INL researchers earn invention awards

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK)-Idaho National Laboratory researchers have won three “R and D 100” awards for inventing research and development technologies.  

Their work was judged by a panel of over 40 industry-leading experts on technical significance, uniqueness, and applicability. 

This year, INL’s winning technologies included Carbon Cure, which involves carbon capture and utilization through reduction electrolysis.  Luis Diaz Aldana was the principal investigator, assisted by  Ningshengjie Gao, Tedd Lister, Birendra Adhikari, Aaron Wilson, and Eric Dufek.   Their process uses a recyclable solvent as a carbon capture medium that can be fed directly to an electrochemical cell. The cell converts carbon dioxide to syngas, a building block for a number of high value products.

Researchers Catherine Riddle and Rick Demmer developed a device they called CoDeAc.   It would be used in responding to an accident or attack to detect radiation sources like uranium and plutonium in dusty, outdoor environments.  According to INL, CoDeAc “gives a go/no-go result in seconds, allowing these professionals to make decisions based on actual data instead of assumptions on-site. These decisions impact everyone and can mean the difference between evacuating hundreds of thousands of people within square miles or just 100 people within a square block during a radiological event.”

And, Mike Griffell, Damon Hartley, and M. Ross Kunz won an award for creation of a Crop Artificial Intelligence Quotient.   The Crop AIQ helps land managers make more informed decisions about how they grow plants by generating an accurate yield map.

Other INL inventions this year ranged from an analysis of battery cell life to self-navigating drones, and several more.

Because of COVID-19, this year's awards ceremony was held virtually.