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All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2021

Research Priorities and Opportunities in United States Wholesale Electricity Markets

The power system is currently undergoing a number of changes, including a rapidly evolving resource mix, growth of distributed energy resources (DERs), more active consumer participation, increased deployment of energy storage and hybrid resources, and more advanced communication and control requirements. These changes in the power system present numerous technical, economic, implementation, and policy challenges and research opportunities for power system operators. To help address these challenges, a collaboration among five research institutions—Argonne National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Johns Hopkins University—has been established to provide technical assistance to the seven U.S. Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). The 3-year project aims to leverage the advanced methods, tools, datasets, and resources of the collaborators to provide robust analytical support to address the high-priority market challenges that will be faced in the 2- to 10-year time horizon.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Computer Science Research Needs for Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES)

Historically, scientific computing efforts have demonstrated the clear need for, and effective use of, supercomputing with traditional time-stepped simulations. Nevertheless, there are several areas in the mission spaces of the U.S. Department of Energy and other agencies waiting to tap advanced computing research using a different, discrete event style of modeling, simulation, and analysis. These span a wide spectrum of applications including energy grid resilience, urban planning and policy, transportation science, building technologies, emergency response and planning, environmental impact analysis, computational epidemiology, Internet communications, cyber security, and cyber-physical systems, to name only a few. Even within traditional scientific applications, the role of discrete event modes of execution is increasing in the form of new event-based mathematical solvers such as quantized state integration methods and discrete-continuous hybrid system solvers. Co-design of advanced supercomputing hardware systems is another area that exploits discrete event simulation at its core for effective analyses. Complex systems, entity behaviors and interconnections play a significant role in all these applications, which are mapped to large-scale models with discrete event formulations. To make advancements in all the aforementioned scientific areas, many technical aspects need to be more thoroughly studied and deeply understood in parallel discrete event simulation (PDES). The unique dynamics inherent in a discrete event modeling approach, by their very nature, intersect and influence the entire stack of the computing system, including (a) the unique nature of the instruction sets exercised in PDES workloads without a predominance of high-precision floating point operations, (b) virtual time-constrained multi-threaded execution of many logical processes per processor, (c) extremely variable and difficult to predict network traffic characteristics, (d) interfaces and inter-dependencies with machine learning and artificial intelligence codes at higher software layers, and (e) highly challenging load balancing needs, especially in effectively accounting for accelerated/extremely heterogeneous computing in current and future high-performance computing systems. Efficient and accurate parallel execution of PDES workloads is also dominated by challenges in dealing with their asynchronous concurrency fundamentally present at the model level. Conservative synchronization, optimistic/speculative synchronization, and their hybrid schemes open new questions in fundamental computer science with respect to reversibility of computation and prediction (lookahead) of behaviors inherent within model codes. On the implementation front, there are relatively few scalable, general-purpose parallel discrete event simulators in the world, and even fewer have been studied on emerging hardware platforms. To enable scientific advances using PDES, the research needs in computer science must also be pursued and met in the intersection of the algorithmic and hardware-aware aspects of scalable PDES engines. This report is aimed at capturing a computer science-oriented view of this important area of research in PDES, presenting a sample of important applications with their inherent discrete event technology elements. Needs are outlined in core areas of parallel discrete event research as well as cross-cutting directions in computer science research that positively impact scientific advancements across several important application areas. A selection of priority research opportunities in advanced computing for PDES is identified to serve as reference for key research topics and their order of importance for scientific advancements.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2022

Computer Science Research Needs for Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2024

Techno-Economic Screening Analysis of CO2 Removal Through Enhanced Weathering

Terrestrial enhanced weathering has emerged as a technology of interest due to its simplicity, low energy requirement, and potentially low capital investment requirement. Due to the novelty of this technology, there is limited literature exploring the techno-economics of the process. This presentation reports on a screening techno-economic analysis that examines the impact of key factors that influence terrestrial enhanced weathering performance and cost. Two cases are considered for analysis, based on the material used: (1) Naturally occurring mined igneous rock (2) Industrial waste materials (like biomass ash or cement kiln dust) The analysis considers locating the terrestrial enhanced weathering system in the Midwestern United States, because of proximity to alkaline materials, availability of farmland, and appropriate ambient conditions for weathering. For the igneous rock case, the size of the system is based on the average amount of igneous rock available from a single mine—250,000 tonnes/year. For the industrial waste case, the size of the system is based on the amount of suitable waste material produced by an industrial hub—150,000 tonnes/year.

Leptinsky, Sarah↗

DOE OSTI2024

A Perspective on Solar-Driven Electrochemical Routes for Sustainable Methanol Production

The transition towards sustainable and renewable energy sources is imperative in mitigating the environmental impacts of escalating global energy consumption. Methanol, with its versatile applications and potential as a clean energy carrier, a precursor chemical, and a valuable commodity, emerges as a promising solution within the realm of renewable energy technologies. This work explores the integration of electrochemistry with solar power to drive efficient methanol production processes, focusing on electrochemical reduction (ECR) of CO 2 and methane oxidation reaction (MOR) as pathways for methanol synthesis. Through detailed analysis and calculations, we evaluate the thermodynamic limits and realistic solar-to-fuel (STF) efficiencies of ECR and MOR. Our investigation encompasses the characterization of multijunction light absorbers, determination of thermoneutral potentials, and assessment of STF efficiencies under varying conditions. We identify the challenges and opportunities inherent in both ECR and MOR pathways, shedding light on catalyst stability, reaction kinetics, and system optimization, thereby providing insights into the prospects and challenges of solar-driven methanol synthesis, offering a pathway towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

DOE OSTI2024

IBR Digital Supply Chain Gap Analysis and Recommendations

The adoption of clean energy technologies, including solar photovoltaics, continues to introduce non-traditional stakeholders to the operations and planning of the electric system. Stakeholders such as manufacturers, vendors, owners, aggregators, and others are enabling the adoption, integration, and optimum operations of solar technologies at accelerated rates. Inverters form the foundation of many digitally controlled energy sources for clean energy technologies, including Solar, Battery Energy Storage Systems, Hybrid Systems, and Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Their supply chain is complex, a series of microchips, electronic switches and other components making up its primary functions. The complexity of this space and the growing digitization associated with these components can create supply chain cyber risks. One measure to mitigate cybersecurity attacks is proper digital supply chain security. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), in partnership with the Cybersecurity, Energy, Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) office, is hosting a workshop to bring together solar vendors and services providers to discuss digital supply chain security for solar systems and challenges and opportunities in the transitioning to a fully domestic supply chain for solar energy in the U.S. This workshop will support the Securing Solar for the Grid (S2G) and Energy Cyber Sense program activities. During the workshop, industry experts and researchers from DOE National Laboratories will discuss the current solar supply chain landscape and the transition to domestic manufacturing of solar components in the U.S. Tools and techniques to better manage and secure the digital supply chain of solar devices and systems will be discussed.

cybersecurity↗

DOE OSTI2020

Device Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Materials (Version 1)

Abstract Emerging photovoltaics (PVs) focus on a variety of applications complementing large scale electricity generation. Organic, dye‐sensitized, and some perovskite solar cells are considered in building integration, greenhouses, wearable, and indoor applications, thereby motivating research on flexible, transparent, semitransparent, and multi‐junction PVs. Nevertheless, it can be very time consuming to find or develop an up‐to‐date overview of the state‐of‐the‐art performance for these systems and applications. Two important resources for recording research cells efficiencies are the National Renewable Energy Laboratory chart and the efficiency tables compiled biannually by Martin Green and colleagues. Both publications provide an effective coverage over the established technologies, bridging research and industry. An alternative approach is proposed here summarizing the best reports in the diverse research subjects for emerging PVs. Best performance parameters are provided as a function of the photovoltaic bandgap energy for each technology and application, and are put into perspective using, e.g., the Shockley–Queisser limit. In all cases, the reported data correspond to published and/or properly described certified results, with enough details provided for prospective data reproduction. Additionally, the stability test energy yield is included as an analysis parameter among state‐of‐the‐art emerging PVs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2020

The energy footprint of automotive electronic sensors

We discuss how Information and communication technologies (ICT) have emerged as one of the leading technologies to reduce global emissions, particularly in the mobility sector. Automotive electronics, such as sensors/actuators and microcontrollers (commonly known as electronic control units (ECU) which control one or more of the electrical systems or subsystems in a vehicle), play a key role in ICT. Sensors/actuators are key in electronic ICT devices, starting with the data collection and data communication with the internet. The latest two big trends of electrification and automation in vehicles, are projected to increase the use of worldwide automotive sensors from 7.5 billion units in 2017 to 11.0 billion units by the year 2024. A representative state-of-the art automotive sensor system, (i.e., an ultrasonic backup system), including the ECUs controlling the vehicle electrical systems/subsystems, has been considered to estimate the energy footprint in terms of manufacturing and operational energy of global automotive sensors use. A widely used life cycle energy assessment method (i.e., cumulative energy demand) was used as both direct and indirect (including the extraction, manufacturing, and disposal of the raw and auxiliary materials) energy use can be considered for the energy footprint estimation. The embodied manufacturing energy impacts of the system was estimated to be 559 MJ/system, compared to the 417 MJ/system for lifetime system power and additional gasoline use. The share of purchased energy to the embodied energy where the upstream energy isn't included in the former case, is less than 10% and ~ 85% for the component manufacturing and vehicle operation energy uses, respectively. As the purpose of this ultrasonic backup system is to prevent rear crashes, an estimated 1.0 MJ/system is avoided from reduced lifetime vehicular repairs (from an estimated 11% chance of requiring a rear bumper replacement). While all of this is small compared to the overall automotive manufacturing and use energy, the 11 billion automotive sensors expected to be produced in 2024 could require 1540 PJ for manufacturing and those sensors would require an additional 780–1150 PJ for lifetime energy use.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2022

Machine Learning for Automated Metadata Assignment in Buildings: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-18-00767)

RealTerm Energy and NREL have identified a shared vision to evaluate opportunities to facilitate the organization and assignment of metadata to building control system (BCS) data via industry-informed machine learning (ML). Manual metadata assignment is labor intensive and costly, slowing down any Energy Management and Information System (EMIS) deployment in the building space. This project aims to develop methodologies to accurately assign this metadata and significantly decrease the level of effort associated with deploying EMIS. The objective of this project is to identify/design methodologies to assign metadata to HVAC control points automatically. The identified methodologies will be programmed in analytics algorithms so they can ingest a list of points and produce a detailed tagging following the Haystack classification nomenclature. To validate the efficacy of each methodology, tagging results will be compared utilizing a list of points extracted from RealTerm's building database-as well as data extracted from the NREL campus via the Intelligent Campus program-enabling testing against large datasets with real world challenges. The developed methodologies may leverage building manager/operator input on a limited basis to add context to the classifying algorithms. The partnership aims to advance global efforts in areas related to the DOE missions through improving operational performance of commercial buildings. It is well documented that buildings fall out of commission after they are occupied, wasting significant energy and incurring associated costs simply due to poor operational performance. Emerging EMIS technologies that perform continuous commissioning help to address this issue, yet integration of these systems can be labor intensive both for the technology vendor and the building owner/operator. This project will enable more efficient and cost-effective analytics for buildings, enabling improvement in building operations at lower cost points.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator: Cohort 2 - Asimily Public Report

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) sponsors the Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator (TM) (CECA) to expedite the deployment of emerging security technologies that address the most urgent security concerns facing modern and future electric grids. CECA Cohort 2 assessed solutions focused on hidden risks due to incomplete system visibility and device security and configuration. Improving visibility can be achieved through operational technology (OT) asset identification solutions, including capabilities like automatic discovery, vulnerability reporting, and configuration monitoring. Solutions that monitor and identify assets in information technology (IT) networks in other domains are widely used; however, there is far less adoption of monitoring solutions for operational technology environments. Wider adoption may increase with increased confidence in the ability for these solutions to understand and respond to the specific requirements of OT environments. CECA Cohort 2 evaluated the active and passive asset discovery capabilities of market-ready solutions, documented and analyzed results, and identified gaps in functionality or capabilities. This report and describes how these results can help advance the adoption of these and similar solutions in the electric sector.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2019

Gibbs Energy Minimization Model for Solvent Extraction with Application to Rare-Earths Recovery

The emergence of technologies in which rare-earth elements provide critical functionality has increased the demand for these materials, with important implications for supply security. Recycling provides an option for mitigating supply risk and for creating economic value from the resale of recovered materials. While solvent extraction is a proven technology for rare-earth recovery and separation, its application often requires extensive trial-and-error experimentation to estimate parameter values and determine experimental design configurations. We describe a modeling strategy based on Gibbs energy minimization that incorporates parameter estimation for required thermodynamic properties as well as process design for solvent extraction and illustrate its applicability to rare earths separation. Visualization analysis during parameter estimation revealed a linear relationship between the standard enthalpies of the extractant and respective organo-metal complexes, analogous to the additivity principle for predicting molar volumes of organic compounds. Establishing this relationship reduced the size of the parameter estimation problem and yielded good agreement between model predictions and reported equilibrium extraction data, validating the property estimates for the organic phase species. Design exploration and optimization results map the space of feasible solvent extraction column configurations and identify the set of optimal design parameter values that meet recovery and purity targets.

Critical materials↗

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 OSTI2025

Optimization based process modeling of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor system: Application to swine wastewater

To maintain current levels of consumption in the economy with the dwindling supply of non-renewable material and energy, alternative resource streams more traditionally viewed as waste streams must be considered. Fermentation of high-strength wastewaters is one such pathway that allows for the recovery of energy, nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon compounds. Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) are an emerging technology that allow for the digestion of wastewater in a much smaller footprint than traditional anaerobic digesters. Adoption of this technology into industry has been limited by membrane capital and cleaning costs, but these costs may be offset through the recovery of valuable products. To evaluate the viability of AnMBR technology in the context of swine wastewater treatment, an optimization-based process model built upon Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) has been developed. Modeling results show that a swine wastewater stream provides potential for net positive energy generation from the AnMBR system in most cases. Sensitivity analyses around important variables were conducted to determine focus areas for future research into AnMBR technology and evaluate the robustness of the model to microbial variables that may change with different microbial communities.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Chapter 3: Power Conversion Technologies: The Advent of Power-to-Gas, Power-to-Liquid, and Power-to-Heat

Decreasing levelized costs of renewable electricity coupled with expanding deployment are enabling a rapid reduction in the carbon intensity of the electrical grid. However, this transition is occurring more slowly in other sectors, including transportation and manufacturing. Power-to-X technologies provide a means to accelerate this transition in those sectors by converting renewable electricity into chemical energy and heat. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the existing and emerging Power-to-X technologies covering the production of methane (hydrogen is covered in Chapter 5) (i.e. Power-to-Gas), chemicals and fuels (e.g. ammonia, carbon monoxide, ethylene, methanol, ethanol, and formic acid), and heat (e.g. for industrial and building applications); discuss the overarching and technology-specific challenges and opportunities; and highlight the implications of deployment of Power-to-X technologies on power generation. We emphasize that Power-to-X technologies do exist today at various stages of development and commercialization and that a transition to lower carbon intensity for the transportation and manufacturing sectors is possible, but it requires immense growth of the electrical grid and appropriate systems design and operations.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2020

An Experimental Investigation of Multilayer Flow in a Slide Die Coating Process

Roll-to-roll coating technology has been actively applied not only for conventional film production but also for emerging energy devices such as organic solar cells, organic light emitting diodes, batteries, smart windows, and fuel cells. The devices are multilayer structures requiring several coating and drying steps when implemented in a serial fashion, which increases capital costs and energy consumption. Simultaneous multilayer (ML) coating technologies present an opportunity for cost reductions and improved process efficiency by reducing equipment footprint and the number of process steps. In this talk, we experimentally investigate ML slide die coating flow for the manufacturing of fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). For ML slide coating, understanding fluid properties such as density, surface tension, and viscosity are necessary for stable flows and limiting intermixing of the miscible layers. Here, we utilize a design-of-experiment methodology - Box-Behnken design (BBD) - to correlate ink formulation parameters to fluid properties. Using the ink properties obtained from the BBD, we performed numerical flow simulations to obtain a proper process conditions to guide experimental coating trials. Finally, experimental verification is performed on a ML slide die and a degree of miscibility was observed for various ink formulation conditions.

28 EE - Advanced Manufacturing Office (EE-5A)↗

DOE OSTI2024

Review of solar-enabled desalination and implications for zero-liquid-discharge applications

Abstract The production of freshwater from desalinating abundant saline water on the planet is increasingly considered a climate change adaptation measure. Yet, there are challenges associated with the high cost, intensive energy demand, and environmental implications of desalination. Effective integration of solar energy generation and freshwater production can address both issues. This review article highlights recent key advances in such integration achieved in a joint-research university-national laboratory partnership under the auspices of the United States Department of Energy and parallel efforts worldwide. First, an overview of current and emerging desalination technologies and associated pretreatment, brine treatment, and valorization technologies that together can result in zero-liquid-discharge systems is presented, and their technological readiness levels are evaluated. Then, advanced modeling techniques and new software platforms that enable optimization of solar-desalination applications with the dual objective of cost and environmental impact minimization are discussed.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

High-Loading Single-Atom Catalyst via On-Surface Synthesis of a Metal-Covalent Organic Framework for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

The development of active catalysts with both high metal efficiency and use of earth abundant metals is the ultimate goal for advancing the required commercially viable and sustainable energy conversion technologies of the future. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising candidates due to their high surface area and tunable active sites. Here, this study aims to fabricate a new type of high metal loading single-atom catalysts (SACs) based on 2D metal-organic covalent organic frameworks (MCOFs) with uniform, active and stable Fe-N 3 sites. The MCOFs were synthesized through an on-surface polymerization process using Fe and melamine as precursors. The polymerization steps were characterized using operando high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy (HP-STM), in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-temperature STM (LT-STM), and computational calculations. The synthesized MCOFs demonstrated favorable adsorption and activation of O 2 at the Fe-N 3 sites, and it is predicted to be active for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The surface chemistry and functionality of 2D MCOFs can be rationally designed by varying the metal atoms and organic linkers, offering a versatile platform for diverse applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

NASA NTRS1992

Departmental technology transfer update

The objective is the following: to provide the perspective of the Department of Energy (DOE); emphasize new and emerging initiatives; and address unresolved issues that might impact successful program implementation. The approach is the following: to provide a brief overview of DOE, its R&D, and its technology transfer assets; to briefly describe the evolution of DOE's enhanced technology transfer program; to report on specific progress and achievements over the past year--as the spring board for our current and future plans; to present our near and longer term plans; and to survey the remaining issues and the resolution process.

Lewis, Roger A.↗