgO-ZrH x=1.9 ) at 15 vol % loading, were entrained within the MgO host matrix. A generic graphite micro-prismatic HTGR is used as the baseline point design where the external dimensions are held constant. The composite moderator designs use 19.9% enriched uranium nitride TRISO fuel and hexagonal assemblies. For each IMF concept, an optimization study was performed to maximize the discharge burnup of the fuel by varying the TRISO packing fraction and the lattice pitch of the assemblies. The mass of SNF and HLW, other waste metrics, fuel cost, environmental impact metrics, and the activity of the SNF and HLW at 100 years and 100 000 years were calculated for the optimized IMF and graphite reference designs. The IMF results were subsequently compared to those of the graphite reference and the values for a light water reactor (LWR) and a small modular LWR. For the SNF and HLW, all the IMF concepts and the graphite reference produced less waste compared to the traditional LWR designs. However, the IMF concepts outperformed the graphite reference regarding the mass of SNF and HLW. For the other waste metrics, the IMF concepts showed reductions in fuel cost with improved environmental metrics relative to the graphite reference. Overall, the IMF concepts significantly reduced the SNF and HLW produced per unit of energy generated compared to traditional LWR designs.

TRISO↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Multiport DC Transformer to Enable Flexible Scalable DC as a Service

The rapid adoption of new DC loads and sources, including photovoltaic arrays, DC fast charging of electric vehicle, battery energy storage and data centers, requires a large amount of DC power conversion. A majority of new deployments also necessitate the integration of multiple DC loads and sources at one site. The traditional approach to serve these new applications relies on multiple standard power converters, each dedicated to a source or load, and results in highly customized systems, with challenging control coordination, complex protection strategies, and poor scalability. Instead, this paper proposes the concept of a multiport DC transformer (MDCT) as a modular building block for realizing a flexible, scalable DC as a Service system and address this rapidly growing need. The MDCT uses the S4T to achieve very tight control of cycle-by-cycle energy exchange between multiple ports, with high efficiency. A single multiport converter replaces 4-6 distinct converters, integrates all energy flows and manages protection. As a result, a new layered control architecture is introduced to ensure stability and scalability of the MDCT, with multiple S4T power converter building blocks connected in parallel to realize a fully modular system and reach the target power levels.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Fast Modular Reactor (FMR) - Development Plan of a New 50 MWe Gas-cooled Fast Reactor

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) will be developing a new 50-megawatt electric (MWe) fast modular reactor (FMR), under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), Advanced Reactor Concepts 2020 (ARC-20) development pathway, that provides safe, carbon free electricity, capable of incremental capacity additions. A modular design allows it to be factory-built and assembled on-site to keep the cost of capital low, while the dry-cooling facilitates siting to complement renewables in nearly any location. GA-EMS is committed to commercialization of the proposed reactor, with a demonstration by 2030, and deployment by the mid-2030s. The ultimate goal of the design is to develop flexible and dispatchable carbon-free power source for the 2035 US electricity market. The GAEMS- led team will verify that simplified characteristics (e.g., inert helium gas coolant, pellet-loaded fuel rod, installation-free of heat sink requirements, small and passive heat removal systems) of the FMR will result in a safe, maintainable, cost-effective, distributed, nuclear energygenerating station. Three key specific project objectives for the next three years include: Development of the conceptual design of the 50- MWe FMR plant, Achievement of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 for key system and component technologies through in-pile tests, out-of-pile tests, and numerical experiments; and Development of robust techno-economic analysis (TEA) and pre-application licensing approach necessary for timely demonstration and eventual commercialization.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

U.S. High Temperature Materials Highlights

U.S. GIF VHTR work is continuing on graphite qualification, Alloy 617 regulatory issues beyond the Code space, Alloy 800H weldments, and ASME Codes and Standards R&D is still considering both pebble bed and prismatic and steam generator and heat exchanger U.S. DOE Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) Two U.S.-based teams were selected to demonstrate advanced nuclear reactors in the United States that can be operational by 2027 One of the teams is X-energy (Rockville, MD) which will demonstrate a modular gas-cooled reactor design (Xe-100) with four 80 MWe, TRISO fuel, pebble bed reactors A number of U.S.-based teams were selected to design and develop safe and affordable reactor technologies that can be licensed and deployed over the next 10 to 14 years (Risk Reduction) One of the teams is BWXT Advanced Technologies, LLC which will develop a commercially viable transportable microreactor with the design focused on using TRISO fuel particles and silicon carbide (SiC) matrix A number of U.S.-based teams were selected to assist the progression of advanced reactor designs in their earliest phases (Advanced Reactor Concepts-20) One of the teams is Massachusetts Institute of Technology which will mature the Modular Integrated Gas-Cooled High Temperature Reactor (MIGHTR) concept with a horizontal compact design from a pre-conceptual stage to a conceptual stage to support commercialization

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Hybrid Heavy-Duty Diesel Power System for Off-Road Applications - Concept Definition

A multi-year Power System R&D project was initiated with the objective of developing an off-road hybrid heavy-duty concept diesel engine with front end accessory drive-integrated energy storage. This off-road hybrid engine system is expected to deliver 15-20% reduction in fuel consumption over current Tier 4 Final-based diesel engines and consists of a downsized heavy-duty diesel engine containing advanced combustion technologies, capable of elevated peak cylinder pressures and thermal efficiencies, exhaust waste heat recovery via SuperTurbo™ turbocompounding, and hybrid energy recovery through both mechanical (high speed flywheel) and electrical systems. The first year of this project focused on the definition of the hybrid elements using extensive dynamic system simulation over transient work cycles, with hybrid supervisory controls development focusing on energy recovery and transient load assist, in Caterpillar’s DYNASTY™ software environment. Three key off-road applications were the focus of the hybrid concept definition with an aim of understanding the system’s modular capability for the diverse off-road heavy-duty market. Core engine performance 1D and 3D simulations isolated the efficiency contributions from the downsized engine, turbocompounding, and in-cylinder thermal barrier coatings. A fuel consumption improvement range of 14 to 24% was predicted, resulting in successful project progression to the design and experimental validation phase. Furthermore, an overview of the experimental engine and hybrid system status concludes the discussion along with the multi-year project’s next steps.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modular Electrochemical Synthesis Using a Redox Reservoir Paired with Independent Half-Reactions

Electrochemical synthesis of high-value chemicals using renewable electricity could lead to sustainability advantages over conventional chemical manufacturing. The tight coupling between paired anodic and cathodic reactions in conventional electrochemical processes, however, constrains the products and their efficiencies. Here, we demonstrate a strategy to achieve modular electrochemical synthesis (ModES) of different chemicals by decoupling and pairing the oxidative and reductive half-reactions with a heterogeneous redox reservoir (RR). Specifically, sodium nickel hexacyanoferrate (NaNiHCF) can serve as a robust and reversible RR that enables the modular production of several strong oxidants, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O2) and sodium persulfate (Na 2 S 2 O 8 ) or active chlorine, in separate RR-coupled electrochemical processes. The system’s excellent performance and operational stability is demonstrated by continuous operation over 100 cycles (~36 h) to produce H 2 O 2 and Na 2 S 2 O 8 with a high voltage efficiency. The concept presented here highlights the prospects for using RRs to enable efficient, modular, and on-demand electrochemical synthesis of valuable chemicals.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗