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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Advanced Fuel Cycle Cost Basis Report: Supporting Documents 2 Production Based Costing

The purpose of this section is to outline a method of cost analysis whereby a significantly better representation of “should achieve” costs may be attained for NOAK systems. Based on economists’ notions of producer theory, and grounded in the cost analysts’ and project managers’ tool called the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), this section describes best practices in cost estimation. It then illustrates how the Code of Accounts (COA) structure, developed by the Economic Modeling Working Group (EMWG) of the Generation IV International Forum in “Cost Estimating Guidelines for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems [EMWG 2007] (hereafter “Gen IV Guidelines Document”), can be used to differentiate “should achieve” versus “did experience” costs.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Demonstrate the Catalytic Conversion Fermentation Derived Intermediate to Isoprene

The work proposed under this TAPA will support Visolis, Inc. to evaluate solid acid catalyst(s) to convert the fermentation derived intermediate to isoprene. This work will help Visolis, Inc. to develop the techno economic modeling and further develop the overall process for application.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Communication-Constrained Robust Control and Learning of Grid-Connected

The electric grid of things (EGoT) promises great potential for innovative grid services by tapping into vast load flexibility. However, the unique characteristics of EGoT, being a part of the cyber-physical electric power system, present both opportunities and challenges, especially concerning supply-demand balancing, stability, and communication constraints. Traditionally, centralized control was employed to ensure balance and stability in power systems. However, with the massive influx of EGoT devices, new strategies are needed to efficiently coordinate and control these distributed devices for optimal grid operations. While some studies have explored efficiency and economic models, there remains a gap in ensuring reliability under everyday operations and resilience during extreme conditions. Addressing this gap, this project develops the technology for an Energy Service Interface (ESI) that includes novel pricing, control, learning, and distributed optimization algorithms, which will enable utilities to recruit EGoT assets for crucial grid services such as load flexibility, voltage regulation, and situation-awareness. The key novelty of the proposed technology is the careful distribution of learning and control functions across utility and EGoT asset owners such that provably efficient and resilient grid operations are attained while respecting communication and information-exchange constraints. Specifically, the project team develops machine-learning enhanced load modeling methods to allow EGoT asset owners to learn their load capability and flexibility, and develops pricing-based and decentralized learning-based control so that asset owners can coordinate to meet system-wide demand-supply balance and reliability goals. For extreme situations involving high-impact, low-probability catastrophic events (termed the “black-sky” events), the team also develops (1) a “Feeder-Operating Center-on-a-Laptop” (FOCAL) software that can assist utility personnel in leveraging EGoT assets to accelerate the service recovery of damaged feeders, and (2) distributed optimization algorithms that can coordinate the operation points of EGoT devices under severe communication constraints. The proposed technology has been extensively tested and evaluated through simulations and on a testbed. In summary, as we transition into a more interconnected and digital power grid era, our project’s findings and developments offer a pivotal step toward guaranteeing both efficiency and resilience in the face of both everyday operations and rare “black-sky” events.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

An Innovative Zero-Liquid Discharge Intermediate-Cold-Liquid Eutectic-Freeze Desalination System

A novel freeze desalination technology is presented for purification of water produced from various industrial processes, including oil and gas extraction. The main innovative idea is introducing a water-immiscible intermediate-cold-liquid (ICL) medium which absorbs the cold from a refrigeration cycle and transfers it to a freezing chamber where it is mixed with brine. The cold ICL enters the freezing chamber at temperatures between -10°C to -30°C. Precooled brine in injected into the freezing chamber and pure water freezes out of the brine upon mixing with the ICL. The rate of freezing inside the chamber is controlled by adjusting the flow rate of the cold ICL relative to the inlet brine. Both eutectic freeze and non-eutectic freezing are possible by controlling the temperature of the freezing chamber. The solid-liquid slurry created in the freezing chamber flows to a filter separation unit after passing through a separation column. The ice crystals are separated from the liquid by a rotary filter device. The collected ice is rinsed by a centrifugal unit. The rinsed ice is melted to produce fresh water. The developed technology resolves the issues common to current freeze-desalination systems while offering superior heat transfer performance ascribed to direct-contact between the cooling medium and the brine in addition to producing solid salt and pure water. The system operates under atmospheric pressure. The low operation temperature minimizes the corrosion issues common in systems exposed to brine. Also, due to the low operating temperature, there are no concerns about evaporation of volatile organics from the produced water during the treatment. The developed technology effectively eliminates the use of chemicals for pretreatment of brine. The system can be constructed from commercially available components. Extensive testing using a lab-scale prototype by using synthetic brine and actual produced water with TDS values from 50,000 ppm to 300,000 ppm showed that freshwater could be achieved with relatively small dependency on the quality of the input brine. The quality of the treated water was found to be mainly a function of the duration of the centrifugal process. Treated water with TDS as low as 200 ppm could be achieved in the tests. Thermo-economic modeling coupled with system level thermochemical process model were developed for prediction of the LCOW. The LCOW was predicted to be $\$$0.50 to $\$$0.90 per barrel of produced water. The potential markets for deployment of the technology are the oil and gas, in-land thermoelectric powerplants, RO desalination plants, and mining industry.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Wyoming CarbonSAFE Phase III: Site Characterization and Permitting Commercial-Scale Carbon Storage Complex Feasibility Study at Dry Fork Station, Wyoming

This report presents the findings of the technical and non-technical site characterization and permitting activities (“Phase III”) conducted under the Wyoming CarbonSAFE: Accelerating CCUS Commercialization and Deployment at Dry Fork Power Station (DFS) and the Wyoming Integrated Test Center project (“Wyoming CarbonSAFE”). Wyoming CarbonSAFE is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (“CarbonSAFE”) Initiative. The results of Phase III demonstrate that the Wyoming CarbonSAFE project - referred to as the Northern Powder River Basin Carbon Sequestration Hub (NPRB-CSH) - meets the technical, regulatory, and commercial feasibility requirements necessary to advance toward commercial development and construction. The activities completed under this project Phase make the NPRB-CSH one of the region’s most commercially ready carbon storage sites. Completion of this Phase included the finalization of all site surface and subsurface characterization activities, completion and testing of two Class VI standard wells, 10 draft Class VI permits-to construct to address the future needs of a storage complex, finalized NEPA assessments, transportation and capture FEED studies, and a full commercialization strategy with economic modeling, operation and site closure strategies. The NPRB-CSH meets all requirements to progress to a CarbonSAFE Phase IV program or advance to full commercial operations under the development of a business partner.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2025

REopt: Energy Decision Analysis Overview for NCSP+ States Collaborative [Slides]

This presentation offers an overview of NREL's REopt(R) web tool for the National Community Solar Partnership+ States Collaborative. REopt is a techno-economic modeling tool for evaluating distributed energy resources toward a site's cost savings and resilience goals. The presentation includes an overview of the REopt platform, a REopt web tool demonstration, and resources to learn more about REopt.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

From Farm to Flight: CoverCress as a Low Carbon Intensity Cash Cover Crop for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production. A Review of Progress Towards Commercialization

Thlaspi arvense L. (Field Pennycress; pennycress) is being converted into a winter-annual oilseed crop that confers cover crop benefits when grown throughout the 12 million-hectares U.S. Midwest. To ensure a fit with downstream market demand, conversion involves not only improvements in yield and maturity through traditional breeding, but also improvements in the composition of the oil and protein through gene editing tools. The conversion process is similar to the path taken to convert rapeseed into Canola. In the case of field pennycress, the converted product that is suitable as a rotational crop is called CoverCress™ as marketed by CoverCress Inc. or golden pennycress if marketed by others. Off-season integration of a CoverCress crop into existing corn and soybean hectares would extend the growing season on established croplands and avoid displacement of food crops or ecosystems while yielding up to 1 billion liters of seed oil annually by 2030, with the potential to grow to 8 billion liters from production in the U.S. Midwest alone. The aviation sector is committed to carbon-neutral growth and reducing emissions of its global market, which in 2019 approached 122 billion liters of consumption in the U.S. and 454 billion liters globally. The oil derived from a CoverCress crop is ideally suited as a new bioenergy feedstock for the production of drop-in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), renewable diesel, biodiesel and other value-added coproducts. Through a combination of breeding and genomics-enabled mutagenesis approaches, considerable progress has been made in genetically improving yield and other agronomic traits. With USDA-NIFA funding and continued public and private investments, improvements to CoverCress germplasm and agronomic practices suggest that field-scale production can surpass 1,680 kg ha -1 (1,500 lb ac -1 ) in the near term. At current commodity prices, economic modeling predicts this level of production can be profitable across the entire supply chain. Two-thirds of the grain value is in oil converted to fuels and chemicals, and the other one-third is in the meal used as an animal feed, industrial applications, and potential plant-based protein products. In addition to strengthening rural communities by providing income to producers and agribusinesses, cultivating a CoverCress crop potentially offers a myriad of ecosystem services. The most notable service is water quality protection through reduced nutrient leaching and reduced soil erosion. Biodiversity enhancement by supporting pollinators’ health is also a benefit. While the efforts described herein are focused on the U.S., cultivation of a CoverCress crop will likely have a broader application to regions around the world with similar agronomic and environmental conditions.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Valuation of Wind Energy Turbines Using Volatility of Wind and Price

The limitedness of the nonrenewable local energy resources in Israel, even in the background of the later gas fields’ findings, continues to force the state to devote various efforts towards ‘green’ energy development. These efforts include installations, both for the solar and for wind energy, thus improving the diversity of energy sources. While the standard discounted cash flow (DCF) method using the net present value (NPV) criterion is extensively adopted to evaluate investments, the standard DCF method is inappropriate for the rapidly changing investment climate and for the managerial flexibility in investment decisions. In recent years, the real options analysis (ROA) technique has been widely applied in many studies for the valuation of renewable energy investment projects. Taking into account the above background, we apply, in this study, the real options analysis approach for the valuation of wind energy turbines and apply it to the analysis of wind energy economic potential in Israel, which is the context of our work. We hypothesize that due to nature of wind energy production uncertainties, the ROA method is better than the alternative. The novelty of this paper includes the following: real world wind statistics of the Merom Golan site in Israel (velocity 3.73 m/s, with a standard deviation of 2.03 m/s), a realistic power generation estimation (power generation of 1205.84 kW with a standard deviation of about 0.5% in annual value which is worth about 1.3 M$ per annum), and an economic model to evaluate the profitability of such a project. We thus discuss the existing challenges of diversifying renewable energy sources in Israel by adding wind installations. Our motivation is to introduce a method which will allow investors and officials to take into account uncertainties when deciding in investing in such wind installations. The outcomes of the paper, which are obtained using the method of Weibull statistics and the Black–Scholes ROA technique, include the result that market price volatility adds to the uncertainties much more than any wind fluctuations, provided that the analysis is integrated over a long enough time.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Harvesting Losses for a Cut-and-Chip Harvesting System Operating in Willow Short-Rotation Coppice

In any short-rotation coppice (SRC) operation, a certain percentage of harvestable material is unrecovered, which contributes to harvesting system losses. This material may be in the form of merchantable and non-merchantable components. These losses affect economics but also influence yield, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. There are very few estimates for harvesting losses available in the literature, and they are limited by small sample sizes. The objective of this work was to provide a broad overview of harvesting losses in willow SRC over a wide range of standing biomass and harvesting conditions. The average total harvesting losses were between 3 and 4 Mg ha−1, which is between 6 and 7 percent of the standing biomass. Losses can spike to nearly 40% on less than 3% of the area. Harvesting losses are significantly, but weakly, correlated with increased standing biomass. These results highlight the complexity and variability in harvesting losses as well as which aspects of harvesting systems might be targeted to reduce or partition material losses. These results have implications for designing machinery and economic modeling of these systems.

Eisenbies, Mark H.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Biofuels Induced Land Use Change Emissions: The Role of Implemented Land Use Emission Factors

Biofuels’ induced land-use change (ILUC) emissions have been widely studied over the past 15 years. Many studies have addressed uncertainties associated with these estimates. These studies have broadly examined uncertainties associated with the choice of economic models, their assumptions and parameters, and a few bio-physical variables. However, uncertainties in land-use emission factors that represent the soil and vegetation carbon contents of various land types across the world and are used to estimate carbon fluxes due to land conversions are mostly overlooked. This paper calls attention to this important omission. It highlights some important sources of uncertainty in land-use emissions factors, explores the range in these factors from established data sources, and compares the influence of their variability on ILUC emissions for several sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) pathways. The estimated land-use changes for each pathway are taken from a well-known computable general equilibrium model, GTAP-BIO. Two well-known carbon calculator models (CCLUB and AEZ-EF) that represent two different sets of emissions factors are used to convert the GTAP-BIO estimated land-use changes to ILUC emissions. The results show that the calculated ILUC emissions obtained from these carbon calculators for each examined SAF pathway are largely different, even for the same amortization time horizon. For example, the ILUC emissions values obtained from the AEZ-EF and CCLUB models for producing jet fuel from corn ethanol for a 25-year amortization period are 24.9 gCO 2 e/MJ and 15.96 gCO 2 e/MJ, respectively. This represents a 60% difference between the results of these two carbon calculators for the same set of land-use changes. The results show larger differences for other pathways as well.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1972

Study of short haul high-density V/STOL transportation systems. Volume 2: Appendices

Essential supporting data to the short haul transportation study are presented. The specific appendices are arena characteristics, aerospace transportation analysis computer program, economics, model calibration, STOLport siting and services path selection, STOL schedule definition, tabulated California corridor results, and tabulated Midwest arena results.

Solomon, H. L.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Aeroacoustics: Fan noise and control; Duct acoustics; Rotor noise

The recent progress in duct acoustic research is reflected by fourteen papers which cover essentially the areas of linear duct acoustics, the characteristics of absorbent materials, and nonlinear duct acoustics. With respect to propagation in ducts, emphasis is placed on computational methods aimed at attaining effective economical modeling of propagation in variable-geometry and in hard-wall or soft-wall ducts. Computational methods developed to reduce computer processing and storage requirements are outlined, along with a wave envelope technique for reducing processing and storage needs. The latter technique is applied to the optimum segmented acoustic duct linear design. A finite difference technique is used in combination with conformal mapping to compute the optimum multisection duct linear design.

Schwartz, I. R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

LSSA large area silicon sheet task continuous Czochralski process development

A Czochralski crystal growing furnace was converted to a continuous growth facility by installation of a premelter to provide molten silicon flow into the primary crucible. The basic furnace is operational and several trial crystals were grown in the batch mode. Numerous premelter configurations were tested both in laboratory-scale equipment as well as in the actual furnace. The best arrangement tested to date is a vertical, cylindrical graphite heater containing small fused silicon test tube liner in which the incoming silicon is melted and flows into the primary crucible. Economic modeling of the continuous Czochralski process indicates that for 10 cm diameter crystal, 100 kg furnace runs of four or five crystals each are near-optimal. Costs tend to asymptote at the 100 kg level so little additional cost improvement occurs at larger runs. For these conditions, crystal cost in equivalent wafer area of around $20/sq m exclusive of polysilicon and slicing was obtained.

Rea, S. N.↗
NASA NTRS1979

An illustrative analysis of technological alternatives for satellite communications

The demand for satellite communications services in the domestic market is discussed. Two approaches to increasing system capacity are the expansion of service into frequencies presently allocated but not used for satellite communications, and the development of technologies that provide a greater level of service within the currently used frequency bands. The development of economic models and analytic techniques for evaluating capacity expansion alternatives such as these are presented. The satellite orbit spectrum problem, and also outlines of some suitable analytic approaches are examined. Illustrative analysis of domestic communications satellite technology options for providing increased levels of service are also examined. The analysis illustrates the use of probabilities and decision trees in analyzing alternatives, and provides insight into the important aspects of the orbit spectrum problem that would warrant inclusion in a larger scale analysis.

Metcalfe, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Comparison of Land Cover Information from LANDSAT Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Airborne Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) Data for Hydrologic Applications

Detailed land cover classifications were performed on the Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) and MSS data of the Clinton River Basin (acquired on August 19, 1981, and June 28, 1980, respectively) using supervised classification techniques. Differences in interclass separability were compared to select several promising TMS band combinations, selected from the 27 covering the Clinton River Basin. The TMS data produced a more accurate and spatially contiguous classification than MSS for this study site. While the accuracy of the 4-band TM data set was as good as the 7-band, the 3-band TMS data sets were also better than the MSS. These results indicate that both the increased spectral discrimination and spatial resolution contribute to improved classification accuracy. The possibility of reducing the data analysis burden associated with large TM data volumes through effective band selection therefore appears promising. The implications of the improved classification accuracy of TMS data are important for hydrologic and economic modeling. In particular, the higher accuracies for the developed categories (residential and commercial) should improve the predictions of runoff in flood forecasting models and of flood damage for damage calculation models appreciably.

Gervin, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Economics of liquid hydrogen from water electrolysis

An economical model for preliminary analysis of LH2 cost from water electrolysis is presented. The model is based on data from vendors and open literature, and is suitable for computer analysis of different scenarios for 'directional' purposes. Cost data associated with a production rate of 10,886 kg/day are presented. With minimum modification, the model can also be used to predict LH2 cost from any electrolyzer once the electrolyzer's cost data are available.

Lin, F. N.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Electric power scheduling: A distributed problem-solving approach

Space Station Freedom's power system, along with the spacecraft's other subsystems, needs to carefully conserve its resources and yet strive to maximize overall Station productivity. Due to Freedom's distributed design, each subsystem must work cooperatively within the Station community. There is a need for a scheduling tool which will preserve this distributed structure, allow each subsystem the latitude to satisfy its own constraints, and preserve individual value systems while maintaining Station-wide integrity. The value-driven free-market economic model is such a tool.

Mellor, Pamela A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A classification procedure for the effective management of changes during the maintenance process

During software operation, maintainers are often faced with numerous change requests. Given available resources such as effort and calendar time, changes, if approved, have to be planned to fit within budget and schedule constraints. In this paper, we address the issue of assessing the difficulty of a change based on known or predictable data. This paper should be considered as a first step towards the construction of customized economic models for maintainers. In it, we propose a modeling approach, based on regular statistical techniques, that can be used in a variety of software maintenance environments. The approach can be easily automated, and is simple for people with limited statistical experience to use. Moreover, it deals effectively with the uncertainty usually associated with both model inputs and outputs. The modeling approach is validated on a data set provided by NASA/GSFC which shows it was effective in classifying changes with respect to the effort involved in implementing them. Other advantages of the approach are discussed along with additional steps to improve the results.

Briand, Lionel C.↗