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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 1,063 records · Page 59
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

3D modeling of missing pellet surface defects in BWR fuel

One of the important roles of cladding in light water reactor fuel rods is to prevent the release of fission products. To that end, it is essential that the cladding maintain its integrity under a variety of thermal and mechanical loading conditions. Local geometric irregularities in fuel pellets caused by manufacturing defects known as missing pellet surfaces (MPS) can in some circumstances lead to elevated cladding stresses that are sufficiently high to cause cladding failure. Accurate modeling of these defects can help prevent these types of failures. The BISON nuclear fuel performance code developed at Idaho National Laboratory can be used to simulate the global thermo-mechanical fuel rod behavior, as well as the local response of regions of interest, in either 2D or 3D. In either case, a full set of models to represent the thermal and mechanical properties of the fuel, cladding and plenum gas is employed. A procedure for coupling 2D full-length fuel rod models to detailed 3D models of the region of the rod containing a MPS defect is detailed in this paper. The global and local model each contain appropriate physics and behavior models for nuclear fuel. This procedure is demonstrated on a simulation of a boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel rod containing a pellet with an MPS defect, subjected to a variety of transient events, including a control blade withdrawal and a ramp to high power. The importance of modeling the local defect using a 3D model is highlighted by comparing 3D and 2D representations of the defective pellet region. Finally, parametric studies demonstrate the effects of the choice of gaseous swelling model and of the depth and geometry of the MPS defect on the response of the cladding adjacent to the defect.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Maritime Fuel Cell Generator Project [FY2019]

The objective of this project is the demonstration, and validation of hydrogen fuel cells in the marine environment. The prototype generator can be used to guide commercial development of a fuel cell generator product. Work includes assessment and validation of the commercial value proposition of both the application and the hydrogen supply infrastructure through third-party hosted deployment as the next step towards widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells in the maritime environment.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cladding Profilometry Analysis of Experimental Breeder Reactor-II Metallic Fuel Pins with HT9, D9, and SS316 Cladding

BISON finite element method fuel performance simulations were conducted using an existing automated process that couples the Fuels Irradiation & Physics Database (FIPD) and the Integral Fast Reactor Materials Information System database by writing input files and comparing the BISON output to post-irradiation fuel pin profilometry measurements contained within the databases. The importance of this work is to demonstrate the ability to benchmark fuel performance metallic fuel models within BISON using Experimental Breeder Reactor-II fuel pin data for a number of similar pins, while building off previous modeling efforts. Changes to the generic BISON input file include implementing pin specific axial power and flux profiles, pin specific fluences, frictional contact, and irradiation-induced volumetric swelling models for cladding. A statistical analysis of irradiation-induced volumetric swelling models for HT9, D9, and SS316 was performed for experiments X421/X421A, X441/X441A, and X486. Between these three experiments, there were 174 post-irradiation examination (PIE) profilometries used for validating the swelling models presented using a standard error of the estimate (SEE) method. Implementation of the volumetric swelling models for D9 and SS316 claddings was found to have a significant impact on the BISON profilometry simulated, where HT9 clad pins had an insignificant change due to low fluence values. BISON profilometry simulated for HT9, D9, and SS316 fuel pins agreed with PIE profilometry measurements, with assembly SEE values being 4.4 × 10−3 for X421A, 2.0 × 10−3 for X441A, and 2.8 × 10−3 for X486. D9 clad pins in X421/X421A had the highest SEE values, which is due to the BISON simulated profilometry being shifted axially. While this work accomplished its purpose to demonstrate the modeling of multiple fuel pins from the databases to help validate models, the results suggest that the continued development of metallic fuel models is necessary for qualifying new metallic fuel systems to better capture some physical performance phenomena, such as the hot pressing of U-Pu-Zr and the fuel cladding chemical interaction.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Status Report on Advanced Reactor Fuels Hot Cell Furnace Testing

The Advanced Fuels Campaign is developing a series of out-of-pile steady state furnace tests on irradiated nuclear fuel pins in order to better characterize and understand isolated fuel performance phenomena. These tests will also provide valuable datasets for validation and improvement of modelling and simulation tools. The Blister Anneal Furnace (BAF) in the INL Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF) has been identified as the ideal location for these tests, and, in order to perform them, a new fixture for the BAF has been designed and commissioned. This report summarizes the objectives, design, characteristics and status of this fixture. The design was finalized, materials procured and tested, and the assembly fixture is now fully fabricated in the mock-up shop of the Fuel Conditioning Facility (FCF) at MFC.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2026

X501 Experiment Simulation and PIE Data Comparison

Fuel performance simulations have been developed for X501 MA bearing fuel in BISON. The results of these simulations are compared with PIE results to assess the applicability of metallic fuel models in BISON to MA bearing metallic fuel.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Preliminary Reactor Physics Assessment of the HTR Module with 14% Enriched UCO Fuel

The high temperature reactor (HTR) Module (Lohnert, 1990) is a graphite-moderated, helium cooled pebble bed design that has been extensively used as a reference template for the former South African (Matzner, 2004) and current Chinese (Zhang et al., 2009) HTR programs. This design utilizes spherical fuel elements packed into a dynamic pebble bed, consisting of tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) coated uranium oxide (UO2) 500 µm fuel kernels with a U-235 enrichment of 7.8% and a heavy metal loading of 7 g per pebble. This fuel type was previously qualified for use in Germany for pebble bed HTRs, as well as undergoing re-qualification in South Africa for the PBMR project. It is also the fuel type being tested for use in the high temperature reactor (HTR-PM) under construction in China. In the United States, however, a different TRISO fuel form is the subject of a qualification program. The U.S. experience with HTRs has been focused upon the batch-fueled prismatic reactor in which TRISO particles are embedded in cylindrical compacts and stacked inside the graphite blocks which comprise the core. Under this type of operating regime, a smaller TRISO with a different composition and enrichment performs better than the fuel historically used in PBRs. Fuel kernels and compacting techniques more suited to prismatic core duty are currently being developed and qualified under the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) fuel development program and in support of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant project. Interest in the pebble bed concept remains high, however, and a study was undertaken by the authors to assess the viability of using AGR fuel in a pebble bed reactor. Using the German HTR Module as the reference plant, key neutronic and thermal-hydraulic parameters were compared between the nominal design and one fueled with the fuel that is the focus of the AGR program.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Robust Combined Heat and Hybrid Power (CHHP) for High Electrical Efficiency Cogeneration

Georgia Tech (Prime Recipient), the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) investigated a hybrid fuel cell/ gas turbine system concept as a combined heat and hybrid power (CHHP) system for both robust and high power-to-process heat ratio cogeneration. The novelty of the proposed system entailed the distinct, elevated electrical efficiencies it maintains while simultaneously supporting a broad span of heating needs (e.g., supply temperatures) demanded across variable heat loads. The scope included: 1) leveraging a pioneering national lab facility configured for dynamic system operability development of hybrid fuel cell/gas turbine cycles; 2) enabling technology development to adjust and modulate the quality and quantity of thermal supply to bottoming heat loads via novel extreme temperature gas bypass valves. Hybrid fuel cell/gas turbine systems have primarily been reduced-to-practice in a constrained (e.g., initial proof-of-concept) manner and have still demonstrated considerable electrical efficiencies. However, these pre-pilot systems have focused upon electrical efficiencies and electrical power generation as the exclusive energy demand. Such hybrid systems had not been extensively researched or developed for flexible and variable operation consisting of both power and heat demands; however, these variable combined power and heat demands are characteristic of many types of manufacturers such as animal/poultry processing, bakeries and milk/flour/pastry manufacturing, textile mills, and electrochemical processing. Commercially, developing the system into a working combined heat and power system benefits these types of manufacturers by allowing them to meet their power and heat demands at a lower cost, higher efficiency, and/or through onsite generation. Therefore, the technical scope of this project was largely to study and facilitate these hybrid systems as combined heat and hybrid power (CHHP) systems that include dynamic operability for variable heat and power loads and/or grid dynamics for various types of manufacturers. Simulation results were used to predict the performance of the CHHP system and conceptually develop it to achieve desired dynamic operability. Experimentally, the primary goal was to design, manufacture, and experiment upon a high-temperature bypass valve. Experimental data included air mass flow rates through the valve orifice when the valve was changed to variable extent between fully closed and fully open. The experimental data was then used to create a semi-empirical computational model of the bypass valve. Concluded simulation goals for the research included developing computational heat exchanger models for the hybrid system inclusive of the bottoming heat exchanger and the recuperative heat exchanger, and then combining the computational recuperator model with the computational valve model. Afterwards, the computational models were then integrated to predict the dynamic operation of hybrid fuel cell/gas turbine cycles throughout a design space and reporting such. The scope stated in the preceding paragraph was packaged into five specific goals: 1) enabling the simulation of dynamic combined heat and power through the creation of computational, modular heat exchanger models; 2) simulation and exploration of the CHHP system’s performance by integrating the heat exchanger models with the national lab’s pre-existing hybrid system (computational) simulation, but without the recuperator bypass valve concept in order to initially determine how the (baseline) system behaves and can be controlled in order to meet variable heat and power demands; 3) development and initial deployment of the high-temperature recuperator bypass valve technology in order to confirm and characterize the approach; 4) usage of the experimental data for the valve to create a semi-empirical computational model for the bypass valve which could then be combined with the heat exchanger computational models; 5) repeat of the second task of simulating and exploring the system’s performance, but this time including the bypass valve to resolve its efficacy. Tasks were successfully completed, and the general notion of flexibly operating, high electrical efficiency CHHP was further corroborated. Supportive details are provided in the report.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

A New Process for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Fuel

In this project, TDA developed a new mixed metal oxide-based sorbent that converts CO 2 (captured from coal fired power plant) to CO, which can then be combined with renewable H 2 generated by water electrolysis to produce different liquid fuels. TDA’s absorbent-based CO 2 conversion process uses a redox process, which splits the reverse water gas shift reaction steps into two stages: CO 2 reduction to CO and H 2 oxidation to H 2 O and eliminates the equilibrium limitations. The CO produced in the two-stage reactor system can then be further reacted with renewable H 2 to produce methanol, naphtha, diesel, or gasoline. We worked with the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and Advanced Power & Energy Program (APEP) of University of California, Irvine (UCI) to design and develop the liquid fuel synthesis process that is built around this new material. We demonstrated the techno-economic viability of the new sorbent based redox process to convert CO 2 into synthesis gas by: 1) demonstrating continuous carbon dioxide reduction in a prototype test system for over 500 hours while converting up to 0.4 kg CO 2 /day. With the successful completion of the R&D effort, the technology is now ready for a larger pilot-scale demonstration and the technology readiness has been raised from TRL 3 to TRL 5. In collaboration UCI, we also completed a high-fidelity process design and economic analysis. The required selling price (RSP) for methanol (Case 1 H2-MeOH) is $\$$3.06/gal, naphtha and diesel (Case 2 H2-FT) are $\$$6.21/gal and $\$$8.91/gal, and for gasoline (Case 3 H2-MTG) is $\$$6.96/gal on a 2011 dollar basis. To put these costs in perspective, the recent (June 2020) U.S. price for methanol made from natural gas is about $\$$1.19/gal according to Methanex, a major methanol producer in North America. The recent (June 2, 2020) California prices for gasoline and diesel with California’s strict specifications are $\$$3.35/gal and $\$$3.73/gal according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. On the other hand, it should be noted that the gasoline and diesel produced by the designs of Case 2 and Case 3 would be both nitrogen and sulfur free. These RSPs are based on a cost of imported electricity of $\$$64/MWh based on the low-end current wind generated electricity cost (Genevieve and Ramsden, Wind Electrolysis: Hydrogen Cost Optimization, Technical Report, June 2011, NREL/TP-5600-50408). This cost is by far the largest component of the variable costs used in computing the RSPs. The cost of the imported electricity has to approach zero for the RSP to be competitive for methanol produced in Case 1 and naphtha and diesel produced in Case 2 while the cost of electricity has to be less than $\$$10/MWh for gasoline produced in Case 3.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

Momentum informed muon scattering tomography for monitoring spent nuclear fuels in dry storage cask

Development of an effective monitoring method for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in a dry storage cask (DSC) is important to meet the increasing demand for dry storage investigations. The DSC investigation should provide information about the quantity of stored SNF, and quality assurance of materials should be possible without opening the cask. However, traditional nondestructive examination (NDE) methods such as x-rays are difficult to deploy for DSC investigation because a typical DSC is intentionally designed to shield against radiation. To address this challenge, cosmic ray muons (CRMs) are used as an alternative NDE radiation probe because they can easily penetrate an entire DSC system; however, a wide application of muons is often hindered due to the naturally low CRM flux (~10 4 muons/m 2 /min). This paper introduces a newly proposed imaging algorithm, momentum-informed muon scattering tomography (MMST) , and presents how a limitation of the current muon scattering tomography technique has been addressed by measuring muon momentum. To demonstrate its functionality, a commercial DSC with 24 pressurized light water reactor fuel assemblies (FAs) and the MMST system were designed in GEANT4. Three noticeable improvements were observed for MMST system as a DSC investigation tool: (1) a signal stabilization, (2) an enhanced capability to differentiate various materials, and (3) statistically increased precision to identify and locate missing FAs. The results show that MMST improves the investigation accuracy from 79 to 98% when one FA is missing and 51% to 88% when one-half FA is missing. The advancement of the NDE technique using CRM for DSC verification is expected to resolve long-standing problems in increasing demand for DSC inspections and nuclear security.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2013

Development of Diffusion Barrier Coatings and Deposition Technologies for Mitigating Fuel Cladding Chemical Interactions (FCCI)

The goal of this project is to develop diffusion barrier coatings on the inner cladding surface to mitigate fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI). FCCI occurs due to thermal and radiation enhanced inter-diffusion between the cladding and fuel materials, and can have the detrimental effects of reducing the effective cladding wall thickness and lowering the melting points of the fuel and cladding. The research is aimed at the Advanced Burner Reactor (ABR), a sodium-cooled fast reactor, in which higher burn-ups will exacerbate the FCCI problem. This project will study both diffusion barrier coating materials and deposition technologies. Researchers will investigate pure vanadium, zirconium, and titanium metals, along with their respective oxides, on substrates of HT-9, T91, and oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steels; these materials are leading candidates for ABR fuel cladding. To test the efficacy of the coating materials, the research team will perform high-temperature diffusion couple studies using both a prototypic metallic uranium fuel and a surrogate the rare-earth element lanthanum. Ion irradiation experiments will test the stability of the coating and the coating-cladding interface. A critical technological challenge is the ability to deposit uniform coatings on the inner surface of cladding. The team will develop a promising non-line-of-sight approach that uses nanofluids . Recent research has shown the feasibility of this simple yet novel approach to deposit coatings on test flats and inside small sections of claddings. Two approaches will be investigated: 1) modified electrophoretic deposition (MEPD) and 2) boiling nanofluids. The coatings will be evaluated in the as-deposited condition and after sintering.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Potential Research and Development Opportunities for Light Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel at INL

This report documents the commercial spent nuclear fuel currently in storage at Idaho National Laboratory with a specific focus on the potential research and development (R&D) opportunities for this material. Commercial spent nuclear fuel is stored in dry casks on the INL site at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC, formerly the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant or ICPP). This spent fuel was part of the DOE-industry cooperative dry cask demonstration project that began in 1983 and from historical fuel testing and treatment activities that had been performed at the Test Area North (TAN)-607 facility. Most of the fuel is “low burnup,” but given that it was removed from the respective reactors between 1970 and 1985, it was representative for its time. The majority of the fuel is of the 15×15 Westinghouse PWR variety, though additional fuel types (e.g., TN-BRP) and configurations are also stored. Potential R&D opportunities identified are (1) the REA-2023 cask, (2) the TN-BRP cask, and (3) the Castor V/21 cask. Fuel from the TN-24P may be an alternative to the intact assemblies in the Castor V/21. Specifically, the REA-2023 cask contains 9 rods that have been exposed to air since 2005. These rods have a detailed pre-loading characterization and thus any changes in corrosion or geometry can most likely be attributed to the storage environment. In addition, similar rods to the nine in REA-2023 reside in the Castor V/21 cask whose environment has been maintained with inert nitrogen. The Castor V/21 cask also contains intact PWR assemblies that could be used to perform limited confirmation of the pyroprocessing approach. An alternative to the use of the Castor assemblies for pyroprocessing is the consolidated fuel that is stored in the TN-24P, which would not require removal from the assembly grid since it has already been packaged in accessible two-piece shell strongback containers. The TN-BRP cask contains a number of Gd-doped, low burnup assemblies that could be of use to validate code packages used to justify burnup-up credit for boiling water reactors (BWRs). The INL dry casks are stored on the CPP-2707 pad at INTEC, adjacent to the CPP-603 Irradiated Fuel Storage Facility, which incorporates a dry hot cell that has the potential to receive a full scale commercial cask of the types identified. Several evaluations have been made regarding this task, including full scale mockup testing of the physical clearances required to remove and handle fuel assemblies and components. A proposed schedule of 14 months and cost of $5.3 million was the outcome of analysis performed by Fluor Idaho and is included as Appendix A & B. In addition to the spent fuel at INL, there is also a full-scale mockup assembly that was fabricated for the Protypical Consolidation Demonstration Project to validate fuel rod consolidation approaches. The assembly was fabricated by Westinghouse as a 15 x 15 PWR, using Zircaloy-4 tubing and steel end fittings in accordance with product specifications. The only departure from specification is the use of copper metal in lieu of uranium oxide pellets to achieve a weight that is within 10% of the standard.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

A critical review of the history of fabricating monolithic U-Mo fuel plates

The fabrication of monolithic uranium-molybdenum alloy fuels, specifically those developed for high-performance research and test reactors, began in the early 2000s. The primary fuel form consists of uranium alloyed with 10-wt% molybdenum in a thin foil coated with zirconium and encapsulated in aluminum-6061 cladding. Over the years, the process has evolved with different types of casting, heat treatments, rolling schedules, and cladding applications. This review examines the history of these fabrication processes and their impact on microstructure and fuel-swelling performance. Even though various fabrication methods were used, we found little correlation between fabrication variation and fuel swelling. This insensitive relationship between fabrication variation and fuel swelling is primarily due to inhomogeneous microstructures that formed during casting and grain refinement that occurred during rolling. We conclude that the fabrication processes we examined produced similar microstructures, indicating that the fuel microstructure is somewhat insensitive to the fabrication parameters evaluated. However, the relatively small amount of historic data, such as those for grain sizes, limited this analysis. More recently fabricated materials, such as those from ongoing irradiation experiment, Mini-Plate-1 and Mini-Plate-2, were also excluded from this analysis and are intended to be reviewed separately. The findings, that fuel microstructure is somewhat insensitive to the fabrication parameters, do not imply that any fabrication method is acceptable, given the uncertainties in data and fuel-swelling observations. For example, only arc melting and vacuum induction melting casting processes were previously explored in the historic fabrication efforts. In conclusion, the findings should not be extrapolated to other casting processes.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Image-driven discriminative and generative machine learning algorithms for establishing microstructure–processing relationships

We investigate methods of microstructure representation for the purpose of predicting processing condition from microstructure image data. A binary alloy that is currently under development as a nuclear fuel was studied for the purpose of developing an improved machine learning approach to image recognition, characterization, and building predictive capabilities linking microstructure to processing conditions. Here, we test different microstructure representations and evaluate model performance based on classification accuracy. A classification accuracy of 95.8% was achieved fordistinguishing between micrographs corresponding to ten different thermo-mechanical material processing conditions.We find that our newly developed microstructure representation describes image data well, and the traditional approachof utilizing area fractions of different phases is insufficient for distinguishing between multiple classes using a relativelysmall, imbalanced original data set of 272 images. To explore the applicability of generative methods for supplementing such limited data sets, generative adversarial networks were trained to generate artificial microstructure images. Two different generative networks were trained and tested to assess performance. Challenges and best practices associated with applying machine learning to limited microstructure image data sets is also discussed. Our work has implications for quantitative microstructure analysis, and development of microstructure-processing relationships in limited data sets typical of metallurgical process design studies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

ZPPR FUEL ELEMENT THERMAL STRESS-STRAIN ANALYSIS

The design temperature of high plutonium concentration ZPPR fuel assemblies is 600 degrees C. Cladding integrity of the 304L stainless steel cladding is a significant concern with this fuel since even small holes can lead to substantial fuel degradation. Since the fuel has a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than the cladding, an investigation of the stress induced in the cladding due to the differential thermal expansion of fuel and cladding up to the design temperature was conducted. Small holes in the cladding envelope would be expected to lead to the fuel hydriding and oxidizing into a powder over a long period of time. This is the same type of chemical reaction chain that exists in the degradion of the high uranium concentration ZPPR fuel. Unfortunately, the uranium fuel was designed with vents which allowed this degradation to occur. The Pu cladding is sealed so only fuel with damaged cladding would be subject to this damage. The thermal stresses that can be developed in the fuel cladding have been calculated in in this paper and compared to the ultimate tensile stress of the cladding. The conclusion is drawn that thermal stresses cannot induce holes in the cladding even for the highest storage temperatures predicted in calculations (292°C). In fact, thermal stress can not cause cladding failure as long as the fuel temperatures are below the design limit of 600 degrees C (1,112 degrees F).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Novel Process for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Fuel

In this project, TDA developed a new mixed metal oxide-based sorbent that converts CO2 (captured from coal fired power plants) to CO, which can then be combined with renewable H2 generated by water electrolysis or H2 from steam methane reforming to produce different liquid fuels. TDA’s absorbent-based CO2 conversion process uses a redox process, which splits the catalytic reforming of methane with CO2 reaction into two stages: CO2 reduction to CO and CH4 reforming into H2 and CO which eliminates the equilibrium limitations. The CO produced in the two-stage reactor system can then be further reacted with renewable H2 to produce methanol, naphtha, diesel, or gasoline. We worked with the Advanced Power & Energy Program (APEP) of University of California, Irvine (UCI) to design and develop the liquid fuel synthesis process that is built around this new material. We demonstrated the techno-economic viability of the new sorbent based redox process to convert CO2 into synthesis gas by demonstrating continuous carbon dioxide reduction in a prototype test system for over 585 hours while converting up to 10 kg CO2/day. With the successful completion of the R&D effort, the technology is now ready for a larger pilot-scale demonstration and the technology readiness has been raised from TRL 3 to TRL 5. In collaboration with UCI, we completed a high-fidelity process design and economic analysis. The required sale price (RSP) for gasoline (Case 1 NG-MTG) is $4.91/gal and naphtha and diesel (Case 2 NG-FT) are $4.23/gal and $6.07/gal, respectively, on a 2011 dollar basis. To put these costs in perspective, the California prices in current dollars (with its strict specifications) for regular grade gasoline from last year to current year have varied from a low of $3.10/gal in January 2021 to a high of $5.76/gal in March 2022, while prices for diesel from last year to current year have varied from a low of $3.40/gal in January 2021 to a high of $6.41/gal in May 2022 according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency data. It should be noted that the gasoline and diesel produced by these designs of Case 1 and Case 2 would be of very high quality and both nitrogen and sulfur free. These RSPs are based on a cost of imported electricity of $64/MWh based on the low-end current wind generated electricity cost (Genevieve 2011). This cost is by far the largest component of the variable costs used in computing the RSPs. A sensitivity analysis of these RSPs to the cost of imported electricity shows that the cost of the imported electricity has a significant effect on the RSPs. The life cycle analysis (LCA) shows that the total cradle-to-gate CO2 emissions for both liquid fuels (diesel and gasoline) were negative, indicating that overall more CO2 is consumed than released during production of the fuel from CO2 feed stack for both cases (-296 kgCO2 per MT gasoline for Case 1 and -705 kgCO2 per MT diesel for Case 2). On a cradle-to-grave comparison, the use of diesel produced using TDA’s process (2,457 kgCO2 per MT diesel) would release 37.6% less CO2 compared to petroleum based diesel (3,937 kgCO2 per MT diesel) while the use of gasoline produced using TDA’s process (2,792 kgCO2 per MT gasoline) would release 29.3% less CO2 compared to petroleum based gasoline (3,946 kgCO2 per MT gasoline). With the successful completion of the R&D effort, the technology is now ready for a bench-scale demonstration and the technology readiness has been raised from TRL 3 (Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept) to TRL 5 (Laboratory scale similar system validation in relevant environment).

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Domestically Manufactured Fuel Cells for Heavy Duty Applications

This project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under Award DE-EE0009248, advances the domestic development of fuel-cell stack technologies for heavy-duty transportation applications. The work directly supports the Million-Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) initiative by improving performance, durability, and manufacturability—key requirements for next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell systems.

08 HYDROGEN↗