Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “laboratories”

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 793 records · Page 44

Herpetological Survey for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Site 300

Pursuant to Subcontract Number B644180 between ECORP Consulting, Inc. (ECORP) and Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC. (LLNS) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), ECORP conducted focused herpetological surveys at LLNL’s Experimental Test Site (Site 300) during the spring of 2021. The results of these surveys will provide supporting information for a Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS). The herpetological surveys targeted three special-status reptile species including Blainville’s (coast) Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma blainvillii), Northern California Legless Lizard (Anniella pulchra), and San Joaquin Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum ruddocki) on the approximately 6,800-acre Site 300 in Alameda and San Joaquin counties. Special-status amphibian species were not targets of this survey effort.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between National Energy Technology Laboratory and Nuionic Technologies (Canada) Inc. [Abstract]

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and NuIonic will collaborate in the development and commercial scaling of low-temperature and pressure ammonia synthesis using microwaves. Ammonia is one of the largest used chemicals in the world and is currently manufactured with a high temperature and pressure Haber-Bosch process. The current economical production scale of ammonia using Haber-Bosch (HB) synthesis is too large for the deployable scale of renewables (from 1 to 150 MW). Scaling down a HB process to 170,000 ton/year would increase production costs by a factor of 2-3. This collaboration will facilitate the deployment of a non-HB process for ammonia production that can directly interface and provide storage for intermittent renewable energy.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement among National Energy Technology Laboratory, The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia by and on behalf of Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of Texas at El Paso [Abstract]

Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will collaborate and develop cyber-physical systems for advanced power systems. GIT will test virtual models on hybrid power system hardware and cyber physical components. UTEP will test novel actuators on hybrid power system hardware. NETL will access GIT’s expertise in the engineering and real time simulation of power system processes for cyber-physical systems and simulations to control hardware. NETL will establish a relationship to promote UTEP’s capabilities in additive manufacturing and high-temperature piezo-electric devices with the potential for controlling high-temperature flows with a light and inexpensive device at high response rates. This project is the result of an EERE Advanced Manufacturing Office open Multi-Topic awarded proposal led by GIT titled, “Robust Combined Heat and Hybrid Power (CHHP) for High Electrical Efficiency Cogeneration”.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement among National Energy Technology Laboratory, Advanced Manufacturing LLC, and Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology [Abstract]

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Advanced Manufacturing LLC (AMLLC) and Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) will collaborate to develop and manufacture cost-effective, oxide dispersion-strengthened, NiCrFeCo-rich high entropy alloys that are superior to Nickel-based superalloys (e.g. IN740) for repair or replacement service in extreme environments. The new alloys can result in higher efficiency and reduced cost of advanced power systems such as advanced ultra-supercritical (AUSC) boilers and gas turbines. High throughput, multiscale computational modeling will be performed to accelerate alloy discovery by interrogating the intrinsic properties of the alloys including thermodynamic, kinetic, and mechanical properties. Validation and evaluation will be performed, including additive manufacturing, microstructure characterization, and mechanical properties tests.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between National Energy Technology Laboratory and VariGrid Explorations Inc. [Final Report]

The scope of this project is to advance the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Variable Grid Method (VGM) technology to commercial status thought enhancements upon prior work to produce a VGM application that can rapidly quantify multiple types of data and uncertainty commonly encountered by the subsurface energy industry. Along with development, the project will also include technology demonstrations, through applications using common industry data types and uncertainty metrics, to stress the value the VGM can offer the subsurface energy industry by providing an improved understanding of the strengths and limitations of their data, models, and analytical results. The resulting commercially ready VGM will offer interoperability with common industry software applications to ensure broad ‘plug and play’ functionality that will help keep costs relatively low and foster more rapid industry adoption.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE Laboratory Support for DER and Inverter-Based Resource Integration Standards (ACCEL II) (Final Report)

This report documents efforts under a project that followed work completed under Accelerating Systems Integration Standards (ACCEL). In this continuation, the project team provided support for updates to critical standards for interconnection and interoperability of distributed energy resources at the distribution level. In addition, the project contributed to development of guidance for operational best practices of the bulk power system with high levels of DERs. Additional goals of the project were to inform and develop improved recommended practices and certification standards for end-to-end interoperability of DERs, utilizing Sandia laboratory assets when needed.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Los Alamos National Laboratory Wetland Assessment for the Replacement Water Lines from Technical Area 48 to Technical Area 55 Project

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is proposing to take action at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) near a wetland at Technical Area (TA) 48 and under a wetland at TA-55. The project proposes to install two 12-inch water lines along an alignment from TA-48 to Pecos Road on the east side of TA-55 (Figure 1). The proposed water lines will replace aging cast iron pipes that provide water for fire suppression to buildings within TA-55, and potable water to other areas in the Pajarito Corridor. NNSA has prepared this wetland assessment in accordance with 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1022 Compliance with Wetland and Wetland Environmental Review Requirements (10 CFR Part 1022) (CFR 2003) which was promulgated to implement DOE requirements under Executive Order 11988 Wetland Management (EO 1977). A wetland is defined in 10 CFR 1022 as “the lowlands adjoining inland and coastal waters and relatively flat areas and flood prone areas of offshore islands,” and a base wetland as “the 100-year wetland, that is, a wetland with a 1.0 percent chance of flooding in any given year (CFR 2003).” This wetland assessment evaluates potential impacts to wetland values and functions from implementation of the proposed action, identifies alternatives to the Proposed Action, and allows for meaningful public comment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Case Study: Applying the Idaho National Laboratory Resilience Framework to St. Mary’s, Alaska

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) resilience framework has been developed to broadly apply to EEDS so that all elements of systems that contain distributed wind can be part of the resilience evaluation. The users or audience for this framework can include any stakeholders associated with the EEDS. Not all electrical energy systems have the same stakeholders; customers, owners, and operators are generally present but have different interests. Considering the broad electrical grid, customers, regulators, investors, utility planners, engineers, and operators each have an interest in system resilience driven from different motivating factors. This document focuses on the planning stage of the framework. In this document, each step is explained briefly before demonstrating its application to the St. Mary’s-Mt. Village system. The framework can be used for many types of resilience planning. It can be used to evaluate current overall resilience, or the resilience of certain subsystems. It can be used to explore existing resilience weak points and propose mitigations. It can also be used to evaluate the resilience benefits of a new investment. We use the latter application for this case study. Although the wind turbine in St. Mary’s has already been installed, the resilience benefits that the turbine provided were not well defined. It was installed with the main objective to generate electric power from a renewable resource in an effort to reduce the local dependency on fuel oil as the sole source of electric power generation, which is a resilience goal on its own, but there are other ways in which the turbine can add resilience to the system, as well as scenarios of interest to analyze how resilient the wind turbine itself is against different hazards. In this case study, we analyze the operation of the St. Mary’s power system both with the wind installed and without the wind installed during different resilience hazards of interest. This allows us to compare the performance with wind and without wind and to quantify the resilience benefits provided by wind. Our MIRACL partners at PNNL will then take the resilience benefits and assign value to the resilience provided by wind based on costs and costs avoided in the different scenarios.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Cost-Efficient Construction at Los Alamos National Laboratory

The construction industry can be fraught with cost, schedule, and scope overruns. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a Department of Energy (DOE) / National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facility located in Northern New Mexico, seems to be particularly vulnerable to cost and schedule overruns. Since Triad National Security, LLC acquired the management and operating (M&O) contract for LANL in 2018, the group has been striving to reduce the cost of construction across the forty square-mile campus.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Discrete-event Simulation Process Model for the Pyrochemical Processing of Plutonium at Los Alamos National Laboratory

The pyrochemical metal production operations that occur in the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory perform plutonium purification with the aim to provide plutonium metal for a variety of defense- and non-defense missions within the National Nuclear Security Administration. The demands and constraints associated with the pyrochemical processing of plutonium are complex, making decision analyses challenging for program managers who require plutonium production for their mission applications. The construction of a discrete-event simulation process model is proposed to measure and report the process capacity, material throughput, equipment requirements, and dose accumulation for operators of the pyrochemical metal production operations. The process model, constructed in the ExtendSim™ software, will represent the cause-and-effect relationships between the pyrochemical processing environment and the process constraints, including criticality limitations, material control and accountability measures, chemical analysis requirements, and equipment availability. An accurate representation of the pyrochemical metal production process capacity through simulation modeling will be helpful to program managers in their efforts to forecast plutonium availability for mission applications. Furthermore, the proposed process model will be vital for future analyses that will measure the interactions between the pyrochemical metal production operations and the aqueous reprocessing operations and their ability to minimize transuranic waste disposal.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Corrosivity Screening of Pyrolysis Bio-Oils by Short-Term Alloy Exposures. Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP), Issue Date: May 12, 2022

Bio-oils contain organic acids and oxygenated compounds that can lead to corrosion issues during bio-oil processing and storage. This Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP) allows for rapid screening of a bio-oil's corrosivity without the need for complex equipment and long-term exposures. A robust and repeatable method for assessing the corrosivity of bio-oils is necessary in order to remove materials degradation as an obstacle to research, upgrading, use and storage of bio-oils. This LAP involves the incubation of a representative alloy, 410 stainless steel (410 SS), specimen in bio-oil over a period of 48 hours at 50 degrees C in a sealed container. The corrosive species in the bio-oil react with and deplete alloy elements such as iron (Fe) and/or chromium (Cr) from the specimen into the bio-oil solution. The depletion of Fe and Cr from the specimen results in a significant mass loss that can be recorded. The mass loss is directly correlated to the corrosivity of a bio-oil. Examples of bio-oils in scope include the ones produced by fast pyrolysis and catalytic fast pyrolysis, as well as liquids produced from hydrothermal liquefaction.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Determination of Phenolic Groups in Bio-Oils Using Revised Folin-Ciocalteu Methods: Single Cuvette and Plate Reader. Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP), Issue Date: May 12, 2022

Phenol components are ubiquitous in wood-derived bio-oils and biocrudes. Their reaction with other functional groups (e.g., aldehydes) may contribute to the formation of carbonaceous species and the expected thermal instability of pyrolysis oils. During hydrotreating, phenols can be recalcitrant species, requiring higher reaction temperatures than other oxygen-containing functional groups. Phenols are also present in upgraded products and have been shown to lead to catalyst deactivation during hydrotreating. They also are the first oxygenated functional group to re-appear in the upgraded product, signaling catalyst deactivation. This procedure covers the determination of phenolic compounds in fast pyrolysis oils. This Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP) includes two methods, the first allowing for shorter analysis time at increased reaction temperature, while the second employs a longer analysis time but at room temperature. Additionally, the use of both a single cuvette and of a plate reader are also presented.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Elemental Analysis of Bio-Oils by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP), Issue Date: May 13, 2022

Concentrations of inorganic elements is a key quality metric for bio-oils as certain elements impact upgrading processes and product quality. Unless reduced or removed during production and processing, alkali and alkaline metals native to lignocellulosic biomass can carry over into bio-oils contributing to ash content and degraded catalyst performance during upgrading to hydrocarbon fuels or chemical products. Non-metallic elements such as sulfur and phosphorus can also negatively impact upgrading catalysts and product quality. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) can be used to measure inorganic elements of interest in bio-oils. This procedure covers the preparation and analysis of fast pyrolysis (FP) and catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) bio-oils. The concentrations of these elements can indicate potential bio-oil quality from the perspective of deoxygenation processes. The implications of elemental composition will depend on process parameters such as upgrading catalyst sensitivities. This Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP) covers two methods for quantification of inorganic elements by ICP-OES: Procedure A uses microwave assisted digestion with concentrated nitric acid, and Procedure B is an organic ICP-OES method utilizing a diglyme solvent.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Project Task Statement 2 to Umbrella Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between National Energy Technology Laboratory and Ramaco Carbon [Abstract]

NETL and Ramaco will collaborate to characterize domestic coal, beneficiated coal, and coal byproducts to evaluate these materials for rare earth element (REE) content and ease of extraction. Ramaco will provide samples of coal, beneficiated coal, and coal byproducts to NETL, as well as provide research expertise on coal extraction and processing. NETL will characterize these feedstocks using the chemical/physical methods being utilized in its research laboratories. The objectives of this project are: identify promising coal-related REE reserves by testing and analysis of core samples from coal bearing formations; provide insights and expertise into opportunities for the extraction of REEs and other value-added products from domestic coal; and collect data that will be used to create quantitative modeling tools for predicting the likelihood of successful prospecting for REEs in coal, beneficiated and processed coal, and related geologic formation.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Implementation of ASHRAE Guideline 36 Control Logic into Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)’s Flexible Research Platform (FRP)

This report presents the initial field test procedure and results for ASHRAE Guideline 36 control logic. The US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) two-story Flexible Research Platform (FRP-2) was selected as a test building. The rooftop unit (RTU) system serves as the building’s primary cooling system, and each variable air volume (VAV) box with an electric reheat coil serves as the building’s heating system along with RTU gas furnace. In this study, the control for the RTU and VAV box adopted the practical control sequences from ASHRAE Guideline 36-2018: High-Performance Sequences of Operation. Each story of the FRP-2 building has 5 office zones (thermal zones), for a total of 10 zones.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Fuel Effects on Multimode Engine Operation (Sandia National Laboratories) (DOE VTO Annual Progress Report for FY21)

In total, light-duty vehicles in the United States travel on the order of 3 trillion miles annually, providing tremendous societal and personal benefits. However, the environmental burden is excessive, prompting Co-Optimization of Fuel and Engines (Co-Optima) program efforts to provide the science needed to increase engine efficiency and produce non-fossil fuels with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Boosted spark-ignition (SI) engines provide high power density by offering high loads and engine speeds, making them light-weight and attractive for light-duty vehicles. Unfortunately, the engine efficiency drops off at lower loads and speeds, where the engine spends most time during typical driving. Multimode SI engines can use a more efficient advanced lean combustion mode at lower loads and speeds, while reverting to boosted SI under high-load conditions. Within Co-Optima, multiple advanced lean combustion modes have been explored; these include stratified-charge SI, pre-chamber lean SI, and advanced compression ignition (ACI) techniques such as spark-assisted compression ignition (SACI). For these combustion modes, focus has been on determining fuel properties that enable higher engine efficiency, clean and stable combustion, and effective exhaust aftertreatment. This report highlights recent efforts funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office at multiple National Laboratories that supported the multimode project in Co-Optima. It also includes a brief summary of biofuel production research funded by the Bioenergy Technologies Office.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗