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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 649 records · Page 36
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

U.S. Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development (Phase III)

This is the third phase of a work scope which has been focused on providing a framework for and preserving key experimental programs and experiences which are critical to the licensing basis of currently operating nuclear reactors or which could be used in the safety basis for the next generation of reactors. The first phase of this effort, documented in Reference 1, focused on compiling a list of key experimental programs through an international survey of reactor safety professionals working in licensing, design, and academia. The second phase in this effort, documented in Reference 2, focused on creating a searchable database framework in which to organize the results from the international survey and to perform detailed research on several key programs to provide the framework for how to categorize the references which could be located. The purpose of the third phase is to perform a high-level research effort on each experiment/experience and to determine if sufficient data, reports, and results have already been captured to consider the program archived for future generators of nuclear professionals.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

LANL Weapons Physics Directorate: Mission Scope and Opportunities [Slides]

The Weapons Physics Directorate stewards a number of critical capabilities to meet the LANL mission. To execute our mission, ALDX develops and applies cutting-edge theory, computational models and multi-physics simulation codes, and designs, executes, and analyzes complex experiments. Our mission is to sustain the current stockpile, provide future stockpile options, and help shape a globalized nuclear world.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2022

Mining G.O.L.D. (Geothermal Opportunities Leveraged Through Data): Exploring Synergies Between the Geothermal and Mining Industries

This report analyzes potential collaborations between the geothermal and locatable mineral industries (focused on the portion of the Basin and Range Province within Nevada, United States of America). The objectives of this study included analyzing: 1. The type and quality of data collected by the locatable mineral industry to determine feasibility for geothermal resource exploration; 2. The regulatory pathways and potential barriers that could prevent development of geothermal resources discovered via a mining claim (and vice versa) in the United States; 3. The historical development of geothermal resources discovered via mineral exploration data in the United States and illustrations of co-located mining and geothermal power projects; 4. The value propositions for both the locatable mineral and the geothermal industries to collaborate. This article concludes that many of the data collected by the mining industry as part of locatable mineral exploration (e.g., copper, gold, lithium) would also be useful for identifying and developing previously unknown geothermal resources (and in some notable cases, already have led to geothermal resource development). In addition, for minimal costs, the mining industry could catalogue these data and potentially monetize the data itself or use the data in the future to develop a geothermal project. Leveraging these locatable mineral data to develop geothermal resources and/or co-located minerals and geothermal resources would represent significant cost savings when compared to developing geothermal resources under a business-as-usual scenario as well as compared to current generating technologies (e.g., diesel-powered generators) employed at remote mining operations. Ultimately, leveraging mining industry data, knowledge, and expertise serves to effectively expand the geothermal exploration workforce, increase the rate of geothermal resource discovery, and potentially reduce geothermal electricity's levelized cost of energy (LCOE) by 23%-29%.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modeling Power Plant Siting Opportunities and Constraints in the Eastern Interconnection

The electrical transmission grid is a critical part of the U.S. national infrastructure, and its modernization is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) priority. We describe the Energy Zones Mapping Tool (EZMT), a unique, powerful, and public web-based system with multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) models for more than 20 power plant technologies and many other capabilities. Through a case study on natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plants in the Eastern Interconnection (EI), we provide an example of incorporating an EZMT MCDA model into a larger planning context, with projections of interconnection-level capacity expansion, thermoelectric power plant retirements, and water availability. Our results provide insights on candidate NGCC site distributions and the criteria influencing them. The case study provides both an efficient methodology for performing similar analyses and hundreds of candidate NGCC power plant sites that can be studied in more detail as potential project sites.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electric Grid Blackstart: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

This report studies the expected future state of the grid and recommends actions that can be taken to increase grid resiliency, improve system modeling, perform more extensive studies, enhance training activities, and perform industry outreach for the purpose of the blackstart capabilities of power systems. The report is a revised version of PNNL-29118.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Mapping the Opportunity Space to Model the Circular Economy Using Tools Funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

An increasing rate of material consumption and a growing population mean that the Earth's supply of natural resources is witnessing an unsustainable and unprecedented demand. This forces us to find solutions that ensure the availability of resources for sustenance of our society in the years to come. Actors from various backgrounds are addressing these challenges from their own perspectives: engineers are developing efficient manufacturing processes, designers are creating lightweight and durable products, educators are incorporating sustainable thinking in their curricula, policymakers are finding interdisciplinary solutions that benefit society at large, etc. Circular economy (CE) is one such approach to resource use that aims to move away from the linear material use framework of "take-make-waste" to a more circular and interdependent system where product, material and resource use is maximized to avoid unnecessary social, economic, and environmental costs. The purpose of this report is to explain how to approach evaluating the circular economy and to help researchers identify existing tools that can be used or that can serve as starting points for their research needs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Techno-Economic Wind Blade Manufacturing Model to Identify Opportunities for Cost Improvements Phase II IACMI Project 4.6/4.8

In IACMI Project 4.6 and IACMI Project 4.8, an Excel-based Techno-Economic Model (TEM) of the manufacturing process for composite wind turbine blades and a DELMIA Factory Flow Simulation of a generic wind blade manufacturing facility was developed. Together, these two tools provide a combined economic modeling capability that accounts for the material, labor, overhead and full-lifecycle operating costs associated with wind blade manufacturing as well as the impact of process flow and factory layout on overall manufacturing efficiency. The tools provide a novel means of detailed comparative analysis of the economic feasibility of proposed technologies and process changes for blade manufacturing. The modeling tools were developed with close support from members of industry and visits to multiple blade manufacturing facilities. With industry oversight, a detailed generalized manufacturing process plan and facility layout were developed with manufacturing parameters, material costs and economic factors based on historical data. Dassault Systèmes and the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) contributed to the development of the Techno-Economic Model by providing macros to enable the generation of Bill of Material (BOM) data from a 3D blade design in either CATIA or NuMAD format, respectively. The TEM was built with the capability to directly import a Bill of Materials for economic analysis, and with the addition of the macros provided by Dassault and UTD, the TEM can directly import blade designs from both CATIA and NuMAD file formats. The modeling tools developed in Project 4.6 were used to investigate four wind blade manufacturing concepts in detail and select one to explore with laboratory-scale experimentation in Project 4.8. The four manufacturing concepts that were investigated were down-selected by the full project team from a larger list of concepts. The selections were made based on a number of criteria ranking viability and level of interest for each concept. The ‘One-Step Close’ manufacturing concept was ultimately selected for investigation in Project 4.8 and the demonstration was performed at the NREL CoMET facility. The TPI advanced manufacturing facility in Warren, RI contributed the production of several prototype components, the designs for which were developed by Janicki Industries. The demonstration project provided clear indication of the viability of the One-Step Close manufacturing concept for blade manufacturing and good validation of the Techno-Economic Model’s prediction of its economic impact.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Coal and Carbon Management Guidebook: Coal-to-Hydrogen Opportunities and Challenges

Key elements of this report include coal-to-hydrogen production in the context of the U.S. hydrogen market; the state of various hydrogen production technologies; present and forecasted demand for hydrogen in energy, transportation, and industrial sectors; an overview of environmental, economic, and infrastructure challenges to greater coal-to-hydrogen production; and information on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs and priorities for coal-to-hydrogen research and development.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2022

Consolidated Hydropower Data Repository: Value and Opportunities

Hydropower is one of several types of generating assets that provides energy, capacity, and services to electric power systems. It does so under rubrics and objectives—market driven and regulated, internal and external to asset and fleet owners—that address reliability, cost, price, and, increasingly, flexibility of output. The aggregation of data from multiple hydropower units can provide insights into asset operations and maintenance practices and needs and assist in meeting hydropower objectives. This paper examines the concept and potential benefits of aggregating hydropower asset data—primarily supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) information—with examples of insights developed from data aggregated by the Hydropower Research Institute (HRI). Data aggregation as discussed herein, and as implemented by the HRI, extends beyond multiple units in a powerhouse and beyond multiple hydropower facilities in an electric utility fleet or river system. Examples of research and analytics from such aggregated datasets range from unit load dependency analyses to modeling sensor measurements to detect and diagnose anomalies in assets. These examples showed the benefits of utilizing the entire dataset for insights into how the sensor layout of a single unit or set of units compares to the hydropower industry overall. Such insights include whether additional sensors are needed to complete analyses or to make decisions. In addition, utilizing multiple sensors of the same kind within a unit can provide an indication of possible current or upcoming problems with equipment. Although other analyses are possible, their use requires the development of complex models and, potentially, access to types of data that are currently not included with the example dataset used in this study. However, the examples studied herein confirmed the value of data aggregation in the fleet and unit contexts, and the value extends beyond multiple units in a powerhouse and beyond multiple hydropower facilities in an electric utility fleet or river system. The assessments also provided insights into potential extensions to the data aggregation concept that could further add to their value to the hydropower community, and these are included in this document as a set of recommendations.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Microelectronics at the Department of Energy: Capabilities and Opportunities for Driving U.S. Competitiveness

Microelectronics are everywhere—embedded in our consumer products; underlying our power, transportation, and information infrastructure; and fortifying our national security. These and other microelectronics applications are also intricately linked with America’s energy and decarbonization goals. For instance, advanced power electronics are critical to our transition to renewable power and electric transport, and more energy-efficient computing and consumer devices are needed as energy consumption grows rapidly. Meanwhile, global supply chain disruptions beginning in 2020 and the ensuing chip shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the vulnerability of microelectronics supply chains. The globally distributed manufacturing base can be disrupted in unexpected ways, and there is no single solution to these challenges given the range of applications and technologies within the microelectronics industry—from ever-smaller, nanoscale feature sizes to large-scale commodity use cases to specialized functionalities. Rather, solutions will require the private sector, federal agencies, and research and development (R&D) organizations such as labs and universities to act in concert beyond their individual missions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Opportunities for Recovering Resources from Municipal Wastewater

Municipal wastewater contains valuable resources including water, energy, and nutrients that often enter and leave wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) without being captured. Currently, plants are increasingly seeking to recover resources and reuse them in a sustainable way. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to assess the potential for recovery and reuse of water and products from municipal wastewater treatment plants across the United States and to examine how this potential varies by region. To accomplish this, three main tasks were set: first, to characterize wastewater treatment plants; second, to characterize technologies and pathways used to recover energy, nutrients, and water from treatment plants; third, to assess the demand for reclaimed resources and products at a regional level by performing spatial analysis. These three tasks were then synthesized to present key findings in this report and a geospatial dataset with the hope of guiding the increased use of resource recovery technologies in the U.S.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗