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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 379 records · Page 21
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Design and Engineering of LUPIN: A Test-Bed Radiofrequency Ion Source for Enhanced Neutral Beam Injection on DIII-D

The Large, Uniform Plasma for Ionizing Neutrals (LUPIN) is an RF inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber for demonstrating plasma performance of an RF ICP positive ion source upgrade for the DIII-D Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) system. LUPIN will be used to investigate ion source physics, including neutral gas dynamics, plasma density uniformity, interactions with Faraday shields, and power coupling to novel RF antenna designs. LUPIN has an RF generator capable of delivering 20 kW of power at 2 MHz, which is coupled into a cylindrical quartz vessel measuring 20 cm in length and 10 cm in radius. This configuration matches the power density requirements for a full-scale ion source. Target hydrogen and deuterium plasma densities exceeding 10 18 m -3 would relate to extracted ion current densities of 2100 A/m 2 for 10 s. Vacuum conductance and gas flow calculations predict a maximum achievable neutral gas flow rate of 1675 Pa·L/s at 5 Pa of He, which mimics the gas flow of the DIII-D NBI system. Designs have been developed for an internal Faraday shield to mitigate heat flux and ion sputtering on the dielectric vessel. Thermomechanical finite element simulations demonstrated the Faraday shield design to be capable of withstanding anticipated heat loads from worst-case operation scenarios. Results of upcoming experimental investigations on LUPIN will guide the design of a full-scale prototype for DIII-D integration.

Faraday shield↗
DOE OSTI2020

Temperature-Dependence of Corrosion of Ni-Based Superalloys in Hot CO 2 -Rich Gases Containing SO 2 Impurities

Future power plants will require Ni-based superalloys resistant to high-temperature corrosion in CO 2 -rich environments containing impurities. In this work, several commercially available Ni-based alloys (617, 230, 625, 263, 740H) were exposed at 600°C, 650°C, 750°C and 1 atm to 95% CO 2 , 4% H 2 O, 1% O 2 without/with 0.1% SO 2 to simulate compositions expected in a direct-fired supercritical CO 2 power cycle. The results indicate no effect of SO 2 at 750°C, a small negative effect at 650°C, and a large negative effect at 600°C. Alloys exposed at the higher temperatures (650–750°C) formed thin Cr-rich oxide scales, whereas the lowest temperature (600°C) resulted in thicker scales consisting of non-protective oxides and sulfates. Thermodynamic analysis indicates this increased corrosion is associated with a transition in the stable compounds in contact with the gas. Understanding the factors that affect this transition will aid in the selection or design of alloys for future CO 2 -based power systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Relativistic gas accretion onto supermassive black hole binaries from inspiral through merger

Accreting supermassive black hole binaries are powerful multimessenger sources emitting both gravitational and electromagnetic (EM) radiation. Understanding the accretion dynamics of these systems and predicting their distinctive EM signals is crucial to informing and guiding upcoming efforts aimed at detecting gravitational waves produced by these binaries. To this end, accurate numerical modeling is required to describe both the spacetime and the magnetized gas around the black holes. In this paper, we present two key advances in this field of research. First, we have developed a novel 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) framework that combines multiple numerical codes to simulate the inspiral and merger of supermassive black hole binaries starting from realistic initial data and running all the way through merger. Throughout the evolution, we adopt a simple but functional prescription to account for gas cooling through photon emission. Next, we have applied our new computational method to follow the time evolution of a circular, equal-mass, nonspinning black hole binary for ∼200 orbits, starting from a separation of 20⁢𝑟 𝑔 and reaching the postmerger evolutionary stage of the system. We have shown how mass continues to flow toward the binary even after the binary “decouples” from its surrounding disk, but the accretion rate onto the black holes diminishes. We have identified how the minidisks orbiting each black hole are slowly drained and eventually dissolve as the binary compresses. We confirm previous findings that the system’s luminosity decreases by a factor of a few during inspiral; however, we observe an abrupt increase by ∼50% in this quantity at the time of merger, likely accompanied by an equally abrupt change in spectrum. Lastly, we have demonstrated that during the inspiral, fluid ram pressure regulates the fraction of the magnetic flux transported to the binary that attaches to the black holes’ horizons.

Accretion disk & black-hole plasma↗
DOE OSTI2020

HOSS: Hybrid Optimization Software Suite

HOSS software, developed at LANL, is a powerful, flexible, and parallelized package that enables the user to predict deformation and failure of materials in a variety of situations. LANL’s HOSS software is an R&D 100 finalist that integrates solid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics into a multi-physics platform able to handle millions of interacting and fracturing solids and/or particle systems. This nextgeneration simulation software integrates solid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics into a multi-physics platform able to provide state-of-the-art simulation solutions for a wide field of applications including oil and gas, construction, mining, defense, material sciences, and biomechanics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

The role of current and emerging technologies in meeting Japan’s mid- to long-term carbon reduction goals

Using Japan as a proxy for a developed nation, we investigated the role of existing and nascent technologies in curbing carbon emissions. We simulated possible pathways to meeting 2030 and 2050 emission targets within the Japanese electricity supply sector using a single-region model in The Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System (TIMES). Critically, our simulations incorporate novel technologies like hydrogen electrolysers, carbon capture, photochemical water splitting, and emerging photovoltaic cells, assess long-term impacts up to the year 2100, and include life-cycle emissions and learning curves for parameters such as investment cost, efficiency, and emission coefficients. Results indicate that a hybrid approach, using nuclear power and hydrogen from renewable energy-based electrolysis, is cost-effective and provides long-term emission reduction along with energy security. Finally, nuclear, wind, solar, and hydrogen from renewables emerge as key emission reduction technologies, while natural gas with carbon capture plays a minor role in achieving emission reduction targets.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Experimental validation of an organic rankine-vapor compression cooling cycle using low GWP refrigerant R1234ze(E)

There is a significant global opportunity to capture and utilize low grade waste heat to reduce fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and improve energy efficiency across a wide range of industries. In this work, an advanced type of thermally activated cooling system, an organic Rankine-vapor compression cycle (ORVC) with novel heat integration strategies, was designed and tested at a relevant scale for industrial waste heat recovery (300 kW th cooling capacity). The ORVC linked an organic Rankine power cycle and a vapor compression cooling cycle using a turbine and compressor that shared a single shaft. The ORVC test facility absorbed waste heat from a liquid stream at 91 °C to simulate engine coolant in diesel generator sets, rejected heat to a glycol stream at 30 °C, and generated chilled water at 7 °C. A cooling capacity of 264 kW ± 3.5 kW was experimentally validated with a COP of 0.56 ± 0.01 during steady-state operation at the design temperatures. The thermal efficiency, accounting for pump work, of the Rankine cycle was 7.7% ± 0.22% and the COP of the vapor compression cycle was 5.25 ± 0.09. The centrifugal turbo-compressor operated at 31.5 kRPM ± 0.3 kRPM, with a turbine and compressor isentropic efficiencies of 76.7% ± 0.90% and 84.8% ± 0.54%, respectively, with near-perfect power transmission between these components. The pressure drop in the piping and heat exchangers were significantly larger than expected which had a detrimental impact on the performance of the ORVC. In addition, the condenser on the cooling cycle could not deliver the subcooling as specified from the design point modeling. Furthermore, the results from the sensitivity analysis showed that the higher condenser glycol outlet temperature had the largest impact on performance, which is consistent with other analytical models in the literature. When the ORVC simulations were updated with experimental values for isentropic efficiencies of the turbomachinery, the thermal COP was 0.66 which represents an estimate of the predicted performance if test facility limitations are overcome.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2025

FLAMINGO: combining kinetic SZ effect and galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements to gauge the impact of feedback on large-scale structure

Energetic feedback processes associated with accreting supermassive black holes can expel gas from massive haloes and significantly alter various measures of clustering on $\sim$Mpc scales, potentially biasing the values of cosmological parameters inferred from analyses of large-scale structure (LSS) if not modelled accurately. Here, we use the state-of-the-art FLAMINGO suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to gauge the impact of feedback on large-scale structure by comparing to Planck + ACT stacking measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect of SDSS BOSS galaxies. We make careful like-with-like comparisons to the observations, aided by high precision KiDS and DES galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements of the BOSS galaxies to inform the selection of the simulated galaxies. In qualitative agreement with several recent studies using dark matter only simulations corrected for baryonic effects, we find that the kSZ effect measurements prefer stronger feedback than predicted by simulations which have been calibrated to reproduce the gas fractions of low redshift X-ray-selected groups and clusters. We find that the increased feedback can help to reduce the so-called $S_8$ tension between the observed and CMB-predicted clustering on small scales as probed by cosmic shear (although at the expense of agreement with the X-ray group measurements). However, the increased feedback is only marginally effective at reducing the reported offsets between the predicted and observed clustering as probed by the thermal SZ (tSZ) effect power spectrum and tSZ effect – weak lensing cross-spectrum, both of which are sensitive to higher halo masses than cosmic shear.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Computational Fermi Level Engineering and Doping-Type Conversion of Ga2O3 Via Three-Step Processing

Ga2O3 is being actively explored for power electronics, and other applications due to its ultra- wide bandgap and low projected fabrication cost of high-quality crystals. N-type doping of Ga2O3 can be achieved and tuned, but p-type doping faces fundamental obstacles. Successful engineering of Ga2O3 based devices requires critical control of doping density, Fermi level position, providing opportunities for predictive process simulation. We use first-principles defect equilibrium calculations to simulate a 3-step growth- annealing-quench protocol for hydrogen assisted Mg doping in Ga2O3, taking into account the hydrogen- oxygen-water gas phase equilibrium. We predict type conversion to a net p-type regime following O-rich annealing after growth under reducing conditions in the presence of H2. We show that there is an optimal temperature that maximizes the net acceptor density during the equilibrium annealing step for a given Mg doping level. Quenching of non-equilibrium annealed samples then results in a Fermi level EF below mid-gap down to about EV +1.5 eV, creating a significant number of uncompensated neutral MgGa0 acceptors. This type converted Ga2O3 can create significant built-in field in a p-n junction with an adjoining n-type material and could enable vertical MOSFETs.

CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS,M↗
DOE OSTI2024

Predicting Geologic Behavior in Carbon Storage Projects Using Graph Neural Network

This study was invited to presented at NVIDIA's GTC conference to highlight the potential of Graph Neural Network as a novel and promising methodology for predicting pressure and saturation evolution in carbon storage projects. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology plays a pivotal role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, facilitating the transition to a low-carbon future. Effective management of subsurface reservoirs is essential to ensure the safe and efficient storage of captured carbon dioxide (CO₂). Accurate predictions of pressure and saturation over time are critical for evaluating the long-term performance and integrity of CCS projects. In recent years, Graph Neural Network (GNN) has emerged as a powerful framework for analyzing complex data in graph-structured domains. This abstract explores the application of GNN to forecast pressure and saturation evolution in carbon storage projects. Traditional numerical simulations of subsurface reservoirs have proven successful in providing pressure and saturation forecasts. However, these simulations involve massive amounts of computational effort and require extensive domain expertise for proper model calibration and validation. Graph Neural Operator offers an alternative approach that harnesses the inherent graph structure of reservoirs, where nodes represent reservoir grid cells and edges represent the geological connectivity between them.

Shih, Chung Yan↗
DOE OSTI2021

Computational Fermi Level Engineering and Doping-Type Conversion of Mg:Ga 2 O 3 via Three-Step Synthesis Process

Gallium oxide (Ga 2 O 3 ) is being actively explored for electronics that can operate at high power, temperature, and frequency as well as for deep-ultraviolet optoelectronics and other applications due to its ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) and low projected fabrication cost of large-size and high-quality crystals. Efficient n-type doping of monoclinic beta-phase of Ga 2 O 3 has been achieved, but p-type doping faces fundamental obstacles due to compensation, deep acceptor levels, and the polaron transport mechanism of free holes. However, aside from the challenges of achieving p-type conductivity, plenty of opportunity exists to engineer the position of the Fermi level for improved design of Ga 2 O 3 -based devices. We use first-principles defect theory and defect equilibrium calculations to simulate a three-step growth-annealing-quench synthesis protocol for hydrogen-assisted Mg doping in ß-Ga 2 O 3 . The simulations take into account the gas phase equilibrium between H 2 , O 2 , and H 2 O, which determines the H chemical potential. We predict Ga 2 O 3 doping-type conversion to a net p-type regime after growth under reducing conditions in the presence of H2 followed by O-rich annealing, which is a similar process to Mg acceptor activation by H removal in GaN. For equilibrium annealing with re-equilibration of compensating O vacancies, there is an optimal temperature that maximizes the Ga 2 O 3 net acceptor density for a given Mg doping level; the acceptor density is further increased in the non-equilibrium annealing scenario without re-equilibration. After quenching to operating temperature, the Ga 2 O 3 Fermi level drops below mid-gap down to about 1.5 eV above the valence band maximum, creating a significant number of uncompensated neutral Mg Ga 0 acceptors. The resulting free hole concentration in Ga 2 O 3 is very low even at elevated operating temperature (~10 8 cm -3 at 400°C) due to the deep energy level of these Mg acceptors, and hole conductivity is further impeded by the polaron hopping mechanism. However, the Fermi-level reduction and suppression of free electron density in this doping-type converted (NA>ND) Ga 2 O 3 material are important for improved designs of Ga 2 O 3 electronic devices. These results illustrate the power of computational predictions not only for new materials but also for their synthesis science.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Reduction of waveguide vacuum trips in CEBAF accelerating cavities with a combination ion pump and non-evaporable getter pump

Pressure spikes in the fundamental power coupler waveguide are a significant source of trips during the operation of both original and refurbished superconducting radio-frequency cavities installed in the CEBAF accelerator. In its original configuration, two waveguides from a cavity-pair are connected to a single 32 l/s ion pump. In 2017 a new cavity-pair was installed in a refurbished cryomodule in which a NEXTorr® D200-5 combination ion pump and non-evaporable getter pump was installed for each waveguide. It is shown that hydrogen is the dominant residual gas in the waveguide and simulations with Molflow+ indicated that the new pumping scheme allows reducing the pressure at the end of the waveguide by a factor of ~5 , compared to the original configuration. In conclusion, the new cavity-pair has been operating in CEBAF for a total of 431 days and it only had a total of 3 trips due to vacuum spikes in the waveguide.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Holographic Plasma Lenses

We report a hologram fully encodes a three-dimensional light field by imprinting the interference between the field and a reference beam in a recording medium. Here we show that two collinear pump lasers with different foci overlapped in a gas jet produce a holographic plasma lens capable of focusing or collimating a probe laser at intensities several orders-of-magnitude higher than the limits of a nonionized optic. We outline the theory of these diffractive plasma lenses and present simulations for two plasma mechanisms that allow their construction: spatially varying ionization and ponderomotively driven ion-density fluctuations. Damage-resistant plasma optics are necessary for manipulating high-intensity light, and divergence control of high-intensity pulses—provided by holographic plasma lenses—will be a critical component of high-power plasma-based lasers.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-Burnup BWR LOCA Burst Analysis Using High-Fidelity Multiphysics Simulations

The US nuclear industry is looking to improve on the operating economics of the current fleet of light-water reactors (LWRs). One way of achieving this is by operating fuel to higher burnup. In pressurized water reactors (PWRs), relaxing the current burnup limit will allow for cycle length extensions and power uprates; in boiling water reactors (BWRs) it may allow for improved fuel utilization and reduced feed assemblies, as well as more efficient power uprates and increased capacity factors that will support the Administration’s Executive Order to facilitate 5 GW of power uprates at existing nuclear facilities. However, one of the key limitations to operating fuel to higher burnup is the risk of fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal (FFRD). Recognizing the high interest in extending burnup limits, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1434, which defines an approach that would be acceptable to the NRC for addressing FFRD risk. The approach defined will require better understanding of the phenomena leading to FFRD as well as best-estimate simulation methods to understand FFRD risk in high-burnup cores. The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program is supporting the FFRD industry challenge problem through development of state-of-the-art, high-fidelity modeling and simulation LWR analysis capabilities; namely, the BISON fuel performance code and the VERA core simulator software. These tools, along with the US NRC TRACE system analysis code, have been utilized for analysis of FFRD risk in both PWR and BWR cores in recent years. The work documented in this report addresses the lack of high-fidelity research for BWRs and builds on a previous activity where the framework has been applied to Cycles 16 through 18 of Limerick Unit 1, a BWR/4, with introduction of 8 high-burnup lead use assemblies (HBLUAs) that were representative of the 8 HBLUAs loaded into Limerick Unit 2 in 2021. VERA was used in this previous activity to model rod-by-rod depletion in these cycles, and its solution was used to initialize a TRACE simulation of a large-break loss-of-coolant accident (LBLOCA) at the end of Cycle 18. In the work documented in this report, the TRACE model was improved by refining the core mesh and utilizing a new feature that allows for capturing the full 3D VERA power distribution in the model. This allows for a more detailed solution for setting BISON boundary conditions. Furthermore, the solutions from VERA and TRACE were used to set up and perform BISON simulations of about 1,000 rods sampled from the core, including all burnup levels. Utilizing two cladding burst models, it was shown that no fuel rods were predicted to burst during the postulated LBLOCA transient. Additionally, a sensitivity study was performed by artificially increasing linear heat rate during the postulated LBLOCA to identify parameters that correlate with rod burst susceptibility. Burnup, fission gas release, and hoop strain were all found to be positively correlated with rod burst susceptibility. Small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) analyses were also performed; these analyses predicted cladding temperature increases that were bounded by the LBLOCA cladding temperatures for all small break sizes studied for this plant. However, future refinements to the plant response assumptions during the SBLOCA could impact the predicted cladding response. Finally, a benchmark study was performed between CTF and TRACE for LOCA conditions to better qualify CTF for BWR LOCA modeling.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

High gas throughput SOLPS-ITER simulations extending the ITER database to strong detachment

Abstract SOLPS-ITER simulations performed for Q DT = 10, P SOL = 100 MW burning plasmas on ITER extend the existing database to high values of separatrix averaged neon impurity concentration (⟨ c Ne ⟩ ≈ 6%) and divertor neutral pressure (⟨ p div ⟩ > 25 Pa) in order to determine the heat flux mitigation capability of these scenarios and whether strongly detached states are accessible. In the existing database of ITER simulations, the level of detachment was limited to cases where the integral ion flux to the outer target was greater than 80% of the value at rollover, with the impurity radiation localized near the target. With the possibility of narrow heat flux channels and increased deposited power due to tile shaping, it is important to explore operation at a higher degree of detachment. Two series of simulations were explored to extend the database of SOLPS simulations. By increasing the deuterium and neon puff rates proportionally, the peak divertor energy flux ( q ⊥,max ) is decreased from 5 to 3 MW m −2 while ⟨ p div ⟩ increased from 11 to 27 Pa. By increasing only the neon puff, q ⊥, max can be reduced to <1MW m −2 while ⟨ p div ⟩ is maintained at ∼ 11 Pa. As the neon puff level is increased, the position of the impurity radiation peak is shifted towards the X-point. At the highest neon puff levels with steady-state solutions, the electron temperature is reduced below 1 eV across 50 cm of each divertor target. The new cases extend previously observed tight relationships in power and momentum loss factors to low electron temperature improving their utility for highly detached regimes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Examining the potential for detecting simultaneous noble gas and aerosol samples in the international monitoring system radionuclide network

The purpose of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is to establish a legally binding ban on nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions. The Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization (CTBTO PrepCom) is developing the International Monitoring System (IMS) that includes a global network of 80 stations to monitor for airborne radionuclides upon entry into force of the CTBT. All 80 radionuclide stations will monitor for particulate radionuclides and at least half of the stations will monitor for radioxenon. The airborne radionuclide monitoring is an important verification technology both for the detection of a radionuclide release and in the determination of whether the release event originates from a nuclear explosion as opposed to an industrial use of nuclear materials. Nuclear power plants and many medical isotope production facilities release radioxenon into the atmosphere. Low levels of a few particulate isotopes, such as iodine, may also be released. Detections of multiple isotopes are useful for screening the radionuclide samples for relevance to the Treaty. This paper examines the anticipated joint detections in the IMS of noble gas and particulate isotopes from underground nuclear explosions where breaches in the underground containment vents from low levels to up to 1% of the radionuclide inventory of the resulting fission products to the atmosphere. Detection probabilities are based on 844 simulated release events spaced out at 17 release locations and one year in time. Six different release (venting) scenarios, including two fractionated scenarios, were analyzed. When ranked by detection probability, 11 particulate isotopes and one noble gas isotope ( 133 Xe) appear in the top 20 isotopes for all six release scenarios. Using the 11 particulate isotopes and the one noble gas isotope, the IMS has nearly the same detection probability as when 45 particulate and 4 noble gas isotopes are used. Thus, a limited list of relevant radionuclides may be sufficient for treaty verification purposes. The probability that at least one particulate and at least one radioxenon isotope would be detected in the IMS from the release events ranged from 0.15 to 0.86 depending on the release scenario.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2023

Machine learning methods for fission product identification from Bragg curves

A fission time projection chamber (fission-TPC) was developed to provide precise neutron-induced fission measurements for several major actinides. As fission fragments lose energy in one of the gas volumes of the fission-TPC, energy loss information is captured and may be used to determine fission product yields as the stopping power of an ion is dependent on the atomic number. The work presented here demonstrates the ability to apply machine learning techniques for Bragg curve classification. A set of one million energy loss curves for 24 different fission-fragment elements was generated using common stopping power software. A ResNet architecture optimized for 1D data was used to train, test, and validate a model for light and heavy fission fragments using the simulated data. The resultant classification accuracy for the light and heavy fragments indicates that this could be a viable method for elemental classification of data from the fission-TPC.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Computational Analysis of the Effect of Structured Packing Design on Absorption Column Hydrodynamics for Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Applications

Solvent based post-combustion carbon capture technologies have a potential for reducing carbon emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants and industrial sources where CO2 emissions are inherently harder to mitigate, such as steel or cement industries. A prominent technology to achieve this is by retrofitting absorption columns to the existing infrastructure. While these systems have been among the less costly alternatives for carbon capture, they still impose a considerable energy penalty to the operation of power plants or industrial facilities. The optimization of CO2 capture rate in solvent-based absorption process is complex as it depends on several factors including CO2 solubility, solvent reaction kinetics and temperature effects on the solubility, reaction rates, surface tension, and thermophysical properties of the solvent and the flue gas. The overall heat and mass transfer also depends on the hydrodynamics, which in turn, is affected by the packing geometry. In the current work, we systematically quantify the effects the design of the structured packing has on the column hydrodynamics, by performing detailed CFD simulations for different geometrical configurations and operating conditions. We then obtain relationships between the key hydrodynamic metrics, such as liquid holdup, interfacial area, wetted area, and pressure drop to the parameters defining the packing geometries and identify new more effective packing designs for the given operating conditions.

Shah, Yash Girish↗
DOE OSTI2026

Uinta Basin CarbonSAFE II: Storage Complex Feasibility (Final Report)

The primary objective of this CarbonSAFE Phase II project was to establish the technical and commercial feasibility of a commercial-scale CO 2 geological storage complex for Deseret Power Electric Cooperative Bonanza Power Plant and other CO 2 sources in the northeast Uinta Basin, Utah, with the goal to securely store at least 50 million metric tons of captured CO 2 and accelerate CO 2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) deployment. The project team established high-potential technical and commercial feasibility for a storage site within the east Uinta Basin (Utah), in the Cretaceous sandstones (Frontier, Dakota, and Buckhorn), Entrada Sandstone, Nugget Sandstone, and/or Weber Sandstone southwest of the Bonanza coal-fired power plant. This project collected and analyzed state-of-the-art data to characterize the storage complex consistent with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permitting standards. The team conducted extensive analog studies, outcrop mapping, and data sampling, which largely contributed to understanding the subsurface lithology and facies. Existing data were obtained and assessed from Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining (DOGM), Utah Geological Survey (UGS), Colorado Geological Survey (CGS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and EPA. These data were analyzed using state-of-the-art CCUS technologies for Societal Considerations, Site Characterization, Modeling and Simulations, Risk Assessment, Management and Monitoring, potential Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class VI Well Permitting, and Technical/Economic Feasibility. Through these high-resolution data collection and feasibility studies, this project was expected to provide a reference for initiating Underground Injection Control (UIC) and other commercial-scale geological storage permitting processes in the Western United States, ultimately contributing to the nation's decarbonization goals through low-risk, cost-effective commercial-scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects.

42 ENGINEERING↗