Wildfires are a serious threat to local electric grid infrastructure. A key part of this infrastructure is the utility pole. Steel and timber poles are ubiquitous, but both can crumble in minutes under the onslaught of a roaring wildfire. Steel fails when the temperature exceeds 1,400°F and timber poles collapse if they lose even a fraction of an inch of their diameter during a fire. In California alone, wildfires have claimed tens of thousands of structures, costing close to $14 billion in direct damage and $100 billion in environmental cleanup and power grid infrastructure repair in 2020.

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Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), which, in its simplest form, consists of a partially ionized gas sustained in an air mixture with gases like argon and helium, produces reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). The CAP can send fluxes of RONS and, in some cases, electric fields and photons, to nearby living cells, tissue, plants, or media.

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A major hurdle in large-scale biofuels deployment is the necessary extensive chemical upgrading of intermediates derived from biomass feedstocks. Such biomass refining technologies are nascent or in conceptual stages. In contrast, crude oil is peerless as a feedstock for liquid fuels, and petroleum refining is mature and optimized.

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A major hurdle in large-scale biofuels deployment is the necessary extensive chemical upgrading of intermediates derived from biomass feedstocks. Such biomass refining technologies are nascent or in conceptual stages. In contrast, crude oil is peerless as a feedstock for liquid fuels, and petroleum refining is mature and optimized.

Learn More