Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is known for its coal, steel, and agricultural output, but it also has a bustling advanced manufacturing and sustainable energy ecosystem. A few of ORNL’s research partners in the Keystone State include ExOne, creator of 3D printing systems; Kennametal, developer of heavy-duty industrial tools and equipment; and Grid Fruit, whose machine-learning platform uses food retail data to reduce costs and emissions.
ORNL’s user facilities offer a diverse set of tools for experiments across a range of fields, including biology, materials and energy sciences, physics, engineering, and chemistry. Learn more about ORNL’s user facilities. Data reflects fiscal year 2020 except for scientific publications, which covers 2016–2020. Partner stories reflect work conducted from 2016 to present.
DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh continues to build on a century of energy-related research. Much of the work carried out today at NETL-Pittsburgh focuses on process systems engineering, decision science, functional materials, and environmental sciences.
Under NETL sponsorship, ORNL and the University of Kentucky investigated ways to use carbon ore to create high-value products like carbon fiber composites for the aerospace, automotive, wind energy markets, and more. The research supports environmental justice by paving the way for new clean manufacturing industries and good-paying jobs in American coal communities.
NETL operates three sites in Albany, Oregon; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The lab delivers integrated solutions to enable the transformation to a sustainable energy future. NETL implements strategies and technologies to enable a decarbonized future and meet net-zero emission goals, including carbon management, advanced hydrogen technologies, integrated energy systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and sustainable fuels and chemicals.
ORNL works with the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University, the university’s natural history museum, on studies in the East Fork Poplar Creek watershed. These studies help scientists better understand how nutrients and contaminants move through stream systems, helping inform models that predict water quality.
ORNL collaborated with Arkema Inc., a global chemicals and materials manufacturing company with a research center in King of Prussia, to investigate and characterize poly(etherketoneketone), or PEKK. PEKK was invented in the 1960s as part of the Apollo space mission, but it can now be used to replace metal components in extreme environments, such as those found in motors. Its properties were studied to better understand its use in big area additive manufacturing processes.
ORNL collaborated with ExOne to develop an R&D 100 Award-winning method of 3D printing that uses binder jetting technology to produce metals, such as stainless steel, bronze, or tungsten, as well as sand, ceramics, and composites. ExOne also licensed ORNL’s patented method of 3D printing components used in neutron imaging.
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