National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are conducting research to investigate the feasibility of producing mixed alcohols from biomass-derived synthesis gas (syngas). PNNL is tasked with obtaining commercially available or preparing promising mixed-alcohol catalysts and screening them in a laboratory-scale reactor system. Commercially available catalysts and the most promising experimental catalysts are provided to NREL for testing using a slipstream from a pilot-scale biomass gasifier. From the standpoint of producing C2+ alcohols as the major product, it appears that the rhodium catalyst is the best choice in terms of both selectivity and space-time yield (STY). However, unless the rhodium catalyst can be improved to provide minimally acceptable STYs for commercial operation, mixed alcohol synthesis will involve significant production of other liquid coproducts. The modified Fischer-Tropsch catalyst shows the most promise for providing both an acceptable selectivity to C2+ alcohols and total liquid STY. However, further optimization of the Fischer-Tropsch catalysts to improve selectivity to higher alcohols is highly desired. Selection of a preferred catalyst will likely entail a decision on the preferred coproduct slate. No other catalysts tested appear amenable to the significant improvements needed for acceptable STYs.

Any attempt to reconcile observed surface temperature changes within the last 150 years to changes simulated by climate models that include various atmospheric forcings is sensitive to the changes attributed to aerosols and aerosol-cloud-climate interactions, which are the main contributors that may well balance the positive forcings associated with greenhouse gases, absorbing aerosols, ozone related changes, etc. These aerosol effects on climate, from various modeling studies discussed in Menon (2004), range from +0.8 to -2.4 W m{sup -2}, with an implied value of -1.0 W m{sup -2} (range from -0.5 to -4.5 W m{sup -2}) for the aerosol indirect effects. Quantifying the contribution of aerosols and aerosol-cloud interactions remain complicated for several reasons some of which are related to aerosol distributions and some to the processes used to represent their effects on clouds. Aerosol effects on low lying marine stratocumulus clouds that cover much of the Earth's surface (about 70%) have been the focus of most of prior aerosol-cloud interaction effect simulations. Since cumulus clouds (shallow and deep convective) are short lived and cover about 15 to 20% of the Earth's surface, they are not usually considered as radiatively important. However, the large amount of latent heat released from convective …

During the past two years, the US heavy ion fusion science program has made significant experimental and theoretical progress in simultaneous transverse and longitudinal beam compression, ion-beam-driven warm dense matter targets, high-brightness beam transport, advanced theory and numerical simulations, and heavy ion target physics for fusion. First experiments combining radial and longitudinal compression {pi} of intense ion beams propagating through background plasma resulted in on-axis beam densities increased by 700X at the focal plane. With further improvements planned in 2008, these results enable initial ion beam target experiments in warm dense matter to begin next year. They are assessing how these new techniques apply to higher-gain direct-drive targets for inertial fusion energy.

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