A significant subject of dialog on the ARPA-E summit was geologic hydrogen—there’s a ton of pleasure about efforts to seek out underground deposits of the gasoline, which can be utilized as a gasoline throughout a variety of industries, together with transportation and heavy business.
Final 12 months, ARPA-E funded a handful of tasks on the subject, together with one in Iwnetim Abate’s lab at MIT. Abate is among the many researchers who’re aiming not simply to hunt for hydrogen, however to truly use underground situations to assist produce it. Earlier this 12 months, his group revealed analysis exhibiting that by utilizing catalysts and situations widespread within the subsurface, scientists can produce hydrogen in addition to different chemical compounds, like ammonia. Abate cofounded a spinout firm, Addis Power, to commercialize the analysis, which has since additionally acquired ARPA-E funding.
All of the rocks on the desk, from the chunk of darkish, onerous basalt to the softer talc, could possibly be used to provide these chemical compounds.
An electrical guitar powered by iron nitride magnets
The sound of music drifted from the Niron Magnetics sales space throughout close by walkways. Individuals wandering by stopped to take turns testing out the corporate’s magnets, within the type of an electrical guitar.
Most high-powered magnets in the present day include neodymium—demand for them is about to skyrocket within the coming years, particularly because the world builds extra electrical automobiles and wind generators. Provides might stretch skinny, and the geopolitics are sophisticated as a result of many of the provide comes from China.
Niron is making new magnets that don’t include uncommon earth metals. As an alternative, Niron’s expertise is predicated on extra plentiful supplies: nitrogen and iron.
The guitar is an illustration product—in the present day, magnets in electrical guitars sometimes include aluminum, nickel, and cobalt-based magnets that assist translate the vibrations from metal strings into an electrical sign that’s broadcast by an amplifier. Niron made an instrument utilizing its iron nitride magnets as a substitute. (See images of the guitar from an occasion final 12 months right here.)
Niron opened a pilot industrial facility in late 2024 that has the capability to provide 10 tons of magnets yearly. Since we final lined Niron, in early 2024, the corporate has introduced plans for a full-scale plant, which could have an annual capability of about 1,500 tons of magnets as soon as it’s totally ramped up.
