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An inspired approach to plastics removal and reuse, the Waterborne Plastics Assessment and Collection Technologies (WaterPACT) project is working to develop technology solutions for plastics in U.S. waterways.
Sandia’s Electric Grid Security program advances a national vision of a secure, resilient, and affordable electric system for all users. Our achievements reflect a strategic approach combining technology development; modeling, simulation, and data analytics; and partnered demonstrations and outreach to further the adoption of advanced grid and storage technologies. Our FY24 efforts leverage the strengths of our partnerships—spanning Sandia’s core science and technology competencies as well as external technology leaders—to develop the solutions today which enable the grid of tomorrow. Key accomplishments in this report that support our strategy span our technical program areas and include: • The advancement of energy storage technologies, including creation of a national Long Duration Energy Storage Consortium; • Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhanced grid operations and planning; • Development of solid-state power conversion technologies and a new medium-voltage research lab; • New technologies to assess wildfire vulnerabilities and mitigate potential impacts; • Advanced applications of new cybersecurity technologies with industry partners; • Contributions to understanding the impacts of electromagnetic pulses and geomagnetic disturbances on grid components; and • Digital twin development for hybrid microgrids with multiple generators, storage, and loads.
Comparisons of emerging carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies with equivalent incumbent technologies are necessary to support technology developers and to help policy-makers design appropriate long-term incentives to mitigate climate change through the deployment of CCU. In particular, early-stage CCU technologies must prove their economic viability and environmental reduction potential compared to already-deployed technologies. These comparisons can be misleading, as emerging technologies typically experience a drastic increase in performance and decrease in cost and greenhouse gas emissions as they develop from research to mass-market deployment due to various forms of learning. These changes complicate the interpretation of early techno-economic assessments (TEAs) and life cycle assessments (LCAs) of emerging CCU technologies. The effects of learning over time or cumulative production themselves can be quantitatively described using technology learning curves (TLCs). While learning curve approaches have been developed for various technologies, a harmonized methodology for using TLCs in TEA and LCA for CCU in particular is required. To address this, we describe a methodology that incorporates TLCs into TEA and LCA to forecast the environmental and economic performance of emerging CCU technologies. This methodology is based on both an evaluation of the state of the art of learning curve assessment and a literature review of TLC approaches developed in various manufacturing and energy generation sectors. Additionally, we demonstrate how to implement this methodology using a case study on a CO 2 mineralization pathway. Finally, commentary is provided on how researchers, technology developers, and LCA and TEA practitioners can advance the use of TLCs to allow for consistent, high-resolution modeling of technological learning for CCU going forward and enable holistic assessments and fairer comparisons with other climate technologies.
The overall vision pursued under the project would ultimately enable capability for real-time operational monitoring of natural gas (and other) pipeline infrastructures through the combination of in-situ repair and rehabilitation methods with embedded fiber optic sensing and associated data analytics methods and platform tools. Benefits to the public include more resilient and robust natural gas pipeline infrastructures with the potential to expand the applications of developed technologies under the program to other important areas of critical energy infrastructure in the future such as H2 pipelines and infrastructure, municipal and other civil infrastructure, as well as subsurface oil, gas, and geothermal infrastructure applications. The program has successfully demonstrated feasibility for all of the critical enabling elements and serves as a foundation for future technology maturation, deployment, and customization for other potential applications and high-priority needs into the future. Several underlying innovations have shown potential for commercial deployment and are the subject of continued development and technology transfer based upon patents submitted during the project duration.
Molecular biology methods and technologies have advanced substantially over the past decade. These new molecular methods should be incorporated among the standard tools of planetary protection (PP) and could be validated for incorporation by 2026. To address the feasibility of applying modern molecular techniques to such an application, NASA conducted a technology workshop with private industry partners, academics, and government agency stakeholders, along with NASA staff and contractors. The technical discussions and presentations of the Multi-Mission Metagenomics Technology Development Workshop focused on modernizing and supplementing the current PP assays. The goals of the workshop were to assess the state of metagenomics and other advanced molecular techniques in the context of providing a validated framework to supplement the bacterial endospore-based NASA Standard Assay and to identify knowledge and technology gaps. In particular, workshop participants were tasked with discussing metagenomics as a stand-alone technology to provide rapid and comprehensive analysis of total nucleic acids and viable microorganisms on spacecraft surfaces, thereby allowing for the development of tailored and cost-effective microbial reduction plans for each hardware item on a spacecraft. Workshop participants recommended metagenomics approaches as the only data source that can adequately feed into quantitative microbial risk assessment models for evaluating the risk of forward (exploring extraterrestrial planet) and back (Earth harmful biological) contamination. Participants were unanimous that a metagenomics workflow, in tandem with rapid targeted quantitative (digital) PCR, represents a revolutionary advance over existing methods for the assessment of microbial bioburden on spacecraft surfaces. The workshop highlighted low biomass sampling, reagent contamination, and inconsistent bioinformatics data analysis as key areas for technology development. Finally, it was concluded that implementing metagenomics as an additional workflow for addressing concerns of NASA's robotic mission will represent a dramatic improvement in technology advancement for PP and will benefit future missions where mission success is affected by backward and forward contamination.
Heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) offer an efficient alternative to electric resistance water heaters, but they suffer from limited market penetration. This paper reviews the current state of HPWHs in the USA, focusing on technology developments and programs to increase adoption. What technological improvements are needed to make HPWHs a good fit in more homes? Additionally, what are the best ways of promoting HPWHs to consumers? Improved communication and controls will allow HPWHs to provide demand response and follow dynamic utility rates. To enable fuel-switching, HPWHs are being developed that only need a standard 120V outlet. Split HPWHs can alleviate the cooling and noise that limit the use of HPWHs in small homes, multifamily buildings, and cold climates. Additionally, new utility programs aim to train installers and provide incentives to distributors to increase the number of HPWHs installed. Some utilities offer novel incentive programs that have led to increased customer uptake. Those advances, coupled with improved controls for load shifting and new products such as split HPWHs and HPWHs that can run on 120V power, may finally move the market forward.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) sponsors a crosscutting technology development (CTD) program addressing common instrumentation & controls (I&C) needs in all DOE-NE sponsored programs. In 2012, DOE-NE initiated the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technology (NEET) Program to conduct research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in crosscutting technologies that directly support and enable the development of existing, new and advanced reactor designs, and fuel cycle technologies. These technologies will advance the state of nuclear technology, improve its competitiveness, and promote continued contribution to meeting our Nation’s energy and environmental challenges. The NEET Program has spurred innovation in the field of sensors and instrumentation, advanced methods for manufacturing, and cyber security. The Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) program is one element of the NEET CTD that has spurred innovation in the measurement science field by funding research on sensors, instrumentation and controls, communication, and advanced analytics that measure system parameters, gauge component control input, and provide power plant owners and operators critical awareness so they can plan and safely manage operational evolutions. The NEET ASI Program has carried out research and development (R&D) required to develop and deploy innovative and advanced sensors, and instrumentation and control capabilities for current and future nuclear energy systems, and to enable the advanced technologies essential to NE’s R&D efforts needed to realize mission goals. The concept of technology readiness assessment is helpful for the classification of instrumentation technology as part of the program strategy. A technology readiness assessment evaluates technology maturity using the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale and was pioneered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the 1980s for space technology. It has recently been adopted to advance fuels and materials. The NEET ASI program objective is to mature instruments technology to TRL 6, which is “demonstration of the technology in relevant environment.” While there may be instances in which a different strategy is justified, the aim of the program is to respond to DOE program and stakeholder needs for nuclear instrumentation then hand off the technology after demonstration for integration in a more complex system, for example an irradiation test, experimental loop or a plant component such as the core, primary system or heat exchanger. A mechanism to continue some level of support from NEET ASI during and after the adoption (for example, to maintain fabrication and calibration capabilities) will be defined as the first example of technology hand off comes to fruition. In addition, several paths exist within DOE to complement NEET ASI activities to extend the maturity beyond TRL, for example through GAIN, technology commercialization funding, and small-business programs. Role of NEET ASI CINR projects in the TRL space, and integration with direct funded demonstration.
In-situ observation has expanded the application of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and has made a significant contribution to materials research and development for energy, biomedical, quantum, etc. Recent technological developments related to in-situ TEM have empowered the incorporation of three-dimensional observation, which was previously considered incompatible. In this review article, we take up heating as the most commonly used external stimulus for in-situ TEM observation and overview recent in-situ TEM studies. Then, we focus on the electron tomography (ET) and in-situ heating combined observation by introducing the authors’ recent research as an example. Assuming that in-situ heating observation is expanded from two dimensions to three dimensions using a conventional TEM apparatus and a commercially available in-situ heating specimen holder, the following in-situ heating-and-ET observation procedure is proposed: (i) use a rapid heating-and-cooling function of a micro-electro-mechanical system holder; (ii) heat and cool the specimen intermittently and (iii) acquire a tilt-series dataset when the specimen heating is stopped. This procedure is not too technically challenging and can have a wide range of applications. Essential technical points for a successful 4D (space and time) observation will be discussed through reviewing the authors’ example application.
The Idaho National Laboratory (INL), through its designated mission of advancing innovative nuclear energy solutions, is actively engaged in the research, development, demonstration and deployment of advanced nuclear technology. Key to the success of INL’s mission is the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC), the only complex in the U.S. that hosts a world-class assemblage of facilities, capabilities and instruments for handling, testing, and characterizing nuclear fuel and radioactive materials. Driven by its mission/vision of “Engineering and Experiments that Drive the World’s Nuclear Energy Future,” MFC is at the center of INL’s – and indeed the Department of Energy’s – advanced nuclear technology development initiatives, providing essential capabilities such as research-scale high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel production, reactor demonstration facilities, post-irradiation examination, and transient irradiation testing. Furthermore, MFC provides an ideal environment for test beds that are utilized for research, development and demonstration (RD&D) activities on used fuel treatment, nuclear non-proliferation, forensics, and nuclear power sources used for space exploration missions conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Wave-SPARC is empowering the marine energy community with the tools necessary to achieve a significant improvement in techno-economic performance of wave generated grid power. A detailed systems engineering approach simultaneously balances around 100 cost and performance drivers (functional requirements and capabilities) of wave energy converters (WECs). Publicly accessible technology innovation and assessment methods and tools (new to the wave energy sector) have been delivered. They guide technology development trajectories to successful outcomes in less time, at less overall cost, and with less encountered risk. Through the use of these methods and tools along with proven structured inventive techniques the project continues to deliver high potential novel wave energy technology concepts for validation and subsequent development by industry. The intended outcomes are: (1) Invention, assessment, identification, verification and validation of novel and high techno-economic-potential WEC technology concepts to deliver high-confidence "seeds" for subsequent industrial development to full commercial application and economic viability (2) Development and delivery of WEC technology innovation and assessment methodologies and tools and provision of these as services and for free use by industry and the entire sector (3) International collaboration for global best practice alignment of assessment and innovation methods.
Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) is an in-space propulsion technology capable of both high specific impulse (850–1000 s) and thrust (44–1112 kN), which can help reduce trip times for crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit. NTP technology has been demonstrated during historic programs. Over 20 ground test reactor experiments were performed, which demonstrated the prototypic reactor operations, during the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA)/Rover program (1955–1972). Although historical programs have shown that NTP is a viable in-space propulsion technology, developing NTP in modern programs is contingent on the development and qualification of ultrahigh-temperature nuclear fuel technologies that can withstand engine operating conditions. In historical NTP development programs such as NERVA/Rover, prototypic reactor/engine schemes were ground tested to assess the overall system feasibility and to qualify the reactor fuel forms for eventual flight systems. Although this approach is effective to verify fuel performance under prototypic conditions, relying solely on full-scale NTP reactor tests as the pathway for verifying or qualifying fuel is inefficient and cost prohibitive today. Additionally, modern nuclear licensing requirements state that before test reactor approval, reactor components and fuel elements should be qualified via non-nuclear (out-of-pile) and nuclear (in-pile) testing under representative operating conditions. Using this methodology, fuel matures as production scale fabrication methods are established, and as produced fuel performance is demonstrated. Here, this paper provides an overview of historical approaches to NTP fuel performance maturation, including fuel screening and qualification needs, and provides insight for establishing an efficient testing paradigm that can be implemented to rapidly and affordably develop NTP fuel forms for eventual qualification.
Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are an attractive advanced reactor technology because of their increased fuel utilization and efficiency, the ease of fueling, and the potential to use alternative fuel cycles, including thorium and breeder/burner scenarios. Since an MSR has never been domestically operated for commercial electricity production, minimal infrastructure exists to support performance and materials testing, reactor licensing (including research, test, and operating reactors), and technology development in general. These factors could present challenges for the commercialization of the proposed design technology. Several research and development efforts and investments have begun to identify and supplement the infrastructure to accommodate the molten salt concept, including the United States Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Molten Salt Reactor Program. This report reviews safeguards technology and domestic infrastructure to support the evaluation of nuclear safeguards (primarily material control and accounting) measures and approaches for salt-fueled MSRs. Recommendations for potential priority infrastructure investments, including safeguards measurement test beds and future research, are presented.
This project aimed to develop technologies that can potentially enable free-standing thin (<80 μm) wafer in today’s manufacturing lines with high production yield, and thereby reduce capex barriers of silicon photovoltaics cells and modules. One of the major benefits is that thin wafer dramatically reduces the amount of polysilicon required. As a result, it can lead to reduction in the capital expenditures associated with polysilicon refining and wafer fabrication, which together are more than half of the total capital expenditure to manufacture Si PV module. We focused our efforts on developing the tools needed to enable high yield fabrication of wafer, cell, and module with thin silicon wafers. However, as the wafer thickness reduces, the major challenge is that wafer breakage increases significantly. Three technological areas were explored in this project to improve the production yield of the silicon wafer, namely detection of edge cracks via dark-field near-infrared (NIR) scattering; (2) wafer handling using controlled temperature profiles; (3) manufacturable low-stress cell interconnection for multiwire. First, the formation of wafer cracks in submillimeter length is one of the reasons that causes wafer breakages. Crack detection tools are needed to enable us to locate and track the wafer crack during manufacturing, so that we can improve the process to reduce initialization. The state-of-the-art crack detection technique cannot fulfill the need for measuring submillimeter edge cracks detrimental for thin wafers. The prototype developed in this project demonstrates the scanning of microcracks near wafer edges. With a semi-automatic laboratory setup, the submillimeter cracks were reliably detected near the edges in multi-Si wafers. The smallest detectable crack is 200 µm in length in slow scans; and submillimeter cracks are detected in high-throughput scans at the scan speed of >0.5 m/s, which is compatible with the inline detection of a manufacturing line at least 1 sec/wafer. This detection limit is a significant advancement in comparison to the benchmarked industrial tool. Second, wafer handling with the well-controlled temperature profile was thought to be the solution to reduce crack initiation and propagation during the manufacturing. However, without crack detection being widely adopted in production line, we did not find a strong industrial pull toward this technology. We did an initial literature survey and then diverted our efforts to the other tasks. Third, the innovation on low-stress multi-wire interconnection tackles a fundamental problem in the standard interconnection scheme. The standard over-under “zig-zag” interconnection induces a significant amount of stress into the soldering point on the cell whenever PV module is under stress, e.g., thermal cycling, transportation, and installation. Therefore, the interconnection process was re-designed in this project to allow for significant movement between adjacent solar cells, e.g., due to thermal expansion, without building up stresses on the solar cells or solder joints. The new interconnection method with the cross-connect wire also simplifies the tabbing and stringing process by replacing the standard over-under method with an off-cell interconnect from top to bottom. A manual tabbing and stringing tool for this new process was prototyped in the lab to demonstrate the fabrication of this new interconnection design. During the test with brass sheets as our “testing cells”, it was found that the mechanical cycling test only broke the interconnection after more than 50,000 cycles, which is equivalent to more than 130 years of the day-and-night thermal cycles. Lastly, throughout the project, we continuously analyzed the PV market with techno-economic analysis to identify the opportunity for thin Si adoption. Even though the drastic cost reduction has already happened in the past five years, our analysis results indicated that we can still save quite significantly in both manufacturing cost and factory capex, Particularly, in order to grow the PV manufacturing capacity to multi-terawatt level, reducing the thickness of silicon wafer is one of the most effective ways to quickly reduce factory capex, and sustain the high growth rate. The technologies developed in this project are readily available to provide some assistances in tackling the production yield problem.
CinderBio’s vision is to harness three billion years of biology to transform many industrial practices into sustainable processes with superior performance. Environments such as volcanic hot springs have evolved extremophilic microbes and enzymes that are naturally heat and acid stable. CinderBio was founded based on technologies developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Our core technologies are the molecular tools and know how to efficiently express extremophilic genes in an extremophilic host such that they retain their natural heat and acid stability. During this project, we tested our enzymes at the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Development Unit (ABPDU), automated our fermentation and downstream processing, and built a comprehensive technoeconomic assessment (TEA) model for our manufacturing costs.
We consider capacity addition decisions by a new product manufacturer faced with uncertain technology alternatives. The manufacturing capacity addition and technology development occurs in parallel, with preliminary results from a technology project's success providing valuable information to the manufacturer in adding capacity. We solve a stochastic dynamic program with Bayesian updates to obtain the manufacturer's expected profit‐maximizing capacity investment decision. Our model and applications are motivated by the Critical Materials Institute (CMI) (funded by the Department of Energy), which manages research projects focused on mitigating critical material constraints, vital to renewable energy technologies such as direct‐drive wind turbines, electric vehicles, and energy‐efficient lighting. We capture three unique aspects of the problem: first, the learning from project progress depends on task‐based stochastic outcomes and a project's percent‐done. Second, the underlying technology's profitability is based on a model of competition. Third, we evaluate the impact of progress across a portfolio of projects based on a manufacturer's capacity addition. We develop a heuristic that produces results that are close to optimal and can thus be used for large problem sizes. The managerial insights from an application of our model to CMI projects include: (i) technology projects that report the percent‐done of a project earlier increase expected manufacturer profit; (ii) careful choice of “safe bets,” that is, technologies with low profitability but a high probability of success, can increase expected manufacturer profit; (iii) a portfolio of projects can increase profits significantly over separate project evaluation; and (iv) dynamic management of project resources can increase overall profit.
Mitigating carbon emissions in the current energy system will require fundamental changes of both the energy supply and the energy demand sectors. Previous global model-based analyses, however, have focused mostly on energy supply transformations, while the energy demand sector changes are less well understood. In this study, this knowledge gap is addressed by analysing in detail the projected future energy demand projections, and the required demand-side changes to reach stringent mitigation targets using a suite of integrated assessment models. We examine industry, transport and buildings sector pathways across four models and three different reference scenarios from the Shared-Socioeconomic Pathway framework which is used as a set of common future perspectives by the climate research community. The demand side mitigation efforts are compared to a more detailed, sector-specific, technology-oriented assessments of abatement potential based on a literature review for the year 2030. The results indicate that strong emission growth in the industry and transport sector can be attributed to increasing final energy per capita and population growth. In the stringent mitigation scenarios energy efficiency, electrification and switching to low carbon fuel are all required in the short term. In the green growth SSP1 scenario the required emission reduction is significantly less than other scenarios showing that the demand growth and the technology development largely affects the sectors’ mitigation challenge. The technology assessment estimates that in particular in the transport and buildings sector there is a higher potential to reduce demand-side emissions through energy efficiency improvements than currently envisioned in the integrated assessment models.
Elysium Industries USA, Inc. aims to produce safe, cost effective, carbon conscious energy through the development of an advanced liquid-fueled reactor technology. The Elysium liquid-fueled reactor concept comprises a molten chloride salt fueled fast spectrum nuclear reactor, which can accept fissle material recovered from used nuclear fuel and excess fissile material from defense applications. A key technology development need for the system is demonstrating the feasibility of a low cost, efficent method to produce the chloride fuel salt from used nuclear fuel. This approach not only provides a pathway for the disposition of used nuclear but more efficient use of uranium resources for energy production.
Smart manufacturing is bound to play a crucial role in reducing global energy consumption while accelerating economic development. This phenomenon is evident in advanced sensing technology developments, data analytics and machine learning/AI, automated controls, cloud computing, etc. The immediate opportunity for smart manufacturing is to improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing operations through innovations in processes and controls. The manufacturing industry still consumes about 30% of total global energy production, which is significant. This program focused on the recommendation of heterogeneous sensors to monitor the Chemical Vapor Infiltration (CVI) process parameters, states, and key performance indices and utilize cloud computing to sort and analyze the real-time data. Learning through data analytics helps guide the control parameters affecting energy usage. The target process in the program is the CVI process at the Honeywell South Bend facility, which is one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing industries.