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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Predicting Plant-Soil Feedback in the Field: Meta-Analysis Reveals That Competition and Environmental Stress Differentially Influence PSF

Past research on plant-soil feedbacks (PSF), largely undertaken in highly controlled greenhouse conditions, has established that plant species differentially alter abiotic and biotic soil conditions that in turn affect growth of other conspecific and heterospecific individuals in that soil. Yet, whether feedbacks under controlled greenhouse conditions reflect feedbacks in natural environments where plants are exposed to a range of abiotic and biotic pressures is still unresolved. To address how environmental context affects PSF, we conducted a meta-analysis of previously published studies that examined plant growth responses to multiple forms of competition, stress, and disturbance across various PSF methodology. We asked the following questions: (1) Can competition, stress, and disturbance alter the direction and/or strength of PSF? (2) Do particular types of competition, stress, or disturbance affect the direction and/or strength of PSF more than others? and (3) Do methods of conducting PSF research (i.e., greenhouse vs. field experiments and whether the source of soil inoculum conditioning is from the field vs. greenhouse) affect plant growth responses to PSF or competition, stress, and disturbance, or their interactions? We discovered four patterns that may be predictive of what future PSF studies conducted under more realistic conditions might reveal. First, relatively little is known about how PSF responds to environmental stress and disturbance compared to plant-plant competition. Second, specific types of competition enhanced negative effects of soil microbes on plant growth, and specific environmental stressors enhanced positive effects of soil microbes on plant growth. Third, whether PSF experiments are conducted in the field or greenhouse can change plant growth responses. And, fourth, how the soil conditioning phase is conducted can change plant growth responses. With more detail than previously shown, these results confirm that environmental context writ large can change plant growth responses in PSF experiments. These data should aid theory and predictions for conservation and restoration applications by showing the relative importance of competition, stress, and disturbance in PSF studies over time. Lastly, these data demonstrate how variation in experimental methods can alter interpretation and conclusions of PSF studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2014

Large Plant Growth Chambers: Flying Soon on a Space Station near You!

The International Space Station (ISS) now has platforms for conducting research on horticultural plant species, and those capabilities continue to grow. The Veggie vegetable production system will be deployed to the ISS in Spring of 2014 to act as an applied research platform with goals of studying food production in space, providing the crew with a source of fresh food, allowing behavioral health and plant microbiology experimentation, and being a source of recreation and enjoyment for the crew. Veggie was conceived, designed, and constructed by Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC, Madison, WI). Veggie is the largest plant growth chamber that NASA has flown to date, and is capable of growing a wide array of horticultural crops. It was designed for low energy usage, low launch mass and stowage volume, and minimal crew time requirements. The Veggie flight hardware consists of a light cap containing red (630 nanometers), blue, (455 nanometers) and green (530 nanometers) light emitting diodes. Interfacing with the light cap is an extendable bellows baseplate secured to the light cap via magnetic closures and stabilized with extensible flexible arms. The baseplate contains vents allowing air from the ISS cabin to be pulled through the plant growth area by a fan in the light cap. The baseplate holds a Veggie root mat reservoir that will supply water to plant pillows attached via elastic cords. Plant pillows are packages of growth media and seeds that will be sent to ISS dry and installed and hydrated on orbit. Pillows can be constructed in various sizes for different plant types. Watering will be via passive wicking from the root mat to the pillows. Science procedures will include photography or videography, plant thinning, pollination, harvesting, microbial sampling, water sampling, etcetera. Veggie is one of the ISS flight options currently available for research investigations on plants. The Plant Habitat (PH) is being designed and constructed through a NASA-ORBITEC collaboration, and is scheduled to fly on ISS around 2016. This large plant chamber will control light quality, level, and timing, temperature, CO2, relative humidity, and irrigation, while scrubbing ethylene. Additional monitoring capabilities include leaf temperature sensing and root zone moisture and oxygen sensing. The PH light cap will have red (630 nanometers), blue (450 nanometers), green (525 nanometers), far red (730 nanometers) and broad spectrum white light emitting diodes. There will be several internal cameras to monitor and record plant growth and operations.

Space Biology↗
DOE OSTI2021

X-ray microscopy enables multiscale high-resolution 3D imaging of plant cells, tissues, and organs

Capturing complete internal anatomies of plant organs and tissues within their relevant morphological context remains a key challenge in plant science. While plant growth and development are inherently multiscale, conventional light, fluorescence, and electron microscopy platforms are typically limited to imaging of plant microstructure from small flat samples that lack a direct spatial context to, and represent only a small portion of, the relevant plant macrostructures. We demonstrate technical advances with a lab-based X-ray microscope (XRM) that bridge the imaging gap by providing multiscale high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) volumes of intact plant samples from the cell to the whole plant level. Serial imaging of a single sample is shown to provide sub-micron 3D volumes co-registered with lower magnification scans for explicit contextual reference. High-quality 3D volume data from our enhanced methods facilitate sophisticated and effective computational segmentation. Advances in sample preparation make multimodal correlative imaging workflows possible, where a single resin-embedded plant sample is scanned via XRM to generate a 3D cell-level map, and then used to identify and zoom in on sub-cellular regions of interest for high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. In total, we present the methodologies for use of XRM in the multiscale and multimodal analysis of 3D plant features using numerous economically and scientifically important plant systems.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tripartite interactions among free-living, N-fixing bacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and plants: Mutualistic benefits and community response to co-inoculation

Interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and free-living nitrogen fixers (FLNF) occur in the rhizosphere where they can enhance plant nutrient acquisition, impact plant growth, and affect soil processes. Tripartite mutualism commonly occurs between nodule-forming plants, symbiotic diazotrophs, and AM fungi, and can occur between non-nodulating plants, FLNF, and AM fungi. However, information on the extent of, and controls on, tripartite mutualism in non-nodulating plant systems is limited to a small number of crop plants and culturable microbial inoculum, mostly in greenhouse growing conditions. We conducted a systematic literature review to synthesize the current understanding of the responses of plants, AM fungi, and FLNF to co-inoculation, as well as the conditions affecting tripartite mutualism and the magnitude and range of benefits conferred. Our review shows that plants generally benefit from co-inoculation with AM fungi and FLNF taxa, but benefits are highly variable and context dependent, ranging from 94% reduction in plant shoot biomass to 255% increase in total plant biomass. Additionally, the presence of AM fungi can increase abundance of FLNF and the presence of FLNF can increase AM fungal root colonization, but these responses also vary widely. Major factors influencing variation in response to co-inoculation by all organisms include plant phenology/age, soil type and nutrient availability, and partner pairing. There is potential for leveraging these tripartite mutualisms to improve plant productivity and soil microbial function, but successful application is more likely with a thorough understanding of the environmental and mechanistic controls on these relationships and testing of field-scale implementation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

ER stress-induced protein, VIGG, disturbs plant cation homeostasis, which is correlated with growth retardation and robustness to ER stress

Highlights: {yields} VIGG is an ER stress-induced protein in plant. {yields} We examine the characteristics of VIGG-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants. {yields} VIGG-overexpressing plants reveal growth retardation and robustness to ER stress. {yields} VIGG disturbs cation homeostasis in plant. -- Abstract: VIGG is a putative endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident protein induced by virus infection and ER stress, and is correlated with fruit quality in grapevine. The present study was undertaken to determine the biological function of VIGG in grapevine. Experiments using fluorescent protein-VIGG fusion protein demonstrated that VIGG is localized in ER and the ER targeting sequence is in the N-terminus. The overexpression of VIGG in Arabidopsis plant led to growth retardation. The rosette leaves of VIGG-overexpressing plants were smaller than those of the control plants and rolled at 42 days after seeding. VIGG-overexpressing plants revealed robustness to ER stress as well as the low expression of ER stress marker proteins, such as the luminal binding proteins. These characteristics of VIGG-overexpressing plants were supported by a microarray experiment that demonstrated the disruption of genes related to ER stress response and flowering, as well as cation mobility, in the plants. Finally, cation homeostasis in the plants was disturbed by the overexpression of VIGG. Taken together, these results suggest that VIGG may disturb cation homeostasis in plant, which is correlated with the robustness to ER stress and growth retardation.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Plant genotype and rhizobia strain combinations strongly influence the transcriptome under heavy metal stress conditions in Medicago truncatula

Heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) pose significant threats to plant health and food safety as they are absorbed from the environment. Legumes are generally considered sensitive to heavy metals but possess standing genetic variation for accumulation and tolerance to toxic ions. We conducted a transcriptomic analysis on hydroponically and soil grown Medicago truncatula plants to investigate gene expression responses to Cd and Hg exposure in roots, leaves, and nodules. By using plant genotypes with varying metal tolerance or accumulation levels, we observed distinct clustering of gene ontologies, indicating tissue-specific, genotype-specific, and metal-specific gene expression patterns. Considering the symbiotic relationship between legumes and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, we further examined plant phenotypes and transcriptomes of plant genotypes with contrasting Hg accumulation levels and inoculated them with high or low Hg-tolerant Sinorhizobium medicae strains that have presence-absence variation for a mercury reductase (Mer) operon. Host plants inoculated with the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain possessing a Mer operon exhibited less reduction in nodule number and plant biomass. A smaller reduction in iron (Fe) distribution in nodules after Hg stress was measured using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) imaging. Dual transcriptome (host plant and bacteria) analysis of nodules revealed a remarkable decrease in the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and clustering of gene ontologies in plants inoculated with the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain, including symbiosis related genes. This finding suggests that the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain has the potential to mitigate Hg stress in host plants. Furthermore, we observed genotype by-genotype interactions between the high Hg accumulating plant genotype and the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain. These findings provide insights into enhancing plant resilience in contaminated environments through optimizing legume-rhizobia interactions for heavy metal tolerance.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Influence of soil heterogeneity on soybean plant development and crop yield evaluated using time-series of UAV and ground-based geophysical imagery

Understanding the interactions among agricultural processes, soil, and plants is necessary for optimizing crop yield and productivity. This study focuses on developing effective monitoring and analysis methodologies that estimate key soil and plant properties. These methodologies include data acquisition and processing approaches that use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and surface geophysical techniques. In particular, we applied these approaches to a soybean farm in Arkansas to characterize the soil–plant coupled spatial and temporal heterogeneity, as well as to identify key environmental factors that influence plant growth and yield. UAV-based multitemporal acquisition of high-resolution RGB (red–green–blue) imagery and direct measurements were used to monitor plant height and photosynthetic activity. We present an algorithm that efficiently exploits the high-resolution UAV images to estimate plant spatial abundance and plant vigor throughout the growing season. Such plant characterization is extremely important for the identification of anomalous areas, providing easily interpretable information that can be used to guide near-real-time farming decisions. Additionally, high-resolution multitemporal surface geophysical measurements of apparent soil electrical conductivity were used to estimate the spatial heterogeneity of soil texture. By integrating the multiscale multitype soil and plant datasets, we identified the spatiotemporal co-variance between soil properties and plant development and yield. Our novel approach for early season monitoring of plant spatial abundance identified areas of low productivity controlled by soil clay content, while temporal analysis of geophysical data showed the impact of soil moisture and irrigation practice (controlled by topography) on plant dynamics. Our study demonstrates the effective coupling of UAV data products with geophysical data to extract critical information for farm management.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Invasive Plants Rapidly Reshape Soil Properties in a Grassland Ecosystem

In this study, we show how invasive plant species drive rapid shifts in the soil environment from surrounding native communities. Each of the three plant invaders had different but consistent effects on soils. Thus, there does not appear to be a one-size-fits-all strategy for how plant invaders alter grassland soil environments. This work represents a crucial step toward understanding how invaders might be able to prevent or impair native reestablishment by changing soil biotic and abiotic properties. Plant invasions often reduce native plant diversity and increase net primary productivity. Invaded soils appear to differ from surrounding soils in ways that impede restoration of diverse native plant communities. We hypothesize that invader-mediated shifts in edaphic properties reproducibly alter soil microbial community structure and function. Here, we take a holistic approach, characterizing plant, prokaryotic, and fungal communities and soil physicochemical properties in field sites, invasion gradients, and experimental plots for three invasive plant species that cooccur in the Rocky Mountain West. Each invader had a unique impact on soil physicochemical properties. We found that invasions drove shifts in the abundances of specific microbial taxa, while overall belowground community structure and functional potential were fairly constant. Forb invaders were generally enriched in copiotrophic bacteria with higher 16S rRNA gene copy numbers and showed greater microbial carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolic potential. Older invasions had stronger effects on abiotic soil properties, indicative of multiyear successions. Overall, we show that plant invasions are idiosyncratic in their impact on soils and are directly responsible for driving reproducible shifts in the soil environment over multiyear time scales. IMPORTANCE In this study, we show how invasive plant species drive rapid shifts in the soil environment from surrounding native communities. Each of the three plant invaders had different but consistent effects on soils. Thus, there does not appear to be a one-size-fits-all strategy for how plant invaders alter grassland soil environments. This work represents a crucial step toward understanding how invaders might be able to prevent or impair native reestablishment by changing soil biotic and abiotic properties.

Microbiology↗
DOE OSTI2012

Nuclear Power Plant Ontology in OWL Format

This document describes an ontology for Nuclear Power Plant sites for use in software developed by Peng Yue of George Mason University, the intelligent Geospatial Feature Discovery System (iGFDS). The ontology was developed from unclassified and open sources available on the Web, primarily from Wikipedia. Figures 1 and 2 are screenshots of the Protégé application showing the classes of the Nuclear Power Plant Ontology which was developed in the OWL format. The ontology contains supplemental information that is not shown in these screenshots and that appears as “comments” in the Annotations window. For example, “SteamGenerator” and “SecondaryCoolant” only apply to “PWR” reactors. The ontology is based on general professional knowledge of Nuclear Power Plant operation and contains a number of components necessary for understanding and modeling the functionality of a Nuclear Power Plant. The content of the ontology is not limited to equipment and buildings that can be typically observed in the imagery. The things that can be seen are often the higher level items (CoolingTower, TurbineBuilding, ContainmentBuilding, etc.). It should be pointed out that PWR plants will be much easier to identify, generally, compared to BWR plants, due to the characteristic containment structure. The information on the TransformerYard was obtained from other sources not associated specifically with Nuclear Power Plants This ontology has to be viewed as a starting point of development ontologies for assisting with identification of Nuclear Power Plant sites with the GMU software. It can be a model for ontologies for other industrial sites. The classes and relations in the ontology have to be rearranged in a way that is most suitable for feature detection. Also the classes pertaining to visible components or signs of operation of a nuclear power plant will have to be linked to classes and properties of the objects in imagery that can be detected by image processing algorithms. Note that the current ontology does not contain statements about anything that is not present at a Nuclear Power Plant site, for example, “a Nuclear Power Plant DOES NOT HAVE a large pile of coal or other raw materials”, which would help logically to differentiate it from other types of power plants.

Ward, Richard C.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Exploratory Project: Rigid nanostructured organic polymer monolith for in situ collection and analysis of plant metabolites from soil matrices

Plant metabolites released from litter leachates and root exudates enable plants to adapt and survive in a wide range of habitats by facilitating resource foraging and plant-organismal interactions, and could influence soil carbon storage. The biological functions of these plant inputs and the organismal interactions they facilitate in soil are strictly governed by their composition and molecular identity. Our current understanding about the molecular identity of exudates is based on physiological studies that are done in soil-less axenic cultures. On the other hand, ecological studies that rely on isotope labeling to track the fluxes of carbon from plants to soil have found the complexities of soil-microbe matrices as an insurmountable barrier to undertake any meaningful molecular level characterization of plant inputs. Although it is constantly advocated to undertake a molecular level identification of the dynamicity of plant metabolites in soils, the complexity of soil system has thus far prevented any such endeavors. We developed polymeric probes through in-situ polymerization of poly(styrene-co-vinylbenzyl chloride-co-divinylbenzene) to elucidate the chemical environment of the soil to which the plant roots are exposed. Hypercrosslinking of the polymeric probes through an in-situ Friedel-Crafts alkylation significantly increased the surface area and the sorption capacity of the probes. Surface functionalization of the probes using a hybrid approach was also attempted. The efficacy of these probes was tested using batch equilibration. Scanning electron microscopy revealed extensive modification of the surface of the probes through hypercrosslinking. The probes exhibited a lower site specific sorption (slope of Freundlich adsorption isotherm close to unity) and percent recovery of the sorbed compounds from the probes were >70, indicating a predominance of reversible sorption. Further we imparted specificity to this copolymer matrix by using molecular-template imprinting approach for the selective capture of less abundant plant metabolites from a crowded soil/litter leachate. Our results suggests that i) the root exudate pattern of plants is highly dependent on the nutrient status of the plant, with greater specificity of root exudation occurring in growing medium with low available form of nutrients, ii) the chemical composition of root exudation is a function of the distance of sampling from the source-roots, with the composition of root exudation being more enriched in polar metabolites farther from the source-roots, iii) Further we demonstrated that the compounds present in real root exudates diffuse farther from the source roots than those in artificial root exudates that are traditionally used. Thus, our project highlights how the soil matrix is instrumental in modifying the chemical composition of root exudates, and highlights that, apart from the plant physiology, the specificity and function of root exudates is also modified by environmental factors.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Demonstration of Essential Reliability Services by a 300-MW Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), First Solar, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted a demonstration project on a large utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant in California to test its ability to provide essential ancillary services to the electric grid. With increasing shares of solar- and wind-generated energy on the electric grid, traditional generation resources equipped with automatic governor control (AGC) and automatic voltage regulation controls -- specifically, fossil thermal -- are being displaced. The deployment of utility-scale, grid-friendly PV power plants that incorporate advanced capabilities to support grid stability and reliability is essential for the large-scale integration of PV generation into the electric power grid, among other technical requirements. A typical PV power plant consists of multiple power electronic inverters and can contribute to grid stability and reliability through sophisticated 'grid-friendly' controls. In this way, PV power plants can be used to mitigate the impact of variability on the grid, a role typically reserved for conventional generators. In August 2016, testing was completed on First Solar's 300-MW PV power plant, and a large amount of test data was produced and analyzed that demonstrates the ability of PV power plants to use grid-friendly controls to provide essential reliability services. These data showed how the development of advanced power controls can enable PV to become a provider of a wide range of grid services, including spinning reserves, load following, voltage support, ramping, frequency response, variability smoothing, and frequency regulation to power quality. Specifically, the tests conducted included various forms of active power control such as AGC and frequency regulation; droop response; and reactive power, voltage, and power factor controls. This project demonstrated that advanced power electronics and solar generation can be controlled to contribute to system-wide reliability. It was shown that the First Solar plant can provide essential reliability services related to different forms of active and reactive power controls, including plant participation in AGC, primary frequency control, ramp rate control, and voltage regulation. For AGC participation in particular, by comparing the PV plant testing results to the typical performance of individual conventional technologies, we showed that regulation accuracy by the PV plant is 24-30 points better than fast gas turbine technologies. The plant's ability to provide volt-ampere reactive control during periods of extremely low power generation was demonstrated as well. The project team developed a pioneering demonstration concept and test plan to show how various types of active and reactive power controls can leverage PV generation's value from being a simple variable energy resource to a resource that provides a wide range of ancillary services. With this project's approach to a holistic demonstration on an actual, large, utility-scale, operational PV power plant and dissemination of the obtained results, the team sought to close some gaps in perspectives that exist among various stakeholders in California and nationwide by providing real test data.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Abengoa/Acciona Power Plant Hydrogen Mitigation Project (Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-15-583)

Several Gigawatts (GW) of solar concentrating parabolic trough generating capacity have been installed in the U.S. and internationally in the past five years. Many of these power plants include thermal energy storage, which allows the plants to generate electricity during off-sun hours. The U.S. now has about 1 GW of solar-to-electric generating capacity using concentrating parabolic trough technology. Parabolic trough power plants have a long-standing performance issue relating to the build-up of trace quantities of hydrogen gas in the receiver tubes. Hydrogen is a byproduct of the very slow breakdown of the heat transfer fluid. Accumulation of hydrogen in the receivers causes a loss in the thermal efficiency of the receivers and an overall decrease in the power plant annual electricity output. Since a typical plant contains 50,000 receivers, addressing this issue by individual receiver is not practical. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conceived and developed a method to remove or purge hydrogen from the power plant receivers by removing hydrogen from a single location within the plant. Hydrogen gas is purged from the heat transfer fluid that resides in the power plant expansion tanks. Modeling shows that quantitative removal of hydrogen from the expansion tanks will reverse build-up of hydrogen in the receiver tubes and restore the power plant to its full performance and annual energy output. This method is documented in U.S. Patent 8,568,582, which issued in October 2013. Two companies, Abengoa Solar and Acciona Solar Power, Inc. contacted NREL to discuss solutions to the eventual build-up of hydrogen in their commercial parabolic trough power plants. NREL proposed to implement its method at Acciona's Nevada Solar One (NSO) parabolic trough power plant in Boulder City, Nevada. The first year will consist of laboratory testing at the NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) along with process specification, design, and costing. The second year will be the full-scale implementation of the hydrogen mitigation process at the NSO power plant in Nevada.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

PhytoPET, PhytoBeta and PhytoSPECT: Radioisotope Imaging Systems Being Developed for Plant Biology Research

The Radiation Detector and Imaging Group at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) is developing radioisotope imaging systems designed and constructed to facilitate plant biology studies at the Duke University Phytotron. The imaging systems utilize nuclear medicine imaging methodologies used in positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) but designed specifically for plant biology. The range of plant shapes and the environmental conditions in plant growth chambers pose a technological challenge. Description: Jefferson Lab is collaborating with the Duke University Phytotron and the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) in the construction and operation of PhytoPET and PhytoBeta (for direct beta particle detection) for plant and/or microbe imaging. The TUNL tandem Van de Graaff accelerator (maximum terminal voltage of 10 MV) has been used to generate 11C and 13N for plant biology research. The PhytoPET and PhytoBeta have been used with 11C as a 11CO2 tracer for plant ecophysiology imaging with corn, poplar, oak and barley utilizing technologies developed for nuclear physics research and nuclear medicine. The imaging detectors are based on position sensitive photomultiplier tubes coupled to scintillators. Additionally, the collaboration is investigating a methodology using single photon emitting radioisotope tracers for imaging the distribution of molecular compounds of interest in the rhizosphere, the interface between root and soil, without disturbing the root or soil habitat. Plans are underway to develop a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system (PhytoSPECT) to image the bio-distribution of fungi in association with a host plant's roots. In addition to a description of the technology an overview will be given of the application of PhytoPET, PhytBeta and PhytoSPECT to plant biology research at Duke University. Conclusions: We have developed and used radioisotope imaging technologies based on PET and SPECT to visualize plant function in changing environments. There are many opportunities to provide radioisotope based imaging tools for plant ecophysiology imaging. Keywords: radioisotope detection, plant biology, carbon-11, accelerator produced isotopes

Weisenberger, Andrew↗
DOE OSTI2025

Systems Analysis of Biomass and Coal Co-firing Power Plants with Deep Carbon Capture Toward Net-zero Emissions

Achieving a net-zero emission economy in the United States requires integrating diverse low-carbon and negative-emission technologies into the existing fossil fuel-dominant power fleet. Potential technologies from the low-carbon portfolio include renewable power, fossil power with carbon capture and storage (CCS), bioenergy with CCS (BECCS), and direct air capture (DAC). Renewable power is a clean energy source but has to pair with costly battery storage to provide dispatchable electricity. Fossil power with CCS offers dispatchable electricity yet still relies on DAC to offset residual emissions, even when deploying deep CCS with more than 90% CO2 capture. Coal-biomass co-firing with CCS, a subset of BECCS, is a reliable energy production technology that can be retrofitted from existing electricity generation units (EGUs). Power plant retrofit maximizes the use of the current U.S. coal power fleet without the need for large-scale deployment of new renewable power, battery storage, or DAC. Retrofitting coal-biomass co-firing with deep CCS in EGUs is a promising option, but not a universal solution. Biomass co-firing at a power plant introduces economic challenges and indirectly poses pressure on land and water resources. Meanwhile, retrofitting deep CCS affects plant efficiency and raises electricity generation costs. Overall, the technical feasibility and economic viability of plant retrofits vary across EGUs, as they are contingent upon the regional availability of biomass, unit-specific characteristics, site-specific fuel supply costs, and adjacent CO2 storage potential. Government incentives like 45Q can improve the retrofit viability, though the impact requires further quantification. A comprehensive analysis at the unit level is essential to address the question regarding the fate of the U.S. coal-fired electricity generation fleet toward the net-zero emission goal. This study conducts a systematic techno-economic-environmental assessment of EGUs to identify the viability of biomass co-firing and deep CCS retrofits in the U.S. coal-fired power fleet. Specifically, it characterizes the techno-economic performance of deep carbon capture, estimates life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and conducts a fleet-level assessment on retrofit viability. The key objectives are (1) to estimate the unit-specific performance and retrofitted cost under various biomass co-firing levels and CO2 capture rates; (2) to determine the possibility of reaching net-zero emission at the fleet level; (3) to quantify the cumulative capacities that are suitable for plant retrofits under current and future biomass supply scenarios; and (4) to improve the understanding of policy impacts on such retrofits to help the power sector’s transition to a net-zero economy. Techno-economic Model of Deep Carbon Capture. This study develops the performance and economic models for Monoethanolamine-based post-combustion CO2 capture at 95–99% capture rates. The process is simulated in Aspen Plus, analyzing the performance of carbon capture technology by varying the plant sizes, solvent lean loading, CO2 concentrations, and flue gas inlet temperature. Based on the key inputs and output parameters of CO2 capture, a reduced-order performance model of deep carbon capture is formulated. In addition, an engineering-economic model integrating the performance metrics is developed to estimate the capital as well as operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. Capital cost estimations follow the framework of the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) and incorporate data regressions from three technical reports by IECM, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The O&M cost estimation utilizes the actual inventory consumption rate and labor requirements. Both performance and cost models are embedded into IECM v13.0-beta, a fossil-fuel power plant modeling tool. Life Cycle Assessment of Power Plants. This study estimates the GHG emissions of power plants through life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA scope includes fuel supply, combustion-based power generation, and CO2 transport and storage. The fuel-based life cycle module is designed following the framework of the NETL Unit Process Library and CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit. The module is then incorporated into IECM v13.0-beta. The process-based LCA is applied to estimate the GHG emissions of coal and biomass supply, coal- and coal-biomass co-firing power plant operation, as well as CO2 pipeline transport and geographical sequestration. An uncertainty analysis is conducted to quantify the variability and uncertainty associated with the LCA using the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) method. Fleet-level Assessment. This study evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of selected coal-fired EGUs, examines the role of tax credits in retrofit viability, and assesses the competitiveness of retrofitted units against other low-carbon options. Unit screening identifies EGUs for the study, focusing on new, efficient baseload units with air pollution controls. The power plant databases are then established to organize unit-specific information on performance and operating conditions from the relevant public databases. Biomass for co-firing retrofits is selected based on home and neighboring county availability, ensuring sustained operation with at least a 5% co-firing level. The CO2 storage site is determined by state-level storage potential, with ArcGIS Pro and NETL CO2 Saline Storage Cost Model used to identify the optimal balance between the nearest transport distances and affordable storage costs. The latest IECM v13.0-beta is then employed to configure and evaluate the eligible EGUs with or without the deployment of deep CCS and biomass co-firing. A supply curve is established to illustrate the cumulative installed capacity suitable for retrofits at different cost levels. A sensitivity analysis on tax credits for carbon sequestration is performed. Finally, a unit-level cost comparison is conducted among retrofitted plants, renewable power with battery storage, and abated fossil fuels with DAC. Expected Results. This study evaluates the technical, economic, and environmental metrics of each EGU across an array of CO2 capture rates and biomass co-firing level scenarios. Unit-level comparisons will identify critical factors influencing technical performance. The supply curves with and without tax incentives will provide insights into the impact of tax credits on biomass co-firing and CCS deployment. The cost comparisons with renewables and DAC-retrofit will assess the competitiveness of the retrofitted units. Life cycle emissions from each unit will be assessed to identify the scenarios under which net-zero emissions can be achieved. These analyses are expected to determine the total coal-fired capacity suitable for serving as a low-carbon energy source with or without tax incentives. The study results are novel in identifying optimal unit-specific strategies for producing carbon-neutral power, whether through retrofitting EGUs with deep CCS, biomass co-firing, DAC, or installing renewable power with battery. The findings will provide insight into nationwide efforts to ensure reliable, affordable, and low-carbon electricity. It also will inform investment decisions and policies in the deployment of deep carbon capture and negative emission technologies for a net-zero energy future.

Biomass Co-firing↗
DOE OSTI2017

In Situ Height and Width Estimation of Sorghum Plants from 2.5d Infrared Images

Plant phenotyping, or the measurement of plant traits such as stem width and plant height, is a critical step in the development and evaluation of higher yield biofuel crops. Phenotyping allows biologists to quantitatively estimate the biomass of plant varieties and therefore their potential for biofuel production. Manual phenotyping is costly, time-consuming, and errorprone, requiring a person to walk through the fields measuring individual plants with a tape measure and notebook. In this work we describe an alternative system consisting of an autonomous robot equipped with two infrared cameras that travels through fields, collecting 2.5D image data of sorghum plants. We develop novel image processing based algorithms to estimate plant height and stem width from the image data. Our proposed method has the advantage of working in situ using images of plants from only one side. This allows phenotypic data to be collected nondestructively throughout the growing cycle, providing biologists with valuable information on crop growth patterns. Our approach first estimates plant heights and stem widths from individual frames. It then uses tracking algorithms to refine these estimates across frames and avoid double counting the same plant in multiple frames. The result is a histogram of stem widths and plant heights for each plot of a particular genetically engineered sorghum variety. In-field testing and comparison with human collected ground truth data demonstrates that our system achieves 13% average absolute error for stem width estimation and 15% average absolute error for plant height estimation.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Heterospecific Neighbor Plants Impact Root Microbiome Diversity and Molecular Function of Root Fungi

Within the forest community, competition and facilitation between adjacent-growing conspecific and heterospecific plants are mediated by interactions involving common mycorrhizal networks. The ability of plants to alter their neighbor’s microbiome is well documented, but the molecular biology of plant-fungal interactions during competition and facilitation has not been previously examined. We used a common soil-plant bioassay experiment to study molecular plant-microbial interactions among rhizosphere communities associated with Pinus taeda (native host) and Populus trichocarpa (non-native host). Gene expression of interacting fungal and bacterial rhizosphere communities was compared among three plant-pairs: Populus growing with Populus , Populus with Pinus , and Pinus with Pinus . Our results demonstrate that heterospecific plant partners affect the assembly of root microbiomes, including the changes in the structure of host specific community. Comparative metatranscriptomics reveals that several species of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) and saprotrophic fungi exhibit different patterns of functional and regulatory gene expression with these two plant hosts. Heterospecific plants affect the transcriptional expression pattern of EMF host-specialists (e.g., Pinus -associated Suillus spp.) on both plant species, mainly including the genes involved in the transportation of amino acids, carbohydrates, and inorganic ions. Alteration of root microbiome by neighboring plants may help regulate basic plant physiological processes via modulation of molecular functions in the root microbiome.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Role of Reactive Oxygen Species and Hormones in Plant Responses to Temperature Changes

Temperature stress is one of the major abiotic stresses that adversely affect agricultural productivity worldwide. Temperatures beyond a plant’s physiological optimum can trigger significant physiological and biochemical perturbations, reducing plant growth and tolerance to stress. Improving a plant’s tolerance to these temperature fluctuations requires a deep understanding of its responses to environmental change. To adapt to temperature fluctuations, plants tailor their acclimatory signal transduction events, and specifically, cellular redox state, that are governed by plant hormones, reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulatory systems, and other molecular components. The role of ROS in plants as important signaling molecules during stress acclimation has recently been established. Here, hormone-triggered ROS produced by NADPH oxidases, feedback regulation, and integrated signaling events during temperature stress activate stress-response pathways and induce acclimation or defense mechanisms. At the other extreme, excess ROS accumulation, following temperature-induced oxidative stress, can have negative consequences on plant growth and stress acclimation. The excessive ROS is regulated by the ROS scavenging system, which subsequently promotes plant tolerance. All these signaling events, including crosstalk between hormones and ROS, modify the plant’s transcriptomic, metabolomic, and biochemical states and promote plant acclimation, tolerance, and survival. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the ROS, hormones, and their joint role in shaping a plant’s responses to high and low temperatures, and we conclude by outlining hormone/ROS-regulated plant responsive strategies for developing stress-tolerant crops to combat temperature changes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1979

Parametric study of potential early commercial MHD power plants

Three different reference power plant configurations were considered with parametric variations of the various design parameters for each plant. Two of the reference plant designs were based on the use of high temperature regenerative air preheaters separately fired by a low Btu gas produced from a coal gasifier which was integrated with the power plant. The third reference plant design was based on the use of oxygen enriched combustion air preheated to a more moderate temperature in a tubular type metallic recuperative heat exchanger which is part of the bottoming plant heat recovery system. Comparative information was developed on plant performance and economics. The highest net plant efficiency of about 45 percent was attained by the reference plant design with the use of a high temperature air preheater separately fired with the advanced entrained bed gasifier. The use of oxygen enrichment of the combustion air yielded the lowest cost of generating electricity at a slightly lower plant efficiency. Both of these two reference plant designs are identified as potentially attractive for early MHD power plant applications.

Hals, F. A.↗