{"id":195873,"date":"2024-09-08T09:26:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-08T14:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/molecular-simulations-supercomputing-lead-to-energy-saving-biomaterials-breakthrough"},"modified":"2024-09-08T09:26:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T14:26:34","slug":"molecular-simulations-supercomputing-lead-to-energy-saving-biomaterials-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/molecular-simulations-supercomputing-lead-to-energy-saving-biomaterials-breakthrough","title":{"rendered":"Molecular simulations, supercomputing lead to energy-saving biomaterials breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/molecular-simulations-supercomputing-lead-to-energy-saving-biomaterials-breakthrough2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy\u2019s Oak Ridge National Laboratory identified and successfully demonstrated a new method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%. The approach was discovered using molecular simulations run on the lab\u2019s supercomputers, followed by pilot testing and analysis.<\/p>\n<p>The method, leveraging a solvent of sodium hydroxide and urea in water, can significantly lower the production cost of nanocellulosic fiber \u2014 a strong, lightweight biomaterial ideal as a composite for 3D-printing structures such as sustainable housing and vehicle assemblies. The findings support the development of a circular bioeconomy in which renewable, biodegradable materials replace petroleum-based resources, decarbonizing the economy and reducing waste.<\/p>\n<p>Colleagues at ORNL, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Maine\u2019s Process Development Center collaborated on the project that targets a more efficient method of producing a highly desirable material. Nanocellulose is a form of the natural polymer cellulose found in plant cell walls that is up to eight times stronger than steel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy\u2019s Oak Ridge National Laboratory identified and successfully demonstrated a new method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%. The approach was discovered using molecular simulations run on the lab\u2019s supercomputers, followed by pilot testing and analysis. The [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1489,39,1497,44,17,1491],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3d-printing","category-economics","category-energy","category-supercomputing","category-sustainability","category-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}