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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Full Scale Engine Demonstration of Additively Manufactured High Gamma Prime Turbine Blade

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a rapidly developing technology with tremendous potential in both developmental and production applications. Solar Turbines Incorporated is committed to AM technology development for gas turbine applications. The ability to metal 3D print novel designs of turbine blades capable of actual turbine engine operation would effectively reduce design validation cycle time and allow acquisition of key performance data early in a design campaign. In support of Solar’s advanced manufacturing development and ongoing engine efficiency improvement goals, ORNL and Solar conducted a project to 3D print, machine, inspect, and engine test a full set of Mercury TM 50 stage 2 turbine blades. This full-scale, hot-fired engine demonstration has identified both the capabilities and limitations of the current technologies required to produce turbine hot-section AM components.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hydropower Capital and O&M Costs: An Exploration of the FERC Form 1 Data

This report explores the potential for using responses from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) “Electric Utility Annual Report,” also known as FERC Form 1, as a cost database for conventional and pumped storage hydropower (PSH). The report outlines the process used to compile an easy-to-access database from the original FERC Form 1 data and discusses the historical cost/performance data. The steps for developing the database include downloading the annual FoxPro files from the FERC website (FERC, 2020), reading them into an Excel format, and reconciling naming issues across years, repeated entries, and shared assets, among others. The cleaned and compiled Form 1 database is available on Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) HydroSource website. For this report, the compiled Form 1 database was linked to two other hydropower databases, the National Inventory of Dams and the ORNL Existing Hydropower Assets, that provide additional information on the characteristics and other features of plants in the Form 1 data. Explorations of the plant characteristics, performance, capital costs, and operation and maintenance (O&M) cost data in the combined database were presented separately for conventional hydropower and PSH projects. Form 1 has several advantages as a hydropower cost database. First, the cost data is reported directly by plant owners. Second, Form 1 provides cost breakdowns of capital and operating costs for large conventional and PSH plants enabling more detailed tracking of hydropower costs compared with typical total cost estimates. Third, although the Form 1 data is not reported by all operational hydropower plants in the United States, the available data represents a wide range of plant characteristics and a sizable proportion of the hydropower fleet (61% of PSH plants and 22% of conventional hydropower plants by capacity). The lower proportion of the conventional hydropower fleet is because Form 1 reporting requirements apply only to private utilities that meet given size thresholds, leaving out federally owned facilities and many smaller hydropower plants. Overall, the Form 1 cost database represents a unique, publicly available database on hydropower asset capital and O&M costs. This report leads to a compiled database for the reporting years 1994 to 2020 that helps resolve issues with accessibility and use of the FERC Form 1 data by hydropower plant owners, project developers, technology developers, and regulators.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

AGC-4 Experiment Irradiation Monitoring Data Qualification Final Report

The Graphite Technology Development Program ran a series of six experiments to quantify the effects of irradiation on nuclear grade graphite. This report focuses on the fourth experiment, Advanced Graphite Creep 4 (AGC 4). The Advanced Reactor Development (ARD) Technology Development Office (TDO) Program for research and development activities require documentation of qualified monitoring data to design and license the first high-temperature reactor nuclear plant. Qualified data meets the requirements for use as described in the experiment planning and quality assurance documents. Failed data do not meet the requirements and provide no useable information. Trend data may not meet all requirements but still provide some useable information. Use of Trend data requires assessment of how any deficiencies affect a particular use of the data. AGC-4 began with Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) Cycle 157D on May 30, 2015. After irradiating the graphite for two cycles, the capsule was removed from the reactor after ATR Cycle 158A, which ended on January 2, 2016, due to interference with another experiment. Irradiation was resumed with Cycle 162A on October 7, 2017 after the interfering experiment was removed from the reactor. AGC-4 irradiation completed by the end of Cycle 166B on January 10, 2020. Between Cycles 162A and 166B, AGC-4 capsule was removed from the reactor core during two Powered Axial Locator Mechanism (PALM) Cycles 163A and 165A to avoid overheating. All thermocouples (TCs) have functioned throughout the AGC-4 experiment. A total of 9,256,184 out of all 11,167,213 temperature records (or 82.9%) are Qualified for use by the ARD Program and 1,911,029 missing values are Failed. Argon, helium, and total gas flow data were within expected ranges, except only eight out-of-range values occurred during outages. A total of 21,240,627 out of all 22,288,5103 gas flow rates (or 92.8%) are Qualified for use by the ARD Program and 1,644,476 are Failed records mostly due to missing values. Discharge gas line moisture values were consistently low during full ATR power, except for 162B, when moisture content was increasing to more than 200 ppmv by the end of this cycle. During outages, moisture content reached as high as 700 ppmv. 1,089,941 out of a total of 1,107,331 moisture values (or 98.4%) are within the measurement range of the instrument and are Qualified for use by the ARD Program and 17,390 missing moisture values are Failed. Graphite creep specimens were subjected to one of three loads: 393, 491, or 589 lbf. For a brief period during Cycle 157D between 12:19 on June 2, 2015, and 08:23 on June 11, 2015, the load cells were wired incorrectly, resulting in missing stack load data. Missing stack loads were estimated from measured ram pressures using regression equations developed from the existing data from Cycle 157D. Estimated stack loads during this period are considered to be an accurate representation of actual load applied to the stacks. These loads deviate slightly from the planned loads. This deviation does not prevent the data from being Qualified for use but must be taken into account when analyzing the effect of load on creep. 6,095,728 out of a total of 6,403,985 moisture values (or 95.2%) are within the measurement range of the instrument and are Qualified for use by the ARD Program and 308,257 missing load values are Failed. Stack displacement increased consistently throughout the eight cycles, with total displacement reached highest value of 2.4 in by the end of irradiation. During ATR outages, a set of pneumatic rams raised the stacks of graphite creep specimens to ensure the specimens were not stuck within the test train. This stack raising was performed seven times throughout irradiation. All stacks were raised successfully each time. 4,744,974 out of a total of 6,094,513 displacement values (or 77.9%) are within the measurement range of the instrument and are Qualified for use by the ARD Program and 1,349,539 displacement values are Failed mostly due to missing values. Analyses were conducted on correlations between TCs to look for trends and step changes that might indicate instrument degradation or failure. Correlation analysis was used to identify instances when TCs form short circuits, referred to as virtual junctions, which result in TCs reporting temperatures from some location in the capsule other than the location where they were intended to read. No evidence of virtual junctions was found. Analyses were also conducted on control charts of temperature differences of between two TCs, which are expected to behave consistently throughout the entire irradiation period. Upward or downward trend over time indicates at least one TC in the pair was drifted. Examining control charts for all 66 possible pairs out of twelve TCs installed in the AGC-4 capsules reveal no clear drift failures occurred, except unstable behavior of two TCs in Zone 3, TC-7 and TC-8, over irradiation time. In conclus

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

FIU Projects 4 & 5: DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Program

The DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Program has been designed to build upon the existing DOE/FIU relationship by creating a “pipeline” of minority engineers specifically trained and mentored to enter the Department of Energy workforce in technical areas of need. The main objective of the program is to provide interested students with a unique opportunity to integrate course work, DOE field work, and research work at FIU into a well-structured academic program that leads to entry into DOE EM’s Pathways Program. Students selected as DOE EM Fellows perform research at FIU and at DOE sites, national laboratories, and DOE contractors. Graduation and completion of this fellowship leads to employment opportunities with DOE EM, DOE contractors, DOE national laboratories, other federal agencies, and private industry as well as the pursuit of post-master or post-doctoral positions at DOE national labs.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Low Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Vehicle Technologies Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment Topic 5 Natural Gas Engine Enabling Technologies

A 10 liter natural gas engine has been developed with significant improvements in efficiency while maintaining ultra low NOx emissions and meeting all other EPA criteria emissions limits. This was accomplished through design and analysis of performance components specifically for operation with natural gas in contrast to current production engines which are a minimally modified diesel engine that retain most diesel design features including a flat deck swirl head. The architecture developed here includes a pent roof cylinder head with tumble charge motion and cooling passages specifically optimized for effective cooling around the spark plug and valve bridges. Also in contrast to current production natural gas engines, EGR was not used, in part to avoid the initial cost and warranty expense associated with EGR systems, but also for performance benefits of faster combustion, reduced risk of misfire and high open cycle efficiency due to the turbocharger’s ability to extract energy from the high temperature exhaust. The exhaust manifold uses high temperature material and thermal mechanical fatigue analysis was completed to ensure the ability to withstand high exhaust temperatures without EGR. Other features include dual overhead cam with late intake valve closing Miller cycle and 14:1 compression ratio steel pistons. Low NOx emissions are achieved with stoichiometric combustion and application of a close coupled plus underfloor three way catalysts. The program target of peak brake thermal efficiency of 42% has been demonstrated along with bsNOx of 0.02 g/hp-hr over HD-FTP and RMCSET emissions cycles.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluating the performance of a high resolution SLIM IM module integrated with an Agilent 6560 IM-QTOF MS - CRADA 413 (Final Report)

Developing new technologies that enhance our abilities to identify molecular signatures is important for the health of the public, the environment, and national security. Deploying these novel technologies requires multiple stages of validation and evaluation. This project focused on evaluating a technology developed at PNNL named Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations (SLIM) in the context of a commercially available ion mobility mass spectrometer instrument from Agilent Technologies. There is a benefit to integrating the recently developed SLIM module into a real-world instrument platform. Data from the combined instrument will provide new standards for characterizing samples using ion mobility. These standards, related to both the drift time of ions and their resulting collisional cross sections (CCS) will be of value in characterizing samples from both humans and environmental samples, such as soil microbiomes. Because no previous instrument has been designed and implemented to simultaneously analyze the same sample in both constant and oscillating drift fields, the project will provide a new research capability that will support research in a wide variety of applications. The evaluation approach included measuring the resolving power, mass range, sensitivity, and accuracy of two SLIM variations (constant and oscillating fields). Although SLIM performed similarly to the commercial instrument in terms of sensitivity, mass range, and accuracy the resolving power of SLIM far exceeded that of the commercially-available instrument. This validation will provide critically useful data to our commercial partners which they can use to reach informed decisions on the advantages of the SLIM technology such as the outstanding performance and the low cost of manufacturing.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Technology and Innovation Roadmap

This Technology and Innovation Roadmap outlines the Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure, LLC (H2C) strategic approach for advancing the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment Mission (HTWTM) through technology development. Our focus is on addressing technology needs that address risks, enhance efficiency, ensure worker safety, and uphold environmental standards. This Roadmap identifies key technology initiatives essential for the successful completion of the Hanford Site tank waste cleanup. Updated annually, it incorporates insights from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Integrated Tank Disposition Contractor (ITDC) H2C, recognized national lab experts, and fieldwork specialists. The Roadmap includes approximately 100 technology elements, each detailed in Technology Element Description Summaries (TEDS) and summarized in catalog sheets. These elements are crucial for aligning technology development activities with mission objectives across the HTWTM. With the initiation of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program and the operation of the Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system, our focus now shifts to the support of scaled up production in East Area; applying similar and exploring new treatment alternatives to West Area Tank Waste; and advancing retrieval, delivery and treatment technologies for waste managed as high-level waste (HLW) across the Hanford tank farms. This transition is reflected in the technology and maturation (TM&E) charts, which highlight the evolving technology priorities. This document serves as a guide for navigating the challenges and opportunities in technology development at the Hanford Site.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

DISH-STARS™ Commercialization (Abstract)

The goal of this project is to aggressively support the near-term commercialization of a new technology platform – based on the integration of solar concentrators and micro- and meso-channel process technology (MMPT) – that was evaluated and identified as a strong candidate for near-term commercialization at EERE’s inaugural Lab-Corps program during early FY2016. Known as STARS, for Solar Thermochemical Advanced Reactor System, or Dish-STARS™ when paired with parabolic dish concentrators, STARS is a promising energy-related technology developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that efficiently converts solar energy into chemical energy. Combined with economies through hardware mass production, the efficiency of Dish-STARS™ provides a near-term opportunity for the production of renewable electricity, fuels and chemicals. This proposed CRADA project supports the commercialization of Dish-STARS™ in these important ways: The project will support the cooperative development of Dish-STARS™ by the DOE national laboratory and private partners, including the startup company, STARS Corporation, that is being established by the PNNL Lab-Corps team that evaluated STARS on behalf of EERE. The project will provide important transition funding at the time that the previous DOE SunShot project, which has supported Dish-STARS™ development from Technology Readiness Level 3 (TRL 3) to TRL 6, is scheduled to end.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Important Human Actions for Advanced Reactors: Implications for Human Factors

As advanced reactor platforms continue to develop and gain traction in the energy sector there is a need for risk-informed, scalable regulations that match that progress. This is a core component of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed Part 53 Rule Making; the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act; and other efforts that seek to update nuclear power regulations. This paper covers one key aspect of that regulatory evolution: Important Human Actions (IHA). In this paper, we discuss how the understanding and definitions of IHAs have changed and what that means for human factors engagement through the process of developing these technologies. Instead of a narrow focus on control actions that led to an increase in core damage risk, the new focus is on IHAs is “wherever they occur.” What this means is that having a highly automated or passive safety system does not eliminate IHAs. Rather, it shifts the focus point to all the actions that enable these systems. Everything from maintenance, to design, to training can be considered an IHA and that dramatically shifts the efforts and level of engagement necessary for human factors to enable these technologies. We discuss the notions of risk-informed human factors that underpin these efforts, give several examples, and briefly describe the risk assessment methodologies that will be needed. In the past, IHAs were identified and then became a focus point of human factors engineering (HFE) activities to ensure a robust evaluation of the task was completed. The future is less clear. HFE for nuclear energy will need to evolve and become more integrated in technology development than ever before.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advanced Water-Related Technology Performance Development

This U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory techno-economic analysis evaluates those parameters having the greatest performance and cost impact on wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) effluent wastewater treatment systems, and air cooled condensers for dry cooling systems. Two supercritical pulverized coal power plants are considered: 1) an existing plant (modified for surface water discharge and air emissions consistent with limits for existing plants) retrofitted with wet FGD effluent wastewater treatment and 2) a greenfield plant constructed with an air-cooled condenser (ACC). Sensitivity analyses are completed on various process parameters associated with the wet FGD effluent wastewater treatment system and ACC to determine the impact on the net plant efficiency and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Research and development targets are recommended for the parameters shown to have the greatest potential impact on cost or performance.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Microchannel-based Membrane-less Extraction of Li from Unconventional Lithium Sources & the Separation of REE

This final report provides an overview of the Project's entire duration, covering July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023. It primarily focuses on the achievements, technological developments, and unique challenges the team faced while working on separating and extracting Lithium from produced waters. The project's primary aim was to create an integrated, high-throughput, membrane-less, and modular microfluidic platform that could extract Lithium from unconventional sources. We have successfully met all goals and milestones envisioned in the SOPO document. The most critical primary milestones, including the Go-No-Go milestone (refer to the Gantt chart in the Appendices), were successfully accomplished. We demonstrated phase separation (>90%) and extraction (>85%) performance in the MPSE using synthetic, and representative produced water composition feed at 50 ml/min total flow through MPSE 36. We have also performed a parametric study of the MPSE operations, beyond the scope of SOPO, exploring operating conditions of current and broader interest. The extended investigation of operational parameters is concurrent with our efforts to seek further development of the MPSE technology beyond the scope of the Project. Along these lines of development, we have made efforts to be responsive to DOE calls for technological developments of other types of resources (beyond PW) for the recovery of Critical Materials and higher TRL development (beyond TRL 4). During the work on this Project, we developed and implemented three innovative technical approaches that emerged from our efforts to successfully meet the Project milestones. The innovative & original technical approaches developed and implemented in this Project are now the contributions to process engineering that could be clearly credited to the Project. First, Convergent Design Approach is a comprehensive feedforward & feedback loop of four design phases: i) design for functionality, ii) design for manufacturing, iii) design for sustainability, and iv) design for market. Next was Process Intensification. A major aim of this Project was to create an innovative phase separation & extraction microscale-based technology for Li separation – thus the words microchannel-based in the Project title. A microscale-based technology is intrinsically in the center of the Process Intensification domain as defined by its unique principles. Therefore, Process Intensification was implicitly envisioned in the Project’s SOPO. Lastly, Time Scale Analysis is a novel tool for discovering the needs and directions of Process Intensification implementations in any process technology. This Project is fully credited for developing and implementing the three novel technical approaches mentioned above. These are general contributions to process engineering that emerged from this Project. Beyond the original SOPO scope, the OSU-U.Pitt research group utilized a Convergent Design methodology, integrating first-principles mathematical modeling with experimental validation on the Minimum Development Vehicle. By creating these Digital Twins, the team rapidly assessed manufacturing iterations to support TEA analysis. This framework further enabled the development of advanced Surface Modification Techniques, where hydrophobic and oleophobic coating strategies were optimized via Digital Twin tools and validated through rigorous 100-hour longevity testing. TEA Analysis: The closing efforts of this Project were focused on the TEA analysis. TEA analysis had two primary functions: i) enabling critical assessments of design variations withing 10 the Concurrent Design Approach, thus enabling evolution of the MPSE design to reach faster- better-cheaper alternatives; and ii) to create a bridge between the accomplishments of this Project and future projects of higher TRL, beyond TRL 6 level. It is important to note that the TEA model created in the Project stirred the technological solutions for the recovery of critical materials toward a vision of a very profitable modular plant that has unique zero-waste water discharge signature. More importantly, thanks to our experimental performance data and conservative assumptions, the TEA model predicts minimal technological and investment risks. Low cost of a modular unit of a nominal capacity of [1000 tons of Li 2 CO 3 /year] positions the MPSE based technology within the reach of community investors, thus offering a paradigm shift in the development of critical technologies. The project successfully navigated two primary challenges: solvent selection and manufacturing adaptation. Restricted by the SOPO to existing literature for lithium recovery, the team identified a critical need for a "material excellence program" to develop next-generation solvents, eventually concluding with a preliminary investigation into promising Ionic Liquids (ILs). Simultaneously, COVID-19 supply chain disruptions forced a pivot from traditional manufacturing to advanced additive methods at ATAMI-OSU. By transitioning from stainless steel to 3D-printed polymer substrates, the team achieved a transformative three-order-of- magnitude reduction in manufacturing costs and compressed prototyping timelines from several months to just two days. The MPSE technology offers significant energy, environmental, and economic advantages by overcoming the traditional bottlenecks of phase-separation hardware and contactor size. Unlike conventional mixer-settlers or membrane-based systems, MPSE operates without moving parts or fouling-prone membranes, achieving robust performance even with challenging, viscous, or particulate-heavy feeds. Key performance metrics include an energy intensity reduction of 5–50x (3–40 kJ/m 3 ) compared to incumbent technologies and a dramatic reduction of processing time to under 60 seconds, which drastically reduces the physical plant footprint. These technical efficiencies translate into superior economic outcomes; for a 100 t/year Li 2 CO 3 facility, implementing MPSE is projected to nearly halve contactor CAPEX (from $\$$6.08M to $\$$3.01M) and significantly increase the project's Net Present Value (NPV), derisking new investment and enabling distributed critical-mineral processing configurations. The commercialization of MPSE technology is being spearheaded by Vigsur Dynamics Inc., which has adopted a structured, parallel approach to technical and business development since its formation in January 2026. Following extensive customer discovery and engagement with the Oregon State University accelerator, Vigsur Dynamics is working to establish a business model that transitions from pilot demonstrations to modular hardware sales, ultimately aiming for a "build-own-operate" service strategy. Current technical milestones—including 100 hours of continuous operation, superior energy efficiency, and successful 6-unit modular scale-up— provide a foundation for this transition. Backed by ongoing IP licensing and a growing network of industrial and venture advisors, the company is actively de-risking the platform to replace conventional mixer-settler systems in the critical minerals market.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗