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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 919 records · Page 51
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Imprint of tree species mycorrhizal association on microbial‐mediated enzyme activity and stoichiometry

Abstract Understanding the effects of tree species and their mycorrhizal association on soil processes is critical for predicting the ecosystem consequences of species shifts owing to global change and forest management decisions. While it is well established that forests dominated by different mycorrhizal types can vary in how they cycle carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), the degree to which these patterns are driven by microbial‐mediated enzyme activity (EA) and ecoenzymatic stoichiometry (ES) remains elusive. Here, we synthesized the effects of mycorrhizal association on seven soil enzymes involved in microbial C, N and P acquisition and ES using data from 56 peer‐reviewed papers. We found that relative to soil in ectomycorrhizal (EcM) trees, soil in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) trees exhibited greater activity of some C acquisition enzymes (e.g. beta‐glucosidase; BG) and higher ecoenzymatic ratios of BG/NAG (N‐acetyl‐glucosaminidase) and BG/AP (acid phosphatase). These results supported that AM trees had rapid C and nutrient turnover rates, inorganic nutrient economics and high soil microbial C limitation. We also found evidence for an organic nutrient economy and greater soil microbial demand for nutrients in EcM trees compared to AM trees. In addition, the effect of mycorrhizal association on the activity of certain soil enzymes and enzymatic stoichiometry (i.e. BG and BG/NAG ratio) appeared to be associated with the differences in soil pH, phylogenetic group (i.e. conifers and broadleaves) and leaf habit (i.e. evergreen and deciduous) between AM and EcM trees. The results from the global meta‐analysis suggested that soil EA and ES appear to play critical roles in shaping the differences in the nutrient economy between AM and EcM tree species, but leaf morphology and soil conditions should be considered in evaluations of soil processes in forests of different mycorrhizal associations. Given that most of the studies in the database were from the temperate and subtropical regions, further research in other biomes is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms driving the mycorrhizal effect at the global scale. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Characterization of Coal Refuse Sites in West Virginia: Stream Loss, Volume Estimation, and Land Cover Analysis for Restoration Feasibility

Coal refuse disposal across Appalachia has resulted in widespread environmental degradation, including stream burial, landscape destabilization, and long-term hydrologic impacts. This study provides a GIS-based spatial characterization of 623 coal refuse sites in West Virginia, evaluating their potential for ecological and economic restoration. Stream loss was quantified through digitization of historic topographic maps, revealing over 194,500 meters of historically present streams lost, with 105,000 meters directly buried beneath refuse piles. Volume estimation using empirical Bayesian kriging and modern LiDAR surfaces indicated approximately 1.96 billion cubic meters of deposited refuse. Land cover analysis based on NAIP-derived classification showed that 48% of the total site area was forested, while 15% remained barren. These results highlight not only the environmental footprint of legacy refuse deposits but also their potential for restoration through stream daylighting and beneficial reuse. Emerging opportunities, including rare earth element recovery and mitigation banking, may offer economic incentives to facilitate reclamation. This work establishes a spatial framework to prioritize refuse sites for restoration, balancing ecological uplift with feasible material management strategies.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evaluation of sustainable waste management: An analysis of techno-economic and life cycle assessments of municipal solid waste sorting and decontamination

This study evaluates the economic and environmental feasibility of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) sorting and decontamination technologies across urban, suburban, and rural areas. Using Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the research assesses cost-effectiveness and environmental impacts, with a focus on cost variability analyzed through Monte Carlo simulations. Findings indicate significant cost differences based on population density: rural areas incur high costs up to $$764/ton due to low waste volumes and limited infrastructure, whereas suburban and urban areas have more feasible costs ranging from $36.3 to $142.5/ton. Environmental impacts also vary, with greenhouse gas emissions at 171 kg CO 2 eq/ton for copy paper and 118.6 kg CO 2 eq/ton for plastics. PM2.5 levels are 9.1 g/ton for copy paper and 6.3 g/ton for plastics, with sorting lines being the main contributors. Monte Carlo simulations reveal a 50% probability of costs being below $$102.26/ton for copy paper and $115.8/ton for plastics in suburban settings. Further, the study underscores the importance of customized waste management strategies to improve economic viability and sustainability based on local conditions.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRS2005

[Corrected Title: Solid-Phase Extraction of Polar Compounds from Water] Automated Electrostatics Environmental Chamber

A solid-phase extraction (SPE) process has been developed for removing alcohols, carboxylic acids, aldehydes, ketones, amines, and other polar organic compounds from water. This process can be either a subprocess of a water-reclamation process or a means of extracting organic compounds from water samples for gas-chromatographic analysis. This SPE process is an attractive alternative to an Environmental Protection Administration liquid-liquid extraction process that generates some pollution and does not work in a microgravitational environment. In this SPE process, one forces a water sample through a resin bed by use of positive pressure on the upstream side and/or suction on the downstream side, thereby causing organic compounds from the water to be adsorbed onto the resin. If gas-chromatographic analysis is to be done, the resin is dried by use of a suitable gas, then the adsorbed compounds are extracted from the resin by use of a solvent. Unlike the liquid-liquid process, the SPE process works in both microgravity and Earth gravity. In comparison with the liquid-liquid process, the SPE process is more efficient, extracts a wider range of organic compounds, generates less pollution, and costs less.

Sauer, Richard↗
DOE OSTI2021

Data Fusion to Enhance Quality Control and Analysis with Instruments at the Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory

Deploying environmental monitoring instruments in the marine environment can be challenging, facing challenges around device survivability, biofouling and corrosion, and consistent data collection. This project explores the use of data fusion – the process of integrating multiple data sources to produce more consistent, accurate, and useful information – to build a consistent long-term monitoring system at the Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory (MCRL) in Sequim, Washington. Unused instruments that had been acquired from past projects were inventoried and deployments planned on the MCRL pier and floating dock. A total of 8 instruments were deployed including a tide gauge, hydrophone, acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) sensors, meteorological station, and three water quality sensors. Deployments were planned to be well-protected around the pier structure and a maintenance schedule was created for cleaning and recalibration. An automated data pipeline was created to aggregate data on edge computers that push data to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud storage every 15 minutes, performing automated quality control and data transformations using the Time Series Data Analytical Toolkit (TSDAT). Continued efforts are underway to maintain this system into the future, take a data-driven approach to maintenance scheduling, improve the reliability of the system, and share the data with a variety of end-users.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1972

Compound classification by computer treatment of low resolution mass spectra - Application to geochemical and environmental problems.

A description is given of a development of computer analysis of low-resolution chromatographic-mass spectrometric data, which provides a preliminary classification of an unknown spectrum as a listing of candidate classes of compounds. This procedure, referred to as COMSOC (Classification of Mass Spectra on Computers), operates by converting an incoming unknown mass spectrum into a simplified key word which is then compared with each of the key words held in its reference file. The advantages of COMSOC in characterizing complex mixtures are emphasized.

Smith, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Material Analysis and System Design for Exploration Life Support Systems 2017

Advanced Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) design is critical for manned space flight beyond Earth. Current systems enable extended missions in low-Earth orbit, but for deep-space missions, not only will astronauts be outside the reach of resupply operations from Earth but they will also need to handle malfunctions and compensate for the degradation of materials. These two daunting challenges must be overcome for long-term independent space flight. In order to solve the first, separation and recycling of onboard atmosphere is required. Current systems utilize space vacuum to fully regenerate CO2 sorbent beds, but this is not sustainable. The second challenge stems from material and performance degradation due to operational cycling and on-board contaminants. This report will review the recent work by the ECLSS team at Marshall Space Flight Center towards overcoming these challenges by characterizing materials via novel methods and by assessing new air revitalization systems.

Knox, Jim↗
DOE OSTI2023

MARSAME Radiological Release Report for Weapons Facility Operations #4 Decontamination and Demolition Project: TA-14-0005, TA-15-0009, TA-15-0202, TA-15-0233, TA-36-0019

Environmental Protection and Compliance, Environmental Stewardship (EPC-ES) has identified materials associated with Weapons Facility Operations (WFO) #4 that meet the criteria for unrestricted release to the public under Department of Energy (DOE) Order 458.1, Radiation Protection for the Public and the Environment (DOE, 2020) and materials in one building that do not meet the criteria for unrestricted release and are to be treated as low level waste (LLW). These conclusions are based on the known history of the buildings combined with radiation survey data data collected in 2022 and 2023. The findings are consistent with DOE Order 458.1 and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Functional Series Document EPC-ES-FSD-004, Environmental Radiation Protection (LANL, 2021). Sampling and data analysis, as described in this report, were sufficient to meet measurement quality objectives (MQOs) under the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Assessment of Materials and Equipment (MARSAME) manual (NUREG, 2009) and LANL procedures (LANL, 2020). Final approvals for waste disposition will come from LANL’s Waste Management Program. The scope of this final release report includes Technical Area (TA) 14 Building 5 (TA-14-0005), TA-15 Buildings 9, 202, and 233 (TA-15-0009/0202/0233), and TA-36 Building 19 (TA-36-0019). MARSAME provides guidance on statistical sampling for residual radionuclides in bulk materials; smaller, miscellaneous items can be released via the release procedures outlined in LANL Policy 121 Radiation Protection (LANL, 2023).

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Initial Engineering and Design for CO 2 Capture from Ethanol Facilities

The Energy & Environmental Research Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and North Dakota ethanol producer Red Trail Energy, LLC (RTE) and with technical support from Trimeric Corporation and the KLJ engineering firm, completed an initial engineering design (IED) for a hybrid capture system to estimate associated costs for retrofitting the operational RTE ethanol plant. The project goal supports the DOE objective to achieve negative emissions using commercially available technologies to attain Technology Readiness Level 6+ from a facility emitting >100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) annually. The RTE CCS (carbon capture and storage) Project is currently operating a CO 2 capture facility, adjacent to the RTE ethanol facility in western North Dakota, and injecting the CO 2 more than a mile below RTE property for permanent storage. This novel hybrid capture system would process about 310,000 tonnes of CO 2 annually for the RTE host site and includes CO 2 capture and compression from bioprocessing as well as capturing CO 2 produced from natural gas boilers. The bioprocessing capture process, based on past RTE studies investigating ammonia liquefaction technology with CO 2 produced from natural gas boilers captured utilizing chemical absorption with amine, was shown to be technically feasible for the RTE site. Activities conducted to support the project goal included 1) designing a hybrid capture system using CO 2 emissions from both bioprocessing and heat production at the host site facility; 2) conducting a pre-front-end engineering and design analysis of the hybrid capture system to include environmental health and safety, a constructability report, identification of permits, and corporate approvals; and 3) performing a techno-economic assessment in accordance with DOE’s methodology, as demonstrated by the bituminous baseline study. In addition, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was completed for the RTE site to estimate the carbon life cycle for ethanol-CCS implementation using the designed hybrid capture system to determine potential for net-negative carbon emissions. Results of the IED showed the hybrid system to be technically viable, with a moderate estimated cost of $55/tonne CO 2 captured for the hybrid system. The cradle-to-gate LCA showed preliminary net-negative carbon emissions potential anticipated from implementing a hybrid CCS system at a commercial scale. Recommended next steps toward potential implementation include hybrid capture system demonstration testing for detailed engineering and LCA model comparisons with low-carbon fuel incentive programs for financial support.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
NASA NTRS2014

Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of a Composite Non-Cylindrical Pressurized Aircraft Fuselage Structure

The Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project aims to develop aircraft technologies enabling significant fuel burn and community noise reductions. Small incremental changes to the conventional metallic alloy-based 'tube and wing' configuration are not sufficient to achieve the desired metrics. One of the airframe concepts that might dramatically improve aircraft performance is a composite-based hybrid wing body configuration. Such a concept, however, presents inherent challenges stemming from, among other factors, the necessity to transfer wing loads through the entire center fuselage section which accommodates a pressurized cabin confined by flat or nearly flat panels. This paper discusses a nonlinear finite element analysis of a large-scale test article being developed to demonstrate that the Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure concept can meet these challenging demands of the next generation airframes. There are specific reasons why geometrically nonlinear analysis may be warranted for the hybrid wing body flat panel structure. In general, for sufficiently high internal pressure and/or mechanical loading, energy related to the in-plane strain may become significant relative to the bending strain energy, particularly in thin-walled areas such as the minimum gage skin extensively used in the structure under analysis. To account for this effect, a geometrically nonlinear strain-displacement relationship is needed to properly couple large out-of-plane and in-plane deformations. Depending on the loading, this nonlinear coupling mechanism manifests itself in a distinct manner in compression- and tension-dominated sections of the structure. Under significant compression, nonlinear analysis is needed to accurately predict loss of stability and postbuckled deformation. Under significant tension, the nonlinear effects account for suppression of the out-of-plane deformation due to in-plane stretching. By comparing the present results with the previously published preliminary linear analysis, it is demonstrated in the present paper that neglecting nonlinear effects for the structure and loads of interest can lead to appreciable loss in analysis fidelity.

Przekop, Adam↗
NASA NTRS1990

Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Ulysses Mission (Tier 2)

This Final (Tier 2) Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) addresses the environmental impacts which may be caused by implementation of the Ulysses mission, a space flight mission to observe the polar regions of the Sun. The proposed action is completion of preparation and operation of the Ulysses spacecraft, including its planned launch at the earliest available launch opportunity on the Space Transportation System (STS) Shuttle in October 1990 or in the backup opportunity in November 1991. The alternative is canceling further work on the mission. The Tier 1 EIS included a delay alternative which considered the Titan 4 launch vehicle as an alternative booster stage for launch in 1991 or later. This alternative was further evaluated and eliminated from consideration when, in November 1988, the U.S. Air Force, which procures the Titan 4, notified that it could not provide a Titan 4 vehicle for the 1991 launch opportunity because of high priority Department of Defense requirements. The Titan 4 launch vehicle is no longer a feasible alternative to the STS/Inertial Upper Stage (IUS)/Payload Assist Module-Special (PAM-S) for the November 1991 launch opportunity. The only expected environment effects of the proposed action are associated with normal launch vehicle operation and are treated elsewhere. The environmental impacts of normal Shuttle launches were addressed in existing NEPA documentation and are briefly summarized. These impacts are limited largely to the near-field at the launch pad, except for temporary stratospheric ozone effects during launch and occasional sonic boom effects near the landing site. These effects were judged insufficient to preclude Shuttle launches. There could also be environmental impacts associated with the accidental release of radiological material during launch, deployment, or interplanetary trajectory injection of the Ulysses spacecraft. Intensive analysis indicates that the probability of release is small. There are no environmental impacts in the no-action alternative; however, the U.S. Government and the European Space Agency would suffer adverse fiscal and programmatic impacts if this alternative were adopted. The scientific benefits of the mission would be delayed and possibly lost. There could be significant impacts on the ability of the U.S. to negotiate international agreements for cooperative space activities.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2022

Energy, Exergy, Entropy Generation Minimization, and Exergoenvironmental Analyses of Energy Systems-A Mini-Review

Meeting the growing energy demands has become a crucial challenge, which should employ energy integration and benefit from the extraction of the maximum thermodynamic potential of the resources consumed. This brief review presents an overview of the essential elements of the methods of energy, exergy, entropy generation minimization, and exergoenvironmental analyses. In combination, these methodologies constitute a powerful toolbox for the design, analysis, and optimization of energy systems. The quantification of energy and environmental impacts provided by them is essential in guiding toward system designs that are consistent with current energy and environmental needs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1991

Redesign of flight space shuttle main engine nozzle G-15 seal area based on the thermal analysis and flow models

The main objective is to understand the present sealing area response to environmental conditions of the supersonic turbulent combustion gases which has led to both stress rupture cracks and hot gas leakage. A review of the existing thermal analysis and flow modeling has been performed of the present design and seal alternatives have been suggested to possibly reduce or eliminate the hot gas flow recirculation problem and the associated seal cracking.

Mcdonald, Gary H.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Use Attainability Analysis for Upper Sandia Canyon

This document presents a use attainability analysis (UAA) for the perennial segment of Upper Sandia Canyon, which is located within the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) property near Los Alamos, New Mexico.1 This UAA is consistent with 20.6.4.15 New Mexico Administrative Code (NMAC) (New Mexico Environment Department [NMED] 2011c), which describes the perennial segment as “Sandia Canyon from Sigma Canyon upstream to LANL [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System] NPDES outfall 001.” The perennial segment’s designated uses are coldwater aquatic life, livestock watering, wildlife habitat, and secondary contact. 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 131.10(g) permits a state to remove a designated use that is not an existing use (as defined in 40 CFR §131.3), if a UAA demonstrates that naturally occurring pollutant concentrations prevent the attainment of the use or if physical conditions related to the natural features of the water body preclude the attainment of the aquatic life protection use. This UAA considers whether natural physical conditions in Upper Sandia Canyon, specifically air and/or water temperatures, prevent the designated aquatic life use water temperature limits (i.e., coldwater) from being attained in the perennial segment. The weight of evidence presented in this UAA supports the conclusion that, based on air-water temperature modeling and instream thermograph data, the coolwater aquatic life designated use is currently the attainable use. Accordingly, it is recommended that the coolwater aquatic life designated use replace the coldwater aquatic life designated use in the Upper Sandia Canyon assessment unit (AU).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sensitivity of Optical Satellites to Estimate Windthrow Tree-Mortality in a Central Amazon Forest

Windthrow (i.e., trees broken and uprooted by wind) is a major natural disturbance in Amazon forests. Images from medium-resolution optical satellites combined with extensive field data have allowed researchers to assess patterns of windthrow tree-mortality and to monitor forest recovery over decades of succession in different regions. Although satellites with high spatial-resolution have become available in the last decade, they have not yet been employed for the quantification of windthrow tree-mortality. Here, we address how increasing the spatial resolution of satellites affects plot-to-landscape estimates of windthrow tree-mortality. We combined forest inventory data with Landsat 8 (30 m pixel), Sentinel 2 (10 m), and WorldView 2 (2 m) imagery over an old-growth forest in the Central Amazon that was disturbed by a single windthrow event in November 2015. Remote sensing estimates of windthrow tree-mortality were produced from Spectral Mixture Analysis and evaluated with forest inventory data (i.e., ground true) by using Generalized Linear Models. Field measured windthrow tree-mortality (3 transects and 30 subplots) crossing the entire disturbance gradient was 26.9 ± 11.1% (mean ± 95% CI). Although the three satellites produced reliable and statistically similar estimates (from 26.5% to 30.3%, p < 0.001), Landsat 8 had the most accurate results and efficiently captured field-observed variations in windthrow tree-mortality across the entire gradient of disturbance (Sentinel 2 and WorldView 2 produced the second and third best results, respectively). As expected, mean-associated uncertainties decreased systematically with increasing spatial resolution (i.e., from Landsat 8 to Sentinel 2 and WorldView 2). However, the overall quality of model fits showed the opposite pattern. We suggest that this reflects the influence of a relatively minor disturbance, such as defoliation and crown damage, and the fast growth of natural regeneration, which were not measured in the field nor can be captured by coarser resolution imagery. Our results validate the reliability of Landsat imagery for assessing plot-to-landscape patterns of windthrow tree-mortality in dense and heterogeneous tropical forests. Satellites with high spatial resolution can improve estimates of windthrow severity by allowing the quantification of crown damage and mortality of lower canopy and understory trees. However, this requires the validation of remote sensing metrics using field data at compatible scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Environmental life cycle assessment methods applied to amine-ionic liquid hybrid CO 2 absorbents

A hybrid solvent mixture of triethyl(octyl)phosphonium cyanopyrrolide [P2228][2-CNPyr] and aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) has the potential for absorbing CO 2 from post combustion flue gas. However, previous studies have found that the production of phosphonium based ionic liquids (IL) had significantly higher potential environmental impacts compared to MEA. Literature attributes these higher environmental impacts to the phosphine and phosgene-based intermediates required to produce the phosphonium ion of the ionic liquid. This study proposes a novel synthesis pathway that eliminates the need for phosphine and phosgene intermediates in the production of [P2228][2-CNPyr]. The environmental impacts of producing 1kg of the ionic liquid through this novel synthesis route was evaluated using the TRACI 2.1 methodology within the life cycle assessment (LCA) framework. Additionally, the environmental impacts for the production of 1kg of a hybrid solvent was also evaluated and compared against MEA. The life cycle inventory for the production of the IL and its hybrid solvent were calculated based on the stoichiometry and then scaled up. This study found that the IL and its hybrid solvents had higher environmental impacts among 9 of the 10 environmental impact categories calculated by the TRACI 2.1 methodology, except for the ecotoxicity potential. A sensitivity analysis indicated that these solvents were more sensitive to the assumptions of the material requirements of the phosphonium cation than the overall energy or transportation requirements. Despite this sensitivity, both the solvents demonstrated a lower Ecotoxicity Potential compared to MEA, the rest of the environmental impacts were still found to be higher than that of MEA, thereby underscoring the need to investigate novel synthesis routes for the production of phosphonium cation. The uncertainty analysis performed confirmed the findings that the IL has a higher environmental impact potentials across all categories except ecotoxicity potential. The uncertainty analysis also confirms that the phosphonium cation is a major hotspot in production route of these solvents and a source of uncertainty in the model compared to the anion. Altogether, this study underscores the need for investigating novel green chemistry pathway for the synthesis of phosphonium based ionic liquids, such as [P2228][2-CNPyr], to ensure that the these ILs can be a truly green alternative to MEA by not only offering superior CO₂ capture capacity compared to MEA but also being sustainably produced.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2013

Faster Array Training and Rapid Analysis for a Sensor Array Intended for an Event Monitor in Air

Environmental monitoring, in particular, air monitoring, is a critical need for human space flight. Both monitoring and life support systems have needs for closed loop process feedback and quality control for environmental factors. Monitoring protects the air environment and water supply for the astronaut crew and different sensors help ensure that the habitat falls within acceptable limits, and that the life support system is functioning properly and efficiently. The longer the flight duration and the farther the destination, the more critical it becomes to have carefully monitored and automated control systems for life support. There is an acknowledged need for an event monitor which samples the air continuously and provides near real-time information on changes in the air. Past experiments with the JPL ENose have demonstrated a lifetime of the sensor array, with the software, of around 18 months. We are working on a sensor array and new algorithms that will incorporate transient sensor responses in the analysis. Preliminary work has already showed more rapid quantification and identification of analytes and the potential for faster training time of the array. We will look at some of the factors that contribute to demonstrating faster training time for the array. Faster training will decrease the integrated sensor exposure to training analytes, which will also help extend sensor lifetime.

sensing array↗