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DOE OSTI2026

Spring Dust in Colorado Plateau: Transport Pathways and Interannual Variability Derived From Two Decades of MERRA‐2 Reanalysis

Spring dust storms in the U.S. Southwest significantly impact environmental and human systems, yet their climatological patterns and driving mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using two decades of MERRA-2 reanalysis data and self-organizing map clustering, we identified four distinct dust transport pathways from surrounding and remote deserts for the top 10% of spring dust events impacting the Colorado Plateau: (a) intense southwesterly near-surface transport where eastward upward transport is blocked by topography, (b) substantial remote transport plus weaker surface emissions, (c) moderate southwesterly transport with stronger upper-level transport, and (d) rare northwesterly pattern linked to the Great Basin sources, which accounts for 38%, 14%, 37%, and 11% of total events, respectively. The frequency and intensity of these events strongly correlate with large-scale climate variability, with increased dust events during La Niña. Our results provide a robust framework for improving seasonal dust forecasts and understanding future dust dynamics under climate change.

aerosol transport↗

DOE OSTI2026

Dataset of Generative AI Workload Power Profiles

This dataset provides a collection of high-resolution (5/10 Hz or every 0.2/0.1 seconds) power consumption profiles for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) workloads executed on NLR's High Performance Computing (HPC) platform Kestrel. The dataset also includes examples of representative whole-facility power profiles generated using a bottom-up, event-driven, data center energy model . This dataset is designed to support research in energy modeling, infrastructure planning, energy system integration, and sustainability analysis for AI-driven computing systems. The dataset captures time-resolved electrical power measurements across a diverse set of configurations, including variations in job type (inference vs. training), workload (LLM vs. image generation), datasets, and number of compute nodes. Power traces are provided in a standardized format and include both raw/instantaneous and aggregated files. Each profile is accompanied by metadata describing workload parameters, enabling reproducibility and cross-study comparison. The dataset is intended for use in applications such as data center infrastructure planning, energy modeling, demand response and grid impact studies, and development and validation of system-level simulation tools. By making these workload-specific power profiles publicly available, this dataset aims to address the current lack of open, empirical energy data for generative AI systems and to facilitate transparent, reproducible research on the energy and environmental impacts of large-scale AI deployment. If you use this dataset, please cite the associated publication: Vercellino et al., “Measurement of Generative AI Workload Power Profiles for Whole-Facility Data Center Infrastructure Planning,” arXiv:2604.07345 (2026).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2025

STREAM: A technology planning and capacity expansion model for the industrial sector

The Strategic Technology Roadmapping and Energy, Environmental, and Economic Analysis Model—STREAM—is an optimization-based modeling tool and analysis framework to assist with strategic planning and technology investments of the industrial sector. This open-source framework is written in Julia using the JuMP package, which enables users to model future “pathways” for incumbent and future production technologies, costs, fuels and energy carriers, and energy and non-energy environmental impacts from industries as they transform in pursuit of a robust and competitive manufacturing sector. The model starts with an initial stock of industrial production technologies and assets at a facility level and then determines pathways that minimize cost, subject to an array of possible constraints on demand, market shares, environmental flows, and other exogenously specified operational considerations such as capacity utilization rates or regional energy costs. Key features of the framework include flexibility to model a wide range of industries and industrial technologies/processes at varying levels of granularity, ability to perform parametric sensitivity analyses, and ability to visualize model results using visualization objects.

capacity expansion↗

DOE OSTI2021

Extreme Molecular Complexity Resulting in a Continuum of Carbonaceous Species in Biomass Burning Tar Balls from Wildfire Smoke

Biomass burning emits a wide range of carbonaceous particles into the atmosphere and has negative impacts on human health and the Earth’s radiative balance. Nonvolatile spherical organic aerosol particles, commonly known as tar balls, represent one of the most abundant particles in aged biomass burning smoke. However, the detailed molecular-level composition of ambient tar balls is largely unknown but critical to access their environmental impacts. Ambient aerosol samples collected during a wildfire event, which were ~90% tar balls by number fraction, were analyzed using ultrahigh resolution Orbitrap Elite mass spectrometry with four complementary ionization modes. Our results show the molecular composition of tar balls to be complex, composed of over 10,000 molecular formulas. Model estimated saturation mass concentrations and relative humidity dependent glass transition temperatures were consistent with low volatility and solid morphology as expected for tar balls. Room-temperature evaporation kinetics showed that these particles were composed of ~90% non-volatile species. The molecular complexity detected here signifies a continuum of carbonaceous species, ranging from C3 to C45 with continuous ranges of oxygenation and hydrogen saturation for each Cn. Approximately 24% of molecular formulas were estimated the be highly aromatic, which could indicate chemical compounds with negative health effects, and which may contribute to visible light absorption. The carbon continuum observed here has significant implications for the molecular characterization of atmospheric organic matter. The level of complexity detected here should not be ignored in future studies and we demonstrate that multiple analytical methods may be required to suitably interpret this complexity on a molecular level.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2022

Hanford Site Roadside Bird Surveys Report for Calendar Year 2019

The U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) conducts ecological monitoring on the Hanford Site to collect and track data needed to ensure compliance with an array of environmental laws, regulations, and policies governing DOE-RL activities. Ecological monitoring data provide baseline information about the plants, animals, and habitats under DOE-RL stewardship at Hanford which is required for decision-making under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The Hanford Site Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP, DOE/EIS- 0222-F), which is the Environmental Impact Statement for Hanford Site activities, helps ensure that DOE-RL, its contractors, and other entities conducting activities on the Hanford Site are in compliance with NEPA.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Hanford Site Roadside Bird Surveys Report for Calendar Year 2018

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Hanford Site Bird Surveys Report for Calendar Year 2016

Resource stewardship is an integral part of the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) responsibilities at the Hanford Site. Efficient conservation or management of any species or any population is supported through the availability of reliable information on the population in question. DOERL conducts ecological monitoring on the Hanford Site to collect and track this information. Ecological monitoring data provide baseline information about the plants, animals, and habitat under DOE-RL stewardship at Hanford that is required for decision-making under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The Hanford Site Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP, DOE/EIS-0222-F), which is the Environmental Impact Statement for Hanford Site activities, helps ensure that DOE-RL, its contractors, and other entities conducting activities on the Hanford Site are in compliance with NEPA.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Techno-Economic Impact of a Smart Battery Sorting System

Create analytical framework to capture costs and benefits of the automated sorting into battery recycling including the development and deployment of various types of battery recycling technologies such as pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and direct recycling. Li Industries, Inc. is a Virginia startup company focused on reinventing how lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are recycled. Li Industries is focused on developing direct LIB recycling and automated battery sorting technologies in order to reduce the environmental impact of the LIB lifecycle. This work is to be conducted in support of the American-Made Challenges Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize. Li Industries and NREL will work together to understand how novel technologies, such as those being developed by Li Industries, can impact the development and economics of the battery recycling industry. This voucher is being used to evaluate the profitability of an automated sorting system developed by Li Industries and the potential effect this increased value could have on the domestic lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling industries in the United States. NREL has developed the Lithium-Ion Battery Resources Assessment (LIBRA) system dynamics model to project the future viability of the US LIB manufacturing and recycling industries under varying technoeconomic conditions and battery adoption scenarios over the coming decades. Additional logic was added to LIBRA to analyze the role automated sorting of recycling feedstock could play in the buildout of the industry and the impacts it has on the recovery of end-of-life (EOL) battery materials. This report summarizes the outcomes of this modeling analysis in the US context through a series of sensitivity analyses run for a range of values of a given input dimension and compared across the unsorted or automated sorting cases for LIB recycling feedstock. For greater detail on the process and analysis, the researchers are publishing a forthcoming journal article titled Techno-Economic Impact of a Smart Battery Sorting System for Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling and Mineral Recovery in the United States by Weigl, et al. In the event the article is not accepted by any currently seeking publication in academic or industry journal, it may be published by NREL. CRADA benefit to DOE, Participant, and US Taxpayer: assists laboratory in achieving programmatic scope competencies, uses the laboratory's core competencies.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2026

PermitTEC v0.1: Standardized Metadata Corpus of NEPA Litigation Documents

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), mandates that federal agencies assess and document potential environmental impacts before deciding on proposed actions. While significant progress has been made in cataloging and standardizing NEPA documents themselves, the legal challenges that frequently arise from these decisions remain poorly cataloged and largely inaccessible for systematic analysis. Litigation challenging NEPA compliance can substantially delay project timelines, reshape agency decision-making, and establish precedents that influence future environmental reviews — yet no standardized, machine-readable corpus exists that links litigation records to the NEPA projects they contest.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Comparing Polymer Recycling Technologies for a Circular Plastic Economy

This presentation summarizes the research article "Technical, Economic, and Environmental Comparison of Closed-Loop Recycling Technologies for Common Plastics" by Uekert et al. (ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2023) for a carpet industry audience. It covers the technical performance, environmental impacts, and costs of existing and emerging plastic recycling technologies, with a focus on those that are applicable to carpet materials such as polypropylene and polyester.

carpet↗

DOE OSTI2023

Sustainable Supply Chains by Integrating Life Cycle Modeling and Techno-Ecological Synergy with Application to Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a challenge in water bodies across the planet and are often caused by fertilizer runoff from intensively farmed lands. This chapter describes a framework by which producers of biomass-based products could manage their supply chain to encourage mitigation of HABs and their life cycle environmental impacts, while also considering economic implications. The emphasis is on corn-based products such as ethanol in the region around Lake Erie in Northwest Ohio. It shows how wetland ecosystems could be designed synergistically with farming practices, transportation of the corn, and conversion and use of ethanol. The resulting techno-ecologically synergistic supply chains can be environmentally and economically superior to conventional techno-centric supply chains. The resulting designs can help ethanol manufacturers choose between farms, encourage farmers to adopt wetland ecosystems for intercepting and mitigating nutrient runoff, and determine the location of biorefineries for optimizing environmental and economic objectives.

air quality regulation↗

DOE OSTI2021

Renewable Polyurethanes from Sustainable Biological Precursors

Due to the depletion of fossil fuels, higher oil prices, and greenhouse gas emissions, the scientific community has been conducting an ongoing search for viable renewable alternatives to petroleum-based products, with the anticipation of increased adaptation in the coming years. New academic and industrial developments have encouraged the utilization of renewable resources for the development of ecofriendly and sustainable materials, and here, we focus on those advances that impact polyurethane (PU) materials. Vegetable oils, algae oils, and polysaccharides are included among the major renewable resources that have supported the development of sustainable PU precursors to date. Renewable feedstocks such as algae have the benefit of requiring only sunshine, carbon dioxide, and trace minerals to generate a sustainable biomass source, offering an improved carbon footprint to lessen environmental impacts. Incorporation of renewable content into commercially viable polymer materials, particularly PUs, has increasing and realistic potential. Biobased polyols can currently be purchased, and the potential to expand into new monomers offers exciting possibilities for new product development. This Review highlights the latest developments in PU chemistry from renewable raw materials, as well as the various biological precursors being employed in the synthesis of thermoset and thermoplastic PUs. We also provide an overview of literature reports that focus on biobased polyols and isocyanates, the two major precursors to PUs.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Development of Leaching Processes for the Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Acid Mine Drainage Precipitates

Acid mine drainage (AMD) has been a challenge for mine operators to address and has had significant environmental impacts when there is a failure to address it. Fortunately, there is a regulation in the US that requires the treatment of AMD before water can be discharged into the environment. AMD is generated when sulfide minerals are exposed to water and air from mining. The acidic water then leaches metals from the surrounding rock, creating the potential for environmental contamination of this acidic water containing dissolved metals. AMD can contain high concentrations of metals like iron, aluminum, and manganese and also have been shown to contain trace concentrations of critical minerals, including rare earth elements (REEs). This environmental waste stream is now being researched as a potential source for REEs. There is a patented process for processing and extracting REEs from AMD which produces rare earth oxide preconcentrate (REOP) from AMD treatment precipitates and a final stage mixed rare earth oxide (MREO) product. This body of research examines a selective leaching process for each of these products and determines the activation energy associated with the leaching processes. Acid leaching with HCl was examined to selectively leach REEs from REOP while contaminant metals remained in the solid residue. The maximum leaching recovery of the REEs from the REOP was approximately 90% and an activation energy of 6.4 kJ/mol at pH 3.0. Ammonium chloride leaching was examined to selectively remove contaminant metals from a MREO product. The ammonium chloride process successfully leached major contaminant metals in excess of 85% recovery and had a maximum activation energy of 40.0 kJ/mol.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

DOE OSTI2023

Bat Smart Curtailment: Efficacy and Operational Testing

Curtailment, or blanket curtailment, is a leading method to mitigate the impacts to bats from operating wind turbines. Although this strategy results in considerable decreases in bat fatalities, it also results in decreased energy production. In 2019, Natural Power was awarded funding by the Department of Energy to assess the readiness of the informed smart curtailment technology, EchoSense (formerly referred to as Detection and Active Response Curtailment, [DARC]). The research undertaken by this project expands the understanding of alternative methods, known as smart curtailment, to maintain a reduction in bat fatalities while simultaneously recovering lost energy associated with blanket curtailment. The overall project was composed of three major tasks; Task 1 was focused on cybersecurity compliance of the EchoSense system in accordance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (“NERC CIP”) standards, Task 2 assessed the mechanical loads exerted on turbines when operating under a smart curtailment regime, and Task 3 assessed the efficacy of the EchoSense system at an operational wind farm. Regarding Task 1, an external review by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory determined that the EchoSense system did not create any new cybersecurity weaknesses and was compliant with the NERC CIP standards. As a result of this process, Natural Power developed some best practices (10.1) for wind- wildlife technology developers. In conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the results (10.2) of the loads testing demonstrated that the periodic curtailment and release of turbines by the EchoSense system did not have any detrimental impact on the mechanical components of a wind turbine (Task 2). During the late summer to fall of 2020 and 2021, Natural Power demonstrated that the use of the EchoSense smart curtailment system resulted in no significant difference in bat fatalities compared to blanket curtailment with cut-in speeds at 6.9 m/s (2020) and 5.0 m/s (2021) while resulting in a significant difference in decreased lost energy (Task 3). This translates to an average of 41% (2020) and 56% (2021) reduction in per turbine energy loss compared to blanket curtailment. The reduction in energy loss that would have been achieved by EchoSense curtailment compared to blanket curtailment, if applied across all 69 turbines, is roughly equivalent to having an additional turbine on site. These results are notable for finding a balance between the environmental impact of wind energy and the economic feasibility in energy production associated with mitigating that impact. https://www.naturalpower.com/us/expertise/service/engineering-operations/echosense

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Assessment of Lithium Recovery from Geothermal Brine

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) play an essential role in the electrification of the transportation sector, and battery demand for lithium compounds will see a significant increase in the coming decades. This has raised concerns on the supply of lithium, and as a result, technologies are being developed to process unconventional lithium sources. One promising technology is to extract lithium from geothermal brine using lithium-aluminum-layered double hydroxide chloride (LDH) sorbent and forward osmosis. A combined life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic assessment (TEA) is conducted to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of this technology. It is assumed that the lithium extraction unit is an add-on to a 50 MW geothermal power plant located in California. The analysis is based on lab-scale experimental data and stoichiometry while considering the economy of scale for an industrial system. LCA results suggest that, compared with conventional LiOH and Li 2 CO 3 production pathways, the new technology achieves 1–95% reduction in environmental impacts. Even higher reduction can be achieved for LiOH produced via electrolysis. This add-on unit for lithium extraction could achieve a payback period of less than 1 year and reach net present values of $454M and $315M and internal rates of return of 792 and 1130% for LiOH and Li 2 CO 3 production pathways, respectively. The favorable environmental and economic performance suggests that LDH sorption coupled with forward osmosis has great potential to enable the domestic production of battery lithium compounds and that further development should be carried out.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Hurricanes and turbulent floods threaten arsenic-contaminated coastal soils and vulnerable communities

Coastal environments, particularly those adjacent to Superfund sites, are at increased risk of contaminant release during natural disasters, posing serious threats to nearby communities. To investigate this issue, we employed an advanced laboratory flood simulator to impose arsenic-contaminated sediments to turbulent flooding events. We further monitored changes in arsenic collocation and solid-phase speciation using advanced synchrotron radiation-based techniques to understand the impacts of flooding on arsenic mobility. Our results demonstrate that turbulent conditions significantly enhance the resuspension of arsenic-rich sediments, resulting in increased arsenic release into the water. This mobilization is driven by the erosion of the reduced sediments and the redox-mediated transformation and dissolution of Fe and Mn (oxyhydr) oxides, which promote the release of As(III). We found that arsenic speciation on resuspended particles is closely tied to shear stress, with As(V) prevailing at low stress and the more toxic As(III) dominating at higher stress levels. In the post-erosion phase, solid-phase As(III) decreased while dissolved As(III) increased, indicating ongoing desorption. The persistence of multiple arsenic species on resuspended particles marks them as potential long-range transport vectors. Thus, the environmental impact of flooding and sediment resuspension extends beyond the event itself, raising longer-term concerns for arsenic mobility. Our comprehensive geospatial analysis revealed substantial overlap between arsenic-contaminated soils and regions at high risk of flooding and hurricanes across the conterminous United States. This overlap disproportionately impacts economically disadvantaged and marginalized communities. Approximately 40 million Americans reside within 10 kilometers of these high-risk contaminated zones, with nearly 28 million exposed to hurricane threats and around 18 million vulnerable to flooding risks. Alarmingly, over 40% of those affected by hurricanes and 33% of those impacted by flooding belong to underrepresented minority and low-income populations. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted mitigation strategies to protect public health and address environmental justice concerns.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Biological Valorization of Natural Gas for the Production of Lactic Acid: Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment

Due to the availability of natural gas, shale gas, and flared gas, there is increased interest in converting methane in these gases into commodity chemicals via cost-effective and sustainable processes. Recently, we have demonstrated an efficient process concept converting methane to lactic acid (LA) by methanotrophic bacteria with high carbon flux, pivoting potentials for commercialization. Herein, we present a first-of-kind conceptual design and a techno-economic analysis (TEA) of a biorefinery process with calculated minimum selling prices. This study includes both sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis for key cost drivers and for projecting path forwards in research and development. The analyses reveal that the conversion efficiency, LA product titer, LA productivity, and gas flow rate have the most significant impacts on cost. The MSP varies from $5.83-$2.17/kg LA depending on these key process attributes. Further, a life cycle assessment of this process concept is evaluated and compared to understand the sustainable aspects. In this TEA study, the bio-upgrading process from natural gas to LA presents a potentially promising approach in terms of the feedstock versatility, economic viability, and environmental impact.

BIOMASS FUELS,NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Methane Removal from Air: Challenges and Opportunities

Driven by increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere, extreme weather events have become more frequent and their impacts on human lives have become more severe. Therefore, the need for short-term GHG mitigations is urgent. Recently, methane has been recognized as an important mitigation target due to its high global warming potential (GWP). However, methane’s low concentration in the atmosphere and stable molecular structure make its removal from the air highly challenging. This review first discusses the fundamental aspects of the challenges in atmospheric methane removal and then briefly reviews the existing research strategies following the mechanisms of natural methane sinks. Although still in its infancy, recent research on methane removal from the air holds great potential for slowing down global warming. At the same time, it is important to carefully examine the energy consumption of these methane removal strategies and whether they will be able to achieve net GHG reduction. In addition, due to the scale of methane removal from the air, any potential solution’s environmental impacts must be carefully evaluated before it can be implemented in practice.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗