Engineering Papers⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Simon, A. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Simon, A. J..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Leveraging the bioeconomy for carbon drawdown

Stringent climate change mitigation scenarios rely on large-scale drawdown of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Amongst drawdown technologies, bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) has received considerable attention in the climate mitigation literature. Recently, attention has shifted further from a relatively narrow focus on BECCS to a broader focus on Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS). The concept of BiCRS has the potential to enable a future where the climate mitigation value of biomass resources is more valuable than the energy value, due to the potential to remove and sequester large quantities atmospheric CO 2 . This article provides a qualitative overview of prominent BiCRS technologies from which a set of the most promising technologies are assessed quantitively through life cycle assessment. There are numerous opportunities to incorporate carbon removal and management within the bioeconomy, but the majority of immediate carbon removal potential exists in four bioproducts: bioenergy, bioplastics, biochar, and wood products. We analyze the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and disposition of sequestered carbon over 10,000 years for four bioproducts representative of each broader category: an advanced BECCS pathway, biopolyethylene, oriented strand board, and biochar soil amendment. We find that the BECCS pathway has the greatest magnitude and durability of CO 2 storage over all time horizons. However, non-BECCS pathways achieve 34–64% of the drawdown magnitude relative to BECCS and retain 55–67% of their initial drawdown over 100 years (central estimate). We identify three engineering strategies for enhancing carbon drawdown: reducing biomass supply chain emissions, maximizing carbon stored in long lived products, and extending the term of carbon storage. Finally, we highlight the need to characterize both the magnitude and permanence of carbon drawdown as a means for policymakers and technology develo pers to deploy limited biomass resources to maximize mitigation benefits.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Leveraging the bioeconomy for carbon drawdown

Stringent climate change mitigation scenarios rely on large-scale drawdown of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Amongst drawdown technologies, bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) has received considerable attention in the climate mitigation literature. Recently, attention has shifted further from a relatively narrow focus on BECCS to a broader focus on Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS). The concept of BiCRS has the potential to enable a future where the climate mitigation value of biomass resources is more valuable than the energy value, due to the potential to remove and sequester large quantities atmospheric CO2. This article provides a qualitative overview of prominent BiCRS technologies from which a set of the most promising technologies are assessed quantitively through life cycle assessment. There are numerous opportunities to incorporate carbon removal and management within the bioeconomy, but the majority of immediate carbon removal potential exists in four bioproducts: bioenergy, bioplastics, biochar, and wood products. We analyze the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and disposition of sequestered carbon over 10 000 years for four bioproducts representative of each broader category: an advanced BECCS pathway, biopolyethylene, oriented strand board, and biochar soil amendment. We find that the BECCS pathway has the greatest magnitude and durability of CO2 storage over all time horizons. However, non-BECCS pathways achieve 34–64% of the drawdown magnitude relative to BECCS and retain 55–67% of their initial drawdown over 100 years (central estimate). We identify three engineering strategies for enhancing carbon drawdown: reducing biomass supply chain emissions, maximizing carbon stored in long-lived products, and extending the term of carbon storage. Finally, we highlight the need to characterize both the magnitude and permanence of carbon drawdown as a means for policymakers and technology developers to deploy limited biomass resources to maximize mitigation benefits.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Technical and Economic Potential of Hydrogen within the United States

Hydrogen markets have an opportunity to grow as its value as an energy intermediate increases. Hydrogen’s estimated serviceable consumption potential in the United States is 106 MMT/yr which is a ten-fold increase over the current market size. That opportunity is driven primarily by increased demands for metals refining, biofuel and hydrocarbon production, supplementing the natural gas system, seasonal storage for the electricity grid, and fuel cell electric vehicles. The U.S. has many renewable, nuclear, and fossil resources that each could meet that demand itself. The economic potential, which considers both costs to produce hydrogen and willingness of applications to pay for it, is 22 to 41 MMT/yr. The range is impacted by factors that impact the cost to produce including the price of natural gas and the cost of electrolyzers. It is also impacted by competition to provide the same services as hydrogen including electrification.

electrolysis↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Technical and Economic Potential of the H2@Scale Hydrogen Concept within the United States

The U.S. energy system is evolving as society and technologies change. Renewable electricity generation - especially from wind and solar - is growing rapidly, and alternative energy sources are being developed and implemented across the residential, commercial, transportation, and industrial sectors to take advantage of their cost, security, and health benefits. Systemic changes present numerous challenges to grid resiliency and energy affordability, creating a need for synergistic solutions that satisfy multiple applications while yielding system-wide cost and emissions benefits. One such solution is an integrated hydrogen energy system. This is the focus of H2@Scale - a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiative led by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Technologies Office. H2@Scale brings together stakeholders to advance affordable hydrogen production, transport, storage, and utilization in multiple energy sectors. The H2@Scale concept involves hydrogen as an energy intermediate. Hydrogen can be produced from various conventional and renewable energy sources including as a responsive load on the electric grid. Hydrogen has many current applications and many more potential applications, such as energy for transportation - used directly in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), as a feedstock for synthetic fuels, and to upgrade oil and biomass - feedstock for industry (e.g., for ammonia production, metals refining, and other end uses), heat for industry and buildings, and electricity storage. Owing to its flexibility and fungibility, a hydrogen intermediate could link energy sources that have surplus availability to markets that require energy or chemical feedstocks, benefiting both. This document builds upon a growing body of analyses of hydrogen as an energy intermediate by reporting the results from our initial analysis of the potential impacts of the H2@Scale vision by the mid-21 st century for the 48 contiguous U.S. states. Previous estimates have been based on expert elicitation and focused on hydrogen demands. We build upon them, first, by estimating hydrogen’s serviceable consumption potential for possible hydrogen applications and the technical potential for producing hydrogen from various resources. We define the serviceable consumption potential as the quantity of hydrogen that would be consumed to serve the portion of the market that could be captured without considering economics (i.e., if the price of hydrogen were $0/kg over an extended period); thus, it can be considered an upper bound for the size of the market. We define the technical potential as the resource potential constrained by real-world geography and system performance, but not by economics. We then compare the cumulative serviceable consumption potential with the technical potential of a number of possible sources. Second, we estimate economic potential: the quantity of hydrogen at an equilibrium price at which suppliers are willing to sell and consumers are willing to buy the same quantity of hydrogen. We believe this method provides a deeper understanding than was available in the previous analyses. We develop economic potentials for multiple scenarios across various market and technology-advancement assumptions.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2019

Particle-modified polymeric cladding on glass optical fibers enhances radial light scattering

Radially light-emitting optical fibers are of increasing interest for applications in medicine, visible aesthetics, and environmental remediation. Optical fibers contain a light guiding core coated by protective polymer layers (cladding and coating), which assure both the strength and flexibility of the optical fiber. This paper examines the feasibility of scattering light radially from fibers by loading the fiber cladding with particle scattering centers during the optical fiber fabrication process. This work uses an in-line full-scale scalable facility to coat the fibers and control the polymer cladding and silica sphere. Loadings up to 2.0 wt. % of 500 nm silica particles on the cladding of the optical fiber led to an average of 80 times higher scattering for visible light and up to 30 times higher in the UVA wavelength range compared against cladding without particle modifications. We report this study illustrated the feasibility of fabricating broadband light scattering optical fibers for use with modified polymeric cladding.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2018

Developing a Carbon Model for the U.S. Economy

In this project, we have assessed the feasibility of developing a stock and flow model of carbon for the United States (U.S.) economy and applying it to assess opportunities for substitution of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as a feedstock for industrial processes. We have assessed the feasibility of developing a model that could answering these questions by integrating the results of the following three tasks: (1) A survey of data in existing government databases of commodity stocks and flows with the aim of identifying relevant data sources, data gaps, and how they could be filled. (2) Developing a quantitative “topdown” description of carbon stocks in and flows through the U.S. economy, in which we present the results in a Sankey diagram for carbon that will compliment those prepared by LLNL for the U.S. energy system. (3) Conducting a quantitative case study of a selected material production pathway with the aim of understanding the potential to assemble a national picture of carbon flows from the “bottom-up”. We integrate the results of these tasks and identify the way in which we could develop a more refined national model of carbon stocks and flows to assess and intercompare carbon dioxide utilization (CO 2 U) pathways.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Concept of Operations: National Technology Test Bed Network for Water Resource Recovery

There is an urgency to advancing wastewater technologies due to aging water infrastructure and emerging regulations. A crosscutting working group proposes a conceptual design for a test bed network to understand and evaluate wastewater technologies to drive acceptance and deployment of new technologies to enhance performance. The working group includes contributors from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the Water Research Foundation (formerly known as the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation). Upgrading today's aging wastewater treatment infrastructure to a new generation of water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) requires the development and deployment of innovative technologies. The path to technology adoption depends on expensive, time consuming, and often repetitive cycles of testing and validation. Existing water resource recovery technology testing facilities (e.g., test beds) are underutilized and cannot, by themselves, broaden technology uptake. It has been proposed that technology adoption could be accelerated by a network linking these test facilities with innovators, manufacturers, utilities, regulators, policymakers, and educators. This document proposes a structure for a National Test bed Network (TBN) for water resource recovery. The concepts for its operation are explored herein. This document identifies drivers to launch a TBN and critical needs for successful implementation of the network. An important driver to technology implementation at WRRFs is the relationship between local utilities and state regulators. The TBN could provide access to validated performance data and facilitate deployment. To link the stakeholders and accelerate deployment, the TBN will require standards for methods, data quality, data management, and data security. These standards will enable validation of performance and will expand the “toolbox” that utilities and regulators could consider. Design, set up, and launch of this toolbox is beyond the scope of operations of utilities and regulators and will likely require external support to achieve full operation. Herein, a pathway is proposed to achieve this full operation. This document defines the function of a WRRF TBN. It also proposes a structure for the TBN to achieve its stated goals and mission. Finally, this document summarizes findings from several sources, including a series of workshops about the TBN concept, operators of test beds in ancillary industries, and discussions with regulators and permitting agencies. A description of this work was published in the peer-reviewed literature (Mihelcic 2017).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Energy-Water Nexus Knowledge Discovery Framework, Experts' Meeting

Energy and water generation and delivery systems are inherently interconnected. With demand for energy growing, the energy sector is experiencing increasing competition for water. With increasing populationand changing environmental, socioeconomic, and demographic scenarios, new technology and investmentdecisions must be made for optimized and sustainable energy-water resource management. These decisionsrequire novel scientific insights into the complex interdependencies of energy-water infrastructures acrossmultiple space and time scales.On June 13, 2017 an Experts’ Meeting was convened for the purpose of informing the design of an integrateddata driven modeling, analysis, and visualization capability that can enable ecient local and regional decisionmakingregarding present and future energy-water infrastructure. This first multi-institute collaborativeEnergy-Water Nexus Knowledge Discovery Framework (EWN-KDF) will be informed by fundamentalscience and guided with strategic (federal) policy decisions in the service of ensuring national energyresilience.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2017

Accelerating Innovation that Enhances Resource Recovery in the Wastewater Sector: Advancing a National Testbed Network

This article examines significant challenges and opportunities to spur innovation and accelerate adoption of reliable technologies that enhance integrated resource recovery in the wastewater sector through the creation of a national testbed network. The network is a virtual entity that connects appropriate physical testing facilities, and other components needed for a testbed network, with researchers, investors, technology providers, utilities, regulators, and other stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies and processes that are needed for the water resource recovery facility of the future. Here we summarize and extract key issues and developments, to provide a strategy for the wastewater sector to accelerate a path forward that leads to new sustainable water infrastructures.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

How to Read an LLNL Energy Flow Chart (Sankey Diagram)

Each year, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory releases energy flow charts that illustrate the nation's consumption and use of energy. A.J. Simon, group leader for LLNL’s energy program, breaks the 2015 chart down in this video, describing how to read the chart and what year-to-year trends he sees.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Science and Technology Review (March 2014)

Over the past few years, Lawrence Livermore has experienced a surge of innovation in radiochemistry—the science of generating, identifying, isolating, and characterizing the radioactive isotopes of chemical elements. For example, Livermore researchers have developed a technique for producing double-sided target foils and built a target surface mapping tool, which increased the productivity of stockpile stewardship experiments. Radiochemists are also using the Laboratory’s particle accelerator to measure nuclear reaction products for reactor safety and nuclear forensics research. Another Livermore team is making synthetic nuclear debris samples with ingredients that more closely match debris from a real explosion for use in isotope identification exercises. Researchers are also refining the chemicals and protocols required to perform wet-chemistry experiments on transactinides, shortlived heavy elements such as flerovium and livermorium. A collaboration with two universities is developing a portable, automated system that can quickly capture, prepare, and chemically test radioisotopes.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2013

EEB Hub Regional Sankey Diagram: Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development Historical and Forecast Energy by Planned Use at the Philadelphia Navy Yard

The Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub) is a DOE-funded center, focused on improving the energy use in commercial and large-scale residential buildings. One of the Hub’s goals has been to develop the means and methods to reduce energy use in commercial buildings by 20 percent by 2020. Understanding energy use in buildings is a key component to managing energy use at multiple scales, from the building to the city, to the region. Sankey diagrams are an accessible tool to visualize energy flows, and help identify opportunities to deploy energy saving technologies. A campus-level Sankey diagram was previously generated from 2010-2011 data for ~100 metered Navy Yard buildings to quantify natural gas and electricity usage by principal building activity. As these properties are renovated, the energy consumption and building principal activities are being updated and modified. To depict the multi-year time lapse of regional electricity distribution in the Navy Yard, LLNL generated Sankey diagrams using data from 36 properties (buildings, developments, equipment) used to develop Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development’s (PIDC) Navy Yard Master Energy Plan (NYEMP). The diagrams presented in this report depict ~10 building use types and the yearly changes in forecasted usage in GWh from 2011 to 2022. The forecast captures increases in regional energy use from planned building additions and renovations and yearly increases for existing buildings. From 2009 to 2022, there is approximately 5.6 million square feet of planned additions and renovations. The largest addition of properties are for office (~ 2.3 million square feet for dedicated office, and larger for shared office space) and residential space (~1 million square feet). Until 2014, the largest user of energy is for flex space, reaching a forecasted 11.4 GWh. In 2015-2016, the largest forecasted user is for a data center reaching ~25.7 GWh. After 2016, the largest consumers are either for office space (reaching 63.2 GWh forecast in 2022), or heavy industry (68 GWh forecast in 2022).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗