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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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DOE OSTI2020

Batteries Annual Progress Report (FY2019)

The Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) of the Department of Energy (DOE) conducts research and development (R&D) on advanced transportation technologies that would reduce the nation’s use of imported oil and would also lead to reductions in harmful emissions. Technologies supported by VTO include electric drive components such as advanced energy storage devices (primarily batteries), power electronics and electric drive motors, advanced structural materials, energy efficient mobility systems, advanced combustion engines, and fuels. VTO is focused on funding early-stage high-reward/high-risk research to improve critical components needed for more fuel efficient (and cleaner-operating) vehicles. One of the major VTO objectives is to enable U.S. innovators to rapidly develop the next generation of technologies that achieve the cost, range, and charging infrastructure necessary for the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). An important prerequisite for the electrification of the nation’s light duty transportation sector is development of more cost-effective, longer lasting, and more abuse-tolerant PEV batteries. One of the ultimate goals of this research, consistent with the current vehicle electrification trend, is an EV which can provide the full driving performance, convenience, and price of an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. To achieve this, VTO has established the following overarching goal (Source: FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification1): …identify new battery chemistry and cell technologies with the potential to reduce the cost of electric vehicle battery packs by more than half, to less than $100/kWh (ultimate goal is $60/kWh battery cell cost), increase range to 300 miles, and decrease charge time to 15 minutes or less by 2028. VTO works with key U.S. automakers through the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) – an umbrella organization for collaborative research consisting of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the Ford Motor Company, and General Motors. Collaboration with automakers through the partnership known as U.S. Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle Efficiency and Energy Sustainability (U.S. DRIVE) attempts to enhance the relevance and the success potential of its research portfolio. VTO competitively selects projects for funding through funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). Directly-funded work at the national laboratories are awarded competitively through a lab-call process. During the past year, VTO continued R&D in support of PEVs. Stakeholders for VTO R&D include universities, national laboratories, other government agencies and industry (including automakers, battery manufacturers, material suppliers, component developers, private research firms, and small businesses). This document summarizes the progress of VTO battery R&D projects supported during the fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019).

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

White Paper: Background Information on ARPA-E's Reuse Program

This document provides supplemental information for ARPA-E’s exploratory research program, “Recycle Underutilized Solids to Energy” (REUSE). The goal is to provide additional technical information to prospective Applicants. Further information is available in a blog interview and webinar at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=news-item/trash-treasure-reuse-creates-feedstock-plastic-waste. Award information, submission requirements, evaluation criteria, and other applicable information is provided in Funding Opportunity Announcements DE-FOA-0001953 and DE-FOA-0001954 (SBIR/STTR). REUSE-specific requirements are provided in Topic K of those FOAs, and is available at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx?Search=0001953&SearchType=#FoaIde8647d89-1cac-4b58-8622-1b04de8958c4. Under the REUSE Topic, ARPA-E seeks to fund the development of technologies to convert high-energy materials currently going to landfills to a high-energy content liquid product capable of displacing energy imports used for fuel or chemical production. The high-energy materials include plastics (#1-7 polymers, rubber, and composites) and paper. As discussed below, we estimate 30-34 MM ton plastic, 2-6 MM ton rubber, 18 MM ton of paper, and up to 0.1 MM ton composites are potentially available annually for this purpose. These numbers may be conservative based on changes in the plastic and paper export markets. ARPA-E anticipates deployment of multiple low-cost, simple, flexible, small-scale (100-500 ton per day) regional facilities using modular plants. This scale is consistent with the sources for high-energy materials, which include ~300 Material Recovery Facilities and industrial waste sources. The assumption is that such facilities can be more economical than the paradigm of large-scale facilities making purity products, due to cost for transporting and aggregating waste and the high operating costs (OPEX) and capital cost (CAPEX) for product purification. This document gives a brief technical review for multiple potential process technologies. The review is not intended to be comprehensive or limiting, only to provide an introduction to potential Applicants.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Gasoline Engine and Fuels Offering Reduced Fuel Consumption and Emissions: Vehicle Modeling Final Report

The Gasoline Engine and Fuels Offering Reduced Fuel Consumption and Emissions (GEFORCE) project was proposed in response to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Funding Opportunity Announcement 0991 by a team made up of the members of the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) and the research staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL.) The project focused on investigating the potential benefits that might be attained through synergistic use of specific engine technology together with fuels formulated to represent potential directions that high-octane fuels of the future might progress. A stated objective in the DOE FOA was to demonstrate a 25% reduction in petroleum consumption through optimization of the engine technologies together with a suitable fuel. An advanced engine was constructed and used with a matrix of research fuels to investigate potential avenues for efficiency improvement. The engine incorporated technologies expected to become mainstream for boosted engines in the next 10 to 20 years. These included increased compression ratio, a two-stage turbocharger, and cooled external exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The fuel matrix was designed to investigate impacts from research octane number (RON), volumetric ethanol content, and the final boiling point of the fuel. The engine calibration was optimized for each fuel individually and data collected to enable vehicle system modelling that projected energy consumption, fuel economy, tailpipe CO₂ emissions, and impact on petroleum consumption for an industry-average mid-size sedan. The engine calibration and data collection were carried out at IAV in Michigan and is the subject of a separate report. IAV provided the engine data to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to support the vehicle modelling portion of the project. The vehicle modelling results show the following trends: Ethanol content does have a consistently strong influence on the fuel economy results for all cycles and all fuels. Among the fuels of a nominal RON level, increasing ethanol content consistently lowers fuel economy, with the 30% ethanol fuels always providing the lowest fuel economy for a given RON level. However, in some cases the energy consumption improvement allows the 30% ethanol fuels to match the fuel economy of the ethanol-free fuel P. These observations underscore the importance of both engine efficiency and fuel volumetric energy content on vehicle fuel economy.; There was no consistent trend in the projected energy consumption results for differences in fuel T90 for all fuels and cycles. Fuel economy projections did show a consistent trend, with the higher T90 fuel providing slightly greater fuel economy when compared to the low T90 fuel of the same ethanol content. The observed trends were consistent with differences in the heating value of the fuels.; The 102-RON fuels provided reduced energy consumption and greater fuel economy for the advanced engine on all drive cycles. The engine compression ratio of 11.5 was higher than would typically be used in a turbocharged engine when 92-RON fuel use is expected. Hence, the engine experiences more efficiency degradation from knock avoidance when using the 92-RON fuels. This degradation causes the fuel economy results for the 92-RON fuels to be lower than those for the 102-RON fuels.; Fuels E and F (92-RON, 30% ethanol) are projected to achieve 10% or greater reduction in petroleum consumption, with fuels K (102-RON, 30% ethanol) and O (97 RON, 30% ethanol) achieving greater than a 20% reduction. Fuel L (102-RON, 30% ethanol) achieves greater than 25% reduction, meeting the petroleum reduction target of the project. All of the fuels that achieve 10% or greater reduction in petroleum consumption are 30% ethanol blends.; Increasing final boiling point increased fuel economy at fixed ethanol content when the 102-RON fuels were used. This trend is a result of differences in the volumetric energy content of the fuels and the projected energy consumption values for the fuels. In the case of the 102-RON fuels, increasing final boiling point also resulted in an increase in the energy content of the fuel. There was not a consistent trend between the energy content and final boiling point for the 92-RON fuels at fixed ethanol content.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Austin Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV [Austin SHINES]. Final Report, Version 2

The Austin SHINES project and solution is a software management platform, for an electric grid with a high penetration of dispersed photovoltaic (PV) solar generation sites, which maintains the traditional power quality and reliability associated with grid service. This project developed and deployed the platform as a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS), engaging multiple advanced controls, to evaluate operation and optimization of a fleet of diverse DER assets, installed at several locations among Austin Energy’s customers and distribution system. The project also produced a methodology to create a replicable DERMS template, adaptable to other regions and market structures. Last, Austin SHINES aimed to demonstrate the solution’s methodology would enable the DER grid ecosystem to serve load at a technical cost (System Levelized Cost of Electricity, or System LCOE) of less than the U.S. Department of Energy SHINES program metric of $0.14/kWh, in a defined boundary, while enabling a high penetration of distributed PV. Research was categorized in 6 reports (Final Deliverables = FD) listed below, with titles and descriptions indicating which area of understanding was investigated: FD-1: System Levelized Cost of Electricity (System LCOE) Methodology The creation and use of the System LCOE to Serve Load metric that encompasses the holistic, system-level costs and benefits of all resources, and enables them to be evaluated based on their ability to support an efficient and low-cost integrated grid ecosystem. FD-2: Software Platform Product Description The creation of new DER control methodologies deployable within a utility-grade software platform that enable DER's to maximize their benefit within a grid, that is capable of serving load enabling a high penetration of distributed PV generation. FD-3: Optimal Design Methodology Optimal design methodologies for individual DER installations that enable utilities to determine the optimal combinations and sizing for individual DER sites. FD-4: Austin SHINES Ownership and Operation Models for DER System Performance A comparison of multiple DER aggregation and ownership methodologies including direct utility control, third-party aggregator, and autonomous. FD-5: Economic Modeling & Optimization A comparison of multiple DER technology mixes and configurations within the distribution system, providing insight into an optimal blend of technologies that best enable the distribution system to serve load at the lowest cost at high penetrations of solar. FD-6: Fielded Assets Deployed DER assets within the Austin Energy SHINES circuits. Austin SHINES provided an opening for state-of-the-art technology products to be deployed, providing a rich opportunity for improving how each of the products perform as stand-alone products, and in concert with other complementary products. The Austin SHINES project comprised of two key metrics for System LCOE: SystemLCOE_SHINES<$0.14/kWh Modeled ΔSystemLCOE_SHINES/ΔSystemLCOE_Base≥20% at same solar penetration The System LCOE calculation uses the costs of the utility-owned infrastructure as it exists today, the cost of the DERs that exist in the system today, and the cost of the purchase of energy from ERCOT wholesale markets over the course of the calendar year. All costs are on an annualized basis. The capital and operating costs are derived from the rate case, which produces a yearly cost. The net cost of energy and services imported to the system is integrated over the test year, as is the load served and solar penetration. The first metric was easily achieved by every scenario considered. The goal was set when the Department of Energy’s SHINES Funding Opportunity Announcement was written in 2015 and was a more difficult target at the time. Due mostly to rapidly declining costs for DERs and the significant decrease in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) energy market prices, which results in lower net cost of energy purchases, the System LCOE is well below this target for all scenarios considered. A fleet of DERs can assume different mixtures, each of which serves the load at a different LCOE. The optimal mixture of DERs serves load at the smallest System LCOE. The second metric (hereinafter %delta metric) asks that the holistic DERMS controls reduce the incremental cost above the baseline of going to a high solar penetration future by at least 20% as compared to the case of a DER deployment with no sophisticated controls (autonomous). Many comparison sets were created throughout this project. Physical technology was installed for informing utility engineering and testing several types of operational control schemes, through the DERMS. The types of operational control which were compared for valuation of the System LCOE Metric were: Holistic control = using the full suite of the DERMS platform to decide and optimize how/why the systems operate depending on weather, market, and reliability signal input. Autonomous control = a local mode at the asset site, wherein a schedule operates the asset, with visibility into performance only No control = the baseline for comparing value against the other two types of control The types of ownership control included: Direct Utility control = the utility dispatches a signal to each asset Third-Party Aggregator = a third party aggregates a fleet of assets and the utility dispatches one signal for all Autonomous = a local mode is set for operation at the asset site, wherein a schedule operates the asset, with visibility into performance only The types of control methodologies deployable within a utility-grade software platform included: Utility Peak Load Reduction = Lower transmission cost obligation Day-Ahead Energy Arbitrage = Realize economic value through price differential Real-Time Price Dispatch = Realize economic value from real-time price spikes Voltage support = Reduce losses and increase solar generation Distribution Congestion Management = Increase local grid reliability Demand Charge Reduction = Lower customer bills and realize system benefit The fielded assets deployed for the project were: Utility Scale Kingsbery Energy Storage System: 1.5 MW / 3 MWh Li-Ion battery storage Mueller Energy Storage System: 1.75 MW / 3.2 MWh Li-Ion battery storage, 7 Energy Storage Units (250 kW each) La Loma Community Solar: 2.6 MW Commercial Scale Aggregated storage installations at 3 sites, with existing solar (300+ kW): One 18 kW / 36 kWh Li-Ion battery storage Two 72 kW / 144 kWh Li-Ion battery storage Residential Scale Aggregated storage installations: -Six stationary battery storage systems (10 kWh each) at homes with existing solar -One Electric Vehicle installed as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Utility-Controlled Solar via Smart Inverters at 12 homes Autonomously-Controlled Smart Inverters at 6 homes Over the course of the project, Austin SHINES undertook installing more than 3 MW of distributed battery energy storage, smart PV inverters, a DER control platform, and other enabling technologies utilizing customer and utility locations and aggregation models. All of these resources were to be integrated and optimized at the utility level. DER assets and control methodologies were designed to achieve a credible pathway to a System LCOE for energy delivered to load of $0.14//kWh or less by 2020, while maximizing distributed solar generation and maintaining acceptable standards of power quality. The project also established a template for other regions to follow, to maximize the adoption of distributed solar PV in support of an economic and efficient grid. In total, the Austin SHINES project added value to the DER subject area in each layer of integration. From utility, to commercial to residential scales, the sheer hierarchy of communication and coordination was a significant accomplishment in addition to learnings from what these communications revealed was unique to each. Economically, the most effective method demonstrated was the criticality of planning phases. Contingencies and multiple projection scenarios helped guide the project to deploy optimal design as close as feasible, in real world conditions. The project and reports will serve public benefit by outlining specific areas of DER strategy and installation where many stakeholders and needs can be addressed with improved efficiency. Overall, communities and utilities should use the results to guide the increasing options available for powering the grid with DER, renewables, and carbon considerate energy.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

CSP Gen3: Liquid-Phase Pathway to SunShot

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) established the Concentrating Solar Power Generation 3 (CSP Gen3) program to promote the development of advanced CSP systems capable of producing electricity at a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) less than $60/MWh, based on criteria published in the CSP Gen3 Roadmap and a subsequent funding opportunity announcement (Gen3 FOA). This report documents the progress and potential of the “Liquid Pathway” to meet these objectives. The Liquid Pathway proposes the use of low-cost molten chloride salts for energy storage, mated with an operationally flexible solar receiver that employs liquid-metal sodium for heat capture and transfer to the storage salt. This approach leverages molten-salt technology from the current state-of-the-art CSP power towers embodied by plants such as Gemasolar, Crescent Dunes, Noor III, and the DEWA 700 CSP project. Furthermore, the design builds on the knowledge gained over decades of use of liquid-metal sodium as a high-temperature heat transfer fluid (HTF) in solar tests and nuclear-power applications. The commercial representation of the proposed Gen3 design incorporates a high-efficiency sodium receiver operating at ~740°C, with a liquid-liquid heat exchanger feeding a two-tank, molten-chloride salt storage system. Chloride salt is dispatched to a supercritical CO 2 (sCO 2 ) power cycle to provide electric power to the grid. The design integration is a conceptual match for the current sodium receiver → solar salt storage → steam-Rankine power cycle promoted by developer Vast Solar, which may facilitate commercial acceptance and development.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Commercial Building Energy Code Field Study (Final Report)

What is the dollar value of increasing compliance with the energy code? Ultimately, this is the question that policy makers, funders, and program implementers care about. With this in mind, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed a new methodology capable of determining how much energy cost savings could potentially be gained through better compliance with the code (Rosenberg et al. 2016). On March 2, 2016 DOE issued Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number DE-FOA-0001532, requesting proposals to develop and test a methodology for identifying the commercial energy code requirements that can provide the maximum cost-effective energy and cost savings through increased compliance. Awarded to the Institute for Market Transformation, this report summarizes the development and testing of a commercial code compliance methodology, including a summary of results, statistical analysis of sample, and best practices for others implementing a commercial energy code compliance field study.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

FOA 1861 Data Curation Overview

This document describes the process executed to collect, examine, and consolidate Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) data from multiple transmission operators into a common dataset. The consolidated PMU data set was further anonymized and distributed to the Department of Energy Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) 1861 Big Data Analysis of Synchrophasor Data awardees.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Combinatorial Evaluation of Physical Feature Engineering, Classical Machine Learning, and Deep Learning Models for Synchrophasor Data at Scale

A major objective of the project was to train and evaluate the effectiveness of multiple event and anomaly detection, identification and classification deep temporal learning models for processing of real-time phasor measurement unit (PMU) data streams. A vast dataset, consisting of two years of phasor measurements from all three U.S. Interconnections, was curated and released by the Department of Energy (DOE) through Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The dataset also included an event log that provided event times and types (e.g. generator trips, line trips, planned service events, transformer operations, etc.). Our analysis of this dataset addressed six (6) of the eleven (11) research priorities identified in Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001861 “Big Data Analysis of Synchrophasor Data” (FOA 1861). Rather than being limited to pre-determined specific algorithms, this project relied on the uniquely structured, highly performant underlying time series database capabilities of the PredictiveGrid platform to assess the vast dataset utilizing a wide variety of algorithms.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Pathway to Zero Energy Windows: Advancing Technologies and Market Adoption

As of 2021, buildings account for 39.1% of total U.S. primary energy use and 75% of total U.S. electricity use. Much of this energy is used to maintain a comfortable indoor environment. The building envelope consists of transparent and opaque elements that serve as a controllable barrier to help maintain the indoor environment regardless of external conditions. The envelope also allows the exchange of light and air, as well as other transfers with the external environment when it is beneficial for the building occupants. By leveraging desirable external environmental conditions (e.g., fresh air and natural light) and mitigating the influence of undesirable conditions (e.g., moisture, hot or cold temperatures, wind), the building envelope can reduce the need for space conditioning and electric light, and thus reduce energy use associated with lighting and heating, cooling, and ventilation equipment. In turn, high-performance building envelopes can reduce the substantial CO 2 emissions associated with energy use to satisfy heating, cooling, and lighting needs in buildings. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Office's (BTO's) Emerging Technologies program supports R&D for technologies, systems, and software tools that can contribute to reductions in building energy use. Emerging Technologies funding is distributed competitively through solicitations (e.g., Funding Opportunity Announcements and National Lab Calls, which in general are open to applications from industry, academia, national laboratories, and other entities) and other mechanisms. This document focuses on R&D for windows and window system technologies and will provide guidance for BTO's investments in developing the next generation of high-performance, affordable, cost competitive windows, as well as integrated daylighting and shading technologies in partnership with industry and researchers. This document also addresses areas where DOE invests in software and design tools that translate sophisticated and complex physics into easy-to-use energy performance and optimization methods used by industry and other stakeholders for implementation.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Big Data Analysis of Synchrophasor Data: Outcomes of Research Activities Supported by DOE FOA 1861

This report describes the key outcomes of research activities sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) number 1861 that was aimed at advancing the state-of-the-art in big data analytics applied to transmission-level synchrophasor measurements. The FOA resulted in eight research grants where the awardees developed machine learning and artificial intelligence tools and approaches. The commonalities in tools and approaches used by the awardees are explored, and insights gained from how the project outcomes might be operationalized are discussed. This report does not seek to comprehensively summarize all research supported by the FOA, rather it focuses on enabling the fast dissemination of major findings to the broader power systems community.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-Performance Low-Cobalt Cathode Materials for Li-ion Batteries

The layer-structured Li[Ni x Co y Mn 1-x-y ]O 2 (NCM) cathode materials have been the best choice for increasing electric vehicle driving distance per charge. The high Ni layered oxide represents successfully commercialized NCM cathodes (such as NCM622 and NCA) in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for EV applications due to their high energy density and acceptable cycling stability. However, the price of cobalt, the key element within LIBs for stability, has nearly tripled over the past few years due to increased demand from the cell phone industry. As mentioned in the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement, the current materials shortage will also cause speculation for a future global shortage. Therefore, to meet the requirement and sustainability of the next-generation long-range and low-cost EVs, developing cathode materials with low-Co content to achieve higher energy density and lower cost is both essential and urgent. The overarching objective of this work is to develop stabilized NCM cathode materials with low Co content (namely LiNi x Co y Mn 1-x-y O 2 , y ≤ 0.04) to meet DOE’s goal of reducing Co loading below 50 mg Wh -1 while maintaining energy density greater than 600 Wh kg -1 based on cathode material. Via various dopings and coatings scalable methods, we explored and enhanced the cycling performance of low-cobalt cathodes. The final obtained NCM cathodes paired with graphite anode aim to deliver batteries with a high initial specific energy density of over 240 Wh kg -1 and a low capacity fading rate of less than 20% in 1000 cycles under a C/3 discharge rate. To accomplish this goal, a multidisciplinary team with several co-investigators has been formed from three organizations: The Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The PI and co-investigators are Dr. Donghai Wang (PI) from PSU with expertise in the synthesis of nanostructured materials and manipulation of interfacial properties of electrochemically active materials, Dr. Jagjit Nanda, with substantial knowledge of and expertise in state-of-the-art cathodes from ORNL, Dr. Chao-Yang Wang with significant experience in advanced cell design and fabrication and cell diagnostics from PSU, and Dr. Chongmin Wang with world-wide known expertise of advance atomic scale characterization of electrode materials from PNNL. Furthermore, this project will leverage and synergistically work with the current DOE-funded programs on battery materials at PSU and ORNL and electrode materials characterization at PNNL. During this funded period, we have accomplished milestones stated as follows: • Scale up production of LiFePO 4 (LFP) coated NCM811 with a production of 300g/batch. Fifteen (≥2 Ah) pouch cells with LFP-coated NCM811 cathode are delivered. Self-evaluated pouch cells in PSU show superior over 80% capacity retention performance even after 1500 cycles at C/3 rate. • Various cations (Al, Ti, Zr, and Mo) substitute cobalt in low-cobalt partially and Co-free cathodes. Their effects on crystal structure and electrochemical behavior are explored. • Phosphate compounds as coating materials represent promising surface protection precursors for low-cobalt cathode materials. Therefore, several metal phosphates were selected for improving the NMC cycling performance and are regarded as effective approaches for a scalable and practical surface protection method. • Production of NCM92, where Nickel content is 92% among transition metals, is scaled up from synthesis to coating and heat treatment procedures. Fifteen 2.7Ah pouch cells with Ti-doped NCM92 cathodes and industrial graphite anode are delivered to Idaho National Lab for testing.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Enhancing Radionuclide Production Capabilities at the Duke University Medical Center Cyclotron with a Focus on Astatine-211

Radionuclides play an important role in a diverse array of fields including physics, chemistry, agriculture, materials science, national security, medical research and patient care. Establishing a reliable domestic supply of key radionuclides is critical to our national competitiveness in these areas. Regarding medical applications, targeted alpha-particle therapy (TAT) has become of great interest to basic researchers and clinicians alike and is emerging as a valuable and cost-effective approach for cancer treatment. Unfortunately, progress in TAT, particularly with regard to its clinical translation, has been severely hampered by the limited availability of the most promising radionuclides at a reasonable cost, and with appropriate chemical and radiochemical purity. In this project, we have attempted to address this problem by focusing on production of the 7.2-h half-life α-particle emitter, 211 At, which has long been considered to be one of the most promising radionuclides for TAT. We note that he critical importance of improving the supply of 211 At in the United States was noted in the Funding Opportunity Announcement related to this project. At Duke University, we have a CS-30 cyclotron that is one of the few accelerators in the United States that has an alpha-particle beam that has enough energy to make useful quantities of 211 At. With this cyclotron, we have been able to produce more 211 At than anywhere else in the world because of our unique internal cyclotron target system. However, the CS-30 cyclotron is nearly 40 years old and was no longer reliable. In addition, its operation required considerable skill, largely because it had analog control systems, and vital parts including old-fashioned power supplies, were becoming unavailable. For these reasons, the current project was undertaken to evaluate all the subsystems of the CS-30 cyclotron and replace, repair, and update them. With help from our consultant, Ionetix, this has now been accomplished. We believe that because of this work, the CS-30 can reliably supply 211 At for basic research and clinical trials both at Duke and beyond.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulation, Challenge Testing and Validation of Solutions for Residential and Commercial Occupancy Sensing/Counting and CO2 Sensing (Final Report)

Carbon dioxide sensors used for monitoring and control applications in buildings are known to be sensitive to long term drift and can be affected by variations in temperature, humidity, other gas interferents, pressure and other factors that cannot be corrected through the typical auto-calibration methods often embedded in the sensor electronics. This investigation was part of the Category D defined in the ARPA-E Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures With Occupancy Recognition (SENSOR) Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity Announcement No. DE-FOA-0001737, FFDA No. 81.135, January 18, 2017. The FOA defined target criteria for the evaluation of the Category C commercial CO2 sensors selected for review and development through the ARPA-E SENSOR program and charged the Iowa State Category D team with developing an evaluation methodology for Category C sensors in accordance with these criteria. As part of the work, the Iowa State team chose to engage the standards community in the development of the evaluation methodology. Standard development work in the D22.05 Indoor Air and D22.03 Ambient Atmospheres and Source Emissions subcommittees of ASTM International Committee D22 on Air Quality on the evaluation of low cost sensors and provision of guidance for using indoor carbon dioxide concentrations to evaluate indoor air quality and ventilation is of particular relevance to the Category D efforts. To date, three draft standards with specific input by the Iowa State Category D team have passed the subcommittee balloting stage and are being balloted in December 2022 and January 2023 in the main D22 committee. In addition to the aforementioned standards to which the PI was a contributing author, intellectual property developed in this project pertaining to “An Automated System for Evaluation of the Long Term Performance of Carbon Dioxide Sensors” and “An Automated Ground Truth System for Real-Time Reliability Assessment, Capture of Control Decisions and Energy Savings Measurements for Occupancy Recognition Systems and Other Applications” are the other major deliverables of the project. These standards and the developed intellectual property are expected to benefit the public in a number of ways stemming from their provision of means to benchmark the performance of carbon dioxide and other sensor systems. In particular, there is high interest in techniques to demonstrate the performance of low-cost carbon dioxide sensors which can be used for typical HVAC applications (e.g., demand controlled ventilation, outdoor and indoor air monitoring, estimation of occupancy, etc.).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Engineering-scale Modeling of High-Temperature Creep and Creep Crack Growth in Alloy 316H

This document demonstrates completion of the goals described in the technical narrative of the Department of Energy’s Industry Funding Opportunity Announcement (iFOA) project entitled “Modeling and Simulation Development Pathways to Accelerating KP-FHR Licensing,” which relates to the development and demonstration of capabilities for conducting engineering-scale simulations of Alloy 316H components under high-temperature conditions. This work encompassed two major aspects: integrating and testing constitutive models for the creep response of 316H at high temperatures, and developing tools for modeling creep crack growth (CCG) in 316H. Two classes of constitutive models were used in this effort: phenomenological models based on behavior observed at the engineering scale, and reduced-order models (ROMs) that represent the nonlinear response of mesoscale models that capture the sensitivity to material microstructure and processing. Likewise, the approaches employed for CCG modeling considered both simplified engineering approaches and detailed simulations of creep and damage ahead of the crack tip. These developments, which were performed by utilizing the Grizzly code as well as the open-source libraries it depends on, strengthen Grizzly’s ability to support licensing and safety analyses of high-temperature reactor components.

316H↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effects of Rapid Permafrost Thaw on CO2 and CH4 Fluxes in a Warmer and Wetter Future (Final Technical Report)

When ice-rich permafrost thaws, the ground subsides, creating thermokarst landscapes with dramatically different soil conditions and carbon fluxes than the original ecosystem. Roughly 20% of the northern permafrost region is susceptible to thermokarst formation (Olefeldt et al., 2016). Thermokarst formation is often rapid; tens of meters of permafrost can thaw within a few years (Schuur et al., 2015). In topographically low areas, thermokarst thaw converts boreal forest or tundra dry shrub ecosystems into sedge or Sphagnum moss wetlands (Olefeldt et al., 2016). While this type of landscape transformation releases carbon stored in permafrost into the atmosphere, on longer time scales, it facilitates sequestration of atmospheric carbon in plant biomass because permafrost thaw releases plant-available nutrients and wetlands are highly productive (M. C. Jones et al., 2017). However, wetlands also generate methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Methane emissions from thermokarst wetlands can cause these carbon-sequestering systems to have a positive global warming potential (Johansson et al., 2006; Turetsky et al., 2007). Our project objective was to improve Earth System and environmental predictability by advancing understanding of how CO 2 and CH 4 flux in permafrost thaw-induced wetlands (thermokarst) will change in the future as temperatures and climate conditions shift. Northern latitudes are expected to get warmer and wetter (IPCC 2013), and initiation and expansion of thermokarst thaw is expected to increase (Jorgenson et al. 2006; Zhang et al. 2017). Given these expected changes, our work sought to address three broad questions: Q1) How will northern latitude CO2 and CH4 emissions respond to warming temperatures? Q2) What is the impact of precipitation on permafrost thaw and carbon emissions? Q3) How do CO2 and CH4 emissions change as wetlands age after permafrost thaw? To answer these questions, we took both a modeling and measurement approach. Modeling work was conducted with DOE’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) land model (ELM). Empirical work took place in two primary locations. The first was a thermokarst site near Fairbanks, AK. The site is part of the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research program and is well instrumented (Neumann et al., 2019). The second was an isolated thawing permafrost wetland located on Kenai Peninsula — Brown’s Lake bog (B. M. Jones et al., 2016) — where the current climate is representative of what is expected at higher latitudes in the future. This site provides an ideal opportunity to test our hypotheses about how thermokarst wetland dynamics will respond to future environmental conditions. In addition, the project collaborated with researchers asking similar questions who were collecting measurements in high latitude post-glacial lakes located in collaborators tackling similar questions in Sweden (Stordalen Mire) (Emerson et al., 2021). Project efforts directly aligned with the stated goal of the funding opportunity announcement (FOA), which was “to improve the understanding and representation of terrestrial ecosystems in ways that advance Earth system model parameterizations and capabilities... thereby improving the quality of Earth and environmental model projections and providing the scientific foundation needed to support DOE’s science and energy missions.” Specifically, the project improved sophistication and accuracy of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), which is being developed primarily at DOE National Laboratories to support scientific research and decision-making.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Economically Viable Intermediate to Long Duration Hydrogen Energy Storage Solutions for Fossil Fueled Assets

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management of U.S. Department of Energy under Funding Opportunity Announcement Number DE-FOA-0002332 “Energy Storage for Fossil Power Generation”. The work aimed to explore and advance an innovative hydrogen energy storage system – the synergistically integrated hydrogen energy storage system (SIHES) – that has the following characteristics: • Compatible with existing or new coal and gas fuel electricity generation units, • best suited for intermediate to long duration energy storage, from 12 hours to weeks even months, and • capable of storing energy at the utility scale – hundreds of MWh to GWh energy storage with power output level in tens to hundreds of MW. Preliminary front-end engineering design (Pre-FEED) studies was carried out to develop and refine a site-specific SIHES as peaking power generation units (so named as HyPeaker) as the first market entry point, to demonstrate both the technical feasibility and the economic viability to integrate the HyPeaker “within the fence” of a fossil power plant. This specific site was TVA’s Johnsonville Combustion Turbine Plant. The HyPeaker was designed and engineered to integrate with a 60MW aeroderivative gas turbine unit already available at TVA’s Johnsonville site. This site-specific HyPeaker consists of an alkaline electrolyzer to produce hydrogen from CO 2 free electricity sources, an innovative low-cost high-pressure hydrogen storage system (Big-Ton) and the aero gas turbine to generate electricity using blend of hydrogen and natural gas. A holistic system level technoeconomic analysis tool specific to HyPeaker was developed to optimize the engineering design of the Johnsonville site-specific HyPeaker for cost and performance. The optimal design and specification of the Johnsonville site-specific HyPeaker are the following: • Alkaline electrolyzer: 3MW • Big-Ton storage vessel: 11,000kg H 2 at 3000psi. • 4-stage diaphragm hydrogen compressor: 55kg-H 2 /hr from 150psi to 3000psi. The HyPeaker is designed to provide sufficient hydrogen for 90% continuous operation of the HyPeaker. All major components have design life of 30 years. The capex of HyPeaker is estimated at $\$$7.1M. This included $\$$1.5M for the electrolyzer, $\$$5.6M for the storage vessel and compressor. The cost of aero gas turbine was included as it is already available at the site. Key findings are: • HyPeaker can be designed, manufactured, installed and integrated with the fossil power plants, with sub-systems and components commercially available on the market today, even when it is scaled up to an order of magnitude larger than the one at the Johnsonville site. HyPeaker is a technologically viable solution to cover a wide range of energy storage duration needs, from daily peaking operation to seasonal shifting for fossil fueled assets. • The cost advantage of SCCV based Big-Ton H 2 storage vessel made it possible to “oversize” the H 2 storage subsystem to achieve overall system level cost optimization. The benefits are two-fold. First, it allows to significantly reduce the capacity and cost of electrolyzer by spreading H 2 production over a much longer period of time when the fuel cost for electricity production is low. Second, it allows to balance the hydrogen production and usage shift over weeks to months to meet the peak demands. As such, the capital cost of HyPeaker system using the Big-Ton was less than half of the cost of a system with today’s steel tube based H 2 storage system. The HyPeaker has even better cost advantage Li-ion battery based energy storage system. The estimated capital cost of Li-Ion battery system would be at $\$$38M, under the same projected 20-year electricity generation profile of the Johnsonville site. This is over 5 times more expensive than the HyPeaker system. • Since industry scale energy storage systems do not have 100% energy conversion and storage efficiency, energy storage systems using fossil fuel generated electricity would increase the CO 2 emission. This is particularly the case for HyPeaker due to its low round trip efficiency. Therefore, a more sensible solution would be to the excessive or curtailed electricity from CO 2 emission free sources such as solar farms, wind farms or nuclear power plants, to produce hydrogen, and integrate them with the HyPeaker. Electricity from TVA’s nuclear power plants was used for the Johnsonville HyPeaker. • The economic viability of HyPeaker is expected to be further improved when global supply chains are taken into consideration. For the same Johnsonville site specific HyPeaker, the capex would be reduced to ~$\$$3.6M from ~$\$$7.1M, and the added LCOE is reduced to ~$\$$85/MWh. With the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the cost of domestically produced HyPeaker sub-systems would be at the level of today’s global suppliers. Since the peaking units generally operate at peak usage period, thereby demanding higher price, the projected $\$$85/MWh LCOE would be within the realm of financial viability for utility operators.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2024

Liquid Piston with Spray Cooling Near-Isothermal Compressor

The goal of this project was to prototype and characterize the performance of a liquid-piston spray-cooled gas compressor. The working principle of the compressor enables optimized high-efficiency operation over a very wide range of operating conditions, unlike conventional compressors that are optimized for a narrow range of operating conditions. The compressor technology is suitable for many applications, such as gas pipeline transport, gas storage, and commercial and residential heat pumps. Both physical testing and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of the processes using the Oak Ridge National Laboratory high-performance computing center were completed. The experimental and CFD studies focused on a near-isothermal liquid-piston compressor (LPC) that uses propylene glycol to compress CO 2 . The first prototype demonstrated isothermal operation during several sequentially executed cycles of CO 2 compression and raised the temperature of the compressed CO 2 by only 2 K, compared with approximately 6 K when the gas was compressed non-isothermally. Isothermal operation was demonstrated at CO 2 flow rates of up to 2 L/min. The second prototype was designed with two compression chambers to allow continuous flow of high-pressure CO 2 . However, the design of the valve train to direct flow between the compression chambers was not sufficient to allow demonstration of CO 2 compression. Numerical simulations of the LPC in which the compression chamber was filled with propylene glycol injected from the bottom inlet were performed using large eddy simulation (LES) with the wall-adapting local eddy-viscosity subgrid-scale model coupled with the multiphase volume of fluid (VOF) model to simulate the transient interface between gas and liquid and to capture the heat and mass transfers within the compression chamber. In this effort, the effects of boundary conditions applied to the LES-VOF calculations (i.e., no wall, an adiabatic wall, and a wall with a heat flux subscribed) on the overall pressure and temperature of the CO 2 gas as well as the transient evolution of flow and heat transfer within the compression chamber were investigated and are discussed in this report. The LES calculation with no wall showed no dynamical flow patterns, and the volume-averaged temperature of CO 2 increased from 305 to 392.7 K, whereas LES calculations with a constant wall temperature or a wall heat flux had similar increases of CO 2 temperatures. The results of the LES simulation using a wall heat flux showed different stages in the compression process and revealed dynamical formation and interaction of CO 2 gas layers and circulation flow patterns within the chamber that contributed to the overall heat transfer between the solid wall, gas, and liquid surface in the compressor. Though an industrial partnership for commercializing the compressor was not secured, the technology was attractive for an industrial partner to use in two research proposals in response to US Department of Energy funding opportunity announcements.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advanced Laboratory and Field Arrays (ALFA)/Lab Collaboration Project (LCP) for Marine Energy (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

The objective of the Advanced Laboratory and Field Arrays (ALFA) project was to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of Marine and Hydrokinetic (MHK) energy by leveraging research, development, and testing capabilities at Oregon State University, University of Washington, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. ALFA is a project within the Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC; formerly NNMREC), a multi-institution entity with a diverse funding base that focuses on research and development for marine renewables. The ALFA project aimed to accelerate the development of next-generation arrays of wave energy conversion (WEC) and tidal energy conversion (TEC) devices through a suite of field-focused R&D activities spanning a broad range of strategic opportunity areas identified in the Funding Opportunity Announcement: • Device and/or array operation and maintenance (O&M) logistics development; • High-fidelity resource characterization and/or modeling technique development and validation; • Array-specific component technology development (e.g. moorings and foundations, transmission, and other offshore grid components); • Array performance testing and evaluation; and • Novel cost-effective environmental monitoring techniques and instrumentation testing and evaluation. The objective of the Lab Collaboration Project (LCP) was to accelerate the development of next-generation marine energy conversion systems. The LCP aimed to achieve these project objectives in collaboration with the national laboratories by: • Developing concept generation and assessment tools; • Improving access to existing testing resources; • Validating collision risk models between fish and turbines; and • Advancing analysis and simulation capabilities for wave-WEC interactions and PTO analysis in nonlinear ocean waves. The ALFA portion of the project was comprised of six overarching technical tasks: • Task 1: Debris Modeling, Detection and Mitigation; • Task 2: Autonomous Monitoring & Intervention; • Task 3: Resource Characterization for Extreme Conditions; • Task 4: Robust Models for Design of Offshore Anchoring and Mooring Systems; • Task 5: Performance Enhancement for Marine Energy Converter (MEC) Arrays; and • Task 6: Evaluating Sampling Techniques for MHK Biological Monitoring. The LCP was divided into four overarching technical tasks: • Task 7: Project Management and Reporting • Task 8: Novel Design and Assessment Methodologies for Wave Energy Converter Design (Wave- SPARC) • Task 9: Testing Access for Commercial Marine Renewable Energy Technology Developers • Task 10: Quantifying Collision Risk for Fish and Turbines • Task 11: Nonlinear Ocean Waves and PTO Control Strategy Each ALFA/LCP task listed above functioned as a separate and discreet project. A final Technical Report was written for each individual task and these reports were uploaded to OSTI, after receiving DOE approval. The following document is a compilation of each of these final, approved reports arranged as individual chapters.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗