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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 991 records · Page 55
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Powered By SAM [Slides]

The System Advisor Model(TM) (SAM) is a free, open-source desktop application for techno-economic analysis of energy technologies. By combining detailed performance modeling with financial analysis, SAM allows users to assess technology trade-offs, explore future scenarios, and make informed decisions about energy investments. Users also have access to model details and the ability to embed SAM's core models in their own applications. This webinar, hosted by National Laboratory of the Rockies researchers Janine Keith and Matt Prilliman, highlights how this widely used modeling tool supports data-driven decision-making for energy systems.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Offshore Wind Balance-of-System Cost Modeling

Offshore wind balance-of-system (BOS) costs contribute up to 70% of installed capital costs. Thus, it is imperative to understand the impact of these costs on project economics as well as potential cost trends for new offshore wind technology developments. As a result, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed and recently updated a BOS techno-economic model using project cost estimates created from wind energy industry sources.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Biorefinery Analysis

Fact sheet summarizing NREL's techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment capabilities to connect research with future commercial process integration, a critical step in the scale-up of biomass conversion technologies.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Indirect Liquefaction of Biomass to Transportation Fuels Via Mixed Oxygenated Intermediates

This paper presents a comparative techno-economic analysis of four emerging conversion pathways from biomass to gasoline-, jet-, and diesel-range hydrocarbons via indirect liquefaction with specific focus on pathways utilizing oxygenated intermediates. The processing steps include: biomass-to-syngas via indirect gasification, gas cleanup, conversion of syngas to alcohols/oxygenates followed by conversion of alcohols/oxygenates to hydrocarbon blendstocks via dehydration, oligomerization, and hydrogenation.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Whole Algae Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Upgrading

The Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) collaborates with a wide range of institutions towards the development and deployment of biofuels and bioproducts. To facilitate this effort, BETO and its partner national laboratories develop detailed techno-economic assessments (TEA) of biofuel production technologies as part of the development of design cases and state of technology (SOT) analyses. A design case is a TEA that outlines a target case for a particular biofuel pathway. It enables preliminary identification of data gaps and research and development needs and provides goals and targets against which technology progress is assessed. On the other hand, an SOT analysis assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual experimental results relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available. (SOT) analyses. A design case is a TEA that outlines a target case for a particular biofuel pathway. It enables preliminary identification of data gaps and research and development needs and provides goals and targets against which technology progress is assessed. On the other hand, an SOT analysis assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual experimental results relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available. (SOT) analyses. A design case is a TEA that outlines a target case for a particular biofuel pathway. It enables preliminary identification of data gaps and research and development needs and provides goals and targets against which technology progress is assessed. On the other hand, an SOT analysis assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual experimental results relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Development of Membrane Distillation Technology Utilizing Waste Heat for Treatment of High Salinity Wastewaters

Membrane distillation (MD) can serve as a cost effective method to treat high salinity wastewaters, especially if waste heat is utilized for its operation. The goal of this work is to study the feasibility of employing MD technology for the treatment of high salinity wastewaters which are generated as a result of natural gas production and active reservoir management for CO 2 sequestration. This study also aimed at quantifying the availability of waste heat which could be used as the primary source of thermal energy to drive the MD process. Bench scale studies were carried out with several commercially available membranes using both synthetic and actual high salinity wastewaters. The membranes tested with real wastewater samples exhibited excellent rejection of dissolved ions, including naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). Long term bench scale experiments with real produced water from the Marcellus shale play revealed that iron oxide could precipitate on the feed side of direct contact MD (DCMD) module but had a negligible effect on the performance of the system. Based on the bench scale experiments, an ASPEN Plus simulation, which incorporated a mathematical model with fundamental heat and mass transfer equations, was developed and used to evaluate the process energy requirements. Despite low operating temperature and pressure for MD, it had a large thermal energy requirement for operation, which could make this technology expensive compared to reverse osmosis (RO) and forward osmosis (FO). However, it is important to note that RO and FO have limited applicability for high salinity shale gas wastewater. Moreover, MD could be integrated with renewable energy sources such as wind or solar energy or industrial waste heat sources to offset the thermal energy requirements and enhance the economics of wastewater treatment. Natural gas compressor stations (NG CS) have been proposed in this study as the source of waste heat based on the estimate of quantity and quality of available waste heat in the exhaust streams of gas turbine and internal combustion compressor engines. Using the actual installed capacity and location of compressor stations in the U.S., this analysis revealed that an average of 610 TJ/day of thermal energy is available at existing NG CS and that this source of waste heat is of high quality with temperatures above 645 K. A systems-level integration of MD with waste heat from NG CS revealed that approximately 56% of available waste heat at NG CS in Pennsylvania is sufficient to concentrate (from 10% to 30% salinity) all wastewater associated with shale gas extraction. Techno-economic assessment (TEA) accounting for capital as well as operating and maintenance costs with and without waste heat integration was conducted for a hypothetical 0.5 million gallons per day (MGD) DCMD plant using experimental and modeling results from this study. TEA revealed that the total cost of shale gas wastewater treatment using MD is $5.7/m 3 feed for the base case scenario in which the thermal energy requirements are met by external steam, however, the total cost can be reduced to $0.74/m 3 feed when integrated with free waste heat from NG CS. Sensitivity analysis revealed that thermal energy cost and feed TDS are the most important factors in total cost of high salinity wastewater treatment using DCMD.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2018

NREL Suite of Tools for PV and Storage Analysis

Many different factors such as the solar resource, technology costs and incentives, utility cost and consumption, space available, and financial parameters impact the technical and economic potential of a PV project. NREL has developed techno-economic modeling tools that can be used to evaluate PV projects at a site.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Behind-the-Meter Solar + Storage Modeling Tool Comparison

Several techno-economic models exist to evaluate solar PV plus battery storage opportunities for behind-the-meter, commercial application. This tool comparison evaluates the methodological differences between several solar plus storage modeling tools and employs a case study to compare their outputs. The tools selected for comparison include NREL's REopt Lite, NREL's System Advisor Model (SAM), Homer Energy's Homer Grid, Geli ESyst, EPRI StorageVET, and LBL's DER-CAM. The comparison focuses on each tool's simulation and optimization capabilities, PV and battery performance modeling, dispatch strategies, and economic model assumptions and calculations, with brief mention of additional capabilities outside the scope of behind-the-meter PV and battery storage. This report describes the case study's tool inputs and outputs and dives into the differences in assumptions, methodologies, and capabilities between tools.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Experimental, Economic, and Environmental Assessment of Feedstock Gasification for High-Octane Fuel Production

Five economically advantaged biomass feedstocks identified in the US Department of Energy's 2016 Billion Ton Study were gasified and the syngas reformed at the bench scale to study the feedstock price-performance relationship. The distribution of reformed syngas compositions, heating values, and yields were similar across the different feedstocks and blends thereof, which ranged from inexpensive residual wastes to more expensive and higher quality biomass, revealing that feedstock performance was mostly insensitive to its price. Custom blended feedstocks produced syngas with characteristics resembling linear combinations of syngas from single-component feedstocks, supporting the ability to customize and predict blended properties based on single-feedstock data. A techno-economic analysis of specific feedstock costs for producing high-octane gasoline showed that miscanthus and forest residues were the most cost-effective. A field-to-wheels life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions showed that forest residues was the most environmentally benign feedstock of those studied.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

REopt Lite Overview & Training Exercise

This training exercise provides users with an introduction to and hands-on, interactive exploration of REopt Lite's capabilities. REopt Lite is a free, publicly available techno-economic optimization web tool for distributed energy systems, developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). REopt Lite helps organizations evaluate the economic viability of grid-connected solar photovoltaics (PV), wind turbines, and battery storage; identify system sizes and battery dispatch strategies to minimize energy costs; and estimate how long a system can sustain critical load during a grid outage. The model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program based in an underlying application programming interface (API) that is also free and publicly available. This training activity is structured as a group exercise. Participants split into eight groups and each group is assigned a different hypothetical site to model and assess the opportunity for solar PV + battery storage. Groups work together to develop results for their site and then re-convene to compare and discuss results, inputs/drivers of the analysis, and other factors impacting the decision-making process for behind-the-meter solar PV and battery storage.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Opportunities for Clean Energy in Natural Gas Well Operations: Preprint

The oil and gas industry is increasingly seeking operational improvements to reduce both costs and emissions. Currently, oil and gas directly and indirectly contributes forty-two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with over twenty percent of the industry’s emissions coming from operations. Given the opportunity for emissions reductions, this study describes techno-economic analysis evaluating opportunities for distributed energy generation and storage technologies – including solar photovoltaics (PV), distributed wind energy, and battery energy storage – to support companies’ energy cost savings targets, clean energy goals, and energy resiliency needs at hypothetical upstream well sites in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, both grid-connected and off-grid. These technologies reduce the site’s consumption of grid electricity and natural gas and thus help reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions associated with electricity and natural gas. For each scenario, a cost of avoided emissions was calculated; these values can be compared to internal organizational value placed on emissions reductions, compared to other emissions reduction strategies such as energy efficiency, reducing flaring, and direct carbon capture and sequestration, and compared to existing (albeit limited) U.S. carbon markets such as California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The study also explores the ability of these electric clean energy technologies to support site resiliency against utility outages.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

NREL's Capabilities in Biorefinery Analysis

NREL remains at the forefront of expertise in conducting process, techno-economic, and life cycle analyses to connect research with future commercial process integration, a critical step in the scale-up of biomass conversion technologies. Technology areas covered include lignocellulosic biorefineries, algae, CO2 utilization, waste-to-energy, aviation and marine fuels, refinery modeling and analysis, and the circular economy.

BIOMASS FUELS,INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND AN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Opportunities for Clean Energy in Natural Gas Well Operations

The oil and gas industry is increasingly seeking operational improvements to reduce both costs and emissions while improving resilience against electric grid outages. This study describes techno-economic analysis of opportunities for distributed energy generation and storage technologies to support companies' energy cost savings, clean energy, and energy resiliency goals. Specifically, the analysis evaluates solar photovoltaics (PV), distributed wind energy, and battery energy storage at hypothetical upstream well sites in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, both grid-connected and off-grid. Results indicate opportunity for solar PV to reduce operational costs. Additionally, these technologies reduce the site's consumption of grid electricity and natural gas and thus can help reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions associated with electricity and natural gas consumption. For each emissions reduction scenario, a cost of avoided emissions was calculated; these values can be compared to internal organizational value placed on emissions reductions, compared to other emissions reduction strategies such as energy efficiency, reducing flaring, and direct carbon capture and sequestration, and compared to existing (albeit limited) U.S. carbon markets such as California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Results indicate that the associated costs of emissions reductions via distributed renewables are competitive with these options and markets. The study also explores the ability of these electric clean energy technologies to support site resiliency against utility outages.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Energy Storage Analysis

This study presents a comprehensive techno-economic characterization of energy storage and exible low carbon power generation technologies that can shift energy across days, weeks, or months to balance daily, weekly, and seasonal disparities in supply and demand. Energy storage technologies evaluated here include pumped hydropower storage (PHS), adiabatic and diabatic compressed air energy storage (CAES), vanadium redox flow batteries (VRBs), pumped thermal energy storage (P-TES), and renewably produced hydrogen stored in either geologic formations or underground pipes with re-electrification via combustion turbines in combined cycles, stationary proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, or the novel use of PEM fuel cells designed for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) which are expected to have shorter lives but also lower capital costs. We also evaluate flexible low-carbon power generation systems, including ethanol combustion in gas turbines and natural gas combustion with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). We estimate current costs with literature data, use learning rates to characterize future costs, and develop capacity factors calibrated to an 85% renewables grid to calculate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of each technology. Results illustrate that at the 12-hour storage duration, PHS and CAES have the lowest LCOE with current costs, and VRBs become competitive if future costs are achieved. At the 120-hour storage duration, hydrogen systems with geologic storage and natural gas with CCS achieve the lowest LCOE in both current and future capital cost scenarios. In particular, the new configuration of HDV-PEM fuel cells with hydrogen storage in geologic formations evaluated here could lower the LCOE by 22-27% compared to stationary fuel cell systems typically evaluated and might help enable very high (>80%) renewable energy electric power systems. P-TES and hydrogen stored in underground pipes are the least-cost options at the 120-hour storage duration rating that do not require some form of geologic storage. Sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo analysis illustrate that the general trends seen in this study are valid for a wide range of capacity factors and future cost scenarios. The study also illustrates that coproducing and selling hydrogen to other markets could reduce the LCOE of hydrogen systems by up to 39%.

carbon capture and sequestration↗
DOE OSTI2021

TEA Modeling to Quantify Economic Implications for Biorefinery Processing of Isolated Anatomical Fractions of Corn Stover

The Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium (FCIC; https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/01/f70/beto-fcic-overview-web.pdf), a collaboration of nine national laboratory partners, seeks to understand impacts of feedstock attributes on biorefinery performance. It is hypothesized that different individual anatomical fractions of corn stover vary in composition and recalcitrance, such that processing each fraction on its own through dedicated campaigns may enable better biorefinery economics overall relative to processing the whole stover material. This presentation focuses on techno-economic analysis (TEA) modeling to quantify the yield and cost ramifications for processing isolated anatomical fractions of corn stover through a low-temperature conversion biorefinery, reflecting a biochemical processing pathway consisting of biomass deconstruction through pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis, sugar fermentation and upgrading to hydrocarbon fuels, and lignin upgrading to value-added coproducts. Commercial-scale process simulation and economic evaluation leveraged experimental and analytical data from FCIC researchers for conversion of whole corn stover plus three individual anatomical fractions (cobs, husks, and stalks) across key steps of the conversion process. Our assessment found encouraging potential for biorefinery economic gains that may be achieved through this approach. TEA results indicated fuel yields varying from 29-44 gallons gasoline equivalent (GGE)/dry ton for the individual anatomical fractions compared to whole stover at 34 GGE/ton, equating to minimum fuel selling prices (MFSPs) between $6.37-$10.18/GGE for the fractions versus $8.76/GGE for whole stover (when lignin is burned), or $9.15-$15.19/GGE for the fractions versus $13.11/GGE for whole stover (when lignin is upgraded to coproducts, based on current experimental performance levels). Cobs and husks demonstrated the ability to achieve the highest fuel yields and lowest MFSPs, outperforming whole stover, while stalks led to the opposite result, as a composite reflection of compositional differences and process convertibility. Notably, even when taking the weighted average of the results reflecting each anatomical fraction weighted by its corresponding makeup of corn stover, this feasibility TEA screening supports feedstock cost allowances on the order of roughly $22-$29/ton as may reflect accommodating additional biomass fractionation equipment during feedstock pre-processing upstream of the conversion biorefinery gate to separate corn stover into such constituent fractions. Or viewed differently, the weighted average MFSP for the fractions was found to be $0.31-$0.32/GGE lower than the MFSP for the whole stover basis across either lignin scenario, when maintaining a fixed biomass feedstock cost. These findings highlight favorable implications for biorefinery economics as may be achieved by moving to a staged campaign approach for processing different corn stover fractions sequentially. Further opportunities exist for future work to fill in data gaps for remaining anatomical constituents (e.g. leaves) that were not included in the initial experimental studies, though are expected to maintain similar trends.

biochemical processing pathway↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sustainable Biofuels for Low-Carbon Maritime Transportation

The marine shipping sector heavily depends on fossil fuels and is one of the largest petroleum fuel consumers [1,2]. The annual global marine fuel consumption was estimated to be around 400 million metric tons in 2019 (2.5 billion barrels). Moreover, ocean shipping is one of the most significant contributors to sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter emissions. Global shipping contributes 13% of human-caused sulfur emissions and 2.6% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. As a major source of pollutant emissions, the marine industry faces several challenges related to emission regulations. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has established a framework for reducing the carbon intensity of shipping: 40% reduction relative to 2008 levels by 2030 and 70% reduction by 2050. As the aviation sector, the maritime shipping sector is difficult to decarbonize through electrification. Biofuels offer the best opportunities for decarbonizing marine shipping in the near and medium-term. Advanced biofuels such as pyrolysis bio-oil offer the low-cost potential for meeting carbon reduction goals. For instance, the pyrolysis bio-oil exhibited promising marginal CO2 abatement costs at less than $100/tonne CO2-equivalent at a heavy fuel oil price greater than $1.10/gal [1]. As a potential biofuel option for low-carbon maritime shipping, this presentation focuses on a comparative techno-economic analysis (TEA) of bio-oils produced via a fast pyrolysis-based conversion pathway. The pathway converts a 50/50 blend of forest residues and clean pine to bio-oil via three process options: fast pyrolysis without vapor upgrading, and fast pyrolysis with vapor phase upgrading over ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst and Pt/TiO2 catalyst. The process configuration and operation variation led to different capital and operating costs, as well as the resulting raw bio-oil’s yield and quality, e.g., the water content, total acid number, and carboxylic acid number. The study also determined the minimum upgrading of bio-oils required to enable blending with very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), with the associated costs reflected in TEA. This study shows that bio-oil could be a cost-effective fuel option for decarbonizing maritime shipping. Further research is required with respect to biofuel blending properties, such as compatibility with existing fuel system infrastructure and suitable engine performance.

BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Tabulated Database of Closed-Loop Geothermal Systems Performance for Cloud-Based Technical and Economic Modeling of Heat Production and Electricity Generation: Preprint

To better understand the heat production, electricity generation performance and economic viability of closed loop geothermal systems in hot-dry-rock, the Closed Loop Geothermal Group, a consortium of several national labs and academic institutions has tabulated time-dependent numerical solutions and levelized cost results of two popular closed loop heat exchanger designs (u-tube and co-axial). The heat exchanger designs were evaluated for two working fluids (water and super-critical CO2) while varying seven continuous independent parameters of interest (i.e., mass flow rate, vertical depth, horizontal extent, borehole diameter, formation gradient, formation conductivity, and injection temperature). The corresponding numerical solutions (approximately 1.2 million per heat exchanger design) are stored as multi-dimensional HDF5 datasets and can be queried at off-grid points using multi-dimensional linear interpolation. A Python script was developed to query this database and estimate time-dependent electricity generation using an Organic Rankine cycle (for water) or direct turbine expansion cycle (for CO2) and perform a cost assessment. This document aims to give an overview of the HDF5 database file and highlights how to read, visualize, and query quantities of interest (e.g., levelized cost of electricity, levelized cost of heat) using the accompanying python scripts. Details regarding the capital, operation, and maintenance and levelized cost calculation using the TEA (techno-economic analysis) script are provided.

co-axial↗
DOE OSTI2023

Follow-Up from the Photovoltaic Reliability Workshop (PVRW): Cost Modeling Capabilities to Evaluate Trends in PV Technologies

NREL's Solar and Storage Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) team reviews live polling results from the Photovoltaic Reliability Workshop (PVRW) related to module technology trends believed to have the greatest reliability impacts. Then, the team reviews the publicly available tools and inputs necessary for evaluating reliability tradeoffs between initial module and system costs, degradation profiles, and levelized cost of energy (LCOE). These tools include the online Detailed Cost Analysis Models (DCAM) and the DuraMAT LCOE calculator.

cost modeling↗