Results for “manufacturing process planning” — Page 10

DOE OSTI2024

Towards a Circular Economy for PET Bottles in the U.S. - 4P Model

The United States generates the most plastic waste of any country. Along with that GHG emissions from the global plastic economy are expected to increase to 15% of the global carbon budget by 2050. It is imperative that plastic recycling is made a reality to reduce both plastic pollution in the environment and GHG emissions. A portfolio of end-of-life strategies must be implemented to minimize environmental impacts and retain valuable plastic material, but it is challenging to compare options that generate products with different utility and lifetime. Plastic use reduction, reuse and recycling are thus increasingly important, but making informed policy and research decisions within this space can be challenging given the diverse range of available solutions. The novel analysis framework, Plastic Parallel Pathways Platform (4P) has been equipped with consequential life cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and a plastic circularity indicator to estimate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, circularity, and cost of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) down-cycling to lower-quality resin, closed-loop recycling to food-grade PET bottles, up-cycling to fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP), and conversion to non-plastic products (electricity, oil) on a United States economy-wide basis. Integrating system dynamics into this robust plastics model that already incorporates techno-economics, circularity, and environmental impacts will enable identification of key bottlenecks between manufacturers, waste sorters, and reclaimers that currently prevent rapid decarbonization of the plastics economy. System dynamics (SD) explore the evolution of activities and technologies based on changed macro parameters such as plastic demand and supply, market shifts, and cross-sectoral interactions. This project particularly aims to explore the interplay between, waste collection, plastic waste sorting, recycling, and manufacturing, as well as the effect of plastic bale quality and plastic reuse initiatives on the surrounding process stages. This functionality will facilitate combinatory analysis in which a portfolio of end-of-life pathways are assessed simultaneously, with the exact makeup of that portfolio affected by parameters such as technology scales, resource constraints, and waste mitigation efforts. Integrating SD with the 4P framework enables analyzing the effect of increased revenue and reinvestment into improving process efficiencies, sorting and collection quantities. Through that, market effects of increased recycled resin availability can be studied for the plastics systems model for the US. The results will help identify technical or economic bottlenecks that currently limit efforts to decarbonize the U.S. plastics economy.

carbon↗

DOE OSTI2022

Cumulative Effects Analysis for Wind Energy Development: Current Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities (IEA Wind White Paper)

The increasing global deployment of wind energy has given rise to concerns about potential adverse effects on certain wildlife species and habitats. The United States and European nations use environmental impact assessments (EIAs) to evaluate the environmental effects of wind energy and inform wind energy planning, siting, and operational processes. A key component of the EIA is the cumulative effects analysis/assessment (CEA). CEAs consider the effects of a proposed development in the context of past, present, and future developments, as well as other (non-wind) activities. However, practitioners worldwide have struggled to implement cost-effective and consistent processes for CEAs. Further, there is no widely accepted scientific methodology to assess cumulative effects. As wind energy deployment continues to expand, developing a consistent and scientifically based approach to CEAs may provide a more comparable across assessments and cost-effective means of reducing risk during siting, operations, and decommissioning/repowering, while minimizing regulatory hurdles. This technical report evaluates the current state of CEA practices, covering both land-based and offshore wind energy development. It focuses on impacts from the preconstruction, construction, and operational phases of the wind farm, which are the phases where most research currently exists. Emerging research addresses impacts from the perspective of life cycle assessments (LCAs), including the impacts of manufacturing and preconstruction (May et al. 2020). The technical report also summarizes CEA processes and guidelines, analysis approaches, and current challenges. Finally, it highlights opportunities for further research and coordination, and includes a geographically organized CEA information resource bank.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Development of an Advanced Hydrogen Energy Storage System using Aerogel in a Cryogenic Flux Capacitor

The Cryogenic Flux Capacitor (CFC) is a cold, dense fluid storage core with integrated design features that afford the designer flexibility and provide new possibilities for the storage and discharge of energy. The stored energy, in this case, is represented by hydrogen physically bonded within the nanoscale pores within the aerogel composite blanket material, and the process of bonding or debonding is governed by the principles of physical adsorption (physisorption) and thermodynamics. The large surface area afforded by the nanoporous aerogel (~1,000 m 2 /g) allows for storage densities close to, or in some cases exceeding, that of normal boiling point liquids. Its performance easily exceeds what can be achieved via ambient temperature and high-pressure gas storage for an equivalent volume. CFC storage is predicted to be easily scalable, constructed from readily available commercial materials, and lends itself to a range of pressure applications. The project team designed and manufactured the CFC, integrating it into a set of temperature-controlled flow loops. The CFC test setup was validated against existing data from previous NASA work. Tests used bottled hydrogen gas for test validation. A cryogenic fluid, nitrogen, flowed through a metered control system. Hydrogen temperature, pressure, and flow rates, as well as the temperature control targets, provided all necessary control targets. The team analyzed the recorded data and updated the Technology Maturation Plan based on the results of the test, making recommendations for a follow-up test, scale-up, and maturation pathway. For the engineering development and maturation of CFC hydrogen storage technology, a Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) and Commercialization Plan for the integration of this technology with various power generation assets were produced. A companion analytical model was developed, experimentally validated, compared against performance metric, and used to tune the model and scale up the technology.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2023

Towards a Circular Economy for PET Bottles in the US

The United States generates the most plastic waste of any country. Along with that GHG emissions from the global plastic economy are expected to increase to 15% of the global carbon budget by 2050. It is imperative that plastic recycling is made a reality to reduce both plastic pollution in the environment and GHG emissions. A portfolio of end-of-life strategies must be implemented to minimize environmental impacts and retain valuable plastic material, but it is challenging to compare options that generate products with different utility and lifetime. Plastic use reduction, reuse and recycling are thus increasingly important, but making informed policy and research decisions within this space can be challenging given the diverse range of available solutions. The novel analysis framework, Plastic Parallel Pathways Platform (4P) has been equipped with consequential life cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and a plastic circularity indicator to estimate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, circularity, and cost of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) down-cycling to lower-quality resin, closed-loop recycling to food-grade PET bottles, up-cycling to fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP), and conversion to non-plastic products (electricity, oil) on a United States economy-wide basis. Integrating system dynamics into this robust plastics model that already incorporates techno-economics, circularity, and environmental impacts will enable identification of key bottlenecks between manufacturers, waste sorters, and reclaimers that currently prevent rapid decarbonization of the plastics economy. System dynamics (SD) explore the evolution of activities and technologies based on changed macro parameters such as plastic demand and supply, market shifts, and cross-sectoral interactions. This project particularly aims to explore the interplay between, waste collection, plastic waste sorting, recycling, and manufacturing, as well as the effect of plastic bale quality and plastic reuse initiatives on the surrounding process stages. This functionality will facilitate combinatory analysis in which a portfolio of end-of-life pathways are assessed simultaneously, with the exact makeup of that portfolio affected by parameters such as technology scales, resource constraints, and waste mitigation efforts. Integrating SD with the 4P framework enables analyzing the effect of increased revenue and reinvestment into improving process efficiencies, sorting and collection quantities. Through that, market effects of increased recycled resin availability can be studied for the plastics systems model for the US. The results will help identify technical or economic bottlenecks that currently limit efforts to decarbonize the U.S. plastics economy.

circular economy↗

DOE OSTI2026

Life Cycle Inventories and Data Gap Analysis for Rare Earth Elements: Neodymium and Dysprosium from Mining to Magnets

The United States demand for Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) magnets, produced from rare earth elements (REEs) such as (Nd) and Dysprosium (Dy), far exceeds its nascent domestic production capacity, rendering it reliant on vulnerable global supply chains dominated by China. To guide research and development investments in securing U.S. REE supply, defensible benchmark metrics across environmental, economic, and social dimensions are needed. In this study, we built globally-representative, process-based cradle-to-cradle life cycle inventories for Nd and Dy in NdFeB magnets lifecycles, encompassing primary material acquisition, beneficiation, smelting and refining, metal processing, specialty alloy and chemical transformation, subcomponent manufacturing, consumer application (use phase) and end-of-life management. We carried out detailed literature review, and applied process engineering principles to build industry-representative upscaled life cycle inventories for both metals. We used these models to conduct bottom-up literature review and gap analysis on existing literature, compilation of data sources for each life cycle stage (and transformations where necessary), and a preliminary technoeconomic analysis (TEA)/life cycle costing analysis (LCCA). Findings from this work emphasize the need for metal specific, representative REE LCIs to establish robust benchmarks for advancing sustainable REE technologies and guiding R&D in REE supply chains.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Challenges and Opportunities in Decarbonizing the U.S. Energy System

The United States has pledged to develop a 100% carbon-free electric power system by 2035 and a net-zero-emissions economy by 2050. While important advancements have been made in the scale, performance, and economics of clean energy technologies, meeting the nation's ambitious goals will not only require their deployment at scale, but also additional innovation and effective integration of different solutions. Technological developments across the broad suite of low-carbon energy solutions are advancing rapidly, with ongoing innovations in renewable electricity generation, industrial processes, and energy-saving technologies and services, including LED lighting, induction heating, electric vehicles, energy storage solutions, and mobility as a service, plus smart devices, controls, and more efficient and smart buildings. Combining renewable electricity with biotic and abiotic pathways to produce chemicals, fuels, and materials promises to deliver new solutions. Grid-interactive buildings and communities, integrating transportation infrastructure and vehicles, are likely to be significant components of any zero-carbon energy strategy. Low-carbon industrial manufacturing will also make strong contributions to a net-zero economy. While the technical prospects appear promising, variations in the state of infrastructure, jurisdictional and social equity, pollution, economic and socio-cultural constraints, energy resource availability, and supply chain dynamics found in different locations present a range of challenges and demand customized solutions. This paper provides a critical review and offers new insights into the technical, infrastructure, analytic, political, and economic challenges faced in translating the nation's ambitious net-zero-emissions goals into feasible and reliable implementation action plans.

circular economy↗

DOE OSTI2023

IACMI Project 4.7: Pultruded Textile Carbon Fiber for Spar Caps (Final Report)

The primary objective of this project was to demonstrate the potential to significantly reduce the cost of wind turbine blades with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) structure. Applicability of textile carbon fibers (TCF) were evaluated for use in pultruded spar cap (SC) elements as a path to cost reduction for utility scale wind turbine blades. In earlier work for the Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), a collaboration of Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Montana State University has demonstrated potential for pultruded TCF to compete with infused fiberglass and commercially available carbon fiber pultruded sections for spar cap construction. In the design cases evaluated, the TCF sections fared well when compared on cost per unit composite stiffness and cost per unit composite compressive strength for those designs [1]. Both stiffness and compressive strength tend to be key factors in the design of blade composite Spar Cap which carry the bulk of the blade structural loads in bending. Spar Cap design tends to distribute largely symmetric tensile and compressive stresses to opposite sides of the spar structure, but since carbon fiber composite compressive strength is typically 20-50% lower than tensile strength, the compressive loading reaches failure levels well before the tensile loading. Stiffness is critical in containing the large tip deflection in high wind loading situations. However, materials and process development were very limited in the earlier study and the work in this project was expanded to make the comparative information more representative of what will be required in order to make further inroads towards implementation. Similar to that study, this project team confirmed that the primary materials of interest for pultruded spar cap elements should be thermoset (TS) resins reinforced by carbon fibers, utilizing as high a percentage of TCF as practical to benchmark cost and performance against commercial carbon fibers. To make the closest comparison possible and eliminate specific test article size, resin selection, and equipment/operational nuance effects, the team planned to pultrude sections with 100% commercially available carbon fiber (Panex 35 carbon fiber from Zoltek) as well as samples utilizing high fractions of TCF. The resin system chosen was based on formulations recommended by large wind industry supplier Hexion and consisted of Hexion resin RSL-4597, curing agent CCA-138, and internal mold release additive 117, along with common kaolin filler ASP400P from BASF. As commonly deployed in spar cap configurations, the team had a mold built to pultrude a rectangular spar cap element of 100mm width and 3mm thickness. The extremely limited number of samples produced for the earlier study were produced with a “generic” epoxy utilized for a variety of applications by the pultruder contracted to produce test articles for demonstration purposes. More importantly, those samples were produced at a fiber fraction only slightly over 50%. Based on feedback from our industrial advisory team for that project and strongly recommended by this project team, the consensus is that it is highly desirable to obtain fiber fractions of 65-68% for significant penetration in wind blade spar cap. Although this requirement has yet to be exhaustively confirmed in readily available information, this was established as a project goal and informally decided we needed to exceed 60% fiber fraction to gain serious industry consideration. Previous TCF pultrusion trials have been challenged by the lack of robust TCF packages, resulting in non-uniform tension across and between tows, as well as excess labor and waste for removal of interleaved paper. The non-uniform tension and associated intermingling of tows in textile acrylic fiber tows and associated difficulties created from broken filaments in carbon fiber conversion inhibit the ordered packing necessary to enhance fiber fraction elevation. (These “cross-overs” are not considered undesirable for textile applications and there is some sense that they might be advantageous for those applications). In addition to work that is ongoing at the acrylic fiber manufacturers to improve their formats, The Institute of Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) Project 6.12 (report PA16-0349-6.12-01) [2] has developed and demonstrated a more robust packaging and creeling approach that at least partially addresses these issues, thus improving control of the TCF feed into the pultrusion unit. It was hoped that these and other improvements currently being implemented would allow us to achieve fiber fractions at least approaching these fiber fraction targets. During this project, sections utilizing 100% commercially available carbon fiber reinforcement were produced as a baseline, as well as sections reinforced with about 94% TCF and the balance being commercially available fiber for comparison. The most important finding was that similar to results reported in the earlier WETO-funded project and results from tests of TCF reported at IACMI meetings, this work demonstrated that sections pultruded with TCF in an epoxy resin frequently utilized in actual spar cap production had stiffness and compressive strengths largely comparable to similar sections pultruded with a commercially available carbon fiber also frequently utilized in the wind industry. Although the amount of that data is limited, some of the tensile strength results were actually closer than would have been expected based on fiber strength results provided by the TCF and commercial fiber producers. The actual test data are reported and discussed in detail in Section 5. The pultruded sections dominated by TCF reinforcement were approximately 8-10% lower in fiber fraction than for the sections produced using commercial fiber alone, making direct comparison difficult. The COVID-19 project has provided significant insight into the current state-of-the-art with various TCF product forms. The data obtained in this project will guide the planned improvements at the precursor level, especially in attaining uniform tensioning and payout to facilitate enhanced fiber fractions and overall processability of the TCF composites. The project team is providing guidance to stakeholders concerning the attributes, needs, and potential demand for TCF in wind blade spar caps. Results achieved in this project are consistent with findings in the related work cited [1] and support this guidance and the high potential for this product type. TCF precursor-producing partners continue to express interest in enhancing their product forms and the team looks forward to working with these improved materials as they become available.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2023

Environmental and Economic Implications of Emerging Plastic Recycling Technologies

Recycling will play a crucial role in mitigating plastic pollution and promoting a circular economy for polymers. Quantitative analysis can help guide the optimization and implementation of these plastic management strategies, enabling increased circularity while minimizing costs, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental impacts. This talk will outline the Bio-Optimized Technologies to keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE) Consortium's approach to analysis-guided plastic recycling research. Stringent process modelling, life cycle assessment, and techno-economic analysis are used to benchmark the technical feasibility, environmental impacts, and costs of chemical and biological recycling technologies in comparison to conventional fossil fuel-based plastic manufacturing. Across emerging recycling strategies, several key challenges become apparent - including plastic feedstock pretreatment requirements, high energy or chemical use, and recycled plastic yields and quality - highlighting opportunities for future innovation. Through this consistent and in-depth analysis approach, BOTTLE aims to provide the plastics community with key metrics and insights to drive plastic recycling innovation towards a more sustainable and circular economy.

circular economy↗

DOE OSTI2024

Investigation of Ammonia Carrier Materials for Next Generation Ammonia Dosing System - CRADA 334 (Abstract)

Lean-burn gasoline and diesel engines can offer substantially higher fuel efficiency, good driving performance, and reduced carbon dioxide emission compared to stoichiometric gasoline engines. Various catalyst technologies have been developed to remove the pollutants from these engines. For example, a three-way catalyst (TWC) is used to remove hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from gasoline engines during the stoichiometric conditions. During the lean-burn conditions, a TWC or a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) is used to control HC and CO emissions. NOx is removed by either lean NOx trap catalyst (LNT) that can store NOx under lean conditions and reduce NOx under rich conditions, or selective catalytic reduction catalyst (SCR) that can selectively remove NOx with a reducing agent. Among the NOx reduction catalyst technologies, SCR offers a number of advantages, including excellent NOx reduction efficiency over a wide range of temperatures and overall lower system cost. In fact, the SCR technology using ammonia (NH3) as reductant has been proven effective and used commercially for the removal of NOx emissions from stationary sources since the 1970s. Currently, SCR is being used to meet the NOx emission standards for diesel engines in Europe and North America, and also being considered for meeting the future NOx emission standards for lean-burn gasoline engines. Because of the challenges associated with storage, handling and transportation of ammonia on a vehicle, aqueous urea solution (e.g., Diesel Exhaust Fluid, AdBlue) has been developed as ammonia storage compound for mobile applications. When the aqueous urea solution is sprayed into exhaust gas stream, urea is decomposed to release ammonia, which then reduces NOx over the downstream SCR catalyst. Although aqueous urea solution technology has enabled automakers and engine manufacturers to meet the current NOx emission standards, this process of releasing ammonia requires a hot exhaust gas and sufficient mixing, creating challenges for low temperature NOx emission control and aftertreatment system packaging. For these reasons, alternative technologies have been developed as ammonia sources (e.g., solid urea, ammonium carbamate, metal ammine chloride) during the past few years. These technologies promise more convenient handling and distribution of ammonia sources, and help maximize the low-temperature performance of SCR catalysts and reduce the overall system volume and weight. However, none of these alternative technologies can be successfully implemented without the industry consensus. Therefore, the USCAR SCR work group, which is comprised of representatives from GM, Ford, and Chrysler, has decided to investigate the potential alternative ammonia carriers, define common standard vehicle interfaces, and address personal and environmental safety concerns with part suppliers and chemical companies. Under this CRADA Project, USCAR and Battelle will investigate alternative ammonia carrier materials that are currently under development. Based on the data and information derived under the CRADA project, the USCAR SCR work group plans to build the consensus and make recommendations for the industry.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2024

Investigation of Ammonia Carrier Materials for Next Generation Ammonia Dosing System - CRADA 334 (Abstract)

Lean-burn gasoline and diesel engines can offer substantially higher fuel efficiency, good driving performance, and reduced carbon dioxide emission compared to stoichiometric gasoline engines. Various catalyst technologies have been developed to remove the pollutants from these engines. For example, a three-way catalyst (TWC) is used to remove hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from gasoline engines during the stoichiometric conditions. During the lean-burn conditions, a TWC or a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) is used to control HC and CO emissions. NOx is removed by either lean NOx trap catalyst (LNT) that can store NOx under lean conditions and reduce NOx under rich conditions, or selective catalytic reduction catalyst (SCR) that can selectively remove NOx with a reducing agent. Among the NOx reduction catalyst technologies, SCR offers a number of advantages, including excellent NOx reduction efficiency over a wide range of temperatures and overall lower system cost. In fact, the SCR technology using ammonia (NH3) as reductant has been proven effective and used commercially for the removal of NOx emissions from stationary sources since the 1970s. Currently, SCR is being used to meet the NOx emission standards for diesel engines in Europe and North America, and also being considered for meeting the future NOx emission standards for lean-burn gasoline engines. Because of the challenges associated with storage, handling and transportation of ammonia on a vehicle, aqueous urea solution (e.g., Diesel Exhaust Fluid, AdBlue) has been developed as ammonia storage compound for mobile applications. When the aqueous urea solution is sprayed into exhaust gas stream, urea is decomposed to release ammonia, which then reduces NOx over the downstream SCR catalyst. Although aqueous urea solution technology has enabled automakers and engine manufacturers to meet the current NOx emission standards, this process of releasing ammonia requires a hot exhaust gas and sufficient mixing, creating challenges for low temperature NOx emission control and aftertreatment system packaging. For these reasons, alternative technologies have been developed as ammonia sources (e.g., solid urea, ammonium carbamate, metal ammine chloride) during the past few years. These technologies promise more convenient handling and distribution of ammonia sources, and help maximize the low-temperature performance of SCR catalysts and reduce the overall system volume and weight. However, none of these alternative technologies can be successfully implemented without the industry consensus. Therefore, the USCAR SCR work group, which is comprised of representatives from GM, Ford, and Chrysler, has decided to investigate the potential alternative ammonia carriers, define common standard vehicle interfaces, and address personal and environmental safety concerns with part suppliers and chemical companies. Under this CRADA Project, USCAR and Battelle will investigate alternative ammonia carrier materials that are currently under development. Based on the data and information derived under the CRADA project, the USCAR SCR work group plans to build the consensus and make recommendations for the industry.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2026

Cost estimation of balance of plant equipment scale up for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer systems

Water electrolyzers that use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen could be a key technology for increasing hydrogen supply to meet expanded and emerging market applications, although currently the capital costs of these electrolyzers are high. Here we examine cost reductions that might be achieved by scaling up proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer systems and leveraging economies of scale through balance of plant (BOP) components for system sizes between 1 MW and 1 GW. We estimate BOP equipment capital costs of about $\$$848/kW at 1 MW, potentially decreasing to $\$$87/kW at 1 GW (2022-dollar year basis) with most of the cost reduction happening as systems scale from 1 MW to 100 MW. We find that BOP subsystems hydrogen drying and water knockout benefited the most from economies-of-scale cost reductions, and piping, instrumentation, and housing and power electronics were less impacted. These cost reductions from economies of scale could be more significant than estimated cost reductions from manufacturing scale-up reported in literature. These results add to the knowledge base that could guide optimal system designs that balance process scale-up with plant modularization and numbering-up. We also estimate that scaling up BOP could potentially lower the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) by $\$$1.7-$\$$4.6/kg, depending on the scale-up magnitude and the plant capacity factor.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2022

Technoeconomic Analysis of High-Value, Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Module Recycling Processes

Recycling is an important circular economy strategy, and for photovoltaics (PV), the one that has received the greatest research attention. Recycling of PV modules is required in Europe; everywhere else it competes in the market of end-of-life options, where cost is a primary decision factor. The vast majority of PV modules sold globally are crystalline-silicon (c-Si); most of the rest of the market are cadmium telluride thin film modules whose primary manufacturer runs its own commercial-scale recycling program. While many different c-Si recycling approaches and technologies have been proposed, they generally lack accompanying cost estimates or enough process information to model costs. Herein we develop detailed estimates of seven categories of capital and operating costs along with estimates of revenue from recovered materials for each step in two proposed recycling processes for c-Si PV modules. Using these results, we develop a hypothetical third recycling process merging process steps from the original two, estimate surcharges required to achieve minimum sustainable prices for each recycling process, as well as consider how economies of scale could reduce costs. Increasing the purity of and identifying higher-value markets for recovered materials are approaches to reducing costs and increasing recycling rates in voluntary markets.

crystalline silicon↗

DOE OSTI2024

Improved Manufacturability and Throughput of Ultra- Transparent, Super-Insulating Aerogels

AeroShield Materials produces a novel silica aerogel material with exemplary thermal performance and unprecedented optical clarity, offering the potential for super-insulating fenestration and insulated glass to reduce thermal losses in the built environment by billions of dollars every year. One of the most significant challenges facing AeroShield today is the total amount of time that is required to produce large monolithic aerogel samples. This overall process can require as much as 144 hours total, which can significantly hinder scale-up to an economically viable product. The purpose of this Phase 1 research was to continue development of our novel aerogel manufacturing process to reduce material processing time by up to 10x, greatly improving product throughput and reducing cost. AeroShield’s manufacturing process can be divided into 4 major stages, each with their own distinct set of parameters and time requirements. Under this Phase 1 award, AeroShield was able to identify and optimize a number of these parameters, including molding materials, solvent rinse conditions, critical point drying time, and annealing conditions. AeroShield also performed thorough analyses on how these optimized parameters affected important final characteristics of the gels, including optical clarity, thermal conductivity, and dimensional stability. This campaign culminated in the production of laboratory scale aerogel samples using significantly lower process times of both 36 and 18 total hours, which represent Phase 1 Target and Stretch goals. In order to achieve widespread market adoption, monolithic sheets of the aerogel material must be made to industry-standard sizes (8’ x 12’) at a cost that provides 5-7 year or less breakeven energy savings for consumers (<$2 sq/ft). The work performed under this Phase 1 award shows that time and materials required to make aerogel samples, which make up a significant portion of their overall cost, can be greatly reduced without sacrificing quality. AeroShield plans to use these optimized processes to produce larger, product-relevant sized aerogels in order to achieve target final material costs.

Wilke, Kyle↗

DOE OSTI2021

Renewable Energy for Industrial Environmental Management

Costs for renewable energy technologies have declined rapidly in the past decade and their use for residential, commercial, and utility scale electricity has grown exponentially as they become cost competitive. Simultaneously, industrial and manufacturing processes have been increasingly seeking ways to reduce emissions and operational costs in highly competitive sectors. With these combined drivers of lower cost and reduced environmental impact, renewable energy may become a viable energy provider for industrial processes such as oil and gas, mining, chemical refining, food production, and manufacturing. Renewable energy technologies may also partner with other reduced emission energy sources, such as small modular nuclear reactors and carbon capture and utilization, to create cleaner and circular industrial systems for reduced resource use. The Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA), which is a partnership of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and five universities and others, has been studying to potential for application of clean energy technologies to the heterogenous energy demands in industry. Dr. Jill Engel-Cox will present an overview of NREL and JISEA, the status and potential future of renewable energy technologies, and collaborations with the oil and gas industry and other industrial sectors to improve their environmental performance and reduce operational costs.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Exploring New Ways to Classify Industries for Energy Analysis and Modeling

As the US moves closer to embracing a net zero greenhouse gas emissions position, combustion processes outside the power sector are becoming urgent concerns. Industry is an important end user of energy and relies on fossil fuels used directly for process heating and as feedstocks for a diverse range of applications. Fuel and energy use by industry is heterogeneous, meaning that even a single product group can vary broadly in its production routes and associated energy usage. In the US, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) serves as the basis for data collection and reporting. In turn, data based on NAICS is the foundation of most US energy modeling. Thus, the effectiveness of NAICS at representing energy use is a limiting condition for plans to improve energy efficiency and alternatives to fossil fuels in industry. Facility-level data to build more detail into heterogeneous sectors is scarce. This work explores alternative classification schemes for industry based on energy use characteristics, and provides a validation of an approach to make facility-level energy use estimates based on publicly available data from the greenhouse gas reporting program. First, several approaches to industrial taxonomies and their usefulness for industrial energy modeling are summarized. Data from Industrial Assessment Centers is analyzed using unsupervised machine learning techniques to detect clusters. Cladistics, an approach from biology, is adapted to energy and process characteristics of industries. A cladogram is presented for evolutionary directions in the iron and steel sector. Cladograms are a promising tool for constructing scenarios and summarizing directions of sectoral innovation. Finally, validation is performed for facility-level energy estimates from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. This validation assists in making this data source available for use in energy modeling. Together, this work explores alternative approaches for categorizing industries in a way that aids understanding energy use, and presenting pathways for the future.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Public Reference Data for Megawatt-Scale Hydrogen Electrolysis - NLR Historical Solar PV

The U.S. Department of Energy and National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) demonstrate hydrogen electrolysis from variable sources, hydrogen compression and storage, and hydrogen fuel cell power production using megawatt-scale equipment at NLR’s Flatirons Campus as part of the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) research platform. This dataset represents part of that effort and is intended for academic, national laboratory, industrial, and other stakeholders to plan, design, and validate models of megawatt-scale hydrogen technologies and diverse energy infrastructure nationwide. These data provide a baseline for how existing hydrogen electrolysis technologies perform when coupled with various energy technologies. Future datasets will demonstrate how existing hydrogen fuel cell technologies can provide controllable, dispatchable, and variable power output for artificial intelligence data centers and other variable loads. This dataset entry describes the behavior of a 1.25-MW proton exchange membrane MC250 electrolyzer system, manufactured by Nel Hydrogen , [1] when fed historical data generated by the 430-kW, fixed-axis solar photovoltaic (PV) array located at NLR’s Flatirons Campus. (While the electrolyzer balance of plant supports up to 2.5 MW of electrolysis, NLR only has a single 1.25-MW electrolysis stack.) Solar PV power output data for the 2020 calendar year were categorized on a daily basis by total energy generation and standard deviation. Each day was then ranked by these metrics, and the 25th, 50th, and 100th percentiles were selected. The 75th percentile day did not exhibit sufficient variability to make for a valuable experiment. A similar process was used for the related historical wind dataset . [2] The historical days in 2020 that represented these percentiles are Dec. 19, March 29, and May 4, respectively. The entire solar day’s power profile was then fed through the MC250 electrolyzer. Due to its length, the 100th percentile day experiment was split into two parts, and the final 3 hours of the solar day were not captured. These final 3 hours contained no spikes or dips of interest and simply represented a slow decay of input solar power. Also, a single timestamp (13:13:47 on Jan. 14, 2026) was lost in the hydrogen system supervisory control and data acquisition. Finally, during the 25th percentile experiment (solar day Dec. 19, 2020) data recording was lost from 11:00:13 to 11:14:45. The roughly 15 minutes of the solar profile were rerun at the end of the experiment and spliced into this time slot during post-processing. The electrolysis system controls hydrogen production by varying direct current applied to the stack, from a maximum of 3,000 A to a minimum safe operation of 300 A, or 10%. Because the current–voltage characteristic changes as the stack ages and efficiency degrades, the actual minimum safe operating power changes over time. The historical solar profiles were translated from power (kilowatts) to current (amperes) using a curve fit with calibration data and sent to the electrolyzer power supply at 1-Hz frequency. For more details on the statistical analysis process, see the slide deck “Public Reference Data for Megawatt-Scale Hydrogen Electrolysis: NLR Historical Solar PV Analysis and Profile Generation” accessible with this data entry. These datasets report relevant hydrogen balance-of-plant and system data, all captured at 1 Hz, including hydrogen mass production measured with an Emerson Coriolis flow meter. Each .zip file represents a single solar PV electrolysis experiment and is formatted as: {technology}_{percentile}_{scaling factor} For instance, “solarPV-430kW_25_2x.zip” reports the experiment using the 25th percentile solar data from the historical 2020 solar PV dataset, scaled to 200%. Scaling factors were applied to the generated solar PV power output files to more closely match the 1.25-MW capacity of the electrolyzer. Each .zip folder contains the following files: A .csv file containing raw data. An .xlsx file explaining all the fields in the raw data. A .png plot showing the time series of hydrogen production, electrolysis power consumption, and solar power input. A PDF file detailing the historical solar data statistical analysis used to generate the solar profile. An experiment labeled “characterization_200.zip” demonstrates the MC250 electrolyzer steady-state response with 30-minute load steps for a total duration of 5 hours. Finally, a .csv file is provided with all experiments combined into one dataset labeled "combined_solarPV_experiments.csv". [1] nelhydrogen.com/product/mc-series-electrolyser . [2] data.nlr.gov/submissions/316 .

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2022

Mapping the Opportunity Space to Model the Circular Economy Using Tools Funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

An increasing rate of material consumption and a growing population mean that the Earth's supply of natural resources is witnessing an unsustainable and unprecedented demand. This forces us to find solutions that ensure the availability of resources for sustenance of our society in the years to come. Actors from various backgrounds are addressing these challenges from their own perspectives: engineers are developing efficient manufacturing processes, designers are creating lightweight and durable products, educators are incorporating sustainable thinking in their curricula, policymakers are finding interdisciplinary solutions that benefit society at large, etc. Circular economy (CE) is one such approach to resource use that aims to move away from the linear material use framework of "take-make-waste" to a more circular and interdependent system where product, material and resource use is maximized to avoid unnecessary social, economic, and environmental costs. The purpose of this report is to explain how to approach evaluating the circular economy and to help researchers identify existing tools that can be used or that can serve as starting points for their research needs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Energy efficiency for the growing South Carolina manufacturing industries. Final Report

The overall goals of the proposed project were to establish a DOE Industrial Assessment Center with Clemson University as the main center and to cement the Clemson IAC as the "go to" resource for energy efficiency expertise and assistance to manufacturing businesses in the state of South Carolina. The Clemson IAC included a satellite support center through partnership with the SCE&G Energy Innovation Center at the Clemson University Restoration Institute (CURI) in North Charleston, SC. The Clemson IAC was the first IAC based in the state with the goal to serve the entire state. The Clemson IAC provided SMEs with no-cost energy assessments, trained the next generation of energy-savvy engineers, and provided outreach to non-participating SMEs. Project objectives were structured into five 12-month Budget Periods. In the first Budget Period, the primary objective was to establish methods and materials for Clemson IAC assessments, training, and outreach. In the remaining Budget Periods, the primary objectives were to perform assessments, train students, and pursue outreach to hard-to-reach SMEs that did not participate in energy assessments. Expected outcomes in the first Budget Period included the development of standard procedures for performing energy assessments, including data acquisition, processing, and communication both within the team and in assessment reports prepared for SMEs. Outcomes related to student training in the first Budget Period included detailed curriculum and internship plans for students pursuing the DOE IAC Certificate and energy-related Clemson University certificates. Outcomes in the first Budget Period also included the development of outreach materials and plans for outreach events. In Budget Periods 2 through 5, major expected outcomes are trained students and completed energy assessments and reports for SMEs. Decision points and Go-No Go criteria for the end of each Budget Period, presented in more detail below, are based on the number of students in training and the number of energy assessments performed.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗