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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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Full scale turbojet engine testing of fuels - pentaborane-jp-4 mixtures and trimethylborate azeotrope performance
The aim for storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) either in wet or in dry storage systems is to ensure general safety objective s are met throughout a desired storage period. Staff at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), in collaborations with partners at other national laboratories, industry research organizations, and the University of South Carolina (UofSC), have performed materials aging testing and analyses, and have established nuclear materials aging management programs to support extended periods of safe storage of research reactor (RR) SNF and of commercial power reactor (PR) SNF pending ultimate disposal. Several example challenges include susceptibility of aluminum SNF from research reactors to corrosion in poor quality water (wet storage). In dry storage, aluminum SNF can release hydrogen via radiolysis of the hydrated oxides on the aluminum cladding. Austenitic stainless steel canisters used for dry storage are susceptible to chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (outside-in attack) that threaten the confinement boundary provided by the canister. This paper further describes these challenges, among others, and the formulated solutions to support extended safe storage of SNF.
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Intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) are cost-effective and efficient energy conversion systems. Here, the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the degradation of cathodes are critical challenges to the commercialization of IT-SOFCs. Here, a highly efficient multiphase (MP) catalyst coating, consisting of Ba 1–x Co 0.7 Fe 0.2 Nb 0.1 O 3–δ (BCFN) and BaCO 3 , to enhance the ORR activity and durability of the state-of-the-art lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3–δ , LSCF) cathode is reported. The conformal MP catalyst-coated LSCF cathode shows a polarization resistance (R p ) of 0.048 Ω cm 2 at 650 °C, about one order of magnitude smaller than that of the bare LSCF. In an accelerated Cr-poisoning test, the degradation rate of the catalyst-coated LSCF electrode is 10 –3 Ω cm 2 h –1 (0.59% h –1 ) over 200 h, only one fifth of the degradation rate of the bare LSCF electrode at 750 °C. In addition, anode-supported single cells with the MP catalyst-coated LSCF cathode show a dramatically enhanced peak power density (1.4 W cm –2 vs 0.67 W cm –2 at 750 °C) and increased durability against Cr and H 2 O. Both experimental results and density functional theory-based calculations indicate that the BCFN phase improves the ORR activity while the BaCO 3 phase enhances the stability of the LSCF cathode.
We develop an optimization-based web application for assessing biomass-to-fuels strategies based on the Biomass Utilization Superstructure (BUS) framework. This web application allows researchers with limited knowledge of optimization to assess different technologies employed at different strategies and identify the major cost drivers. The user must only provide the necessary parameters and create an optimization run after identifying the question to be addressed and the assessment metric. The web application generates visual representations of the results once the optimal solution is obtained. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of the web application through an example.
Abstract not provided
A series of experimental work was conducted to convert woody biomass to gasoline and diesel range products via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) and catalytic hydroprocessing. Based on the best available test data, a techno-economic analysis (TEA) was developed for a large scale woody biomass based HTL and upgrading system to evaluate the feasibility of this technology. In this system, 2000 dry metric ton per day woody biomass was assumed to be converted to bio-oil in hot compressed water and the bio-oil was hydrotreated and/or hydrocracked to produce gasoline and diesel range liquid fuel. Two cases were evaluated: a stage-of-technology (SOT) case based on the tests results, and a goal case considering potential improvements based on the SOT case. Process simulation models were developed and cost analysis was implemented based on the performance results. The major performance results included final products and co-products yields, raw materials consumption, carbon efficiency, and energy efficiency. The overall efficiency (higher heating value basis) was 52% for the SOT case and 66% for the goal case. The production cost, with a 10% internal rate of return and 2007 constant dollars, was estimated to be $1.29 /L for the SOT case and $0.74 /L for the goal case. The cost impacts of major improvements for moving from the SOT to the goal case were evaluated and the assumption of reducing the organics loss to the water phase lead to the biggest reduction in the production cost. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the final products yields had the largest impact on the production cost compared to other parameters. Plant size analysis demonstrated that the process was economically attractive if the woody biomass feed rate was over 1,500 dry tonne/day, the production cost was competitive with the then current petroleum-based gasoline price.
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Biomass is a promising renewable feedstock for conversion to high performance sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in air travel.
A model of a fuel-cell cathode with distinct proton conductivities at the agglomerate and electrode scales was used to simulate polarization curves under conditions with facile oxygen transport. Here, the model was applied to electrodes containing agglomerates with different ratios of platinum to carbon in order to examine the hypothesis that intra-agglomerate proton conductivity is substantially lower than ionomer conductivity. The model predicts decreasing performance and increasing sensitivity to Pt/C ratio as intra-agglomerate conductivity declines relative to a constant through-electrode conductivity. Experiments on catalyst layers with Vulcan supports do not show the predicted trend indicating that mesoscale intra-agglomerate conductivity is not orders of magnitude lower than bulk ionomer conductivity.