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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 559 records · Page 31
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Activity-based protein profiling of secreted cellulolytic enzyme activity dynamics in Trichoderma reesei QM6a, NG14, and RUT-C30

Development of alternative, non-petroleum based sources of bioenergy that can be applied in the short-term find great promise in the use of highly abundant and renewable lignocellulosic plant biomass.1 This material obtained from different feedstocks, such as forest litter or agricultural residues, can yield liquid fuels and other chemical products through biorefinery processes.2 Biofuels are obtained from lignocellulosic materials by chemical pretreatment of the biomass, followed by enzymatic decomposition of cellulosic and hemicellulosic compounds into soluble sugars that are converted to desired chemical products via microbial metabolism and fermentation.3, 4 To release soluble sugars from polymeric cellulose multiple enzymes are required, including endoglucanase, exoglucanase, and β-glucosidase.5, 6 However, the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose into soluble sugars remains a significant limiting factor to the efficient and economically viable utilization of lignocellulosic biomass for transport fuels.7, 8 The primary industrial source of cellulose and hemicellulases is the mesophilic soft-rot fungus Trichoderma reesei,9 having widespread applications in food, feed, textile, pulp, and paper industries.10 The genome encodes 200 glycoside hydrolases, including 10 cellulolytic and 16 hemicellulolytic enzymes.11 The hypercellulolytic catabolite derepressed strain RUT-C30 was obtained through a three-step UV and chemical mutagenesis of the original T. reesei strain QM6a,12, 13 in which strains M7 and NG14 were intermediate, having higher cellulolytic activity than the parent strain but less activity and higher catabolite repression than RUT-C30.14 Numerous methods have been employed to optimize the secreted enzyme cocktail of T. reesei including cultivation conditions, operational parameters, and mutagenesis.3 However, creating an optimal and economical enzyme mixture for production-scale biofuels synthesis may take thousands of experiments to identify.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2015

Interfacial Ga-As suboxide: Structural and electronic properties

The structural and electronic properties of Ga-As suboxide representative of the transition region at the GaAs/oxide interface are studied through density functional calculations. Two amorphous models generated by quenches from the melt are taken under consideration. The absence of As–O bonds indicates that the structure is a mixture of GaAs and Ga-oxide, in accordance with photoemission experiments. The band edges of the models are found to be closely aligned to those of GaAs. The simulation of charging and discharging processes leads to the identification of an As-related defect with an energy level at ∼0.7 eV above the GaAs valence band maximum, in good agreement with the experimental density of interface states.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

The structure of liquid UO 2-x in reducing gas atmospheres

High energy X-ray diffraction experiments performed on hypostoichiometric UO 2-x liquids in reducing gas mixtures of 95%Ar:5%CO and 95%Ar:5%H 2 are compared to that conducted in a pure Ar atmosphere [Skinner et al., Science 346, 984 (2014)]. The measurements are pertinent to severe accident scenarios at nuclear reactors, where core melts can encounter reducing conditions and further shed light on the oxide chemistry of the low valence states of uranium, particularly U(III), which become stable only at very high temperatures and low oxygen potentials. The radioactive samples were melted by floating small spheres of material using an aerodynamic levitator and heating with a laser beam. In the more reducing environments, a 1.7% shift to lower Q-values is observed in the position of the principal peak of the measured X-ray structure factors, compared to the more oxidizing Ar environment. This corresponds to an equivalent elongation in the U-U nearest neighbor distances and the U-U periodicity. The U-O peak (modal) bond-length, as measured from the real-space total correlation functions, is also observed to expand by 0.9–1.6% under reducing conditions, consistent with the presence of 15–27% U 3+ cations, assuming constant U-O coordination number. The slightly larger U-U elongation, as compared to the U-O elongation, is interpreted as a slight increase in U-O-U bond angles. Difficulties concerning the determination of the hypostoichiometry, x, are discussed, along with the future directions for related research.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Tamper asymmetry and its effect on transmission for x-ray driven opacity simulations

This paper reports on synthetic transmission results from Lasnex [1] radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of opacity experiments carried out at Sandia National Laboratories' recently upgraded ZR facility. The focus is on experiments utilizing disk targets composed of a half-moon Fe/Mg mixture tamped on either end with 10- m CH and an additional 35- m beryllium tamper accessory on the end facing the spectrometer. Five x-ray sources with peak power ranging from 10 to 24 TW were used in the simulations to heat and backlight the opacity target. The dominant effect is that the beryllium behind the Fe/Mg mixture is denser and more opaque than the beryllium unshielded by metal during the times of greatest importance for the transmission measurement for all drives. This causes the simulated transmission to be lower than expected, and this is most pronounced for the case using the lowest drive power. While beryllium has a low opacity, its areal density is sufficiently high such that the expected reduction of the measured transmission is significant. This situation leads to an overestimate of iron opacity by 10-215% for a photon energy range of 975- 1775 eV for the 10-TW case. It is shown that if the tamper conditions are known, the transmission through each component of the target can be calculated and the resulting opacity can be corrected.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effects of thermal conductivity of liquid layer in NIF wetted foam experiments

Numerical simulation of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capsule implosion experiments needs many plasma parameters corresponding to different materials and their mixtures for a wide range of densities and temperatures. Thermal conduction plays a crucial role in coupling energy to the capsule, is one of the primary mechanisms of energy loss during implosion, has a significant effect on hot-spot formation, and impacts the growth of hydrodynamic instabilities. The determination of accurate thermal conductivity of ICF relevant materials is thus important for understanding capsule performance. Analytic models such as Spitzer or Lee-More models have been extensively used in simulations due to the limited availability of experimental data. First principles calculations have shown that these analytic models tend to underestimate electron thermal conductivity in the warm dense plasma regime for ICF related materials. Here, we numerically investigate the effects of different models for the electron heat conductivity coefficients, including both analytic and Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD)-based models, for mixed materials in ICF. We also investigate the impact of how conductivities are calculated in mixed cells from constituent material conductivities. We apply this to the modeling of recent wetted foam capsule implosions on the National Ignition Facility, in which a foam layer on the inside of the capsule is wetted with deuterium-tritium (DT) liquid. We have found that electron heat conductivity affects the initial hot-spot formation and its evolution. Strikingly, we observe that capsule performance is more sensitive to the method used to mix material conductivities in mixed cells than how individual material conductivity coefficients are calculated. Furthermore, we have found that using the first principles QMD-based conductivity model along with an appropriate model for mixed-cell conductivities yields better agreement with experimental results compared to the established modeling strategies. We also investigate the impact of mixed material conductivity modeling on the process of ablator material mixing with DT ice in a plastic ice-layer capsule. In our simulations, the heat conductivity model affects the calculated mix widths at the fuel-ablator interface, particularly near the tent scar. Additional mixing between the DT fuel and the ablator in turn increases the implosion adiabat, which results in a lower hot-spot pressure.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Plasma processing of SRF cavities at Jefferson Lab: Experiment results and simulation insight

Plasma processing of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities has been an active research effort at Jefferson Lab (JLab) since 2019, aimed at enhancing cavity performance by removing hydrocarbon contaminants and reducing field emission. In this experiment, processing using argon-oxygen and helium-oxygen gas mixtures to find minimum ignition power at different cavity pressure was investigated. Ongoing simulations are contributing to a better understanding of the plasma surface interactions and the fundamental physics behind the process. These simulations, combined with experimental studies, guide the optimization of key parameters such as gas type, RF power, and pressure to ignite plasma using selected higher-order mode (HOM) frequencies. This paper presents experimental data from argon-oxygen and helium-oxygen gas mixture C75 and C100 cavity plasma ignition studies, as well as simulation results for the C100-type cavity based on the COMSOL model previously applied to the C75 cavity.

Accelerator Physics↗
DOE OSTI2014

Application of evolved gas analysis to cold-cap reactions of melter feeds for nuclear waste vitrification

In the vitrification of nuclear wastes, the melter feed (a mixture of nuclear waste and glass-forming and modifying additives) experiences multiple gas-evolving reactions in an electrical glass-melting furnace. We employed the thermogravimetry-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TGA-GC-MS) combination to perform evolved gas analysis (EGA). Apart from identifying the gases evolved, we performed quantitative analysis relating the weighed sum of intensities of individual gases linearly proportional with the differential themogravimetry. The proportionality coefficients were obtained by three methods based on the stoichiometry, least squares, and calibration. The linearity was shown to be a good first-order approximation, in spite of the complicated overlapping reactions.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Partitioning of Radionuclides in Various Streams of the Mo-99 Purification Process

The Universal Neutron Irradiator (UNI) was designed to irradiate a small volume of uranium solution and to achieve high fission power without creating a large radionuclide (RN) inventory. The UNI system is equipped with a fully enclosed off-gas system with online hydrogen gas monitoring to prevent the production of an explosive atmosphere, as well as storage cylinders for capturing fission gases. It also includes a catalytic recombiner in the target capsule (to immediately recombine radiolytic hydrogen and oxygen gas in the system) and access ports for sampling the target solution and capsule headspace. In UNI Phase I experiments, 50 mL of uranyl sulfate solution was irradiated at 0.3–0.5 W/mL fission power using a tantalum target assembly to produce photoneutrons via irradiation with an electron beam. The purposes of the Phase I experiments were to test the efficacy of adding 200 ppm Fe 2+ to the target solution to prevent uranyl peroxide precipitation under representative irradiation conditions, and to monitor iodine speciation in the irradiated uranyl sulfate solution. The focus of the UNI Phase II experiments was to use an irradiated uranyl sulfate solution containing a mixture of fission products and monitor their distribution in various streams during the primary recovery column (titania-based column) that separates Mo-99 from uranium. Irradiations were designed to create sufficient activity for tracking their distribution in various processing streams using a combination of gamma counting and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analyses. Obtained data will be used to better understand the composition of waste streams, accumulation of RN on the titania column, and identify what RNs accumulate in the uranyl sulfate solution. Furthermore, this knowledge will allow us to determine waste classifications for various streams produced during the Mo-99 purification process and develop an appropriate waste clean-up strategy.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1972

Thick film silicon growth techniques

Silicon ribbon growth experiments were conducted using orifices (dies) fabricated from SiC-SiO2 mixtures, fused quartz, SiC, and fine-grained, high density graphite. The best results were obtained from graphite dies. A number of different approaches was tried in modifying the thermal gradient in the dies and in holding the dies. The best results here were obtained from a 0.25-in. thick Mo disc holding a graphite die directly and fitting the die quite closely. Ribbon growths as wide as 9 mm were obtained, while the longest ribbon was 450 x 3.5 x 0.5 mm. Resistivities of ribbons grown from graphite dies have been measured over the range of 0.03 to 1.6 ohm-cm. Some thoughts and literature findings are presented regarding refractory oxide materials as potential orifices.

Bates, H. E.↗
NASA NTRS1972

'Thunder' - Shock waves in pre-biological organic synthesis.

Theoretical study of the gasdynamics and chemistry of lightning-produced shock waves in a postulated primordial reducing atmosphere. It is shown that the conditions are similar to those encountered in a previously performed shock-tube experiment which resulted in 36% of the ammonia in the original mixture being converted into amino acids. The calculations give the (very large) energy rate of about 0.4 cal/sq cm/yr available for amino acid production, supporting previous hypotheses that 'thunder' could have been responsible for efficient large-scale production of organic molecules serving as precursors of life.

Bar-Nun, A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Completion of the Viking Labeled Release experiment on Mars

The final Labeled Release (LR) cycle on each Viking lander tested a surface sample that had been stored for several months at approximately 10 C prior to the onset of the active sequence. At each lander site, activity was strongly diminished. This thermal sensitivity of the active agent on the surface of Mars is consistent with a biological explanation of the LR experiment. At the end of one of these cycles, the incubation mixture was heated to 50 C to release any radioactive gas trapped in the sample matrix. The results suggest that more than one carbon substrate is involved in the LR reaction on Mars. The thermal data from the stored samples, coupled with data from previous cycles, have formed the basis for evaluation of the thermal decomposition of the Mars active agent. The slope of the resulting Arrhenius plot has been used to test the fit of other flight data and to calculate the activation energy for thermal decomposition of the Mars agent. The results and their interpretation still leave unresolved the question of whether the Mars LR data were generated by biological or chemical activity.

Levin, G. V.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Computation of unsteady shock-induced combustion using logarithmic species conservation equations

Numerical simulations are used to investigate periodic combustion instabilities observed in ballistic-range experiments of blunt bodies flying at supersonic speeds through hydrogen-air mixtures. The computations are validated by comparing experimental shadowgraphs with shadowgraphs created from the computed flowfields and by comparing the experimentally measured instability frequencies with computed frequencies. The numerical simulations use a logarithmic transformation of the species conservation equations as a way to reduce the grid requirements for computing shock-induced combustion. The transformation is applied to the Euler equations coupled to a detailed hydrogen-air chemical reaction mechanism with 13 species and 33 reactions. The resulting differential equations are solved using a finite volume formulation and a two-step predictor-corrector scheme to advance the solution in time. Results are presented and compared for both a flux-vector splitting scheme and an upwind TVD scheme. The computations add insight to the physical processes observed in the experiments and the numerical methods needed to simulate them. The usefulness of the ballistic-range experiments for the validation of numerical techniques and chemical kinetic models is also demonstrated.

Wilson, Gregory J.↗
NASA NTRS1997

STS-87 Day 07 Highlights

On this seventh day of the STS-87 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. Kevin R. Kregel, Pilot Steven W. Lindsey, Mission Specialists Winston E. Scott, Kalpana Chawla, and Takao Doi, and Payload Specialist Leonid K. Kadenyuk turn their attention to a variety of experiments inside the Shuttle's cabin. These experiments include the processing of several samples of materials in the glovebox facility in Columbia's middeck; the experiment called PEP, which involves heating samples and then recording the mixture as it resolidifies; and the study of plant growth in space.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1998

STS-87 Post Flight Presentation

The flight crew, Cmdr. Kevin R. Kregel, Pilot Steven W. Lindsey, Mission Specialists Winston E. Scott, Kalpana Chawla, and Takao Doi, and Payload Specialist Leonid K. Kadenyuk present an overview of their mission. In the first part they can be seen performing pre-launch activities such as eating the traditional breakfast, crew suit-up, and the ride out to the launch pad. Also, included are various panoramic views of the shuttle on the pad. The crew is seen being readied in the 'white room' for their mission. After the closing of the hatch and arm retraction, launch activities are shown including countdown, engine ignition, launch, and the separation of the Solid Rocket Boosters. In the second part of the video the crew turn their attention to a variety of experiments inside the Shuttle's cabin. These experiments include the processing of several samples of materials in the glovebox facility in Columbia's middeck; the experiment called PEP, which involves heating samples and then recording the mixture as it resolidifies; and the study of plant growth in space.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1998

STS-90 Mission Highlights Resource Tape

The flight crew of the STS-90 mission, Cmdr. Richard A. Searfoss, Pilot Scott D. Altman, and Mission Specialists Richard M. Linnehan, Dafydd Rhys Williams and Kathryn P. Hire, and Payload Specialists Jay C. Buckey and James A. Pawelczyk can be seen performing pre-launch activities such as eating the traditional breakfast, crew suit-up, and the ride out to the launch pad. Also, included are various panoramic views of the shuttle on the pad. The crew is readied in the 'white room' for their mission. After the closing of the hatch and arm retraction, launch activities are shown including countdown, engine ignition, launch, and the separation of the Solid Rocket Boosters. In the second part of the video the crew turn their attention to a variety of experiments inside the Shuttle's cabin. These experiments include the processing of several samples of materials in the glovebox facility in Shuttle's middeck; the experiment called PEP, which involves heating samples and then recording the mixture as it resolidifies; and the study of plant growth in space.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2002

Investigation of N2O Production from 266 and 532 nm Laser Flash Photolysis of O3/N2/O2 Mixtures

Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy has been employed to measure the amount of N2O produced from laser flash photolysis of O3/N2/O2 mixtures at 266 and 532 nm. In the 532 nm photolysis experiments very little N2O is observed, thus allowing an upper limit yield of 7 x 10(exp -8) to be established for the process O3 + N2 yield N2O + O2, where O3 is nascent O3 that is newly formed via O(3P(sub J)) + O2 recombination (with vibrational excitation near the dissociation energy of O3). The measured upper limit yield is a factor of approx. 600 smaller than a previous literature value and is approximately a factor of 10 below the threshold for atmospheric importance. In the 266 nm photolysis experiments, significant N2O production is observed and the N2O quantum yield is found to increase linearly with pressure over the range 100 - 900 Torr in air bath gas. The source of N2O in the 266 nm photolysis experiments is believed to be the addition reaction O(1D(sub 2)) + N2 + M yields (k(sub sigma)) N2O + M, although reaction of (very short-lived) electronically excited O3 with N2 cannot be ruled out by the available data. Assuming that all observed N2O comes from the O(1D(sub 2)) + N2 + M reaction, the following expression describes the temperature dependence of k(sub sigma) (in its third-order low-pressure limit) that is consistent with the N2O yield data: k(sub sigma) = (2.8 +/- 0.1) x 10(exp -36)(T/300)(sup -(0-88+0.36)) cm(sup 6) molecule(sup -2)/s, where the uncertainties are 2(sigma) and represent precision only. The accuracy of the reported rate coefficients at the 95% confidence level is estimated to be 30 - 40% depending on the temperature. Model calculations suggest that gas phase processes initiated by ozone absorption of a UV photon represent about 1.4% of the currently estimated global source strength of atmospheric N2O. However, these processes could account for a significant fraction of the oxygen mass-independent enrichment observed in atmospheric N2O, and they appear to be the first suggested photochemical mechanism that is capable of explaining the altitude dependence of the observed mass -independent isotopic signature.

Estupinan, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Macromolecular Crystal Growth by Means of Microfluidics

We have performed a feasibility study in which we show that chip-based, microfluidic (LabChip(TM)) technology is suitable for protein crystal growth. This technology allows for accurate and reliable dispensing and mixing of very small volumes while minimizing bubble formation in the crystallization mixture. The amount of (protein) solution remaining after completion of an experiment is minimal, which makes this technique efficient and attractive for use with proteins, which are difficult or expensive to obtain. The nature of LabChip(TM) technology renders it highly amenable to automation. Protein crystals obtained in our initial feasibility studies were of excellent quality as determined by X-ray diffraction. Subsequent to the feasibility study, we designed and produced the first LabChip(TM) device specifically for protein crystallization in batch mode. It can reliably dispense and mix from a range of solution constituents into two independent growth wells. We are currently testing this design to prove its efficacy for protein crystallization optimization experiments. In the near future we will expand our design to incorporate up to 10 growth wells per LabChip(TM) device. Upon completion, additional crystallization techniques such as vapor diffusion and liquid-liquid diffusion will be accommodated. Macromolecular crystallization using microfluidic technology is envisioned as a fully automated system, which will use the 'tele-science' concept of remote operation and will be developed into a research facility for the International Space Station as well as on the ground.

vanderWoerd, Mark↗