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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 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Evolutionary Divergence of Marinobacter Strains in Cryopeg Brines as Revealed by Pangenomics

Marinobacter spp. are cosmopolitan in saline environments, displaying a diverse set of metabolisms that allow them to competitively occupy these environments, some of which can be extreme in both salinity and temperature. Here, we introduce a distinct cluster of Marinobacter genomes, composed of novel isolates and in silico assembled genomes obtained from subzero, hypersaline cryopeg brines, relic seawater-derived liquid habitats within permafrost sampled near Utqiaġvik, Alaska. Using these new genomes and 45 representative publicly available genomes of Marinobacter spp. from other settings, we assembled a pangenome to examine how the new extremophile members fit evolutionarily and ecologically, based on genetic potential and environmental source. This first genus-wide genomic analysis revealed that Marinobacter spp. in general encode metabolic pathways that are thermodynamically favored at low temperature, cover a broad range of organic compounds, and optimize protein usage, e.g., the Entner–Doudoroff pathway, the glyoxylate shunt, and amino acid metabolism. The new isolates contributed to a distinct clade of subzero brine-dwelling Marinobacter spp. that diverged genotypically and phylogenetically from all other Marinobacter members. The subzero brine clade displays genomic characteristics that may explain competitive adaptations to the extreme environments they inhabit, including more abundant membrane transport systems (e.g., for organic substrates, compatible solutes, and ions) and stress-induced transcriptional regulatory mechanisms (e.g., for cold and salt stress) than in the other Marinobacter clades. We also identified more abundant signatures of potential horizontal transfer of genes involved in transcription, the mobilome, and a variety of metabolite exchange systems, which led to considering the importance of this evolutionary mechanism in an extreme environment where adaptation via vertical evolution is physiologically rate limited. Assessing these new extremophile genomes in a pangenomic context has provided a unique view into the ecological and evolutionary history of the genus Marinobacter , particularly with regard to its remarkable diversity and its opportunism in extremely cold and saline environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Search for Gamma-Ray and Neutrino Coincidences Using HAWC and ANTARES Data

In the quest for high-energy neutrino sources, the Astrophysical Multimessenger Observatory Network has implemented a new search by combining data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory and the Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch (ANTARES) neutrino telescope. Using the same analysis strategy as in a previous detector combination of HAWC and IceCube data, we perform a search for coincidences in HAWC and ANTARES events that are below the threshold for sending public alerts in each individual detector. Data were collected between 2015 July and 2020 February with a live time of 4.39 yr. Over this time period, three coincident events with an estimated false-alarm rate of <1 coincidence per year were found. This number is consistent with background expectations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Climate-driven deoxygenation elevates fishing vulnerability for the ocean's widest ranging shark

Climate-driven expansions of ocean hypoxic zones are predicted to concentrate pelagic fish in oxygenated surface layers, but how expanding hypoxia and fisheries will interact to affect threatened pelagic sharks remains unknown. Here, analysis of satellite-tracked blue sharks and environmental modelling in the eastern tropical Atlantic oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) shows shark maximum dive depths decreased due to combined effects of decreasing dissolved oxygen (DO) at depth, high sea surface temperatures, and increased surface-layer net primary production. Multiple factors associated with climate-driven deoxygenation contributed to blue shark vertical habitat compression, potentially increasing their vulnerability to surface fisheries. Greater intensity of longline fishing effort occurred above the OMZ compared to adjacent waters. Higher shark catches were associated with strong DO gradients, suggesting potential aggregation along suitable DO gradients contributed to habitat compression and higher fishing-induced mortality. Fisheries controls to counteract deoxygenation effects on shark catches will be needed as oceans continue warming.

Vedor, Marisa↗
DOE OSTI2026

Agent-Based, Bottom-Up Medium- and Heavy-duty Electric Vehicle Economics, Operation, Charging and Adoption (Research Performance Final Report)

This is the research performance final report for the project entitled: Agent-Based, Bottom-Up Medium- and Heavy-duty Electric Vehicle Economics, Operation, Charging and Adoption This project was able to achieve the DOE’s goals of developing new modeling tools to understand MDHD vehicle operation and adoption. The first modeling tool is a fleet-level techno-economic analysis model capable of estimating energy use and associated environmental and cost impacts for electrified and conventional vehicles of any MDHD vocation, using real-world cost and operations data, including approaches to optimizing schedules for charging and/or vehicle dispatch. The second modeling tool is a system-level, bottom-up, agent-based adoption model capable of generating geographically-resolved estimates of market projections for MDHD vehicles and charging infrastructure. These tools will be developed and published to serve dual purposes as analysis tools for researchers, and decision-support tools for decision makers within the MDHD system.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

Updates to Composite Analysis Base Case and Null Space Monte Carlo Sensitivity Based on New Unit Dose Factors

This environmental calculation file (ECF) presents the results of the exposure route-specific and total radiological dose assessments for the groundwater exposure pathway as a part of the updated Composite Analysis for Low-Level Waste Disposal in the Hanford Site Central Plateau (FY 2022), based on revised unit dose factors (UDFs) published in CA Special Studies: Updates to the Groundwater Pathway Radiological Dose. The reason for these radiological dose assessments is to estimate the cumulative radiological impacts from all screened sources of ionizing radiation and exposure routes that could potentially contribute to the projected dose to a hypothetical member of the public. Sources of ionizing radiation can include existing or future disposal facilities and other sources including past-practice discharge sites. Additionally, the results of the exposure route-specific and total radiological dose assessments have been revised for the groundwater pathway based on the null space Monte Carlo (NSMC) groundwater concentrations and the most recent updates to the UDFs as a part an uncertainty analysis for the updated Hanford Site CA.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Spatial turnover of soil viral populations and genotypes overlain by cohesive responses to moisture in grasslands

Viruses shape microbial communities, food web dynamics, and carbon and nutrient cycling in diverse ecosystems. However, little is known about the patterns and drivers of viral community composition, particularly in soil, precluding a predictive understanding of viral impacts on terrestrial habitats. To investigate soil viral community assembly processes, here we analyzed 43 soil viromes from a rainfall manipulation experiment in a Mediterranean grassland in California. We identified 5,315 viral populations (viral operational taxonomic units [vOTUs] with a representative sequence ≥10 kbp) and found that viral community composition exhibited a highly significant distance–decay relationship within the 200-m 2 field site. This pattern was recapitulated by the intrapopulation microheterogeneity trends of prevalent vOTUs (detected in ≥90% of the viromes), which tended to exhibit negative correlations between spatial distance and the genomic similarity of their predominant allelic variants. Although significant spatial structuring was also observed in the bacterial and archaeal communities, the signal was dampened relative to the viromes, suggesting differences in local assembly drivers for viruses and prokaryotes and/or differences in the temporal scales captured by viromes and total DNA. Despite the overwhelming spatial signal, evidence for environmental filtering was revealed in a protein-sharing network analysis, wherein a group of related vOTUs predicted to infect actinobacteria was shown to be significantly enriched in low-moisture samples distributed throughout the field. Overall, our results indicate a highly diverse, dynamic, active, and spatially structured soil virosphere capable of rapid responses to changing environmental conditions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Development of Post-Consumer Textile Waste Degradation Protocol and Related Downstream Transformations: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report)

Tereform, Inc. (Tereform) is developing molecular deconstruction processes to transform waste materials into chemical building blocks. During the CRADA, Tereform deconstructed real-world post-consumer substrates into chemical monomers, validated their performance on laboratory scales, demonstrated feasibility of the degradation products in downstream transformations, and successfully scaled the reaction to kilogram-scale. These results were used to develop and refine technoeconomic analysis and lifecycle assessments to evaluate the economic feasibility and environmental impacts of the process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sustainable Recycling of Rare-Earth Elements from NdFeB Magnet Swarf: Techno-Economic and Environmental Perspectives

Rare-earth elements (REEs) are increasingly susceptible to supply risks due to their limited geographical availability and growing demand in clean energy applications such as neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. When NdFeB magnets are produced, 6–73% of swarf is generated during the manufacturing steps. This paper presents an innovative technology that utilizes copper nitrate to dissolve REEs in NdFeB magnet swarf and subsequently recovers ~97% of them as mixed rare-earth oxides (REOs) of purity higher than 99.5%. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) quantified the economic and environmental impacts of adopting the proposed acid-free dissolution technology, projecting a net profit margin of 12–43% and a global warming impact reduction by up to 73% compared to the prevailing REO production routes in China. As copper nitrate is the single largest contributor to the cost and environmental footprint, recycling of copper nitrate was investigated as well as using alternative copper salts (e.g., copper acetate), revealing significant improvements in TEA and LCA results. Dysprosium was a major revenue source, highlighting the importance of targeting electric vehicle magnets that are rich in dysprosium. As the REO market is volatile, sensitivity analysis was employed to evaluate the profitability of the proposed technology under different REO prices over the last 11 years. Overall, our results confirmed the economic and environmental viability of the proposed technology for sustainable recycling of REEs from the NdFeB magnet swarf.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Biorenewable and circular polydiketoenamine plastics

Amid growing concerns over the human health and environmental impacts of plastic waste, the most promising solution would be to build a circular plastics economy where sustainability considerations dictate the full life cycle of plastics use including replacing petrochemicals with biorenewables. Here we show that by incorporating the polyketide triacetic acid lactone (TAL) in polydiketoenamines (PDK) we increase the working temperature of these circular plastics, opening the door wider to applications where circularity is urgently needed. By varying the number of carbons of TAL-derived monomers, both polymer properties and recycling efciency are afected. Simply using glucose as the main carbon source, we engineered a process for producing bioTAL under fed-batch fermentation. Furthermore, a systems analysis of this bioprocess under diferent scenarios quantifes the environmental and economic benefts of PDK plastics and the risks when implemented at an industrial scale, providing opportunities in biorenewable circularity.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multimodal X-ray nano-spectromicroscopy analysis of chemically heterogeneous systems

Abstract Understanding the nanoscale chemical speciation of heterogeneous systems in their native environment is critical for several disciplines such as life and environmental sciences, biogeochemistry, and materials science. Synchrotron-based X-ray spectromicroscopy tools are widely used to understand the chemistry and morphology of complex material systems owing to their high penetration depth and sensitivity. The multidimensional (4D+) structure of spectromicroscopy data poses visualization and data-reduction challenges. This paper reports the strategies for the visualization and analysis of spectromicroscopy data. We created a new graphical user interface and data analysis platform named XMIDAS (X-ray multimodal image data analysis software) to visualize spectromicroscopy data from both image and spectrum representations. The interactive data analysis toolkit combined conventional analysis methods with well-established machine learning classification algorithms (e.g. nonnegative matrix factorization) for data reduction. The data visualization and analysis methodologies were then defined and optimized using a model particle aggregate with known chemical composition. Nanoprobe-based X-ray fluorescence (nano-XRF) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (nano-XANES) spectromicroscopy techniques were used to probe elemental and chemical state information of the aggregate sample. We illustrated the complete chemical speciation methodology of the model particle by using XMIDAS. Next, we demonstrated the application of this approach in detecting and characterizing nanoparticles associated with alveolar macrophages. Our multimodal approach combining nano-XRF, nano-XANES, and differential phase-contrast imaging efficiently visualizes the chemistry of localized nanostructure with the morphology. We believe that the optimized data-reduction strategies and tool development will facilitate the analysis of complex biological and environmental samples using X-ray spectromicroscopy techniques.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data Set Analysis to Reduce Uncertainty in Formula Assignments of Ultrahigh Resolution Mass Spectra

Environmental samples contain a vast array of organic compounds with diverse elemental compositions and heteroatom content. Molecular formula assignments of ultrahigh resolution mass spectra (HRMS) hold promise for elucidating the molecular composition of these compounds. However, the need to account for an assortment of heteroatoms increases the uncertainty associated with individual assignments – and ultimately the ecological, biological, and biogeochemical insights gleaned from the assignments. To address this challenge, we introduce a formula assignment strategy that leverages HRMS data sets to improve assignment confidence, filter false assignments, and mitigate bias in assignment routines. The strategy, implemented using CoreMS, first identifies the highest confidence assignment for a recurring ion in a data set by assessing the mass accuracy and isotopologue similarity of all assignments to the ion across the data set. The second component of the strategy examines the consistency of mass errors for an assigned ion throughout a data set and flags formulas with statistically unlikely deviations in mass error. Here, we illustrate the application and utility of the strategy by comparing its results against documented misassignment patterns within a set of oceanographic samples that were measured with 21 T Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry. Because the efficacy of our strategy improves with data set size, it is particularly useful for enhancing assignment confidence in large HRMS data sets common in studies of environmental systems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Battery metal recycling by flash Joule heating

The staggering accumulation of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and the growing scarcity of battery metal sources have triggered an urgent call for an effective recycling strategy. However, it is challenging to reclaim these metals with both high efficiency and low environmental footprint. We use here a pulsed dc flash Joule heating (FJH) strategy that heats the black mass, the combined anode and cathode, to >2100 kelvin within seconds, leading to ~1000-fold increase in subsequent leaching kinetics. There are high recovery yields of all the battery metals, regardless of their chemistries, using even diluted acids like 0.01 M HCl, thereby lessening the secondary waste stream. The ultrafast high temperature achieves thermal decomposition of the passivated solid electrolyte interphase and valence state reduction of the hard-to-dissolve metal compounds while mitigating diffusional loss of volatile metals. Life cycle analysis versus present recycling methods shows that FJH significantly reduces the environmental footprint of spent LIB processing while turning it into an economically attractive process

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Techno-economic evaluation of emission control configurations for AMP/PZ-based post-combustion CO 2 capture

Minimizing the environmental impacts of amine-based post-combustion carbon capture technologies is essential for regulatory compliance and public acceptance. Experimental campaigns at RWE's CO 2 capture pilot plant in Niederaussem using CESAR1 demonstrated that combining existing emission abatement technologies can substantially reduce the concentration of amines and degradation products in the CO 2 -depleted flue gas to below the detection limit of an infrared spectrometer. The campaign confirmed that a proprietary dry bed technology (OEASE aerozone™) or a second water wash can reduce AMP and PZ emissions to below 1 mg/Nm 3 . However, an acid or chemically active wash downstream of the water wash is necessary to reduce NH 3 emissions to very low levels (<2 mg/Nm 3 ). Combining a dry bed with an acid wash significantly reduces both the required acid solution and the resulting acid waste. The techno-economic analysis indicates that implementing emission mitigation technologies provides substantial environmental benefits for the CESAR1 process, with only a marginal increase (<1 €/tCO 2 ) in both the carbon capture cost (CCC) and CO 2 avoidance cost (CAC). The additional capital cost associated with extra column packing is offset by operational cost savings from reduced solvent losses. For stringent emission permits targeting NH 3 , a configuration combining a dry bed upstream of the water wash followed by an acid wash achieves the best balance between emission control and cost efficiency. This configuration results in a Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of 143 €/MWh, a CCC of 45.4 €/tCO 2 , and a CAC of 88.4 €/tCO 2 .

AMP↗
DOE OSTI2022

Environmental and Circular Economy Implications of Solar Energy in a Decarbonized U.S. Grid

This report addresses environmental and circular economy (CE) considerations related to solar technologies via novel analysis of the three Solar Futures core scenarios as well as synthesis of published research. We organize these issues into the three basic life cycle phases of a solar technology: manufacturing, operation (including site selection and construction), and EOL. Related environmental justice issues are also explored. Finally, we recommend research and development (R&D) activities that could help clarify challenges and identify solutions. Because PV deployment is projected to be much larger than CSP deployment, we offer a more detailed analysis of PV-related issues.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of a Comparison Framework for Evaluating Environmental Contours of Extreme Sea States

Environmental contours of extreme sea states are often utilized for the purposes of reliability-based offshore design. Many methods have been proposed to estimate environmental contours of extreme sea states, including, but not limited to, the traditional inverse first-order reliability method (I-FORM) and subsequent modifications, copula methods, and Monte Carlo methods. These methods differ in terms of both the methodology selected for defining the joint distribution of sea state parameters and in the method used to construct the environmental contour from the joint distribution. It is often difficult to compare the results of proposed methods to determine which method should be used for a particular application or geographical region. The comparison of the predictions from various contour methods at a single site and across many sites is important to making environmental contours of extreme sea states useful in practice. The goal of this paper is to develop a comparison framework for evaluating methods for developing environmental contours of extreme sea states. This paper develops generalized metrics for comparing the performance of contour methods to one another across a collection of study sites, and applies these metrics and methods to develop conclusions about trends in the wave resource across geographic locations, as demonstrated for a pilot dataset. These proposed metrics and methods are intended to judge the environmental contours themselves relative to other contour methods, and are thus agnostic to a specific device, structure, or field of application. The metrics developed and applied in this paper include measures of predictive accuracy, physical validity, and aggregated temporal performance that can be used to both assess contour methods and provide recommendations for the use of certain methods in various geographical regions. The application and aggregation of the metrics proposed in this paper outline a comparison framework for environmental contour methods that can be applied to support design analysis workflows for offshore structures. This comparison framework could be extended in future work to include additional metrics of interest, potentially including those to address issues pertinent to a specific application area or analysis discipline, such as metrics related to structural response across contour methods or additional physics-based metrics based on wave dynamics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Circularity Futures Workshop Series: Summary Report

The aim of this report is to synthesize key feedback received from the three-part Circularity Futures workshop series held in Spring 2024. The workshop series was conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on behalf of U.S. Department of Energy, Office Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), and was broken into three workshops: Workshop 1 - Circularity Analysis Needs and Priorities; Workshop 2 - Circularity Metrics and Indicators; and Workshop 3 - Circularity Data. Together, the workshops focused on identifying the existing priorities and gaps in the circularity modeling space, understanding different stakeholders' use and interpretation of circularity metrics and indicators, identifying common data gaps and data quality challenges, and assessing the robustness of available solutions. The workshop series brought a diverse group of stakeholders - including representatives from U.S. government offices, national labs, nonprofit organizations, industry, and academia - to collect first-hand feedback on needs, priorities, challenges and opportunities in the circularity modeling and analysis space. The workshop discussions highlighted numerous common needs, priorities and challenges among the interviewed groups. Several topics were frequently discussed, including: 1) Circularity as a pathway for sustainable economic growth: While circularity is generally defined in terms of resource conservation and reducing wasteful disposal of materials, participants agreed that circular strategies should serve broader economic, environmental, and social goals. It is therefore crucial for circularity analysis to look beyond waste reduction and instead evaluate a variety of impact metrics such as cost savings, job creation, air quality, and pollutant emissions. Mutli-criteria decision-making frameworks may be useful for making sense of disparate metrics and evaluating tradeoffs between impact categories.; 2) Economic and social factors are not well understood: Underdevelopment of existing end-of-life (EOL) management infrastructure, inconsistent standardization codes and policy space in reusing recycled content, and suboptimal collection and sorting strategies collectively contribute to uncertainty about the economic potential of circular pathways. The latter observation is consistent among all technologies but more emphasized for renewable energy systems. Social impacts of circularity practices are less understood and less researched than other sustainability aspects.; 3) Inconsistent methods for assessing emerging technologies: LCA and TEA results vary widely depending on the assumptions made with regards to market adoption of new technologies. Emerging technologies suffer limited availability of data needed to conduct a robust circularity analysis. Yet, understanding projected impacts of proposed nascent technology is a key need for different stakeholder groups.; and 4) Lack of temporally and geospatially explicit data: There is a need for open data that represents variations in circularity technologies over time and location. The lack thereof leads to aggregated and potentially misrepresented results in circularity analysis. Sensitivity analyses should be included to verify whether options perceived as more sustainable align with real-world practices.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment Spreadsheet tool for Deep Direct-Use Geothermal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Campus

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) spreadsheet tool was developed to analyze potential environmental benefits of a deep direct-use (DDU) geothermal energy system (GES) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of IL) campus. The LCA spreadsheet tool is a unique contribution to the feasibility study that provides further insight into the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts associated with the GES over the operating life time, as well as other DDU GES with similar objectives. The tool allows for a more in-depth analysis of the feasibility of DDU GES with respect to the overall environmental impacts. For the U of IL assessment, a doublet (two-well) system is evaluated, which is connected to aboveground mechanical system to supply heating to six agricultural research facilities. The additional of new equipment are assessed for the technical and economic feasibility. The results from this study will also allow geothermal resources from the entirety of the Illinois Basin (ILB) to be assessed and allow the DDU technology to be extended to additional areas of the ILB and other low-temperature sedimentary basins with similar characteristics.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗