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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 847 records · Page 47

Schema Elements for Granta Annual Report: FY2022

Granta: Materials Intelligence, also known as Granta:MI or Granta, is a commercial database software by Ansys, Inc. that is utilized by the Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE) to organize and store relevant materials data. For a complete discussion of the use of Granta:MI at NSE sites, see the FY21 annual report. Granta:MI is used by five NSE sites locally, and all NSE sites have access to an enterprise instance on the Enterprise Secure Network (ESN) as well as an unclassified development instance. It has been recognized by NNSA management that a shared repository for additive manufacturing (AM) data would not only ensure data and knowledge is not lost but would provide a pool of information relating AM inputs (build parameters, raw materials properties, post-processing information) to the as-built properties of AM parts. Such a pool of data would enable optimization of AM build design and help NNSA achieve the goals of shortening fielding times for new components.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Coupled TD Simulation project (Final Report)

This project implements coupled simulation of electric power grid transmission and distribution (T&D) by instantiating the co-simulation platform HELICS using a commercial distribution planning software CYMDIST1 by Eaton Inc., a power management company, and by leveraging the open-source transmission grid simulator GridDyn and LLNL’s High Performance Computing (HPC). The project is funded by DOE’s Technology Commercialization Funding (TCF) and supported by DOE Office of Technology Transitions (OTT).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NREL Waves to Water Prize Program: Sensitivity Analysis of Alternative Markets

Isle Inc., in collaboration with Engineering for Change (project team), performed a Sensitivity Analysis of market alternatives to evaluate commercialization barriers for the Waves to Water (W2W) competitors. This analysis included interviews with organizations and end-users in three market categories (1) Disaster Relief, (2) Commercial/Industrial, and (1) Municipal, Residential, and Government. For each category, the project team selected organizations that provided a well rounded experience and set of drivers for adopting W2W technologies. In addition to the project team's efforts, fellows from NREL/DOE completed interviews with government organizations to understand their potential to engage with W2W technologies, and these findings are summarized in a separate summary document.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Distribution Capacity Expansion Planning: Current Practice, Opportunities, and Decision Support

The distribution utility industry and its engineers are experiencing monumental shifts in consumer needs and expectations. Characterizing future native loads as compared to net load demand for long-term capacity planning is especially difficult, as consumers are increasingly adopting prosumer technologies. This paper is the culmination of 5 months of utility interviews coordinated by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and Kevala, Inc. (Kevala) to better understand distribution capacity planning challenges. The interviews covered all aspects of capacity planning including load and DER forecasting, criteria for assessing system constraints, solution types, and organizational and decision-making structures. Our intent is to provide insight into distribution capacity planning decision support needs for utilities and the increasing number of stakeholders involved, from state and regulatory agencies to community and solution providers with interest in increasing their understanding in the distribution capacity planning process.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

239 Pu(n,f) Neutron Multiplicity Evaluation with CGMF-Very First Release Candidate. [Slides]

239 Pu(n,f) nu-bar evaluated with CGMF from E inc = 0.1-20 MeV. Changes compared to VIII.0: Prior: CGMF model included via Kalman and sensitivities of CGMF model parameters to nu-bar. Evaluation technique: Kalman including correction for PPP. Experimental data: Nearly all data that Phil took into account (I rejected: Huanqiao, Johnstone, Leroy, Nesterov, Smirenkin); New UQ for all experimental data; Marini; No correlations between unc. of different exp., except for Cf-252(sf) nu-bar uncertainty cross-correlating all uncertainties.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Evaluation of AddUp Precision L-PBF Technology for Tooling and Other Industrial Applications

ORNL (Contractor) and AddUp Inc. (Participant) collaborated to enable the adoption of laser powder bed fusion for tooling applications, critical for reshoring the manufacturing sector in the U.S. Most of the work on laser powder bed fusion has focused on high value materials such as Ti-6Al-4V and Inconel 718 for niche applications in aerospace, biomedical and energy sectors. In this collaboration, ORNL and AddUp worked laser powder bed fusion of maraging steels for tooling applications while leveraging the unique ability of the AddUp laser powder bed fusion system to deposit fine powders. We demonstrated that the AddUp technology is capable of depositing complex artifacts and features such as overhangs within desired tolerances. We also showed that direct aging of the deposited parts result in simultaneously higher strength and elongation compared to the conventional two step heat treatments, which could result in significant energy savings. Finally, we developed thermos-kinetic models to enable design of heat treatments for optimal material properties compared to the energy intensive empirical methods currently used. The report summarizes the detailed findings of this collaboration.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Reversible Fuel Cell Stacks with Integrated Water Management

Regenerative fuel cell/electrolyzers have long held promise as energy storage devices. Due to their small footprint and their ability to separately size the power and storage functions, they have many advantages over batteries, particularly for remote or deployable systems. A unitized regenerative fuel cell is proposed that takes advantage of three new technologies. The first is a H 2 /O 2 unitized regenerative stack that Giner, Inc. (Giner) has developed that combines a fuel cell and electrolyzer stack, eliminating one of the electrochemical stacks, the most expensive component in regenerative fuel cell systems. The second is an oxygen catalyst with low PGM loadings generated through Reactive Spray Deposition Technology (RSDT). The third is an amphiphilic microporous layer (AMPL) structure to greatly aid water management in both operational modes.

08 HYDROGEN↗

A New Low-Temperature Approach for Efficient and Low-Cost Group V Doping in CdTe Thin Film Solar Cells (Final Technical Report)

The goal of this project is to develop a highly efficient low-temperature ex-situ Group V diffusion doping approach in the CdCl 2 treated polycrystalline CdTe film using the group V chlorides (i.e., PCl 3 , AsCl 3 , SbCl 3 , and BiCl 3 ) as dopants source. For the first time, our innovative doping strategies through the low-temperature ex-situ Group V doping process in polycrystalline CdSeTe successfully demonstrated a promising power conversion efficiency of ~19% compared to the Cu-doped counterparts. Our newly developed low-temperature ex-situ group V doping allows dedicated control of group V diffusion amount, generates a desirable depth profile, and is completely compatible with commercial CdTe module manufacturing. We built the partnership with the largest CdTe solar module manufacturing in the US, e.g., First Solar, Inc to further develop these low-temperature diffusion doped CdSeTe solar cells. Our technology was granted US Patent No. US11257977B2. In this project, we systematically investigate and characterize the new ex-situ group V doping mechanisms, defect chemistry, microstructure, and device physics in CdTe solar cells by combining experimental and theoretical means to pave the way to achieve lower cost toward $\$$0.02/kWh and higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) toward 25% in polycrystalline CdTe solar technology. This project will benefit the public by providing more affordable solar electricity and provide an effective way to address climate change.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Low Regeneration Temperature Sorbents for Direct Air Capture of CO 2

Susteon Inc., in partnership with University of Wyoming and SoCalGas, successfully met all major technical objectives to (1) scale up the ionic liquid catalyst for amine-based sorbents for improved desorption and absorption kinetics, (2) evaluate the catalyzed amine-based sorbents for direct CO 2 capture process to determine CO 2 adsorption and desorption rates and energy requirements, and (3) based on the experimental results, develop a conceptual process design to perform a preliminary economic assessment to evaluate the potential for DAC process cost reduction using the catalyzed sorbents. Amine doped solid sorbents are effective for DAC applications and can be regenerated by heat or by a combination of heat, steam, and vacuum. The best sorbent composition identified was polyethyleneimine (PEI) on fumed silica with 200 ppm ionic liquid catalyst. This sorbent formulation was shown to have a CO 2 breakthrough capacity twice that of the non-catalyzed sorbent, in laboratory tests with air at 75% relative humidity (RH). The CO 2 adsorption rate was also 40% higher than that of the non-catalyzed sorbent. This type of sorbents has the attributes required for lowering the overall cost of DAC with high CO 2 capacity and high rate of adsorption. The combination of an industrially utilized amine-based sorbent with a highly active catalyst to form a new class of materials for DAC provides a technically viable pathway for reducing the cost of DAC to <$100/tonne of CO 2 . Laboratory measurements show that the silica/PEI (polyethyleneimine) sorbents with 100 ppm of ionic liquid catalyst have almost 100% higher CO 2 cyclic capacity and 40% higher adsorption rate. Generally, CO 2 desorption occurred at higher temperatures with a rate of desorption 10 times faster than adsorption (which occurred at ambient conditions). Therefore, adsorption rate is a much more important factor in the cost of DAC because it is directly linked to the CAPEX of the total system and the cycle time (i.e., sorbent productivity in ton/day of CO 2 captured per unit volume of the air contactor). An initial process design, coupled with techno-economic analysis, based on optimal experimental results and preliminary resulting from structured sorbent testing, showed a path to lower the DAC cost from the current cost of over $200/tonne CO 2 to less than $100/tonne with a scale-up, mature state of the technology, with projected material and process improvements. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the catalyst in silica/PEI sorbents in enhancing sorbents’ CO 2 working capacity, in (a) increasing the rate of adsorption and desorption, and (b) in lowering the CAPEX and OPEX of the DAC system employing the ionic liquid catalyzed sorbents.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Mitigation of Alkali Induced Aerosols

Barr, in partnership with the University of North Dakota, Microbeam Technologies Inc., Envergex LLC, and MLJ Consulting, worked to develop a transformational technology that controls the formation of alkali aerosols found in coal ash. This technology mitigates ash deposition by injecting sorbents into the boiler and capturing volatile species responsible for boiler fouling, the primary cause for boiler outages. In this session, we’ll explore the science behind this technology and see some real-world results of its implementation.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Update on Mitigation of Aerosol Impacts on Ash Deposition and Emission from Coal Combustion

Barr, in partnership with the University of North Dakota, Microbeam Technologies Inc., Envergex LLC, and MLJ Consulting, worked to develop a transformational technology that controls the formation of alkali aerosols found in coal ash. This technology mitigates ash deposition by injecting sorbents into the boiler and capturing volatile species responsible for boiler fouling, the primary cause for boiler outages. In this session, we’ll explore the science behind this technology and see some real-world results of its implementation.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Port of New York and New Jersey Drayage Electrification Analysis

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) evaluated the potential for drayage electrification in the Port of New York and New Jersey (PoNYNJ), with a focus on operators: Harbor Freight Transport (HF), Safeway Trucking (SWT), and International Motor Freight Inc (IMF). This report summarizes the data collection and electrification evaluation of all three drayage operators, includes detailed operational data, and identifies the performance requirements for battery electric tractors (BETs) and corresponding infrastructure operated within the context of PoNYNJ drayage operation. This report also details a methodology to evaluate opportunities, strategies, and challenges associated with future expansions of BETs in meeting PANYNJ emissions goals. The Port Authority has established a goal of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 across all facilities, including from tenant and stakeholder sources such as drayage trucks. NREL used real-world performance data collected on the three PoNYNJ drayage operations, along with modeling and analysis tools to compare BET to diesel trucks. From March to July 2021, NREL collected 1Hz vehicle and engine data from 46 drayage trucks at the three operators totaling nearly 121,000 miles of operation, providing enough information to assess vehicle operations for electrification potential. A Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator (FASTSim) electric truck powertrain model was validated using PoNYNJ data and scenarios were run to evaluate drayage truck electrification requirements over the real-world cycles. The first scenario examined BET viability with minimal changes to existing operations. This assumes the trucks charge when stopped for two hours or longer, have a functional battery size of 375 kWh, and can charge at 270 kilowatts (kW) average which are the specification of the commercially available Freightliner eCascadia. The second scenario looked at what operational, charging infrastructure, and BET technology changes would be needed to fully electrify. Finally, detailed analysis was run on charging rate structure to understand operational costs to the fleets. The studied drayage trucks averaged 5.1 MPG, spent roughly 9% of their energy at idle, and drove an average of 140 miles per day with a maximum daily distance of 573 miles. The FASTSim model results indicate a comparable BET would use 417 kWh of energy per day on average accounting for cargo weight, which is close to the full usable capacity of the eCascadia currently available on the market. Based on the daily average operating data, partial fleet electrification is possible with current technology. However, some specific days of operation would require over 1,600 kWh of energy due to longer distances traveled by the trucks and more intense operation. Trucks used for long distance and intense operation cannot be readily electrified with current technology without operational changes. Full adoption of BETs could reduce CO 2 emissions from these fleets by roughly 75% today, eliminating 76 metric tons of CO 2 (MTCO 2 ) per vehicle each year, which equates to 24,100 MTCO 2 per year for all three operators. Commercially available direct current fast chargers (DCFC) have charge rates up to 350 kW. Based on the average daily modeled energy use for each operator, current industrial rate structures, and the assumption of 350 kW peak charging, full drayage electrification would increase electricity consumption. In addition, peak demand usage would increase with unmanaged charging along with cost of electricity having a direct impact on cost per mile for electric vehicles. The resulting cost per mile for BETs along with comparable cost per mile for conventional diesel trucks are also examined at $\$$4.00 per gallon of diesel. It will be important for PANYNJ and the drayage operators within the PoNYNJ to consider these load impacts to their existing electrical infrastructure and devise operational strategies that avoid coincident charging of vehicles to mitigate demand charges. Despite these electricity cost increases, savings from reductions in diesel consumption will help offset the costs of this increased electricity consumption. However, prices of both electricity and diesel are subject to change based on various factors meaning the realized savings will vary over time. This shows BETs could be cost-competitive on an energy cost per mile basis for all scenarios while diesel is above $\$$3.00/gal. Further, if diesel prices dropped to the 15-year low of $2.33/gal, it would still be cost competitive to operate the EVs with electricity costs of 16.3 ¢/kWh or less.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Preliminary Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of the UTA–2 Subcritical Linear Accelerator–Driven System

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s mission includes establishing a reliable supply of 99 Mo without highly enriched uranium. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) supports this objective through collaborative research and development with industrial partners. Niowave Inc., a current partner, is currently designing a subcritical linear accelerator-driven system (ADS) and preparing for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing process. Niowave’s system has the potential to efficiently supply medical radioisotopes. The technology includes a superconducting electron accelerator and a pile of both natural and low-enriched uranium (LEU) targets. The process fissions uranium and many valuable isotopes can then be extracted from the targets. Niowave is currently iterating through conceptual and detailed design processes for several system sizes. This report discusses UTA–2, which is at the demonstration stage. UTA–2 will validate numerical modeling results with experimental measurements before progressing to the detailed design of UTA–3, the commercial-sized ADS. The thermal-hydraulic behavior of the UTA–2 core design was numerically investigated using STAR-CCM+, as described in this report. STAR-CCM+, a state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software that was commercially developed by Siemens, has an extensive user base and a set of validation studies. It is also compliant with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Nuclear Quality Assurance 1 standard. Three cases are investigated in this report. Case 1 quantified the temperature field within the UTA–2 assembly and water tank using only conduction as the method of thermal energy transport. This simplified approach was overly conservative and yielded wetted cladding temperatures above the coolant saturation temperature. In this case, the maximum temperature of the wetted cladding surface of the highest power rod exceeded the saturation temperature of water by 63.8°C. Because of the overly conservative approach taken in Case 1 and its negative subcooled margin, buoyancy-driven natural circulation flow physics were implemented in Case 2. Adding coolant motion significantly distributed the thermal energy of the system through convective heat transfer. This relatively small amount of convective heat transfer significantly reduced system temperatures and increased the subcooled margin from –63.8 to 61.3°C. This margin confirmed that no boiling was expected during normal operation of UTA–2 at 230 W. Case 3 had no additional physics models but considered an overpower event during which the power of each LEU and natural uranium rod was at its respective peak values. This resulted in a study with the total assembly power equal to 176% of the nominal power of 230 W considered in Cases 1 and 2. The resulting natural circulation flows were slightly enhanced. The subcooled margin decreased slightly to 46.3°C, which is still a significant margin to local boiling of the water within the tank. This margin confirmed that no boiling was expected during an abnormal operation of UTA–2 at 406 W.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Beneficial use of CO 2 from Coal-Fired Power Plants for Production of Animal Feeds

This Final Technical Report for Award DE-FE0031717 is a non-confidential overview of the algae-based CO 2 utilization research project carried out by MicroBio Engineering Inc. (MBE) and project partners - the Orlando Utilities Commission-Stanton Energy Center (OUC-SEC), California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo), University of Central Florida (UCF), and Global Thermostat LLC. The project ran from January 1 2019 to March 2022.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

Cybersecurity Center for Secure Evolvable Energy Delivery Systems (SEEDS)

The SEEDS Center has successfully completed its mission to research and develop a plethora of technologies during its six-year timeframe. The Center institutions of the University of Arkansas, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Carnegie-Mellon University, Florida International University, Lehigh University, and MIT all worked together with industry partners to define relevant energy sector cybersecurity issues, create projects to address those issues, and execute those projects in roughly two and three-year increments. The short project descriptions below indicate some really keystone areas of research. The teams generally met all of their objectives with only a few exceptions, which is tremendous in an R&D center. In fact, the success of one project led to the creation of a startup company, Bastazo, Inc. that is commercializing the SPARTAN project. In addition to creating new technologies, the Center helped to educate a desperately needed workforce. Lastly, a big success is that the UA seriously followed the mandate of the original program manager to try to become self-sustaining. This effort has resulted in a combined NSF center with the CREDC Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. To summarize the SEEDS effort, great research was funded, students were educated and put into the workforce, technology is being commercialized and offered to the electric sector, and the research efforts are being sustained through additional funding. The effort was an unqualified success.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Statement of Work for Impact Testing

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (“LLNL”) will outsource impact testing (also known as drop hammer testing) of PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) to Safety Management Services Inc. (“Subcontractor”). This document describes the objective, technical approach, and deliverables. Subcontractor will conduct impact testing studies on three PETN samples. LLNL will provide the samples. LLNL selected this company for impact testing because LLNL has an impact test machine purchased from the same vendor. The objective of this work is to answer the following questions: 1) What are the variations in impact sensitivity results between three PETN samples LLNL will provide?; 2) What is the effect of starting mass on impact sensitivity of PETN?

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Improved Value of the Gasoline and Fuel Oil Co-Product Fractions Generated by the PNNL/LanzaTech Alcohol-to-Jet Process (Final Report)

The BETO-funded PNNL collaboration with LanzaTech, Inc. utilizes patented technology to address the need for low aromatic jet fuel blendstocks. The PNNL/LanzaTech alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) process converts ethanol from LanzaTech’s syngas fermentation process to jet-range isoparaffins. The aim of this Cooperative Research Development Agreement (CRADA) project was to improve the commercial viability of the LanzaTech/ PNNL ATJ process by developing two new co-product options. Two Focus Areas (FA) were explored: FA1) Increasing the RON of the lighter-than-jet gasoline fraction above 98; and FA2) Creating a synthetic lubricant base oil from the heavier-than-jet fraction. For FA 1, multiple processing approaches were evaluated, and RONs ranging from 96-100 were obtained, each comprising different processing costs. The most cost effective approach identified was a single-step process and yielded a liquid product of 97. Thus, additional development is required to obtain a RON > 98. We will continue work on this focus area with separate Direct Funding Opportunity (DFO) funding within the DOE-BETO Co-Optima Consortium (expected to begin Q2-FY21). Experimental work will focus on i) increasing single pass conversion to > 50%, and ii) obtaining a > 98 RON product. Technoeconomic analysis performed in this project suggests cost competitiveness provided these technical targets can be met. For FA2, multiple approaches were evaluated for increasing the viscosity index (VI) of the heavier-than-jet fraction to at least 120 in order to meet ASTM specifications for a Group III Base Oil (ASTM D6074). All other ASTM specifications are already met. A viscosity index of 115 was obtained, and with minimal undesirable cracking products. We believe a VI of 115 is about the highest possible from a catalytic approach, per review of the patent literature. In order to further increase the VI to > 120 we believe additives and/or liquid-liquid extraction is required. TEA performed earlier in the project suggests cost competitiveness with market prices assuming cracking byproducts are kept < 10 wt.%. If TEA updated with this additional processing still projects economic feasibility next steps could be taken in a subsequent effort.

02 PETROLEUM↗

Synthetic Metal Atomic Layer Deposition Tool (Final Report)

As part of the Cyclotron Road program, Laminera Inc. worked towards development of atomic layer deposition process customizations and tool modifications to produce synthetic metal films at commercial scale and improve the film quality. Today's state-of-the-art in atomic layer deposited synthetic metal technology is only possible at a research-scale because current tools have practical limitations for scaling industrially and generating high conductivity films. Ultrathin, conformal synthetic metal films have many possible applications such as high surface area nanoporous electrodes for supercapacitors and water desalination devices; protective electrode coatings for electrochemical devices; seed layers for semiconductor device fabrication; or metallic component stabilizing coatings that enable enhanced storage density in next generation hard disk drives. The best synthetic metal conductive and plasmonic properties have been demonstrated using sputtering, which relies on high temperature sputtering with substrate dependent and directional growth limiting usage. This work explored refining process and tool modifications to create ultrathin, conformal, synthetic metal films that can be deposited with high quality over complex three-dimensional surfaces.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗