Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “PROJECTION”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 577 records · Page 32

Academy Sharing Knowledge (ASK). The NASA Source for Project Management Magazine, Volume 11, March 2003

APPL is a research-based organization that serves NASA program and project managers, as well as project teams, at every level of development. In 1997, APPL was created from an earlier program to underscore the importance that NASA places on project management and project teams through a wide variety of products and services, including knowledge sharing, classroom and online courses, career development guidance, performance support, university partnerships, and advanced technology tools. ASK Magazine grew out of APPL's Knowledge Sharing Initiative. The stories that appear in ASK are written by the 'best of the best' project managers, primarily from NASA, but also from other government agencies and industry. Contributors to this issue include: Teresa Bailey, a librarian at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Roy Malone, Deputy Director in the Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Office at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), W. Scott Cameron, Capital Systems Manager for the Food and Beverage Global Business Unit of Procter and Gamble, Ray Morgan, recent retiree as Vice President of AeroVironment, Inc., Marty Davis, Program Manager of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland, Todd Post, editor of ASK Magazine, and works for EduTech Ltd. in Silver Spring, Maryland, Dr. Owen Gadeken, professor of Engineering Management at the Defense Acquisition University, Ken Schwer, currently the Project Manager of Solar Dynamics Observatory, Dr. Edward Hoffmwan, Director of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership, Frank Snow, a member of the NASA Explorer Program at Goddard Space Flight Center since 1992, Dr. Alexander Laufer, Editor-in-Chief of ASK Magazine and a member of the Advisory Board of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership, Judy Stokley, presently Air Force Program Executive Officer for Weapons in Washington, D.C. and Terry Little, Director of the Kinetic Energy Boost Office of the Missile Defense Agency.

Source record↗

Differential central projections of vestibular afferents in pigeons

The question of whether a differential distribution of vestibular afferent information to central nuclear neurons is present in pigeons was studied using neural tracer compounds. Discrete tracing of afferent fibers innervating the individual semicircular canal and otolith organs was produced by sectioning individual branches of the vestibular nerve that innervate the different receptor organs and applying crystals of horseradish peroxidase, or a horseradish peroxidase/cholera toxin mixture, or a biocytin compound for neuronal uptake and transport. Afferent fibers and their terminal distributions within the brainstem and cerebellum were visualized subsequently. Discrete areas in the pigeon central nervous system that receive primary vestibular input include the superior, dorsal lateral, ventral lateral, medial, descending, and tangential vestibular nuclei; the A and B groups; the intermediate, medial, and lateral cerebellar nuclei; and the nodulus, the uvula, and the paraflocculus. Generally, the vertical canal afferents projected heavily to medial regions in the superior and descending vestibular nuclei as well as the A group. Vertical canal projections to the medial and lateral vestibular nuclei were observed but were less prominent. Horizontal canal projections to the superior and descending vestibular nuclei were much more centrally located than those of the vertical canals. A more substantial projection to the medial and lateral vestibular nuclei was seen with horizontal canal afferents compared to vertical canal fibers. Afferents innervating the utricle and saccule terminated generally in the lateral regions of all vestibular nuclei in areas that were separate from the projections of the semicircular canals. In addition, utricular fibers projected to regions in the vestibular nuclei that overlapped with the horizontal semicircular canal terminal fields, whereas saccular afferents projected to regions that received vertical canal fiber terminations. Lagenar afferents projected throughout the cochlear nuclei, to the dorsolateral regions of the cerebellar nuclei, and to lateral regions of the superior, lateral, medial, and descending vestibular nuclei.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

Morphology and kainate-receptor immunoreactivity of identified neurons within the entorhinal cortex projecting to superior temporal sulcus in the cynomolgus monkey

Projections of the entorhinal cortex to the hippocampus are well known from the classical studies of Cajal (Ramon y Cajal, 1904) and Lorente de No (1933). Projections from the entorhinal cortex to neocortical areas are less well understood. Such connectivity is likely to underlie the consolidation of long-term declarative memory in neocortical sites. In the present study, a projection arising in layer V of the entorhinal cortex and terminating in a polymodal association area of the superior temporal gyrus has been identified with the use of retrograde tracing. The dendritic arbors of neurons giving rise to this projection were further investigated by cell filling and confocal microscopy with computer reconstruction. This analysis demonstrated that the dendritic arbor of identified projection neurons was largely confined to layer V, with the exception of a solitary, simple apical dendrite occasionally ascending to superficial laminae but often confined to the lamina dissecans (layer IV). Finally, immunoreactivity for glutamate-receptor subunit proteins GluR 5/6/7 of the dendritic arbor of identified entorhinal projection neurons was examined. The solitary apical dendrite of identified entorhinal projection neurons was prominently immunolabeled for GluR 5/6/7, as was the dendritic arbor of basilar dendrites of these neurons. The restriction of the large bulk of the dendritic arbor of identified entorhinal projection neurons to layer V implies that these neurons are likely to be heavily influenced by hippocampal output arriving in the deep layers of the entorhinal cortex. Immunoreactivity for GluR 5/6/7 throughout the dendritic arbor of such neurons indicates that this class of glutamate receptor is in a position to play a prominent role in mediating excitatory neurotransmission within hippocampal-entorhinal circuits.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

The NASA Bed Rest Project

NASA s National Vision for Space Exploration includes human travel beyond low earth orbit and the ultimate safe return of the crews. Crucial to fulfilling the vision is the successful and timely development of countermeasures for the adverse physiological effects on human systems caused by long term exposure to the microgravity environment. Limited access to in-flight resources for the foreseeable future increases NASA s reliance on ground-based analogs to simulate these effects of microgravity. The primary analog for human based research will be head-down bed rest. By this approach NASA will be able to evaluate countermeasures in large sample sizes, perform preliminary evaluations of proposed in-flight protocols and assess the utility of individual or combined strategies before flight resources are requested. In response to this critical need, NASA has created the Bed Rest Project at the Johnson Space Center. The Project establishes the infrastructure and processes to provide a long term capability for standardized domestic bed rest studies and countermeasure development. The Bed Rest Project design takes a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, integrated approach that reduces the resource overhead of one investigator for one campaign. In addition to integrating studies operationally relevant for exploration, the Project addresses other new Vision objectives, namely: 1) interagency cooperation with the NIH allows for Clinical Research Center (CRC) facility sharing to the benefit of both agencies, 2) collaboration with our International Partners expands countermeasure development opportunities for foreign and domestic investigators as well as promotes consistency in approach and results, 3) to the greatest degree possible, the Project also advances research by clinicians and academia alike to encourage return to earth benefits. This paper will describe the Project s top level goals, organization and relationship to other Exploration Vision Projects, implementation strategy, address Project deliverables, schedules and provide a status of bed rest campaigns presently underway.

Rhodes, Bradley↗

Guidance and Control Software Project Data - Volume 2: Development Documents

The Guidance and Control Software (GCS) project was the last in a series of software reliability studies conducted at Langley Research Center between 1977 and 1994. The technical results of the GCS project were recorded after the experiment was completed. Some of the support documentation produced as part of the experiment, however, is serving an unexpected role far beyond its original project context. Some of the software used as part of the GCS project was developed to conform to the RTCA/DO-178B software standard, "Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification," used in the civil aviation industry. That standard requires extensive documentation throughout the software development life cycle, including plans, software requirements, design and source code, verification cases and results, and configuration management and quality control data. The project documentation that includes this information is open for public scrutiny without the legal or safety implications associated with comparable data from an avionics manufacturer. This public availability has afforded an opportunity to use the GCS project documents for DO-178B training. This report provides a brief overview of the GCS project, describes the 4-volume set of documents and the role they are playing in training, and includes the development documents from the GCS project. Volume 2 contains three appendices: A. Guidance and Control Software Development Specification; B. Design Description for the Pluto Implementation of the Guidance and Control Software; and C. Source Code for the Pluto Implementation of the Guidance and Control Software

Hayhurst, Kelly J.↗

The Tailoring of Traditional Systems Engineering for the Morpheus Project

NASA's Morpheus Project has developed and tested a prototype planetary lander capable of vertical takeoff and landing that is designed to serve as a testbed for advanced spacecraft technologies. The lander vehicle, propelled by a LOX/Methane engine and sized to carry a 500kg payload to the lunar surface, provides a platform for bringing technologies from the laboratory into an integrated flight system at relatively low cost. From the beginning, one of goals for the Morpheus Project was to streamline agency processes and practices. The Morpheus project accepted a challenge to tailor the traditional NASA systems engineering approach in a way that would be appropriate for a lower cost, rapid prototype engineering effort, but retain the essence of the guiding principles. The team has produced innovative ways to create an infrastructure and approach that would challenge existing systems engineering processes while still enabling successful implementation of the current Morpheus Project. This paper describes the tailored systems engineering approach for the Morpheus project, including the processes, tools, and amount of rigor employed over the project's multiple lifecycles since the project began in FY11. Lessons learned from these trials have the potential to be scaled up and improve efficiency on a larger projects or programs.

Devolites, Jennifer L.↗

Carbon-Temperature-Water Change Analysis for Peanut Production Under Climate Change: A Prototype for the AgMIP Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3MP)

Climate change is projected to push the limits of cropping systems and has the potential to disrupt the agricultural sector from local to global scales. This article introduces the Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3MP), an initiative of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) to engage a global network of crop modelers to explore the impacts of climate change via an investigation of crop responses to changes in carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]), temperature, and water. As a demonstration of the C3MP protocols and enabled analyses, we apply the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) CROPGRO-Peanut crop model for Henry County, Alabama, to evaluate responses to the range of plausible [CO2], temperature changes, and precipitation changes projected by climate models out to the end of the 21st century. These sensitivity tests are used to derive crop model emulators that estimate changes in mean yield and the coefficient of variation for seasonal yields across a broad range of climate conditions, reproducing mean yields from sensitivity test simulations with deviations of ca. 2% for rain-fed conditions. We apply these statistical emulators to investigate how peanuts respond to projections from various global climate models, time periods, and emissions scenarios, finding a robust projection of modest (<10%) median yield losses in the middle of the 21st century accelerating to more severe (>20%) losses and larger uncertainty at the end of the century under the more severe representative concentration pathway (RCP8.5). This projection is not substantially altered by the selection of the AgMERRA global gridded climate dataset rather than the local historical observations, differences between the Third and Fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3 and CMIP5), or the use of the delta method of climate impacts analysis rather than the C3MP impacts response surface and emulator approach.

climate change↗

Lessons Learned from the Development and Implementation of the Atmosphere Resource Recovery and Environmental Monitoring Project

The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Program's Atmosphere Resource Recovery and Environmental Monitoring (ARREM) Project have been developing atmosphere revitalization and environmental monitoring subsystem architectures suitable for enabling sustained crewed exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). Using the International Space Station state-of-the-art (SOA) as the technical basis, the ARREM Project has contributed to technical advances that improve affordability, reliability, and functional efficiency while reducing dependence on a ground-based logistics resupply model. Functional demonstrations have merged new process technologies and concepts with existing ISS developmental hardware and operate them in a controlled environment simulating various crew metabolic loads. The ARREM Project's strengths include access to a full complement of existing developmental hardware that perform all the core atmosphere revitalization functions, unique testing facilities to evaluate subsystem performance, and a coordinated partnering effort among six NASA field centers and industry partners to provide the innovative expertise necessary to succeed. A project overview is provided and the project management strategies that have enabled a multidiscipinary engineering team to work efficiently across project, NASA field center, and industry boundaries to achieve the project's technical goals are discussed. Lessons learned and best practices relating to the project are presented and discussed.

Roman, Monsi C.↗

Probabilistic 21st and 22nd Century Sea-Level Projections at a Global Network of Tide-Gauge Sites

Sea-level rise due to both climate change and non-climatic factors threatens coastal settlements, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Projections of mean global sea-level (GSL) rise provide insufficient information to plan adaptive responses; local decisions require local projections that accommodate different risk tolerances and time frames and that can be linked to storm surge projections. Here we present a global set of local sea-level (LSL) projections to inform decisions on timescales ranging from the coming decades through the 22nd century. We provide complete probability distributions, informed by a combination of expert community assessment, expert elicitation, and process modeling. Between the years 2000 and 2100, we project a very likely (90% probability) GSL rise of 0.5–1.2 m under representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5, 0.4–0.9 m under RCP 4.5, and 0.3–0.8 m under RCP 2.6. Site-to-site differences in LSL projections are due to varying non-climatic background uplift or subsidence, oceanographic effects, and spatially variable responses of the geoid and the lithosphere to shrinking land ice. The Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) constitutes a growing share of variance in GSL and LSL projections. In the global average and at many locations, it is the dominant source of variance in late 21st century projections, though at some sites oceanographic processes contribute the largest share throughout the century. LSL rise dramatically reshapes flood risk, greatly increasing the expected number of “1-in-10” and “1-in-100” year events.

sea level↗

The Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) Project

The Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) Project is one of six projects in the Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAVP) of the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. The overarching goal of the RVLT Project is to develop and validate tools, technologies, and concepts to overcome key barriers for vertical lift vehicles. The project vision is to enable the next generation of vertical lift vehicles with aggressive goals for efficiency, noise, and emissions, to expand current capabilities and develop new commercial markets. The RVLT Project invests in technologies that support conventional, non-conventional, and emerging vertical-lift aircraft in the very light to heavy vehicle classes. Research areas include acoustic, aeromechanics, drive systems, engines, icing, hybrid-electric systems, impact dynamics, experimental techniques, computational methods, and conceptual design. The project research is executed at NASA Ames, Glenn, and Langley Research Centers; the research extensively leverages partnerships with the US Army, the Federal Aviation Administration, industry, and academia. The primary facilities used by the project for testing of vertical-lift technologies include the 14- by 22-Ft Wind Tunnel, Icing Research Tunnel, National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, 7- by 10-Ft Wind Tunnel, Rotor Test Cell, Landing and Impact Research facility, Compressor Test Facility, Drive System Test Facilities, Transonic Turbine Blade Cascade Facility, Vertical Motion Simulator, Mobile Acoustic Facility, Exterior Effects Synthesis and Simulation Lab, and the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Complex. To learn more about the RVLT Project, please stop by booth #1004 or visit their website at https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/programs/aavp/rvlt.

NASA↗

Lunar Mega Project: Processes, Work Flow and Terminology of the Terrestrial Construction Industry versus the Space Industry

Recent developments around the world show an increased interest and international activity toward developing a lunar surface human and robotic presence with a long term, sustainable vision. In Europe, the construction of a "Moon Village" has been proposed, and China has stated its intention to build a research station with a crew at the lunar South Pole. Russia stated it will land cosmonauts on the Moon in the 2030's. India has sent an orbiter, a robotic lander, and rover to the Moon. The USA intends to land the first woman and a man on the Moon by 2024 to initiate a sustained human lunar presence.A lunar research station with associated commercial activities will require infrastructure to become a permanent capability. Landing and launch pads, propellant storage and distribution farms, spacecraft access and handling structures, cranes, blast protection berms or walls, roads, graded areas, dust stabilized areas, foundations, parking lots, radiation shelters, micro-meteorite protection hangars, habitats and other human shelters, greenhouse farms, utility trenches, power plants, industrial water and oxygen extraction plants, communications antenna towers, thermal protection, mining zones, crater access and sub-surface access will be required to create a safe and sustainable lunar operations capability. This infrastructure will require significant construction activities in an extreme environment, with risky and expensive operations. On Earth, there are similar large and expensive projects (>$1 Billion) in difficult locations that attract a lot of public attention. These are known as "Mega Projects" and examples include bridges, tunnels, highways, railways, airports, seaports, power plants, dams, wastewater projects, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), oil and natural gas extraction projects, public buildings, information technology systems, aerospace projects, and weapons systems. Large consortiums consisting of public and private entities typically implement these infrastructure Mega-Projects.This paper will compare the typical design process, project management process, and work flow in the terrestrial construction industry to the space industry in order to create a better understanding between the terrestrial construction industry and the space industry, to further enable collaboration on a lunar Mega Project to build infrastructure on the Moon. In addition, a glossary of respective industry terminology with annotated linkages and definitions has been compiled. This information will enable contracts and business practices to be formulated for generating requests for proposals (RFP) by governments to consortiums consisting of construction and space industry companies that will bid on Lunar Infrastructure Projects that could lead to contracts to build the permanent capabilities.

Robert P Mueller↗

Use of Climate Change Projections for Resilience Planning in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In this study we use three different methodologies to document and compare temperature and precipitation projections for the city of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) over the 21st century. It aims to explore in what way the differences and similarities of those methodologies and their outcomes support the incorporation of climate risks in urban planning and improve effective urban climate change governance. We compared the projections for RJ from the Eta Regional Climate Model from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research nested in two Hadley Center Global Climate Models (GCMs) (Eta-HadCM3 method and Eta-HadGEM2-ES method) and 33 GCMs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 multi-model dataset (Urban Climate Change Research Network - UCCRN method). The three methods showed increasing temperatures for RJ at the end of the century. Precipitation projections span a 13% decrease to a 12% increase when using the UCCRN method or are reduced between 0.4 and 0.5%, when using the Eta-HadGEM2-ES method. However, the middle range of the projections from UCCRN and Eta-HadGEM2-ES is similar. The three methods project an increase of warm days and nights and a decrease of cold days and nights. Nevertheless, although the directions of change are the same applying the three methods, the magnitude differs when considering warm and cold nights. Hence, city stakeholders are better informed when we apply different projection methods as it gives them the opportunity to consider the level of risk they are willing to bear in the future. We observed that defining climate change projections on the city scale based on clear communication and an interactive process between scientists and stakeholders can be used to inform citywide adaptation strategies and sector-specific uses, as well as promote urban climate risk governance.

urban governance and management↗

A New Vision and A More Rational Process Will Advance Space Life Support Through Better Projects

Many space life support assumptions are obviously mistaken but they are generally accepted because they mutually support each other and because they advance a mistaken futuristic vision of closed human ecosystems in space. Many projects have been mistakenly selected to increase life support system closure or reduce launch mass in order to implement this impractical vision. Project members rarely challenge their project’s assumptions and guiding vision. Systems engineering including cost, reliability, risk, and system trade-offs has been very strongly discouraged to prevent rational criticism of these dubious assumptions, the projects, and the ecosystem vision. A more realistic vision can define better near term life support goals and future aspirations that will improve mission support and increase public interest. Given more realistic goals, it will be possible to develop effective technical alternatives, use open rational project selection methods, conduct professional project management, and make swifter progress in the inevitable human advance into space. The current unworkable human space settlement scenario involves moon visits and permanent bases, zero gravity trips to Mars, Mars visits and bases, all leading to extensive human settlements on the moon and Mars. This is unrealistic because the moon and Mars have less than Earth normal gravity and high radiation that can seriously damage human health. A better alternative would use rotating space colonies that produce Earth gravity and are radiation shielded. The attractive fantasy of reproducing terrestrial ecology in space should be replaced by the idea of building a closed system based on advancing technology such as artificial photosynthesis. Past mistaken projects include growing plants for food to replicate terrestrial food sources, recovering small amounts of water from difficult to process waste to achieve high system closure, and using newly designed, lighter, but unreliable hardware to reduce launch mass. The political process supporting the false assumptions, projects, and vision has deliberately prevented the usual systems engineering and cost-benefit analysis. We are going to do much better.

Harry W. Jones↗

The Next Generation Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Project - Overview and Progress Status

The Next Generation Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (Next Gen RTG) Project is a spaceflight system project within NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Program. The project, in partnership with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) / Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), will build and deliver an unfueled, flight qualified Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) system based on RPS Program needs. The Next Gen RTG Project aims to assure the availability of high-power, vacuum-rated RTGs to enable future deep space missions. The Project team is developing that capability through a multi-phase effort that leverages the heritage General Purpose Heat Source - RTG (GPHS-RTG) design and available legacy hardware. The Project’s primary aim is to re-establish the capability to manufacture a silicon germanium (SiGe) unicouple based thermoelectric converter and associated hardware with minimal changes to the heritage GPHS-RTG design. The project will also refurbish the GPHS-RTG Flight Unit #5 (F-5) located at INL and verify its compliance with heritage GPHS-RTG requirements. This paper will detail the project’s plans for the development of these systems. Management approaches, technical challenges, and risks will also be discussed.

Radioisotope↗

Mountaineer Commercial Scale Carbon Capture and Storage Project Topical Report: Preliminary Public Design Report

This Preliminary Public Design Report consolidates for public use nonproprietary design information on the Mountaineer Commercial Scale Carbon Capture & Storage project. The report is based on the preliminary design information developed during the Phase I - Project Definition Phase, spanning the time period of February 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. The report includes descriptions and/or discussions for: (1) DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative, overall project & Phase I objectives, and the historical evolution of DOE and American Electric Power (AEP) sponsored projects leading to the current project; (2) Alstom's Chilled Ammonia Process (CAP) carbon capture retrofit technology and the carbon storage and monitoring system; (3) AEP's retrofit approach in terms of plant operational and integration philosophy; (4) The process island equipment and balance of plant systems for the CAP technology; (5) The carbon storage system, addressing injection wells, monitoring wells, system monitoring and controls logic philosophy; (6) Overall project estimate that includes the overnight cost estimate, cost escalation for future year expenditures, and major project risks that factored into the development of the risk based contingency; and (7) AEP's decision to suspend further work on the project at the end of Phase I, notwithstanding its assessment that the Alstom CAP technology is ready for commercial demonstration at the intended scale.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Texas Clean Energy Project: Topical Report, Phase 1 - February 2010-December 2012

Summit Texas Clean Energy, LLC (STCE) is developing the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP or the project) to be located near Penwell, Texas. The TCEP will include an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant with a nameplate capacity of 400 megawatts electric (MWe), combined with the production of urea fertilizer and the capture, utilization and storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sold commercially for regional use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the Permian Basin of west Texas. The TCEP will utilize coal gasification technology to convert Powder River Basin subbituminous coal delivered by rail from Wyoming into a synthetic gas (syngas) which will be cleaned and further treated so that at least 90 percent of the overall carbon entering the facility will be captured. The clean syngas will then be divided into two high-hydrogen (H 2 ) concentration streams, one of which will be combusted as a fuel in a combined cycle power block for power generation and the other converted into urea fertilizer for commercial sale. The captured CO 2 will be divided into two streams: one will be used in producing the urea fertilizer and the other will be compressed for transport by pipeline for offsite use in EOR and permanent underground sequestration. The TCEP was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) for cost-shared co-funded financial assistance under Round 3 of its Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). A portion of this financial assistance was budgeted and provided for initial development, permitting and design activities. STCE and the DOE executed a Cooperative Agreement dated January 29, 2010, which defined the objectives of the project for all phases. During Phase 1, STCE conducted and completed all objectives defined in the initial development, permitting and design portions of the Cooperative Agreement. This topical report summarizes all work associated with the project objectives, and additional work required to complete the financing of the project. In general, STCE completed project definition, a front-end, engineering and design study (FEED), applied for and received its Record of Decision (ROD) associated with the NEPA requirements summarized in a detailed Environmental Impact Statement. A topical report covering the results of the FEED is the subject of a separate report submitted to the DOE on January 26, 2012. References to the FEED report are contained herein. In December 2011, STCE executed fixed-price turnkey EPC contracts and a long-term O&M agreement with industry-leading contractors.. Other work completed during Phase 1 includes execution of all major commercial input and offtake agreements. STCE negotiated long-term agreements for power, CO 2 and urea offtake. A contract for the purchase of coal feedstock from Cloud Peak Energy’s Cordero Rojo mine was executed, as well as a memorandum of understanding with the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) for delivery of the coal to the TCEP site. An MOU for natural gas supply was completed with ONEOK, and a long-term water supply agreement was completed with a private landowner. In addition, STCE secured options for easements and rights-of-way, completed a transmission study, executed an interconnection agreement and devoted substantial effort to debt and conventional and tax equity structuring to position the Project for project financing, currently scheduled for closing on December 31, 2012.

Mattes, Karl↗

Decision Point 3 of Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO) “Recovery Act: Development of ITM Oxygen Technology for Integration with Advanced Industrial Systems”

Air Products is carrying out a scope of work under Phase 5 of the ITM Oxygen Cooperative Agreement to design, build, and operate a ceramic membrane fabrication facility (the -CerFabII) to enable production of membrane modules to supply a conceptual 2000 ton per day (TPD) ITM Oxygen facility (the -ITM Oxygen Development FacilityII), and to perform supporting development tasks in materials development and engineering development toward industrial, carbon capture and sequestration applications. Air Products is executing this project under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) with the objective to accelerate the adoption of ITM Oxygen technology to help meet the country’s goals for deploying clean power plants. The objective of this Topical Report is to address the requirements of Decision Point 3 (DP3), which pertains to the status of all Tasks within Phase 5 and most notably the project status of the CerFab (Task 30) prior to authorization of funds for equipment purchase and construction of the facility. The intent of the DP3 is to provide the opportunity for DOE-NETL to review the status of these tasks and to make recommendations on forward project direction, including a recommendation to pass into Budget Period 8. In the area of Materials Development, Air Products has specified a high pressure dilatometer system which will enable measurements of material expansion of ITM ceramic compounds at very high oxygen partial pressures consistent with CCS applications. Under Task 28.2, subcontractor Ceramatec has made significant progress since DP2 in materials selection and process development and improvement for advanced architecture module fabrication. Ceramatec has determined a materials specification, and has selected a process for making the material. Ceramatec has further developed and selected the process for applying the membrane to unsintered advanced architecture wafers with a Two Step process. Ceramatec has built submodules meeting leak rate specifications and intact 1-TPD modules compromised of advanced architecture components. Equipment and processes required for implementation of the advanced architecture design in the CerFab have been identified and are included in the Task 30 scope of equipment supply. Under Task 29.0, Air Products has developed conceptual ideas for implementation of ITM Oxygen in a 2000 TPD test unit. These concepts are proposed for scale up of the ITM technology to large scale with reduced commercial risk. Under Task 30, Air Products and Ceramatec have collaborated to re-design the CerFab process with the advanced architecture wafer production process as primary, and laid out the new process in the Tooele building; the required process equipment have been specified. The project team updated the project cost and schedule estimates, including all environmental permit schedules. The team also re-assessed project risk and costs for the commissioning and operating phases of the program. Newly projected costs for the CerFab, for which details are provided here as attachments, indicate a savings of approximately $100,000 relative to the original estimate at the time of Phase 5 contract definitization. However, an assessment of risks associated with the equipment, process, and operations of the CerFab indicate that approximately $2.9 million of costs should be expected to address various issues in the project. In addition, $1.6 million of additional spending is expected relative to the original estimate to operate the facility during Task 30.2. Air Products proposes a plan to re-direct funds from Tasks 28, 29, and 31 to Task 30 as necessary to allow the CerFab to meet the Phase 5 program objectives.

Armstrong, Phillip↗

Program Benefits Guidance: Analysis of Benefits Associated with Projects and Technologies Supported by the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program

The Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technologies Program (ARFVTP) supports a wide range of alternative, low-carbon fuel and vehicle projects in California. This report focuses on two types of ARFVTP benefits. Expected benefits reflect successful deployment of vehicles and fuels supported through program projects. Market transformation benefits represent benefits resulting from project influences on future market conditions to accelerated technology adoption rates. Data collected directly from ARFVTP projects funded from 2009 to first quarter 2014 are used as inputs to the benefits analysis, where possible. Expected benefit estimation methods rely primarily upon project-level data and result in year single-point estimates within the 2011 to 2025 analysis period. Results suggest that the 178 projects evaluated for expected benefits, representing an investment of $351.3 million in ARFVTP funds, could result in a reduction in petroleum fuel use by 236 million gallons per year and greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 1.7 million metric tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) per year by 2025. Market transformation benefits are described as accruing in addition to expected benefits. They are inherently more uncertain and theoretical than expected benefits, and are therefore reported as high and low ranges, with results suggesting reductions of 1.1 MMTCO2e to 2.5 MMTCO2e per year in GHG reductions and 102 million to 330 million gallons per year in petroleum fuel reductions by 2025. Taking both benefit types into account, results suggest that ARFVTP projects have the potential to make substantial progress toward meeting California's long-term GHG and petroleum fuel use reduction goals. As additional project data become available and market success with alternative and renewable fuels and vehicles grows, the analytic framework relied upon to develop these estimates will become more rigorous and will have a greater capacity to inform future ARFVTP activities.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗