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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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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Cellulose–hemicellulose interactions at elevated temperatures increase cellulose recalcitrance to biological conversion

It has been previously shown that cellulose-lignin droplets’ strong interactions, resulting from lignin coalescence and redisposition on cellulose surface during thermochemical pretreatments, increase cellulose recalcitrance to biological conversion, especially at commercially viable low enzyme loadings. However, information on the impact of cellulose–hemicellulose interactions on cellulose recalcitrance following relevant pretreatment conditions are scarce. Here, to investigate the effects of plausible hemicellulose precipitation and re-association with cellulose on cellulose conversion, different pretreatments were applied to pure Avicel® PH101 cellulose alone and Avicel mixed with model hemicellulose compounds followed by enzymatic hydrolysis of resulting solids at both low and high enzyme loadings. Solids produced by pretreatment of Avicel mixed with hemicelluloses (AMH) were found to contain about 2 to 14.6% of exogenous, precipitated hemicelluloses and showed a remarkably much lower digestibility (up to 60%) than their respective controls. However, the exogenous hemicellulosic residues that associated with Avicel following high temperature pretreatments resulted in greater losses in cellulose conversion than those formed at low temperatures, suggesting that temperature plays a strong role in the strength of cellulose–hemicellulose association. Molecular dynamics simulations of hemicellulosic xylan and cellulose were found to further support this temperature effect as the xylan–cellulose interactions were found to substantially increase at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, exogenous, precipitated hemicelluloses in pretreated AMH solids resulted in a larger drop in cellulose conversion than the delignified lignocellulosic biomass containing comparably much higher natural hemicellulose amounts. In conclusion, increased cellulase loadings or supplementation of cellulase with xylanases enhanced cellulose conversion for most pretreated AMH solids; however, this approach was less effective for solids containing mannan polysaccharides, suggesting stronger association of cellulose with (hetero) mannans or lack of enzymes in the mixture required to hydrolyze such polysaccharides.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I-Overview and impact of elevated aerosol layers on aerosol optical depth

The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique study designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere between and within two atmospheric columns; one fixed near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second moveable column over the Atlantic Ocean several hundred kilometers from the coast. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) was deployed at the base of the Cape Cod column, and the ARM Aerial Facility was utilized for the summer and winter intensive observation periods. One important finding from TCAP is that four of six nearly cloud-free flight days had aerosol layers aloft in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). In addition, these layers contributed up to 60% of the total observed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning material and nitrate compared to aerosol found near the surface. Lastly, while there was a great deal of spatial and day-to-day variability in the aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, no systematic differences between the two columns were observed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Hydrogen isotope fractionation in the system brucite-water ± NaCl to elevated temperatures and pressures: Implications for the isotopic property of NaCl fluids under geologic conditions

According to the article, a series of hydrothermal experiments have been conducted to determine equilibrium D/H fractionations between brucite and water as a function of temperature (200-600 °C), pressure (2.1-800 MPa), and dissolved NaCl (0-5 molal or 0-22.6 wt%). Along with our previous study, a total of 39 data points show that pressure and dissolved NaCl both increase the D/H fractionation factor at a given temperature. Theoretical treatment allowed a first direct comparison of experimental and theoretical results of brucite-water D/H fractionation at a zero pressure limit. After correcting the pressure effects on brucite D/H partition function ratios (β-factor), the isotope effects of pressure and dissolved NaCl on the D/H β-factor of water were for the first time rigorously evaluated. There is a good linear relationship between the D/H β-factor of the aqueous NaCl solutions and their densities of at a given temperature. A good, pseudo-linear relationship observed between the density of aqueous NaCl solutions and the maximum intensity of the asymmetric OH vibrational frequency of water in turn suggests that this frequency is a fundamental property that determines the β-factor of water at elevated temperatures and pressures. Our study suggests that the density of aqueous solutions (ρ aq-soln ) could be used as a primary parameter to predict the effects of pressure and NaCl compositions on the β-factor of water under geologic conditions encountered in the crust and upper mantle:Δ10 3 1n β wat /Δρ aq-soln = -0.0111 (±0.0012), where Δ is a difference in the value of 10 3 In β wat or ρ aq-soln , and ρ aq-soln in kg m -3 .

bio-inspired, mechanical behavior, carbon sequestr↗
DOE OSTI2014

First elevated-temperature performance testing of coated particle fuel compacts from the AGR-1 irradiation experiment

In the AGR-1 irradiation experiment, 72 coated-particle fuel compacts were taken to a peak burnup of 19.5% fissions per initial metal atom with no in-pile failures. This paper discusses the first post-irradiation test of these mixed uranium oxide/uranium carbide fuel compacts at elevated temperature to examine the fuel performance under a simulated depressurized conduction cooldown event. A compact was heated for 400 h at 1600 degrees C. Release of 85Kr was monitored throughout the furnace test as an indicator of coating failure, while other fission product releases from the compact were periodically measured by capturing them on exchangeable, water-cooled deposition cups. No coating failure was detected during the furnace test, and this result was verified by subsequent electrolytic deconsolidation and acid leaching of the compact, which showed that all SiC layers were still intact. However, the deposition cups recovered significant quantities of silver, europium, and strontium. Based on comparison of calculated compact inventories at the end of irradiation versus analysis of these fission products released to the deposition cups and furnace internals, the minimum estimated fractional losses from the compact during the furnace test were 1.9 x 10-2 for silver, 1.4 x 10-3 for europium, and 1.1 x 10-5 for strontium. Other post-irradiation examination of AGR-1 compacts indicates that similar fractions of europium and silver may have already been released by the intact coated particles during irradiation, and it is therefore likely that the detected fission products released from the compact in this 1600 degrees C furnace test were from residual fission products in the matrix. Gamma analysis of coated particles deconsolidated from the compact after the heating test revealed that silver content within each particle varied considerably; a result that is probably not related to the furnace test, because it has also been observed in other as-irradiated AGR-1 compacts. X-ray imaging of selected particles was performed to examine the internal microstructure. This examination revealed variable irradiation performance of the coating layers, but sufficient statistical sampling is not yet available to identify any possible correlation to variation in individual particle fission product retention.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2014

A strong radio brightening at the jet base of M 87 during the elevated very high energy gamma-ray state in 2012

We report our intensive, high angular resolution radio monitoring observations of the jet in M 87 with the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA) and the European VLBI Network (EVN) from 2011 February to 2012 October, together with contemporaneous high-energy (100 MeV 100 GeV) γ rays by VERITAS. We detected a remarkable (up to ∼70%) increase of the radio flux density from the unresolved jet base (radio core) with VERA at 22 and 43 GHz coincident with the VHE activity. Meanwhile, we confirmed with EVN at 5 GHz that the peculiar knot, HST-1, which is an alternative favored γ-ray production site located at ≳120 pc from the nucleus, remained quiescent in terms of its flux density and structure. These results in the radio bands strongly suggest that the VHE γ-ray activity in 2012 originates in the jet base within 0.03 pc or 56 Schwarzschild radii (the VERA spatial resolution of 0.4 mas at 43 GHz) from the central supermassive black hole. We further conducted VERA astrometry for the M 87 core at six epochs during the flaring period, and detected core shifts between 22 and 43 GHz, a mean value of which is similar to that measured in the previous astrometric measurements. We also discovered a clear frequency-dependent evolution of the radio core flare at 43, 22, and 5 GHz; the radio flux density increased more rapidly at higher frequencies with a larger amplitude, and the light curves clearly showed a time-lag between the peaks at 22 and 43 GHz, the value of which is constrained to be within ∼35-124 days. This indicates that a new radio-emitting component was created near the black hole in the period of the VHE event, and then propagated outward with progressively decreasing synchrotron opacity. By combining the obtained core shift and time-lag, we estimated an apparent speed of the newborn component propagating through the opaque region between the cores at 22 and 43 GHz. We derived a sub-luminal speed (less than ∼0.2c) for this component. This value is significantly slower than the super-luminal (∼1.1c) features that appeared from the core during the prominent VHE flaring event in 2008, suggesting that stronger VHE activity can be associated with the production of a higher Lorentz factor jet in M 87.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Short-Term Oxidation Studies on Nicrofer- 6025HT in Air at Elevated Temperatures for Advanced Coal Based Power Plants

Several advanced air separation unit (ASU) designs being considered for use in coal gasification rely on the use of solid state mixed ionic and electronic conductors. Nicrofer-6025HT, a nickel-based alloy, has been identified as a potential manifold material to transport the hot gases into the ASUs. In the current study, isothermal oxidation tests were conducted on Nicrofer-6025HT in the temperature range of 700–900 °C for up to 24 h. The evolution of oxide scale was evaluated using SEM, XRD, and XPS. The composite surface oxide layer that formed consisted of an outer chromia-rich scale and an inner alumina scale. For the longer times at the higher temperatures evaluated, a NiCr2O4 spinel phase was located at the interface between the alumina and chromia. Based on the experimental results a four-step oxidation model was proposed.

Alloy 602CA↗