Driving toward a clean economy

Los Alamos National Laboratory has a breadth of experimental resources including chemical and material tests and evaluations, analytical measurements of hydrogen systems, models, and simulations.

We are seeking new partners to apply our capabilities to accelerate the development, demonstration, and deployment of hydrogen technologies.

Interdisciplinary experiments

Los Alamos scientists develop and apply analytical methods to evaluate hydrogen reactions, hydrogen detection, materials corrosion, and storage stability. Experimental resources include:

  • Low- and high-pressure reactors
  • Gas diffusion systems
  • Corrosion confinement studies
  • Energetic molecular beam sources
  • Hydrogen storage beds
  • State-of-the-art facilities for materials characterization at multiple scales

Our scientists use computational fluid dynamics simulations to understand complex parameter interactions in fluid and gas flows. Applications for hydrogen include high-temperature and mixed-phase flow, a capability relevant to all aspects of hydrogen production, transport, and utilization.

Los Alamos has particular expertise supporting nuclear reactors and nuclear heating applications as well as high-fidelity turbulent flows. Our extensive capabilities in the modeling and simulation of combustion engines and reactive flow phenomena can be leveraged to support hydrogen conversion. The Fast, Easy, Accurate, and Robust Continuum Engineering (FEARCE) tool, developed at Los Alamos, is a state-of-the-art multi-physics code that has been applied to simulate combustion for advanced engine technology.

Computational Prowess@2x

Computational prowess

As systems engineering is increasingly supported by technical models, our capability in model analysis and calibration brings together models and experimental data. Los Alamos expertise in Bayesian Model Calibration and physics-informed machine learning accelerates system analysis and performance prediction. Statistical inference methods provide sound reasoning with quantified uncertainty, supporting analysis, and optimization of engineered processes across scales. In particular, our capability in separations modeling and CO2 point-source capture engineered systems has direct correspondence to hydrogen production and utilization.

Data science for discovery incorporates large data sets in observations and models. This capability is used for process insights and materials discovery. This is particularly relevant to novel materials for efficiency improvement.

Capability in network science has many applications in infrastructure development and optimization, drawing from our work in infrastructure resilience. This science can also be used to optimize hydrogen energy systems and infrastructure in the face of complex, interdependent factors.

We have deep expertise in environmental support with subsurface, climate, and ocean/sea ice/atmospheric models and observations. Our capability in this area can address a wide range of assessments related to carbon management in the environment. Of particular relevance is modeling for subsurface storage of hydrogen and CO2 and sequestration through natural biogeochemical processes.

Los Alamos high-performance computation (HPC) extends beyond world-class platforms to capabilities in maturing multi-physics science and engineering models and codes for a range of applications. Our expertise with modern HPC platforms gives us unique insight, demonstrated by our national security mission, to bring together the co-design awareness of computational platforms, extreme-scale computational models, and best practices in code development.