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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 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Energy-Efficient Forward Osmosis for FGD Wastewater Volume Minimization

A variant of forward osmosis, the Aquapod© process, was shown to be capable of concentrating FGDWW five-fold without the need for softening. The thermal and electrical energy consumption per unit of water produced was estimated to be 190 kJ/kg and ~2.2 kWh/m3, respectively. The FO process, in conjunction with a spray dryer, can achieve ZLD of 100 gpm of FGDWW with an estimated capital costs of $6.25 Million and a variable cost of $4.35/m3 of wastewater treated.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2023

Assessing the Impact of Mass Production on Microreactor Costs

Microreactors have attracted significant attention and investment. By virtue of their smaller size (typically less than ~20 MWe), they are expected to be significantly easier to build, demonstrate, and deploy than larger reactors. This has led to several U.S. companies pursuing active demonstration efforts with a wide variety of designs under development. For example, the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), has recently announced they are planning to build a microreactor assembly plant in Alabama. The cost reduction of the microreactors via factory fabrication and mass production is expected to be the primary driver to the economic competitiveness of microreactors. While several entities are focused on first-of-a-kind demonstration of the technology, it is important to provide insights on longer-term considerations for mass production. The evaluation shown here was conducted primarily in collaboration with Munro & Associates Inc. The findings of this microreactor factory fabrication and mass production study were recently published in. In this paper, we start by summarizing the findings of this study. Next, we apply these findings to quantify the cost reduction of a heat pipe-cooled fast reactor (as an example of microreactors).

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Systematic Analysis of Drivers and Barriers of Cross-Sectorial Learning Between Nuclear and Oil and Gas Decommissioning Projects - 20139

Project and megaproject management in the energy sector have historically focused on the planning and delivery of the construction of infrastructure. Therefore, policies are predominantly oriented to support the construction of infrastructure rather than its decommissioning. However, globally, several facilities have reached (or will soon reach) their end-of-life and need to be decommissioned. These facilities span across the energy sector, including nuclear power plants and oil and gas rigs, whose decommissioning present unprecedented techno-socio-economic challenges. Moreover, globally, their decommissioning cost is estimated to reach hundreds of billions of US dollars and this budget keeps increasing, with limited knowledge-transfer across industries to mitigate the spiraling increase of this figure. Cross-sectorial knowledge-transfer is a way to tackle this matter and improve the planning and delivery of decommissioning and waste management projects. The aim of this research is to build a road-map based on cross-sectorial industrial experience, designed to promote the sharing of good practices between projects both within and across industries dealing with major decommissioning and waste management challenges. To reach this aim, the tacit knowledge of senior practitioners on several large scale nuclear and oil and gas decommissioning projects is made explicit by the means of semi-structured interviews, systematically analyzed through directed content analysis. The results of this analysis include a list of good practices that could and should be transferred to nuclear decommissioning projects, including the need to promote the adoption of incentives explicitly linked to the project deliverables, and to develop long-term plans to support smooth transition from operations to decommissioning. Suggestions about how the knowledge-transfer can be promoted within and across organizations are also discussed. In this way, this research provides practical guidance for project managers and policymakers on how to support the planning and delivery of projects with improved performance. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of an In-Situ Leaching Technology for Extracting Residual Uranium from Remediated Soil - 20099

Site-specific chemical solutions for extracting uranium were developed and evaluated for treating previously remediated soil at a former thorium mill tailings site, known as the Former Rare Earths Facility (REF), in West Chicago, Illinois. Prior remediation efforts had resulted in residual sand and gravel aggregate that met the soil cleanup standards. The target soil contains residual levels of uranium, which continues to leach into the site groundwater at levels exceeding groundwater protection standards (GWPS). A series of bench-scale tests were conducted to evaluate the efficacy and viability of in-situ leaching (ISL) technology to treat the target soil for the purposes of attaining uranium GWPS at the REF. Specific objectives of the bench-scale tests entailed identification and selection of optimal leaching, quantification of the extent and rate of uranium released as a function of chemical composition, chemical concentrations, chemical residence times, and obtaining critical data to estimate treatment costs. A combination of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate reagent was the most effective leaching solution. In general, leaching solutions containing a higher concentration of sodium carbonate demonstrated superior uranium leaching capabilities. Removal of 50% of the uranium mass from the soil matrix was adequate for achieving compliance with the site-specific GWPS. After six to seven pore volume flushes (PVFs), the uranium leaching effectiveness of all leaching solutions was similar. The amount of initial uranium removed with each subsequent PVF was minimal, suggesting limited solubility of the remaining mass of uranium. The effects of leaching duration were significant and persisted through at least the first five consecutive PVFs. Leaching of uranium also resulted in leaching of several non-uranium constituents, many of which exceeded applicable National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) standards. Given historical operations and waste disposal practices at the site, leaching of non-uranium constituents was expected. Hydrochloric acid was used to stabilize treated soil. Savings of approximately $148 million in direct and indirect remediation costs are expected with an ISL alternative compared to the excavation and landfill disposal remediation option. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evaluating Nationwide Supply Chain for Circularity of PET and Olefin Plastics

PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate, #1) and olefin plastics including HDPE (High Density Polyethylene, #2), LDPE/LLDPE (Low Density/Linear Low-Density Polyethylene, #4) and PP (Polypropylene, #5) together comprise nearly 80% of the U.S. plastic market. Due to their high market share and extensive application in packaging these polymers have better potential for circularity than other polymer types. To understand the potential of future scenarios with higher recycling rates, supply chain scenarios for PET and olefin plastic packaging need to be analyzed with increased availability and collection of plastics. Currently there exists a knowledge gap to understand the circular supply chain on a national level. Performing a nationwide analysis introduces certain challenges such as variability in the plastic mix of the recycling stream in different municipalities, lack of collection of some types of plastics, regional differences in cost and estimating a national supply curve based on state level access rate and participation rate. Currently, a limited number of Plastic Reclaimers recycle the nation’s collected plastic involving transportation over long distances surpassing state boundaries. Modeling a nationwide scenario instead of regional/state based scenario will facilitate transportation beyond state boundaries for the development of a circular economy. A Mixed-integer Linear Programming model was developed, to identify the optimal location and capacity of the Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) nationwide subject to maximizing the profit margin of the industrial entities within the model. We considered three different scenarios including the base case scenario (S1) collecting 2.27 million metric tons/year as well as two additional scenarios with available plastic supply of 1.8 times (S2) and 2.2 times (S3) of the base case scenario. The model identified 166, 275 and 319 counties as potential MRF locations for scenarios S1, S2 and S3 respectively. Compared to the existing number of counties having MRFs in the US, the model results indicated a reduction of 38% of MRFs for S1. For S2 and S3, the number of counties with MRFs increased 3% and 20% respectively compared to counties currently with MRFs. The average profit remains constant between $180-$181/ton regardless of the increased plastic collection.

54 - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES/GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cost analysis of hydrogen production by high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis

In this study, we estimate construction and operation costs of gigawatt-scale solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) facilities for producing high purity hydrogen gas from water. Manufacturing and assembly costs for two types of SOE cell stacks are estimated using a detailed design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA®) analysis. Modular balance of plant (BOP) process equipment is designed and sized with Aspen®, and cost estimated using equipment vendor quotes. Factory and on-site assembly and installation costs for SOEC stack and BOP equipment integration into modular SOE process units are calculated using a simplified DFMA® method. Total stack costs on a stack input power (SIP) basis reduce to <$100/kW e DC SIP for >500 MW e DC SIP /year production rates with electrode cermet, interconnects, and high-temperature heat treatments dominating the total cost. Integration of stacks with larger BOP equipment operating at higher pressures offers ~36% cost reduction in total facility capital cost due to an economies of physical scale effect since BOP equipment comprises >50% of facility costs. Optimized H 2 prices decrease from ~$\$$4/kgH 2 to ~$\$$2/kgH 2 for 1 GWe DCSIP facilities using $\$$0.025/kWh electricity price. All costs are reported in 2021 US dollars.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Parametric and Nonparametric Models of U.S. Cost Overruns for Nuclear Power Plants

This study presents new data-driven models to estimate the effect of capacity on the percentage of cost overruns in the United States for nuclear power plant construction projects before and after the Three Mile Island accident. Parametric and nonparametric models have been developed that describe the significant shifts in nuclear energy costs during the dynamic environment. Employing a contemporary descriptive methodology and a quantitative analysis, we furnish a comprehensive overview of the alterations in cost overrun distribution and show the changes observed in other pivotal metrics alongside cost overruns. Our emphasis lies in documenting the fluctuations in cost overruns alongside nuclear reactor capacity levels and the increase of the overnight capital costs to build nuclear reactors. Our results show that increasing the size of nuclear reactors is not a factor statistically significant to decrease the percentage of cost overruns, and the probit model results provide evidence that an increase in size increases the probability of having cost overruns larger than 100% (double the estimated cost). We also compare our findings to two other regions: Asia and Europe.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cost analysis of alternative large-scale high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis hydrogen production facilities

We extend our past cost analysis of gigawatt-scale solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) facilities that produce high purity hydrogen gas from water by estimating construction and operating costs for three new alternative design cases: (1) offsite feed steam generation; (2) near-atmospheric pressure (NAP) stack; and (3) onsite electric boiler feed steam generation. Pressure effects on hydrogen electrode-(cathode-)supported SOE cell (SOEC) stack performance are estimated for the same assumed cell and stack construction and used to determine facility-wide stack capital costs for achieving a fixed H2 production at different pressures. Modular balance of plant (BOP) process equipment capital costs are estimated for each new alternative design case using our past equipment sizing, design, and cost data and scaling relationships. Furthermore, we update BOP equipment sizing and design for the NAP case using Aspen®. Vendor quotes for electric boilers are used to estimate costs for the electric boiler design case. Factory and onsite assembly and installation costs for SOEC stacks and BOP equipment are calculated using our past simplified first-principles approach. First-of-a-kind (FOAK) and N th -of-a-kind (NOAK) production maturity cost estimates are included for all results. The case with NAP stacks offers the lowest facility total capital cost (TCC, ~23% lower than base) while use of small electric boilers requires the highest TCC (~3% higher than base). H 2 production prices decrease from the base of ~$\$2.17$ /kgH 2 to ~$\$1.92$/kgH 2 for 1 GW e DC SIP facilities utilizing NAP stacks supplied by offsites steam situated in large modules and blocks for $\$0.030$/kWh e and $0.009/kWh t prices for electricity and thermal energy, respectively. We report all costs in 2021 US dollars.

Balance of plant (BOP) process equipment↗
DOE OSTI2020

Model of Operation-and-Maintenance Costs for Photovoltaic Systems

This article presents a method for calculating costs associated with operation and maintenance (O&M) of photovoltaic (PV) systems. It compiles details regarding the cost and frequency of multiple O&M services to estimate annual O&M costs ($\$$/year) for each year of an analysis period, the net present value ($\$$) of life cycle costs accumulated over the analysis period, and the reserve account amount ($\$$). Here we show that this method is an improvement over the previous averaged or levelized per-unit ($\$$/kW/year) valuations for estimating PV O&M costs, because it allows a detailed selection of services to perform based on system size, market served (e.g., residential, commercial, or utility), type and configuration of system components (e.g., micro-, string or central inverter) and site and environmental conditions (e.g., snow, pollen, bird populations). This model also distinguishes costs that vary from year to year and increase at different rates over time because of heuristic failure distributions (e.g. Weibull or Lognormal distribution) based on actuarial data for many of the services. This cost model was created by the PV O&M Working Group of researchers and industry, sponsored by DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office, and has been published in an on-line version hosted by SunSpec Alliance at apsuite.sunspec.org. A spreadsheet version is included with this paper as supplementary material.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Designing Harvesting and Hauling Cost Models for Energy Cane Production for Biorefineries

The harvesting and hauling operations of bioenergy feedstock is an important area in biofuel production. Production costs can be minimized by maintaining optimal machinery units for these operations. The objective of this study is to design an optimal harvesting unit for bioenergy refinery and estimate harvesting and hauling costs of energy cane. A biorefinery with the annual capacity of processing twenty-five million imp. gallons of ethanol were considered. Given the efficiency of harvesting, a two-row soldier system was considered. Considering the year-round supply of energy cane to the refinery, the optimal machinery unit was designed, and the combined operation costs were derived. The average estimated ownership, repair, labor and fuel and lubricant costs of biomass harvest unit were calculated to be $\$$0.50, $\$$0.54, $\$$1.78 and $\$$1.51/mt, respectively. The costs distribution generated showed harvesting and hauling costs could range between $\$$5.47–$\$$9.23/mt of energy cane. The methodology and the research output will provide guidelines for investors in designing harvesting and hauling units and estimating costs for different scales of operation.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

A comparison of cost and quality of three methods for estimating density for wild pig (Sus scrofa)

A critical element in efective wildlife management is monitoring the status of wildlife populations; however, resources to monitor wildlife populations are typically limited. We compared cost efectiveness of three common population estimation methods (i.e. non-invasive DNA sampling, camera sampling, and sampling from trapping) by applying them to wild pigs (Sus scrofa) across three habitats in South Carolina, U.S.A where they are invasive. We used mark-recapture analyses for fecal DNA sampling data, spatially-explicit capture-recapture analyses for camera sampling data, and a removal analysis for removal sampling from trap data. Density estimates were similar across methods. Camera sampling was the least expensive, but had large variances. Fecal DNA sampling was the most expensive, although this technique generally performed well. We examined how reductions in efort by method related to increases in relative bias or imprecision. For removal sampling, the largest cost savings while maintaining unbiased density estimates was from reducing the number of traps. For fecal DNA sampling, a reduction in efort only minimally reduced costs due to the need for increased lab replicates while maintaining high quality estimates. For camera sampling, efort could only be marginally reduced before inducing bias. We provide a decision tree for researchers to help make monitoring decisions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluation of Component Reliability in Photovoltaic Systems using Field Failure Statistics

Ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M) are needed to ensure photovoltaic (PV) systems continue to operate and meet production targets over the lifecycle of the system. Although average costs to operate and maintain PV systems have been decreasing over time, reported costs can vary significantly at the plant level. Estimating O&M costs accurately is important for informing financial planning and tracking activities, and subsequently lowering the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of PV systems. This report describes a methodology for improving O&M planning estimates by using empirically-derived failure statistics to capture component reliability in the field. The report also summarizes failure patterns observed for specific PV components and local environmental conditions observed in Sandia's PV Reliability, Operations & Maintenance (PVROM) database, a collection of field records across 800+ systems in the U.S. Where system-specific or fleet-specific data are lacking, PVROM-derived failure distribution values can be used to inform cost modeling and other reliability analyses to evaluate opportunities for performance improvements.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Demonstration of the carbon capture with building make-up air unit

Building-integrated carbon capture technology has the potential to reduce the cost of CO 2 capture while improving indoor air quality (IAQ). To promote the adoption of CO 2 capture in a building environment, this study investigated the possibility of integrating carbon capture technology with an existing rooftop make-up air unit (MAU) system to trap CO 2 . Here, in this study, a modular compact CO 2 capture system containing amine-functionalized polymer fibers was examined. The system, which was installed at the exhaust of the MAU, captures CO 2 before it leaves the building to enter the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. The demonstrated average amount of CO 2 captured was 1.1–1.4 mmol/g of adsorbent material. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) was further performed on the CO 2 capture system, considering material costs, energy costs, as well as transportation and regeneration costs. These results were then used to estimate the levelized cost per ton CO 2 captured (LCOC). To achieve LCOC below $\$$100/t-CO 2 , adsorbents should have working capacities of 4.9 t and 3 t-CO 2 /year for 5 years and 10 years of operation, respectively. In summary, this study highlights a viable path toward the decarbonization of the commercial buildings sector and provides quantitative performance and economic insight on the suitability of building-integrated carbon capture technology.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Commercial building HVAC demand flexibility with model predictive control: Field demonstration and literature insights

Model Predictive Control (MPC) for building Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems is beginning to gain traction in the market, with a few controls companies incorporating it into their product offerings. However, it remains difficult to assess whether the energy cost savings are enough to justify the cost of MPC implementation for a particular building, given the limited number of reported demonstrations. For small commercial and residential buildings with relatively uniform systems, standardized approaches can help lower implementation costs. In contrast, for large buildings or district systems, the potential magnitude of cost savings could justify more customized solutions. Estimating the cost-effectiveness of MPC becomes more challenging for medium and large commercial buildings, where a one-size-fits-all solution may not be suitable, and the potential energy cost savings may be insufficient to justify a customized solution. To make MPC technology more appealing, incorporating additional value streams beyond energy efficiency alone can significantly increase its attractiveness. One such revenue stream is demand flexibility, in response to dynamic electricity prices, where MPC can leverage the thermal mass of the building to shift the load and support the grid. Building on an extensive literature review of MPC field studies focused on cost savings and demand flexibility, this paper presents the results of implementing MPC control in a large office building HVAC system in Berkeley, CA. Four different dynamic electricity price profiles were integrated into the MPC objective function to shift building demand while maintaining comfort, and field testing was performed with each price profile across four seasons. The results show potential for 40–65 % demand decrease percentage and up to 61 % annual cost savings compared to the existing rule-based control strategy, under the tested dynamic price scenarios. This paper also presents a sensitivity analysis on the cost savings with respect to the price profile variability, discusses the implementation effort for the price-responsive MPC, and compares the cost savings found in this study to those found in literature on the basis of dynamic price variability, or so-called Electricity Price Relative Standard Deviation.

Zanetti, Ettore↗
DOE OSTI2020

Adaptive PV Frequency Control Strategy Based on Real-time Inertia Estimation

The declining cost of solar Photovoltaics (PV) generation is driving its worldwide deployment. As conventional generation with large rotating masses is being replaced by renewable energy such as PV, the power system’s inertia will be affected. As a result, the system’s frequency may vary more dramatically in the case of a disturbance, and the frequency nadir may be low enough to trigger protection relays such as under-frequency load shedding. The existing frequency-watt function mandated in power inverters cannot provide grid frequency support in a loss-of-generation event, as PV plants usually do not have power reserves. Here, a novel adaptive PV frequency control strategy is proposed to reserve the minimum power required for grid frequency support. A machine learning model is trained to predict system frequency response under varying system conditions, and an adaptive allocation of PV headroom reserves is made based on the machine learning model as well as real-time system conditions including inertia. Case studies show the proposed control method meets the frequency nadir requirements using minimal power reserves compared to a fixed headroom control approach.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

GEOPHIRES v2.0

GEOPHIRES v2.0 is a geothermal techno-economic simulation tool upgraded from GEOPHIRES v1.2. The name stands for "GEOthermal energy for Production of Heat and electricity (“IR”) Economically Simulated". GEOPHIRES combines reservoir, wellbore, and surface plant technical models with cost correlations and levelized cost models to estimate the capital and operation and maintenance costs, instantaneous and lifetime energy production, and overall levelized cost of energy of a geothermal plant. In addition to electricity generation, direct-use heat applications and combined heat and power or cogeneration can be modeled. Various upgrades have been implemented to develop GEOPHIRES v2.0, including: updating the built-in cost correlations, coupling to the external reservoir simulator TOUGH2, enhancing the built-in wellbore simulator, converting the programming language to Python, and making the code open-source. Users are encouraged to build upon the tool, e.g. by implementing their own correlations or coupling to other simulators.

Beckers, Koenraad↗
DOE OSTI2023

Productivity and Cost of Post-Tornado Salvage Logging in Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina, USA

Salvage harvesting is common in the US South following natural disasters such as tornadoes and hurricanes; nevertheless, few studies have evaluated the productivity and costs of these harvests because of their geographic dispersion and the short interval between natural disasters and salvage harvesting. An Enhanced Fujita Scale 3 (EF3) tornado with winds in excess of 250 km per hour struck Aiken County, South Carolina in April of 2020, uprooting trees and severing other stems above breast height. The goal of this study was to estimate the productivity and cost of salvage harvesting in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands following severe tornado damage. Salvage harvests were conducted with a rubber-tired drive-to-tree feller-buncher, grapple skidder, tracked loader, and chipper. All stems were chipped and used to produce energy; no roundwood was produced from the harvests. Elemental time-and-motion studies were conducted in three pulpwood-sized stands (<30 cm large-end diameter) and three sawtimber-sized stands (≥30 cm large-end diameter). Hourly harvesting costs were estimated using the machine rate method and per-ton costs were estimated using a modified version of the Auburn Harvesting Analyzer. Skidding productivity was low in each harvest unit, but especially so in the three pulpwood-sized stands because of stem breakage and low weight per stem. Harvesting costs averaged $\$$29.78 and $\$$19.97 (USD) per tonne (onboard truck) in the pulpwood- and sawtimber-sized stands, respectively. High salvage harvesting costs mean that landowners can expect significantly reduced stumpage prices from these harvests; nonetheless, landowners do benefit from reduced reforestation costs. Harvesting promptly after a tornado can reduce harvesting costs and increase timber value recovery.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗