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At least 649 records · Page 36
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Optimizing Fleet Operations in Automated Mobility Districts: Serving On-Demand Mobility with Automated Electric Shuttles

On-demand transportation services have seen a dramatic rise in the past decade, thanks to technology. Connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technology holds potential for a major transformation in the on-demand mobility services landscape.The timeline for fully automated vehicles (AVs) to reach the critical market share is still uncertain. In the short term, many cities in the United States and abroad are testing low-speed automated electric shuttles (AES) as a shared on-demand mobility service in geo-fenced regions. An automated mobility district (AMD) is a campus-sized implementation of connected/automated vehicle technology to realize the full benefits of a fully electric automated mobility service within a confined region or district. Building on this concept, an AMD toolkit is under development at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to inform a campus-or district-sized implementation in which automated electric shuttles (AES). This research extends the functionality of the AMD toolkit by developing a mathematical program to optimize the operations of an AES fleet in an on-demand service configuration.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Automated Mobility Districts Toolkit

On-demand transportation services have seen a dramatic rise in the past decade, thanks to technology. Connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technology holds potential for a major transformation in the on-demand mobility services landscape.The timeline for fully automated vehicles (AVs) to reach the critical market share is still uncertain. In the short term, many cities in the United States and abroad are testing low-speed automated electric shuttles (AES) as a shared on-demand mobility service in geo-fenced regions. This presentation provides information about the development of the Automated Mobility District (AMD) Toolkit, which features an assortment of modeling and simulation capabilities. An AMD is a campus-sized implementation of connected and automated vehicle technologies that realize all the benefits of a fully electric automated mobility service within a confined region or district.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Camera Inspection Arm for Boiling Water Reactors - 13330

Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) outage maintenance tasks can be time-consuming and hazardous. Reactor facilities are continuously looking for quicker, safer, and more effective methods of performing routine inspection during these outages. In 2011, S.A. Technology (SAT) was approached by Energy Northwest to provide a remote system capable of increasing efficiencies related to Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) internal inspection activities. The specific intent of the system discussed was to inspect recirculation jet pumps in a manner that did not require manual tooling, and could be performed independently of other ongoing inspection activities. In 2012, SAT developed a compact, remote, camera inspection arm to create a safer, more efficient outage environment. This arm incorporates a compact and lightweight design along with the innovative use of bi-stable composite tubes to provide a six-degree of freedom inspection tool capable of reducing dose uptake, reducing crew size, and reducing the overall critical path for jet pump inspections. The prototype camera inspection arm unit is scheduled for final testing in early 2013 in preparation for the Columbia Generating Station refueling outage in the spring of 2013. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Implementing an Alternative Modeling Strategy for Closure of the Rainier Mesa Corrective Action Unit at the Nevada National Security Site - 17481

The strategy to close the Rainier Mesa/Shoshone Mountain (RMSM) Corrective Action Unit (CAU) of the Underground Test Area (UGTA) Project at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) is defined under a joint agreement between the State of Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DoD). That strategy required a corrective action investigation (CAI) to define the evolution of contaminated volumes of groundwater under uncertainty as a means to define a surface-projected contaminant boundary and serve as a basis for longer term monitoring. As the initial phase of the CAI was nearing completion in 2012, concerns were raised as to whether the original Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) strategy was achievable. This was evident when the complexity of the system and the additional costs required to sufficiently characterize it were judged to be out of balance with the overall perceived risks (low) associated with this particular CAU. As a result, an Alternative Modeling Strategy (AMS) and New FFACO Strategy Decision Process for UGTA RM/SM CAU were approved in November 2013. The AMS removes the requirement for developing ensembles of 3D contaminant transport simulations and replaces it with a simpler one requiring the generation of multiple 1D streamline models. These are meant to encompass a range of alternative, yet plausible release and transport scenarios as a means to bound the overall lateral extent of contaminant transport. The new Decision Process is streamlined and progresses from the revised CAI stage, to an external peer review, and then, upon favorable evaluation, directly to a closure stage. Although the project has suffered some delays from implementation of the new strategy, the new process of achieving closure is expected to save several years in time and several million dollars over the original process while still protecting human health and the environment over the 1,000-year compliance period stipulated in the FFACO. (authors)

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

Investigation of Non-Nuclear Plowshare and Vela Uniform Sites - 20447

The Plowshare Program was initiated by the Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor agency to the US Department of Energy (DOE), to investigate peaceful uses of nuclear devices. 'Vela Uniform,' part of the broader Project Vela, was designed to use nuclear and other explosions to increase the capability of the United States to detect nuclear tests through seismicity. There were underground nuclear tests conducted off the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) as part of the Plowshare Program (e.g., the Gnome-Coach, New Mexico, Site) and the Vela Uniform Program (e.g., Project Shoal, Nevada, Site) at which the DOE Office of Legacy Management (LM) has been conducting long-term surveillance and maintenance since fiscal year (FY) 2006. There are many additional locations, particularly for the Plowshare Program, that were considered for nuclear tests or used for non-nuclear tests off the NNSS. Some were only named on paper, but at 30 sites, field work such as drilling test wells and conducting tests using conventional explosives was done. A Plowshare nuclear explosion had been proposed at Project Chariot but was canceled in 1962. In 1992, the discovery of soils contaminated with radionuclides from tracer experiments led to a cleanup by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) of the Project Chariot, Alaska, Site, which was completed in 1994. Following the cleanup of the Project Chariot site, EM was concerned that there might be environmental liabilities at other Plowshare or Vela Uniform sites where field investigations were done, even if the nuclear test was never conducted. The EM Program at the Nevada Site Office began examining records and visiting selected locations that were evaluated for Plowshare and Vela Uniform non-nuclear tests. In total, 161 Plowshare and 14 Vela Uniform sites or proposed projects were identified. The Desert Research Institute (DRI) created summaries of the work carried out at these sites and developed a collection of unclassified documents for them. Preliminary investigations had been conducted at these sites by both LM and EM since the early 2000's. In 2016, in preparation for accepting responsibility for the sites, LM started a program to determine if there were any environmental or safety liabilities associated with them. In 2019, LM formally accepted responsibility for these sites off the NNSS where non-nuclear explosive tests were conducted or where underground nuclear tests were proposed as part of the Plowshare and Vela Uniform programs but were never conducted. LM responsibilities will include maintaining institutional knowledge of the sites, responding to public inquiries, and addressing any concerns at each site. To minimize risk associated with site management, LM has archived all historical records compiled by DRI and has performed limited investigations at sites identified by the prior studies as having a higher potential liability. Preserving records related to site operations reduces the risk of doing unnecessary site investigations in the future caused by the loss of institutional knowledge. During the investigations, some maintenance needs were identified and will be addressed by the end of FY 2021. At the end of FY 2021, investigations, maintenance, and archiving activities will be complete. Remnants of test activities found at sites include craters, mud pits, debris, and open boreholes. Open boreholes are being plugged and abandoned in accordance with state regulatory standards. Other issues are being addressed in accordance with land owner requests and preferences as well as state regulations. Archiving activities include the development of project summaries identifying key operational details and current condition to allow site managers to be easily briefed. The LM experience at non-nuclear Plowshare and Vela Uniform sites applies to other programs where there is the potential for liability associated with the non-nuclear aspects of nuclear programs. This may include support activities or early phases of planned nuclear projects. Preserving institutional knowledge enables land managers to adequately address any concerns associated with operations and lowers risk. (authors)

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

The Production of Low Ash Coals Using the Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Separation Process with Novel Developments

Froth flotation is a common mineral processing method in coal preparation. This process becomes less efficient, however, as particle size is reduced, and ultrafine particles are often discarded prior to froth flotation, contributing to a substantial amount of coal waste in impoundments. Because of the land-use and risk of an impoundment failure, these impoundments pose an environmental liability. To address ultrafine coal rejection, researchers at Virginia Tech developed the hydrophobic-hydrophilic separation (HHS) process. Unlike in froth flotation, HHS uses an organic solvent to separate and dewater hydrophobic particles from hydrophilic minerals. Past work on the HHS process yielded promising results. In particular, the HHS process has produced a low-ash (<2%) and low moisture (<8%) product, which is a viable feed stock for carbon products. In this work, an investigation of the effects of auxiliary processes on the HHS process was conducted. The auxiliary processes included grinding, pre-concentration, and reagent conditioning. This work also contains an investigation on the interaction between two primary unit operations in the HHS process: oil agglomeration and de-emulsification. Lastly, to make the HHS process more viable for commercial scale-up, a novel unit operation was developed and tested that performs comparably to the current HHS process.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2013

GeoMelt{sup R} ICV{sup TM} Treatment of Sellafield Pond Solids Waste - 13414

Kurion, Inc., in partnership with AMEC Ltd., is demonstrating its GeoMelt{sup R} In-Container Vitrification (ICV){sup TM} Technology to Sellafield Ltd. (SL). SL is evaluating the proposition of directly converting a container (skip/box/drum) of raw solid ILW into an immobilized waste form using thermal treatment, such that the resulting product is suitable for interim storage at Sellafield and subsequent disposal at a future Geological Disposal Facility. Potential SL feed streams include sludges, ion-exchange media, sand, plutonium contaminated material, concrete, uranium, fuel cladding, soils, metals, and decommissioning wastes. The solid wastes have significant proportions of metallic constituents in the form of containers, plant equipment, structural material and swarf arising from the nuclear operations at Sellafield. GeoMelt's proprietary ICV process was selected for demonstration, with the focus being high and reactive metal wastes arising from solid ILW material. A composite surrogate recipe was used to demonstrate the technology towards treating waste forms of diverse types and shapes, as well as those considered difficult to process; all the while requiring few (if any) pre-treatment activities. Key strategic objectives, along with their success criterion, were established by SL for this testing, namely: 1. Passivate and stabilize the raw waste simulant, as demonstrated by the entire quantity of material being vitrified, 2. Immobilize the radiological and chemo-toxic species, as demonstrated via indicative mass balance using elemental analyses from an array of samples, 3. Production of an inert and durable product as evidenced by transformation of reactive metals to their inert oxide forms and satisfactory leachability results using PCT testing. Two tests were performed using the GeoMelt Demonstration Unit located at AMEC's Birchwood Park Facilities in the UK. Post-melt examination of the first test indicated some of the waste simulant had not fully processed, due to insufficient processing time and melt temperature. A second test, incorporating operational experience from the first test, was performed and resulted in all of the 138 kg of feed material being treated. The waste simulant portion, at 41 kg, constituted 30 wt% of the total feed mass, with over 90% of this being made up of various reactive and non-reactive metals. The 95 liters of staged material was volume reduced to 41 liters, providing a 57% overall feed to product volume reduction in a fully passivated two-phase glass/metal product. The GeoMelt equipment operated as designed, vitrifying the entire batch of waste simulant. Post-melt analytical testing verified that 91-99+% of the radiological tracer metals were uniformly distributed within the glass/cast refractory/metal product, and the remaining fraction was captured in the offgas filtration systems. PCT testing of the glass and inner refractory liner showed leachability results that outperform the DOE regulatory limit of 2 g/m{sup 2} for the radiological species of interest (Sr, Ru, Cs, Eu, Re), and by more than an order of magnitude better for standard reference analytes (B, Na, Si). (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-D-201-04: Evaluation of Elekta Agility MLC Performance Using Statistical Process Control

Purpose: to evaluate the performance and stability of the Elekta Agility MLC model using an automated quality control (QC) test in combination with statistical process control tools. Methods: Leaf positions were collected daily for 11 Elekta units over 5–19 months using the automated QC test, which analyzes 23 MV images to determine the location of MLC leaves relative to the radiation isocenter. The leaf positions are measured at 5 nominal positions, and images are acquired at collimator 0° and 180° to capture all MLC leaves in the field-of-view. Leaf positioning accuracy was assessed using individual and moving range control charts. Control limits were recomputed following MLC recalibration (occurred 1–2 times for 4 units). Specification levels of ±0.5, ±1 and ±1.5mm were tested. The mean and range of duration between out-of-control and out-of-specification events were determined. Results: Leaf position varied little over time, as confirmed by very tight individual control limits (mean ±0.19mm, range 0.09–0.44). Mean leaf position error was −0.03mm (range −0.89–0.83). Due to sporadic out-of-control events, the mean in-control duration was 3.3 days (range 1–23). Data stayed within ±1mm specification for 205 days on average (range 3–372) and within ±1.5mm for the entire date range. Measurements stayed within ±0.5mm for 1 day on average (range 0–17); however, our MLC leaves were not calibrated to this level of accuracy. Conclusion: The Elekta Agility MLC model was found to perform with high stability, as evidenced by the tight control limits. The in-specification durations support the current recommendation of monthly MLC QC tests with a ±1mm tolerance. Future work is on-going to determine if Agility performance can be optimized further using high-frequency QC test results to drive recalibration frequency. Factors that can affect leaf positioning accuracy, including beam spot motion, leaf gain calibration, drifting leaves, and image artifacts, are under investigation.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Post-Closure Monitoring Letter Report for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 97: Yucca Flat/Climax Mine; CAU 98: Frenchman Flat; and CAU 99: Rainier Mesa/Shoshone Mountain, Underground Test Area, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, for Calendar Year 2020 (Rev. 1, May 2021)

This letter serves as the annual post-closure letter for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 97, Yucca Flat/Climax Mine (YF/CM); CAU 98, Frenchman Flat (FF); and CAU 99, Rainier Mesa/Shoshone Mountain (RM/SM) for calendar year (CY) 2020. This letter will discuss the post-closure monitoring activities that occurred during CY 2020, identify any triggers reached, and summarize water usage on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) and surrounding hydrographic basins at the three CAUs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Hydronic Heating Coil Versus Propane Furnace, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware (Fact Sheet)

Insight Homes constructed two houses in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with identical floor plans and thermal envelopes but different heating and domestic hot water (DHW) systems. Each house is 1,715-ft 2 with a single story, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and ductwork located in conditioned crawlspaces. The standard house, which the builder offers as its standard production house, uses an air source heat pump (ASHP) with supplemental propane furnace heating. The Building America test house uses the same ASHP unit with supplemental heat provided by the DHW heater (a combined DHW and hydronic heating system, where the hydronic heating element is in the air handler). Both houses were occupied during the test period. Results indicate that efficiency of the two heating systems was not significantly different. Three issues dominate these results; lower system design performance resulting from the indoor refrigerant coil selected for the standard house, an incorrectly functioning defrost cycle in the standard house, and the low resolution of the natural gas monitoring equipment. The thermal comfort of both houses fell outside the ASHRAE Standard 55 heating range but was within the ACCA room-to-room temperature range when compared to the thermostat temperature. The monitored DHW draw schedules were input into EnergyPlus to evaluate the efficiency of the tankless hot water heater model using the two monitored profiles and the Building America House Simulation Protocols. The results indicate that the simulation is not significantly impacted by the draw profiles.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Model for Interpreting Discordant SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Test Results

We devised a model to interpret discordant SARS-CoV-2 test results. We estimate that, during March 2020–May 2022, a patient in the United States who received a positive rapid antigen test result followed by a negative nucleic acid test result had only a 15.4% (95% CI 0.6%–56.7%) chance of being infected.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Higher education responses to COVID-19 in the United States: Evidence for the impacts of university policy

With a dataset of testing and case counts from over 1,400 institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States, we analyze the number of infections and deaths from SARS-CoV-2 in the counties surrounding these IHEs during the Fall 2020 semester (August to December, 2020). We find that counties with IHEs that remained primarily online experienced fewer cases and deaths during the Fall 2020 semester; whereas before and after the semester, these two groups had almost identical COVID-19 incidence. Additionally, we see fewer cases and deaths in counties with IHEs that reported conducting any on-campus testing compared to those that reported none. To perform these two comparisons, we used a matching procedure designed to create well-balanced groups of counties that are aligned as much as possible along age, race, income, population, and urban/rural categories—demographic variables that have been shown to be correlated with COVID-19 outcomes. We conclude with a case study of IHEs in Massachusetts—a state with especially high detail in our dataset—which further highlights the importance of IHE-affiliated testing for the broader community. The results in this work suggest that campus testing can itself be thought of as a mitigation policy and that allocating additional resources to IHEs to support efforts to regularly test students and staff would be beneficial to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in a pre-vaccine environment.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Verification Testing For Solid-Element Material Models 11-19 in DYNA3D/ParaDyn

This technical report documents the creation and implementation of verification tests for solid-element material models 11 through 19 available in DYNA3D/ParaDyn. The verification tests covered all aspects of each material model, except for the Weibull distribution functionality in material models 15 and 19. General test cases were created to verify the elastic and plastic behavior of the material models. Other additional tests were developed to examine the intricacies of each material model. Each test involved the use a kinematic load case and specification of material parameters necessary to activate corresponding features of the material model. The load cases prescribed the full time history of the kinematic motion for the solid elements, and these loads are independent of the material model or element formulation. When possible, closed form solutions were then derived for each verification test in a continuum setting. The DYNA3D simulations for each test were carried out over a unit time interval, t ϵ [0, 1], and the as implemented DYNA3D response was compared to the closed form solutions evaluated at discrete points in time. A relative error measure was determined for each test to justify the proper implementation of the material model. The relative errors comparing the DYNA3D solution to the analytical solution were, in general, on the order of machine precision except where noted. This signifies the proper implementation of solid-element material models 11-19. In the development of these verification tests, six bugs were found and fixed in the source code. Additionally, this work generated eighteen DYNA3D input decks and answer extraction scripts in the DYNA3D/ParaDyn Software Quality Assurance test suite, which are comprised of a total of 285 solid-element tests. Testing for each material model utilizes two input decks and answer extraction scripts, where one focuses on the linear elastic response and the other examines the inelastic and remaining functionalities of the material model. In total, this work added 285 individual verification test problems in the DYNA3D/ParaDyn test suite.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Can Simple Metrics Identify the Process(es) Driving Extreme Precipitation?

This work seeks an automatic algorithm to determine the primary meteorological cause(s) of individual extreme precipitation events. Such determinations have been made before, but required a by-hand analysis of each separate event. This is very time-consuming and the field would benefit from an automatic process. This is especially relevant when comparing different datasets to determine which ones most closely hew towards reality. This paper tests three simple metrics over the continental United States using the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting’s (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalysis (ERA5). The metrics tested measure and compare the strength of three meteorological processes associated with extreme precipitation: fronts, convection, and cyclones. A multivariate statistical technique as well as individual case studies show evidence that the three meteorological processes of interest cannot be isolated from one another using these simple physical metrics. This shows the difficulty in finding “pure” cases of these precipitation-generating processes and suggests approaching these processes with an eye toward mixed-type events.

Swenson, Leif M. (ORCID:0000000199708735)↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of Waste Disposal Strategy for RH LLW Stored in the ATR Canal - 19453

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), located at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is 250 megawatt research reactor designed and operated for the United States Department of Energy for irradiation testing of advanced nuclear fuels and material samples. The pressurized light-water moderated and cooled reactor achieved criticality in 1967. It is designed to allow high neutron flux irradiation of structural materials and nuclear fuels to replicate long-term exposure of materials in traditional lower-flux reactor cores. The ATR also produces rare isotopes for the use in the medical and other industries. The ATR is one of only four reactors in the world with this high-flux irradiation capability. Adjacent to the ATR is a water-filled canal which is used to handle casks, prepare experiments, perform irradiation experiments, and store irradiated components generated from reactor operations. The canal is used to store irradiated (activated) metals that are subsequently determined to be waste. In many instances, these items are too radioactive to remove from the canal and remain in temporary storage until a sufficient decay period has elapsed to where they can be safely removed. The more highly-radioactive remote-handled (RH) waste items requiring hundreds of years to decay have been in storage in the canal since the first ATR core internal changeout (CIC) which was conducted in the 1970's. The INL has recently completed construction and startup of a new Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste (RH LLW) Disposal Facility, which will serve as the final disposal capability for legacy RH (greater than 200 mR/hr on contact) metal waste currently stored in the canal. The ATR will need to develop a method for packaging, characterizing, removing, and shipping this material to the new disposal facility. Based on the configuration of the new disposal cells at the RH LLW Disposal Facility, the ATR must produce an entire new process for handing and packaging the legacy RH waste and preparing it for transport and final disposal. The ATR Canal RH LLW Cleanup Project scope is to develop the processes, tools, and equipment for safely sizing, packaging, and removing RH LLW from the canal. This paper presents highlights and challenges the project faces to develop and implement this capability: - Designing new tools, fabricating new equipment, and implementing new processes at an active Hazard Category-I nuclear facility. - Ensuring new equipment and tools are compatible with the existing equipment and processes at both the generator and the disposal facilities. - Sizing legacy waste under water using remote tools and equipment to minimize void space in waste disposal canisters while ensuring as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) goals are met. - Loading waste containers underwater and preparing them to meet the liquid-free criteria of the disposal facility waste acceptance criteria (WAC). - Providing a new shielded transport container to transfer waste from ATR to the new on-site RH LLW Disposal Facility. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Thermal Analysis Of Saltstone Disposal Units

SRR requested that SRNL develop a two-dimensional computer simulation model to be capable of predicting grout temperatures attained in Saltstone Disposal Units (SDUs) during the transient addition of saltstone grout and its subsequent storage period. A simulation model was developed to calculate the transient grout temperatures of the SDU facility by taking an axisymmetric and two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. The final performance calculations were based on the conduction and radiation model without a convection cooling mechanism for conservative estimate of the grout temperatures and computational efficiency. While convection within the SDU is disabled in the current calculations, the simulation model has the capability of turning convection back on if desired by the user. Hence, the thermal model in its current configuration is best characterized as a finite-volume heat transfer model. However, given that the model can account for convection if desired by the user, it will be referred to as a CFD model. The grout material contains a transient heat source due to the exothermic hydration reactions of the cementitious material mixed with salt solution. The model can predict the transient temperatures at point locations within the poured grout and the overlying vapor space, and at the interior and exterior surfaces of the structure. The thermal model has been developed for two SDUs at the Savannah River Site (SRS); namely, SDU 2A and SDU 6. SDU 2A is a cylindrical unit measuring 150 feet (ft) in diameter, 22 ft tall, and holds approximately three million gallons of grout. SDU 6 is 375 ft in diameter and 43 ft high with a capacity of over thirty million gallons. Prior to performing the thermal calculations for the SDU 6 facility, the benchmarking test for the smaller SDU 2A unit was performed to establish the solution method and to verify the computational results using existing thermocouple data. Based on the Lagrangian discrete method and boundary conditions established by the SDU 2A benchmarking test, the CFD calculations were performed to predict the transient temperatures at local positions of the poured grout and air spaces within the SDU 6 structure.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Screening Compounds for Fast Pyrolysis and Catalytic Biofuel Upgrading Using Artificial Neural Networks

Abstract There is significant interest among researchers in finding economically sustainable alternatives to fossil-derived drop-in fuels and fuel additives. Fast pyrolysis, a method for converting biomass into liquid hydrocarbons with the potential for use as fuels or fuel additives, is a promising technology that can be two to three times less expensive at scale when compared to alternative approaches such as gasification and fermentation. However, many bio-oils directly derived from fast pyrolysis have a high oxygen content and high acidity, indicating poor performance in diesel engines when used as fuels or fuel additives. Thus, a combination of selective fast pyrolysis and chemical catalysis could produce tuned bioblendstocks that perform optimally in diesel engines. The variance in performance for derived compounds introduces a feedback loop in researching acceptable fuels and fuel additives, as various combustion properties for these compounds must be determined after pyrolysis and catalytic upgrading occurs. The present work aims to reduce this feedback loop by utilizing artificial neural networks trained with quantitative structure-property relationship values to preemptively screen pure component compounds that will be produced from fast pyrolysis and catalytic upgrading. The quantitative structure-property relationship values selected as inputs for models are discussed, the cetane number and sooting propensity of compounds derived from the catalytic upgrading of phenol are predicted, and the viability of these compounds as fuels and fuel additives is analyzed. The model constructed to predict cetane number has a test set prediction root-mean-squared error of 9.874 cetane units, and the model constructed to predict yield sooting index has a test set prediction root-mean-squared error of 13.478 yield sooting index units (on the unified scale).

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗