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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 811 records · Page 45
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Novel Biocomposites Based on Sunflower Oil and Alfa Fibers as Renewable Resources

The aim of this work is to develop biocomposites based on modified sunflower oil as resin and short natural fibers from Alfa plants (Stipa tenacissima) as reinforcement. Epoxidized sunflower oil (ESFO) was chemically modified via acrylation reaction to obtain acrylated epoxidized sunflower oil resin (AESFO). The AESFO resin was then copolymerized with styrene as co-monomer in the presence of boron trifluoride (BF{sub 3}) as cationic initiator and cobalt octoate (Co) as catalyst. Experimental conditions of this modification were optimized by varying styrene, Co and BF{sub 3} wt%. The styrene was varied from 30, 40 to 50 wt% while the catalyst (Co) was varied from 0, 0.01, 0.02 to 0.03 wt%. Two different percents of BF{sub 3} were considered: 0.5 and 1 wt%. The prepared samples were evaluated according to their appearance and then characterized in terms of tensile properties (stress at break, Young’s modulus and elongation at break) to determine the best ratio of styrene/BF{sub 3}/Co. Alfa fibers, used as bio-reinforcement, were treated with a 5% NaOH solution and characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). Biocomposites were prepared by using untreated (UAF) and treated Alfa fibers (TAF) at a ratio of 5 wt% and characterized in terms of tensile properties and morphology by SEM. The best results were obtained with TAF. Then, the ratio of TAF was varied (5, 7.5 and 10 wt%) and the tensile and thermal properties of the biocomposites were characterized. The results showed that the best results were obtained with the ratio of 7.5 wt%.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Sustainable Alternative Composites Using Waste Vegetable Oil Based Resins

Laminates were produced with epoxy resins from waste vegetable oil (WVO) intended for the manufacturing of environmentally-friendly alternatives for the composites industry. Post-use cooking oil appears a promising source of triglycerides for polymer manufacturing. Matrices cured with methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride (MHHPA) were reinforced with glass and flax fibres, creating a library of composites that were compared to analogues from virgin oil and benchmarked against commercial diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). Glass fibre-reinforced composites presented Young’s moduli similar to the benchmark but reduced tensile strength. Chemical pre-treatment of the flax fibre (NaOH and stearic acid) countered the limited tensile performance observed for materials with untreated flax; improvements were evidenced by DMA and SEM. Moreover, WVO-based resins greatly improved impact properties and reduced density with no effect on thermal stability. Therefore, WVO-based composites appear as more sustainable alternatives in applications demanding toughness, stiffness and lightweight over strength.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Volume fraction determination of the annular three-phase flow of gas-oil-water using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system

The use of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been reported for predicting the volume fractions in a gas–oil–water multiphase system. In fact, the volume fractions in the annular three-phase flow are measured based on a dual energy metering system consisting of {sup 152}Eu and {sup 137}Cs and one NaI detector using ANFIS. Since the summation of volume fractions is constant, therefore ANFIS must predict only two volume fractions. In this study, three ANFIS networks are applied. The first is utilized to predict the gas and water volume fractions. The next one is applied to predict the gas and oil, and the last one is used to predict the water and oil volume fractions. In the next step, ANFIS networks must be trained based on numerically obtained data from MCNP-X code. Then, the average testing errors of these three networks are computed and compared. The network with the least error has been selected as the best predictor model.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Low-cost crushed-rock heat storage with oil or salt heat transfer

The demand for variable electricity and heat is met by fossil-fuel power plants because the power plant capital costs and the cost of storing fossil fuels are low. A low-carbon economy requires replacement of the storage function of fossil fuels to provide variable heat and electricity as needed. The Crushed Rock Ultra-large Stored Heat (CRUSH) system is a new technology with the goal to provide heat storage at an incremental capital cost of $2–4/kWh at scales of 10 s to 100 s of GWhs that enables economic daily to multi-week storage. CRUSH can be coupled to nuclear power plants, concentrated solar power (CSP) plants and thermal energy batteries to provide variable electricity and heat on demand. Sensible heat is stored in crushed rock—the lowest-cost heat-storage material. Heat is transferred to and from the crushed rock using nitrate salt or heat-transfer oils but these fluids do not store heat. Heat from a nuclear reactor, CSP plant or conversion of low-price electricity into heat is used to heat the salt or oil. The hot fluid is poured over the crushed rock, trickles downward by gravity through the rock, heats the rock and is collected by the drain pans under the crushed rock. To recover heat cold salt or oil is poured over hot crushed rock, trickles down by gravity while being heated and is collected by the drain pans under the crushed rock. The system design and engineering trade-offs are described. The technology is in the early stages of development.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Tribological properties of PDA + PTFE coating in oil-lubricated condition

In this work the tribological properties of 45 ± 2 μm-thick polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polydopamine (PDA) + PTFE coatings in oil-lubricated conditions were investigated under a normal load of 10 N and a linear reciprocating speed of 0.1 m/s. Both the PTFE and the PDA + PTFE coatings were deposited using an in-house spray-coating method. The PDA + PTFE coating was five times more durable compared to the PTFE coating in oil-lubricated conditions. Both PTFE and PDA + PTFE coatings showed lower COF in oil-lubricated conditions than in dry conditions. The nanomechanical properties measured by PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical (PFQNM) characterization method showed an increase in Young’s modulus and adhesion force for the PDA + PTFE coatings compared to the PTFE coatings. Chemical analysis showed that the cross-linking between PDA and PTFE polymer chains occurred during the high-temperature sintering procedure. Finally, the higher adhesion of PDA + PTFE coating to the cast iron substrate and the stronger cohesion due to the cross-linking between PDA and PTFE contributed to the higher durability of the PDA + PTFE composite coatings.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Air quality impacts from the development of unconventional oil and gas well pads: Air toxics and other volatile organic compounds

Unconventional oil and natural gas development (UOGD) has expanded rapidly across the United States in recent decades and raised concerns about associated air quality impacts. While significant effort has been made to quantify methane emissions, relatively few observations have been made of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), especially during drilling and completion of new wells. Extensive air monitoring during development of several large, multi-well pads in Broomfield, Colorado, in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, provides a novel opportunity to examine changes in local air toxics and other VOC concentrations during well drilling and completions and production. These operations offer an especially useful case to study as several management practices were implemented to reduce emissions (e.g., electrified, grid-powered drill rigs and closed loop fluid handling systems to reduce truck traffic and limit fluid handling on the pad). With simultaneous measurements of methane and 50 VOCs from October 2018 to December 2022 at as many as 19 sites near well pads, in adjacent neighborhoods, and at a more distant reference location, we identify impacts from each phase of well development and production. Use of weekly, time-integrated canisters, a Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer (PTR-MS), continuous photoionization detectors (PID) to trigger canister collection upon detection of VOC-rich plumes, and an instrumented vehicle, provided a powerful suite of measurements to characterize both transient plumes and longer-term changes in air quality. Prior to the start of well development, VOC gradients were small across Broomfield. Once drilling commenced, concentrations of oil and gas (O&G) related VOCs, including alkanes and aromatics, increased around active well pads. Concentration increases were clearly apparent during certain operations, including drilling, coil tubing/millout operations, and production tubing installation. Emissions of C 8 –C 10 n-alkanes during drilling operations highlighted the importance of VOC emissions from synthetic drilling mud chosen to reduce odor impacts. More than 90 samples were collected of transient plumes. Using composition measurements, meteorological data, and information about well pad activities, these plumes were connected with specific UOGD operations including drilling, flowback, and production equipment maintenance. The chemical signatures of these plumes differed by operation type (e.g., C 8 –C 10 n-alkanes constituted a larger fraction of measured VOCs in drilling-related plumes). Concentrations of individual, oil and gas-related VOCs in these plumes were often several orders of magnitude higher than in background air, with maximum ethane and benzene concentrations of 79,600 and 819 ppbv, respectively. Because these plumes typically impact a monitoring site for just several minutes, they are easily missed by slower-responding instruments. Study measurements highlight future emission mitigation opportunities during UOGD operations, including better control of emissions from shakers that separate drill cuttings from drilling mud, production separator maintenance operations, and periodic emptying of sand cans during flowback operations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

CO 2 water-alternating-gas injection for enhanced oil recovery: Optimal well controls and half-cycle lengths

We report that CO 2 water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection is an enhanced oil recovery method designed to improve sweep efficiency during CO 2 injection with the injected water to control the mobility of CO 2 and to stabilize the gas front. Optimization of CO 2 -WAG injection is widely regarded as a viable technique for controlling the CO 2 and oil miscible process. Poor recovery from CO 2 -WAG injection can be caused by inappropriately designed WAG parameters. In previous study (Chen and Reynolds, 2016), we proposed an algorithm to optimize the well controls which maximize the life-cycle net-present-value (NPV). However, the effect of injection half-cycle lengths for each injector on oil recovery or NPV has not been well investigated. In this paper, an optimization framework based on augmented Lagrangian method and the newly developed stochastic-simplex-approximate-gradient (StoSAG) algorithm is proposed to explore the possibility of simultaneous optimization of the WAG half-cycle lengths together with the well controls. Finally, the proposed framework is demonstrated with three reservoir examples.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Techno-economic feasibility of geothermal energy production using inactive oil and gas wells for district heating and cooling systems in Tuttle, Oklahoma

Oil and gas wells have been drilled in the United States and often encounter hot co-produced water possibly suitable for geothermal direct-use applications. Here this study evaluated geothermal resources, heating and cooling demand, and techno-economic potential of four oil and gas wells repurposed for geothermal energy production to serve two public schools and 250 nearby houses in Tuttle, Oklahoma, USA. Subsurface geology in the study area primarily consists of Permian to Mississippian sandstone and limestone formations approximately from 2 km to 3.5 km depth. With a geothermal gradient of 25.3 °C/km, the temperature of geothermal energy production was estimated as 68.2 °C at 2.1 km. The potential of calcite scaling within boreholes and pipes was minimal. Using the characterized reservoir properties, techno-economic analyses were conducted for evaluating levelized costs of geothermal energy production for direct-use heating and cooling and district heating systems with five different production scenarios. Heating and cooling demand in two schools and 250 houses and additional 0.3 MW and 0.6 MW base heating loads for potential geothermal direct-use applications in the study area were also incorporated in the modeling. Results indicated that the levelized cost of heating of geothermal district heating systems utilizing existing wells were significantly lower than those of conventional geothermal energy systems that include well drillings. The geothermal energy production with doublet and quartet configurations was generally sufficient to supply total annual heating demand in the district, while a peaking boiler was used to supply peak loads. Doublet configurations showed higher production temperature with a lower thermal drawdown than the quartet configurations. The doublet system at 2.1 km production depth with 9.3 kg/s flow rate represented the optimal levelized cost of $71/MWh and 91.2% utilization factor. These results imply that the Tuttle geothermal district heating system is techno-economically feasible and comparable to geothermal district heating systems in the United States and the regional natural gas rate for residentials by recycling inactive oil and gas wells with no drillings.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Cytogenetic analysis of oral mucosa cells, induced by chlorhexidine, essential oils in ethanolic solution and triclosan mouthwashes

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate DNA damage and cytokinetic defects, proliferative potential and cell death caused by the frequent use of mouthrinses containing chlorhexidine, triclosan and essential oils in ethanolic solution, compared to a placebo mouthwash. Study design: This double-blind, prospective, randomized clinical trial included 80 Caucasian patients. Subjects were divided into four groups: Group I used a mouthrinse, Triclosan; Group II used physiological saline; Group III used chlorhexidine; Group IV a mouthrinse with essential oils in ethanolic solution. All subjects used the mouthrinses for two weeks (15 ml, twice a day, rinsing for 30 s). Two cell samples per subject were collected, before and after mouthrinse use (on day 0 and day 15). Samples were processed as follows: cell collection from cheeks with a cytobrush; cell centrifuge; slide preparation, fixation and staining; and fluorescent microscope analysis. 2000 exfoliated cells were screened for nuclear abnormalities, particularly the presence of micronuclei by means of cytome assay. Results: No significant differences between study times (before and after use of mouthwash) were identified for any of the variables studied (p>0.05). Differences between mouthrinse groups were also compared but no significant differences were found (p>0.05). Conclusions: This study did not observe any genotoxic effect resulting from mouthrinse use. - Highlights: • Mouthrinses are used widely, mainly for their capacity to control dental plaque. • No genotoxic effects from the mouthrinses triclosan, chlorhexidine essential oils solution. • The buccal cytome assay is a sensitive, non-invasive, and low cost technique.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Quantifying CO 2 storage efficiency factors in hydrocarbon reservoirs. A detailed look at CO 2 Enhanced Oil Recovery

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) enhanced oil recovery (EOR) will likely be the primary means of geologic CO 2 storage during the early stages of commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) because of the inherent economic incentives as well as the abundant experience and demonstrated success in the United States, where CO 2 EOR has been employed since 1974. The work presented here estimates CO 2 storage efficiency factors in CO 2 EOR operations using a unique industry database of CO 2 EOR sites and 12 different reservoir simulation models. The simulation models encompass fluvial clastic and shallow shelf carbonate depositional environments for reservoir depths of 1219 and 2438 m (4000 and 8000 feet) and 7.6-, 20-, and 64-m (25-, 66-, and 209-foot)-thick pay zones. A novel statistical modeling technique incorporating the Michaelis–Menten function is used to generate empirical percentile estimates of CO 2 storage efficiency factors. West Texas San Andres dolomite water alternating gas (WAG) CO 2 flood performance data were used to derive P10, P50, and P90 CO 2 storage efficiency factors of 0.76, 1.28, and 1.74 Mscf/STB (stock tank barrel) of original oil in place. Median CO 2 storage efficiency factors from continuous CO 2 injection following conventional waterflood varied from 15% to 61% and 8% to 40% for fluvial clastic and shallow shelf carbonate simulation models, respectively, while those from WAG injection varied from 14% to 42% and 8% to 31%, respectively. Variation in the CO 2 storage efficiency factors was largely attributable to reservoir depth (a surrogate for reservoir pressure and temperature) and lithology (clastic versus carbonate). The results of this work provide practical information that can be used to quantify CO 2 storage resource estimates in oil reservoirs during CO 2 EOR operations (as opposed to storage following depletion) and the uncertainty associated with those estimates.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Statistical analysis of historic hydrocarbon production data from Gulf of Mexico oil and gas fields and application to dynamic capacity assessment in CO 2 storage

Numerical modeling of CO 2 injection and reservoir flow is typically performed to forecast the number of wells, sustainable injection rates, and total storage volume (or mass). A critical determination for CO 2 storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs is characterization of reservoir compartmentalization which informs boundary conditions in simulating injection scenarios. Constraining boundary conditions during CO 2 injection into geological formations is a key factor for feasible deployment project. Production history data from 616 wells in 100 oil and gas fields from Gulf of Mexico (GOM) offshore basin can be used to evaluate boundary conditions and total production (oil and gas) and therefor constrain the capacity for potential carbon storage. In general, the combination of decline curve analysis and statistical analysis (to specify constraining boundary conditions) allows the determination of the range of reservoir performance if existing inactive production wells in GOM area of study are used reversibly for CO 2 injection. To constrain the mass of CO 2 which can be injected, it is useful to consider estimates of cumulative bulk (hydrocarbon + brine) production (CBP), which can be converted to equivalent CO 2 mass considering reservoir conditions. Summary CBP statistics are presented as a probability of non-exceedance (PNE), providing a forecast of likely injection rates and masses for other located CO 2 storage projects with similar geology and boundary conditions in the future. The 50% PNE for Equivalent CO 2 is a novel quantitative approach to investigate the possible injection capacity in CO 2 storage projects. The PNE sensitivity analysis shows that reservoir age, drive mechanism, reservoir trap, and reservoir porosity are the key controlling parameters for productivity and consequently optimum CO 2 storage capacity. Furthermore another key finding is the negligible correlation between CBP with reservoir transmissivity and porosity, which implies that other factors than just petrophysical parameters should be studied as constraining factors for CO 2 storage statistical analysis.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Natural Oil-Based Emulsion Containing Allantoin Versus Aqueous Cream for Managing Radiation-Induced Skin Reactions in Patients With Cancer: A Phase 3, Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Trial

Purpose: To investigate the effects of a natural oil-based emulsion containing allantoin versus aqueous cream for preventing and managing radiation-induced skin reactions. Methods and Materials: A total of 174 patients were randomized and participated in the study. Patients received either cream 1 (the natural oil-based emulsion containing allantoin) or cream 2 (aqueous cream). Skin toxicity, pain, itching, and skin-related quality of life scores were collected for up to 4 weeks after radiation treatment. Results: Patients who received cream 1 had a significantly lower average level of Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events at week 3 (P<.05) but had statistically higher average levels of skin toxicity at weeks 7, 8, and 9 (all P<.001). Similar results were observed when skin toxicity was analyzed by grades. With regards to pain, patients in the cream 2 group had a significantly higher average level of worst pain (P<.05) and itching (P=.046) compared with the cream 1 group at week 3; however, these differences were not observed at other weeks. In addition, there was a strong trend for cream 2 to reduce the incidence of grade 2 or more skin toxicity in comparison with cream 1 (P=.056). Overall, more participants in the cream 1 group were required to use another topical treatment at weeks 8 (P=.049) and 9 (P=.01). Conclusion: The natural oil-based emulsion containing allantoin seems to have similar effects for managing skin toxicity compared with aqueous cream up to week 5; however, it becomes significantly less effective at later weeks into the radiation treatment and beyond treatment completion (week 6 and beyond). There were no major differences in pain, itching, and skin-related quality of life. In light of these results, clinicians and patients can base their decision on costs and preferences. Overall, aqueous cream seems to be a more preferred option.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Understanding Self-Assembly and the Stabilization of Liquid/Liquid Interfaces: The Importance of Ligand Tail Branching and Oil-Phase Solvation

Organophosphorus-based ligands represent a versatile set of solvent extraction reagents whose chemical makeup plays an important role in extraction mechanism. We hypothesize that the branching of the extractant hydrophobic tail and its oil-phase solvation affect the liquid/liquid interfacial structure. Understanding the structure mediated adsorption and interfacial ordering becomes key in designing ligands with enhanced selectivity and efficiency for targeted extractions. We employed vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy and interfacial tension measurements to extract thermodynamic adsorption energies, map interfacial ordering, and rationalize disparate behaviors of model di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid and dioctyl phosphoric acid ligands at the hexadecane water interface. With increased surface loading, ligands with branched hydrophobic tails formed stable interfaces at much lower concentrations than those observed for ligands with linear alkyl tails. The lack of an oil phase and associated solvation results in markedly different interfacial properties, and thus measurements made at air/liquid surfaces cannot be assumed to correlate with the processes occurring at buried liquid/liquid interfaces. Here, we attribute these differences in the surface mediated self-assembly to key variations in hydrophobic interactions and tail solvation taking place in the oil phase demonstrating that interactions in both the polar and nonpolar phases are essential to understand self-assembly and function.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Synthesis of zinc aluminate with high surface area by microwave hydrothermal method applied in the transesterification of soybean oil (biodiesel)

Highlights: • ZnAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} spinel was synthesized by the microwave hydrothermal method in only 15 or 30 min. • The powders show high specific surface area. • ZAT{sub b}15 showed activity of 52.22% for the conversion of soybean oil into biodiesel. - Abstract: Zinc aluminate is a material with high thermal stability and high mechanical strength that, owing to these properties, is used as a catalyst or support. In this work, zinc aluminate spinel was synthesized by the microwave hydrothermal method in only 15 or 30 min at a low temperature (150 °C) without templates, using only Al(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}·9H{sub 2}O, Zn(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}·6H{sub 2}O, and urea as precursors and applied in the transesterification of soybean oil. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that ZnAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} had a cubic structure without secondary phases. The nitrogen adsorption measurements (BET) revealed a high surface area (266.57 m{sup 2} g{sup −1}) for the nanopowder synthesized in 15 min. This powder showed activity of 52.22% for the catalytic conversion of soybean oil into biodiesel by transesterification.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Estimating diffusion coefficients of shale oil, gas, and condensate with nano-confinement effect

Molecular diffusion plays an important role in oil and gas migration in tight shale formations. However, there are insufficient reference data in the literature to specify the diffusion coefficients within porous media. This study aims at calculating diffusion coefficients of shale gas, shale condensate, and shale oil at reservoir conditions with CO 2 injection for EOR/EGR. The large nano-confinement effects including large gas-oil capillary pressure and critical property shifts could alter the phase behaviors. This paper estimates the diffusivities of shale fluids in nanometer-scale shale rock from two perspectives: 1) examining the shift of diffusivity caused by nanopore confinement effects from phase change (phase composition and fluid property) perspective, and 2) calculating the effective diffusion coefficient in porous media by incorporating rock intrinsic properties (porosity and tortuosity factor). The tortuosity is obtained by using tortuosity-porosity relations as well as the measured tortuosity of shale from 3D imaging techniques. The results indicated that nano-confinement effects could affect the diffusion coefficient through altering the phase properties, such as phase compositions and densities. Compared to bulk phase diffusivity, the effective diffusion coefficient in porous shale rock is reduced by 10 2 to 10 4 times as porosity decreases from 0.1 to 0.03.

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Co-Hydrotreatment of Yellow Greases and the Water-Insoluble Fraction of Pyrolysis Oil. Part I: Experimental Design to Increase Kerosene Yield and Reduce Coke Formation

Here, this paper reports the co-hydrotreatment of Biomass Technology Group commercial pyrolysis oil water-insoluble (WIS) phase (also known as pyrolytic lignin) and yellow greases (waste cooking oil), aiming to produce sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). We use a sulfided NiMo/Al 2 O 3 blend with 16 wt % WIS and a central composite experimental design to identify processing conditions increasing kerosene yield and reducing coke formation. The input variables were: (1) reaction temperature (320, 350, and 380 °C), (2) initial hydrogen pressure (5, 6, and 7 MPa), and (3) amount of catalyst (0.7, 1.0, and 1.3 g). The hydrotreated oily phases were distilled to obtain gasoline (<150 °C), kerosene (150–250 °C), diesel (250–350 °C), and residual oil (>350 °C). The reaction temperature is the main factor affecting the yield of gaseous, solid, and liquid products. Meanwhile, a higher initial hydrogen pressure and catalyst loading increased the yield of kerosene and other distillates and decreased the coke formation. A high temperature correlated with a lower content of oxygenates in kerosene cuts. Based on our experimental results, we propose to conduct hydrotreatment studies at 380 °C, initial H 2 pressure of 7 MPa, and 1.3 g of catalyst. Under the identified conditions, it was possible to improve the kerosene yield to more than 20 wt % and reduce the yield of coke to close to 2.0 wt %. The chemical composition and fuel properties of the gasoline, kerosene, and diesel cuts were thoroughly analyzed. The content of aromatics and phenols in the kerosene fraction produced at the conditions identified in this project exceeded the recommended values for SAFs. New strategies (such as blending and more intense hydrotreatment to remove oxygenated compounds) need to be implemented to reduce the content of these molecules in our final product.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Norms, Standards, and Legislation for Fast Pyrolysis Bio-oils from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Fast pyrolysis of woody biomass is close to full maturity, with first-of-its-kind commercial size installations for fuel production being commissioned in Finland (Fortum) and in The Netherlands (Empyro), and in the design phase in Brazil (Ensyn). In the industrial-scale combustion tests, the use of fast pyrolysis bio-oil (FPBO) has been demonstrated to be a viable option to replace heavy fuel oil in district heating applications. Commercially usable district heating boilers and burners suitable for FPBO are available. There is research on diesel-engine and gas-turbine applications but, so far, no proven demonstrations. FPBO is completely different from mineral oils; hence, standards are needed. Analytical methods have been systematically validated and modifications to the standards as well as completely new methods have been made. Two ASTM burner fuel standards already exist and European boiler fuel grades are being developed under CEN. The focus on CEN standardization is on boiler use, because of its commercial readiness.

bio-oil↗
DOE OSTI2026

Locating Undocumented Wells Using Historical Oil and Gas Exploration Maps: A Case Study in Osage County, Oklahoma

Undocumented oil and gas wells lack reliable information about their locations and characteristics, making them difficult to identify. These wells can result in unanticipated delays and costs in the development of nearby surface and subsurface resources, and, if improperly plugged, can cause contamination. This study leverages historical petroleum exploration maps to locate such wells, focusing on Osage County, Oklahoma. Two sets of early 20th century oil and gas exploration maps by the United States Geological Survey were georeferenced and analyzed using a computer vision model to detect well symbols. The locations of detected wells were compared to the location of known wells in the database from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Osage Agency to identify potential undocumented wells. The analysis yielded over 500 potential undocumented wells, with dry holes constituting the largest fraction. Field verification confirmed the presence of some undocumented wells. Comparison with prior work revealed limited overlap, underscoring the complementary value of historical oil and gas maps for locating undocumented wells. This approach demonstrates the utility of integrating historical cartographic resources with modern geospatial and machine learning techniques to improve the identification and management of undocumented wells.

Energy - Petroleum↗