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NASA NTRS1991

Industrial modification of the lunar atmosphere

The sources and sinks of the present trace lunar atmosphere can be accounted for. In particular, it is clear that the solar wind is the primary agent for rapidly removing gases, other than H2 which can escape thermally. But the solar wind has only a finite capability for stripping. If gases are added at rates approaching 100 g/sec, an atmosphere will begin to accumulate. Transition to a state where thermal escape dominates, solar wind loss occurs when the atmosphere has accumulated a total mass of about 108 kg. Assuming that disturbing the lunar regolith liberates about 10-4 by mass of trapped gases, this implies that some kinds of mining operation could handle up to 109 tons of material before creating a long lived, albeit still exceedingly tenuous, atmosphere which would have no appreciable influence on most lunar activities. Should the lunar atmosphere ever exceed an abundance matching that of the Earth at 120 km altitude, ever larger UV wavelengths ranges would be inhibited or lost, as would probably be the ability to use the Moon as a base for very low frequency radio astronomy.

Smith, Harlan J.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Ares V: Shifting the Payload Design Paradigm

NASA's Ares V heavy-lift cargo launch vehicle is being designed send more crew and cargo to more places on the lunar surface than the 1960s-era Apollo program and provide ongoing support to a permanent lunar outpost. In addition to that role, however, its unmatched mass and volume capability represent a global asset for exploration, science, and commerce. The Ares V also is an enabler of a large class of space missions not thought possible by scientists and engineers since the Saturn V program ended over 30 years ago. Compared to current systems, it will offer approximately 5 times the mass and volume to most orbits and locations. This should allow prospective mission planners to build robust payloads with margins that are 3 to 5 times the industry norm. The space inside the planned payload shroud has enough usable volume to launch the volumetric equivalent of approximately 10 Apollo Lunar Excursion Modules or approximately 5 equivalent Hubble Space Telescopes. This mass and volume capability to Low Earth Orbit enables a host of new scientific and observation platforms, such as telescopes, satellites, planetary and solar missions, as well as being able to provide the lift for future large in-space infrastructure missions, such as space based power and mining, Earth asteroid defense, propellant depots, etc. The Ares V team is engaging the potential payload community now, 2-3 years before System Requirements Review, in order to better understand the potential limitations and or additional requirements that could be added to the Ares V from the mission planning community. If a viable mission is determined and added to the Ares V as a design case, tradeoffs will be conducted to determine if other mission design requirements can be included in the system. Multiple shroud options for the Ares V have been analyzed to identify their impact on performance. Ares V is in a conceptual design stage prior to a formal design phase. The initial concept for the cargo launch vehicle (CaLV) that would later be dubbed "Ares V" was produced by the Exploration Systems Architecture Study in 2005. Since then, it has evolved through hundreds of concepts. The current point-of-departure (POD) concept was approved during the Lunar Capabilities Concept Review/Ares V Mission Concept Review in June 2008. This reference concept serves as a starting point for a renewed set of design trades and detailed analysis into its interaction with the other components of the Constellation architecture and existing launch infrastructure. This paper will discuss the Ares V design evolution, the most recent point-of-departure concept, and its capabilities to support future science missions.

Summrall, Phil↗

NASA NTRS2009

Ares V: Shifting the Payload Design Paradigm

NASA is designing the Ares V heavy-lift cargo launch vehicle to send more crew and cargo to more places on the lunar surface than the 1960s-era Saturn V and to provide ongoing support for a permanent lunar outpost. This uncrewed cargo vehicle is designed to operate together with the Ares I crew vehicle (Figure 1). In addition to this role, however, its unmatched mass and volume capability represent a national asset for exploration, science, and commerce. The Ares V also enables or significantly enhances a large class of space missions not thought possible by scientists and engineers since the Saturn V program ended over 30 years ago. Compared to current systems, it will offer approximately five times the mass and volume to most orbits and locations. This should allow prospective mission planners to build robust payloads with margins that are three to five times the industry norm. The space inside the planned payload shroud has enough usable volume to launch the volumetric equivalent of approximately 10 Apollo Lunar Modules or approximately five equivalent Hubble Space Telescopes. This mass and volume capability to low-Earth orbit (LEO) enables a host of new scientific and observation platforms, such as telescopes, satellites, planetary and solar missions, as well as being able to provide the lift for future large in-space infrastructure missions, such as space based solar power and mining, Earth asteroid defense, propellant depots, etc. In addition, payload designers may also have the option of simplifying their designs or employing Ares V s payload as dumb mass to reduce technical and operational risk. The Ares V team is engaging the potential payload community now, two to three years before System Requirements Review (SRR), in order to better understand the additional requirements from the payload community that could be accommodated in the Ares V design in its conceptual phase. This paper will discuss the Ares V reference mission and capability, as well as its potential to perform other missions in the future.

Sumrall, Phil↗

DOE OSTI2026

Advancing hydrogen production: A comprehensive review of wastewater reforming techniques, feedstocks, and opportunities

Wastewater is produced across nearly all human activities and requires treatment to safeguard human health and the natural environment. Treatment of wastewater often requires a large amount of thermal energy, resulting in wasted heat after the treatment process. Because hydrocarbon reforming needs both water and heat, the integration of wastewater treatment with hydrocarbon reforming, a process that produces synthesis gas rich in hydrogen, offers an excellent opportunity to utilize this waste heat and the impurities in wastewater to produce valuable hydrogen gas, to minimize waste from industrial processes, and to integrate water treatment with the hydrogen economy. Yet, no comprehensive literature review has been conducted to examine the integration of reforming and wastewater. To address this lack, we summarize the variety of catalytic reforming techniques available in the open literature and review the current literature on wastewater reforming with these techniques. Subsequently, we conduct a review of common types of wastewater contaminants and their possible effects on reforming catalyst performance and life. Lastly, three underexamined wastewater sources are identified, namely, oilfield wastewater, geothermal water, and mining and mineral processing wastewater, and their potential for future study as a reforming feedstock is examined.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2024

Characterization of Intrinsic Fiber Optic Temperature Sensors by In-core and Furnace Testing

Increased research and development in nuclear technology has raised the demand for novel sensors and instrumentation to meet data objectives, and survive in different conditions and environments, beyond conventional light water reactor (LWR) environments. Expediting the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies by developing, demonstrating, and qualifying advanced reactor fuel forms necessitates a deeper understanding of how irradiation affects fuels and materials' performance. To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of fuels and materials performance, researchers require more specialized experiments and measurements. The demand for innovative sensors to support nuclear fuel development arises from the complexity of materials' behavior under irradiation and the challenges of deploying instrumentation in Material Test Reactors (MTRs) for irradiation tests. Additionally, measurements of material properties require integrated measurement systems to characterize thermal properties, mechanical properties, chemistry, and microstructure [1]. Among the potential measurement techniques, optical fiber-based sensors have been identified as potential sensors to measure different physical phenomena such as temperature, strain, pressure, and fluid level. Optical fiber sensors have the capability to provide multi-sensing and multiplexing instrumentation, allowing the measurement of different physical parameters within a single sensor configuration, and transmitting data collected at multiple locations through a single fiber. They offer immunity to electromagnetic interference, electrical passivity, compatibility with various sensing methodologies, and cost-effectiveness. Beyond their widespread use in telecommunications, silica fiber-based instruments are utilized in industrial applications, even at temperatures reaching 300?400°C, such as distributed temperature sensing in oil and gas recovery. The Department of Energy (DOE) is interested in using fiber optics to support fuel cycle development [2]. Fiber optics are an excellent candidate for harsh environment sensing, including sensing at very high temperatures (1900oC for sapphire optical fibers). Distributed fiber optic sensing has been deployed in other harsh environments like coal gasification plants [3]. Distributed strain sensing, which operates similarly to distributed temperature sensing, has been deployed to monitor underground mines and fibers have been imbedded in soil to monitor sink-hole development [4][5]. The application of fiber optic sensors to advanced reactor development is a promising area of research.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2026

Colorado (Pueblo) Regional DAC Hub TA-1: Feasibility (Phase 0a) (Final Technical Report)

This project supports the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) mission to reduce the environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes, contributing to the goal of achieving net-zero emissions across the U.S. economy. The primary objective is to conduct a feasibility study for a Regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hub in the Southern Colorado region, northeast of Pueblo. The geographic construct of this hub is based on the Denver-Julesburg Basin – a geological area where a significant number of geological storage studies have been conducted (See Figure 1). The project will leverage the work of Project Eos, a CarbonSAFE Phase III study led by the Colorado School of Mines and CarbonAmerica. The DAC Hub aims to capture, store, and/or utilize at least 1,000,000 tonnes of CO 2 from the atmosphere annually. To achieve this, the project team is designing a system with an initial capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year. This feasibility-stage project will formulate the Regional DAC Hub concept and team to conduct the relevant analysis, networking and community stakeholder engagement necessary to advance the project to the design stage.

42 ENGINEERING↗

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↗

NASA NTRS2002

A System for Planning Ahead

A software system that uses artificial intelligence techniques to help with complex Space Shuttle scheduling at Kennedy Space Center is commercially available. Stottler Henke Associates, Inc.(SHAI), is marketing its automatic scheduling system, the Automated Manifest Planner (AMP), to industries that must plan and project changes many different times before the tasks are executed. The system creates optimal schedules while reducing manpower costs. Using information entered into the system by expert planners, the system automatically makes scheduling decisions based upon resource limitations and other constraints. It provides a constraint authoring system for adding other constraints to the scheduling process as needed. AMP is adaptable to assist with a variety of complex scheduling problems in manufacturing, transportation, business, architecture, and construction. AMP can benefit vehicle assembly plants, batch processing plants, semiconductor manufacturing, printing and textiles, surface and underground mining operations, and maintenance shops. For most of SHAI's commercial sales, the company obtains a service contract to customize AMP to a specific domain and then issues the customer a user license.

Source record↗

DOE OSTI2023

Sourcing, Refining and Recycling of Rare-Earth Magnets

Permanent magnets today are used in a wide range of transportation, industrial, residential/commercial, consumer electronics, defense, domestic, data storage, wind energy, and medical markets and applications. There are five classes of commercial permanent magnet materials; however, magnets based on Nd-Fe-B account for over 60% of the global magnet production by value. They typically contain around 31 wt.% of rare earth elements (REEs), principally, Nd and Pr, plus Dy for higher-temperature performance. Nd-Fe-B magnets are forecast to grow throughout this decade, largely driven by the growth in electric vehicles of all types. However, several studies forecast a shortfall of the primary REEs from mined resources. In this paper, the sourcing, processing, and recycling of REEs are discussed. Additionally, presented are the advantages and disadvantages of the major recovery and recycling technologies for REEs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

"Mining" for Critical Minerals: Critical Minerals from Fossil Energy Waste Byproducts

NETL researcher Mengling Stuckman is an invited speaker for the panel discussion session of "Mining for Critical Minerals" at the Marcellus Shale Coalition event, "Shale 2.0: Learn the Facts about Upstream, Midstream and Downstream". Recent studies from DOE have shown that produced water and drill cuttings from the development of unconventional shale in Appalachia has a significant source of valuable critical minerals and will support bolstering America's supply chain security, putting Pennsylvania in a unique position to capitalize. The panel discussion facilitates obtaining an overview of pipeline capacity needs, downstream users for natural gas and effectively educating and engaging the public relevant to the Marcellus Shale community. The event also offers opportunities for local oil and gas industries, water and waste management companies to work with NETL and participate in FECM’s Critical Mineral program. Industrial feedbacks and participation as outcomes of this invited talk will accelerate the technology and knowledge transfer for the DOE’s Critical Mineral program and for DOE’s mission to unleash American Energy and lead in energy innovation.

critical minerals↗

DOE OSTI2026

Trash to Treasure: Waste Carbon into Construction Materials

Mineralization of industrial waste and earth-abundant CO2 into value-added products is a powerful method of utilizing domestic resources to produce value from waste. Carbonate minerals formed from Ca and Mg rich waste streams are key constituents in cement and concrete, which are in demand at the gigaton-scale every year. While thermodynamically favorable, CO2 mineralization is hindered by slow kinetics, and traditional thermochemical routes are too expensive to scale. Here, we demonstrate the advantages of an electrochemical method of waste valorization, which eliminates this limitation and improves kinetics. We highlight this method's ability to initiate crystallization under favorable local conditions, producing carbonates from mining waste at mildly acidic pH. We highlight the effects of key constituents in mining waste on the mineralization process.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Fabrication of Biofunctionalized PVA/PEI Nanofibers for Rare Earth Element Extraction from Coal Mine Tailings

The need for rare earth elements (REEs) for new technology is becoming increasingly stiff with demand at a record high. Biological ligands like lanmodulin and lanthanide binding tags (LBT) have gained noticeable attention for their selective extraction of valuable lanthanide metals in aqueous solution. Building on previous work using microbeads as the extraction media, we propose that nanofibers can improve extraction capabilities. Nanofibers could provide more efficient flow and higher extraction yields due to their high surface area to volume ratio. Relying on thiolmaleimide click chemistry as the biological ligand immobilization route, electrospinning as the nanofiber manufacturing method, and numerous characterization techniques, we produced electrospinning polymer solutions and nanofibers with a maximum neodymium adsorbent capacity of 12.1 μmol/g of extraction media immobilized with LBT. Although the prior work produced an extraction media with an equivalent capacity of ~40 μmol/g, the electrospinning process is much more economical and scalable. This work paves the way for an industrially relevant, environmentally-friendly REE extraction material. Further work is required to produce higher quality nanofibers, to investigate common ion interference with REE adsorbance, and to scale production up to a relevant scale.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

DOE OSTI2024

Engineered Microorganisms for Enhanced Rare Earth Element Bio-mining and Separations (Final Technical Report)

Rare earth elements (REE) are critical ingredients of sustainable energy technologies, but their extraction from ore and separation from one another pose formidable challenges. To solve the challenge of REE supply, we used advanced genomics, high-throughput screening with synthetic REE minerals, and synthetic biology to engineer two sets of exotic microbes to (1) extract REE from ores, spent cracking catalysts, coal ash and electronic waste with high efficiency and selectivity, and (2) to purify REE into single element batches, all under benign conditions without the need of harsh solvents and high temperatures. This work integrated our expertise in systems and synthetic biology (Buz Barstow); rare-earth geochemistry (Esteban Gazel) and mineral synthesis (Megan Holycross); and microsystems engineering (Mingming Wu) by first elucidating the set of rules that predict an organism’s phenotype and then applying them to solve this critical problem in sustainable energy. These new technologies could help to revitalize the US rare earth industry and provide a new source of these critical elements for future energy technologies. We have already had some big success in tech transfer. Two of our team members (postdoctoral fellow Alexa Schmitz and graduate student Sean Medin) were able to study the supply chain for REE in the United States, and identify an opportunity to commercialize our REE mineral-dissolution technology. Alexa and Sean recently founded REEgen, Inc., an REE biomining company. Dr. Schmitz was recently awarded a fellowship from the Activate Foundation to support the first two years of REEgen. Cornell showed its support for this technology and company, and Dr. Schmitz was awarded the Rising Women Innovator’s award. These two awards unlocked support from Cornell’s Praxis Incubator.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Energy Transitions: Local Water Concerns and Climate Impacts

This report summarizes important nuances in local water concerns and potential climate impacts that could influence the roll-out of technologies associated with energy transitions. Current investments in clean energy technologies are very high, which is driving a lot of investments in related manufacturing (i.e., hydrogen, solar, wind, and batteries) and mining (e.g., lithium, copper, and graphite) around the world. To understand how water and climate dynamics could be influencing these activities, we conducted a phased literature review for three countries: China, Germany, and France. China was selected due to its global dominance in manufacturing of solar panels, batteries, and electrolyzers as well as production of rare earth elements while Germany and France were selected due to their emerging leadership in energy transitions-related manufacturing within the European Union. For each of these three nations, we identified areas where manufacturing is occurring within the country and then evaluated relevant water resources and climate impacts. Multiple sources were consulted for this review, including BloombergNEF, international reports, industry sources, peer-reviewed literature, climate data, and media coverage.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Using Machine Learning to Identify Optimum Prospects for Offshore Geologic CO 2 Storage and Enhanced Oil Recovery in the Gulf of Mexico

The SECARB Offshore Partnership is a government-industry partnership focused on assembling the knowledge base required for secure, long-term, large-scale CO 2 subsea storage in saline formations and mature oil reservoirs. The SECARB Offshore Partnership is evaluating potential storage opportunities in the Central and Eastern planning areas of the outer continental shelf (OCS) of the Gulf of Mexico. The evaluation focuses on active and depleted oil and gas fields and potentially associated CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery (CO 2 -EOR), as well as, deep saline storage resources. As part of Subtask 3.0 (Offshore Storage Resources Characterization) and Subtask 4.0 (Risk Assessment, Simulation, and Modeling), Oklahoma State University (OSU) is developing a machine learning system that employs the SAS Institute’s Viya platform with visual data mining and machine learning to identify and characterize optimum prospects for enhanced oil recovery and stacked storage in saline reservoirs. This report summarizes this effort to date and discusses the many variables that can be used to characterize these storage objectives, as well as, the design vision of the Viya machine learning system.

02 PETROLEUM↗

NASA NTRS1992

Lunar exploration for resource utilization

The strategy for developing resources on the Moon depends on the stage of space industrialization. A case is made for first developing the resources needed to provide simple materials required in large quantities for space operations. Propellants, shielding, and structural materials fall into this category. As the enterprise grows, it will be feasible to develop additional sources - those more difficult to obtain or required in smaller quantities. Thus, the first materials processing on the Moon will probably take the abundant lunar regolith, extract from it major mineral or glass species, and do relatively simple chemical processing. We need to conduct a lunar remote sensing mission to determine the global distribution of features, geophysical properties, and composition of the Moon, information which will serve as the basis for detailed models of and engineering decisions about a lunar mine.

Duke, Michael B.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Solar System Exploration Augmented by In-Situ Resource Utilization: Mercury and Saturn Propulsion Investigations

Human and robotic missions to Mercury and Saturn are presented and analyzed with a range of propulsion options. Historical studies of space exploration, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), and industrialization all point to the vastness of natural resources in the solar system. Advanced propulsion benefitted from these resources in many ways. While advanced propulsion systems were proposed in these historical studies, further investigation of nuclear options using high power nuclear thermal and nuclear pulse propulsion as well as advanced chemical propulsion can significantly enhance these scenarios. Updated analyses based on these historical visions will be presented. Nuclear thermal propulsion and ISRU enhanced chemical propulsion landers are assessed for Mercury missions. At Saturn, nuclear pulse propulsion with alternate propellant feed systems and Titan exploration with chemical propulsion options are discussed. In-situ resource utilization was found to be critical in making Mercury missions more amenable for human visits. At Saturn, refueling using local atmospheric mining was found to be difficult to impractical, while refueling the Saturn missions from Uranus was more practical and less complex.

space propulsion↗

NASA NTRS2014

Solar System Exploration Augmented by Lunar and Outer Planet Resource Utilization: Historical Perspectives and Future Possibilities

Establishing a lunar presence and creating an industrial capability on the Moon may lead to important new discoveries for all of human kind. Historical studies of lunar exploration, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and industrialization all point to the vast resources on the Moon and its links to future human and robotic exploration. In the historical work, a broad range of technological innovations are described and analyzed. These studies depict program planning for future human missions throughout the solar system, lunar launched nuclear rockets, and future human settlements on the Moon, respectively. Updated analyses based on the visions presented are presented. While advanced propulsion systems were proposed in these historical studies, further investigation of nuclear options using high power nuclear thermal propulsion, nuclear surface power, as well as advanced chemical propulsion can significantly enhance these scenarios. Robotic and human outer planet exploration options are described in many detailed and extensive studies. Nuclear propulsion options for fast trips to the outer planets are discussed. To refuel such vehicles, atmospheric mining in the outer solar system has also been investigated as a means of fuel production for high energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as helium 3 (3He) and hydrogen (H2) can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. Helium 3 and H2 (deuterium, etc.) were the primary gases of interest with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses have investigated resource capturing aspects of atmospheric mining in the outer solar system. These analyses included the gas capturing rate, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. While capturing 3He, large amounts of hydrogen and 4He are produced. With these two additional gases, the potential for fueling small and large fleets of additional exploration and exploitation vehicles exists.

Palaszewski, Bryan↗