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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 1,081 records · Page 60
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Catalytic Upgrading of Pyrolysis Vapors 2.3.1.314

Catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) is a versatile pathway for the direct liquefaction of biomass and waste carbon sources to generate a stabilized bio-oil intermediate that can be further processed into renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials. The objective of this project is advance the CFP state-of-technology through integrated catalyst and process development, expand market responsiveness by creating routes to novel co-products, and provide experimental data to inform process modelling and scale-up activities. Research advancements over the past two years include reducing analytical uncertainty by achieving 100 ± 1% carbon balances during reaction testing with woody biomass, improving process efficiency by achieving a 4x increase in catalyst cycle length, demonstrating compatibility with waste feedstocks, and confirming process durability for 100+ reaction cycles. Additionally, this project supported a comprehensive pathway review to evaluate scale-up needs. This review resulted in the early identification of technical risks and informed proactive planning for the BETO 2022 Verification. Other impacts from this project include generation of broadly enabling scientific knowledge (14 publications/18 presentations since 2019), engagement with industry partners (e.g., Johnson Matthey and ExxonMobil), and identification of a promising pathway to market that addresses emerging demands for biogenic refinery feedstocks.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Thermochemical Platform Analysis WBS: 2.1.0.302

The objective of the NREL Thermochemical Platform Analysis (WBS 2.1.0.302) project is to inform and guide R&D priorities for thermal and catalytic conversion processes by providing process design and techno-economic analysis (TEA). This is achieved through close collaboration with researchers and external experts, along with the use of both commercially available modeling tools and the development or use of collaboration-derived domain-specific tools and resources, such as refinery integration, kinetic and reactor models, phase equilibrium models, and pertinent bio-products market studies. This project is directly aligned with DOE-BETO goals, with the enabling of technology advancements and cost reduction for biomass derived biofuels being one of its primary objectives. TEA-guided research facilitated by this project has helped achieve significant modeled cost reductions for the ex situ catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) pathway and the indirect liquefaction (IDL) pathway for the conversion of syngas to high-octane gasoline (HOG). Cost reduction through refinery integration, development of valuable co-products, and other options are being identified for future research to help reduce the modeled MFSP to $2.50/GGE by 2030. Additional priorities anticipated in the future, such as the use of renewable electricity for liquid fuels and products, and emphasis on waste utilization are also being explored in conjunction with research on catalytic utilization of syngas and other gases (including CO2). Industry-relevant parameters are given deliberate attention as part of the work done under this project to help answer questions important for future commercialization and address associated risks.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Rational Design of Robust Reactor Feeding Systems for Heterogeneous Cellulosic and Agricultural Wastes Based on Biomass Quality Characteristics

Consistent and reliable preprocessing, conveyance, and reactor in-feed systems, particularly for low-cost waste feedstocks, remains a major technical challenge for the emerging Bioeconomy. By identifying critical biomass attributes and connecting them to flow and conversion behavior, science-driven system designs can address these often-overlooked solids handling challenges. The Wonderful Company (TWC) is the world's largest almond and pistachio grower, generating 250,000 dry tons/year of waste material including hulls, shells, and wood (>5 million tons/year industry wide in the U.S.). This project seeks to turn this environmental and economic liability into a sustainable and profitable resource, targeting conversion via gasification to syngas for electricity and bio-char, by addressing related material handling and feeding challenges. Based on optimized preprocessing strategies, bulk material flow, and thermal conversion properties, an overall system design will be developed. The methodology will be tested with FCIC's benchmark loblolly pine residues, to demonstrate the robustness of the overall approach and provide insight and guidance for future systems. The project will culminate in extended field trials to demonstrate an improved continuous feeding system with a commercial biomass-to-electricity gasifier vendor, and an economic analysis demonstrating a reduction in electricity production costs by maximizing on-stream time while minimizing preprocessing and CapEx costs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Devices for fluid management

Disclosed herein are embodiments of devices for managing fluid transport. In particular disclosed embodiments, the devices are used to manage fluid transport in reactor systems, such as bio-assessment systems, chemical synthesis reactors, and the like. The devices disclosed herein include fluid management devices, reservoir assemblies, valving systems, pumps, and combinations thereof. The devices disclosed herein are cost-efficient and user-friendly and can be implemented in a variety of reactor systems.

Iyer, Rashi↗
DOE OSTI2021

Comparison of temperature adaptive calibration methods for laser induced fluorescence based fuel-in-oil instrument

Fuel dilution of engine oil (or fuel-in-oil, FiO) is an important issue as multiple and late-cycle fuel injection, integral to many combustion efficiency and emissions improvements (e.g., downsized boosted gasoline engines and catalyst thermal management) increases FiO rate. In addition to causing general wear and corrosion in engine due to decreased oil viscosity and pH buffering, FiO is also believed to cause destructive low speed pre-ignition (or super knock) in boosted SI engines. To understand the effects of engine operating conditions on the FiO rate, an optical diagnostic capable of measuring transient FiO on minute timescales was recently developed and demonstrated on a modified GM Ecotech engine system (Neupane et al., Applied Spectroscopy 2021). The measurement is based on adding a dye to the fuel and monitoring for its presence in oil via laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). The measured LIF signal is related to FiO concentration via pre-determined calibration factors using a multivariate classical least square (CLS) method.Since fluorescence quantum yield is a function of temperature, measured LIF intensity not only depends on FiO concentration but also oil temperature. To expand the applicability of the FiO diagnostic to transient oil-temperature conditions (e.g., cold start in practical engines), this study develops a method to account for oil-temperature variations. The effect of oil temperature (20°C - 95°C) on the LIF spectra of eight FiO samples ranging from ~0.8-15% was investigated. LIF intensities of the FiO samples decreased linearly with increasing temperature; the reductions being more significant at dye peaks. We develop a new calibration model (T-adaptive CLS) incorporating the temperature (T) effects on LIF intensity that enables simultaneous calculation of FiO and oil temperature. The improved FiO diagnostic with T-adaptive calibration is more robust, and applicable to varying oil-temperature conditions. For example, when strategies such as multiple/late fuel injections are applied to overcome cold-start instability due to use of low vaporization bio-based fuels such as ethanol, FiO rate is expected to be very high; the improved T-adaptive FiO diagnostic is hence relevant for engine- and fuel-system calibration and optimization. The diagnostic could also provide validation data for flow-field and spray interaction CFD models, further broadening the diagnostic’s utility for advancing engine technology and efficiency.

Neupane, Sneha↗
DOE OSTI2021

Means and methods for treating copper-related diseases

The present invention relates to the field of (bio-)medicine, and more particularly to the treatment of copper-related diseases. Novel means and methods for depleting (excess) copper from organs and/or the circulation are provided. Agents with a high copper binding affinity and stabilized forms thereof are provided, as well as a novel treatment regimen. The means and methods of the present invention are particularly useful for treatment of Wilson Disease, but also for treatment of other conditions.

Zischka, Hans↗
DOE OSTI2020

The organic redox transistor for neuromorphic computing

Inspired by the in-memory computing architectures of biological systems, neuromorphic computing using crossbar arrays of artificial synapses based on non-volatile memory (NVM) devices with variable conductances has emerged as a new paradigm to enable massively parallel and ultra-low power computing hardware for data centric applications. Although inference has been demonstrated successfully using crossbars based on a variety of NMV technologies, efficient learning and scaling to large arrays (>10 6 elements) remains a challenge due to the synaptic elements' non-ideal electrical characteristics which degrades ANN accuracy. A further challenge is that in the conductive state memristors draw large currents >μA resulting in significant voltage drops in the interconnect wires and increased probability of failure in scaled arrays. We suggest the organic polymer redox transistor (RT) is an alternate approach that could solve many of these challenges, enabling both inference and parallel outer product updates, as recently demonstrated by Fuller et al. An RT consists of redox-active channel and gate electrodes in contact with a liquid or solid electrolyte. lon insertion through the electrolyte controls the channel electronic conductivity, while electron transfer through an external circuit maintains overall charge neutrality. Unlike a rechargeable battery, in the RT the voltage built-up across the electrolyte is kept to a minimum (typically <100 mV) by using the same material for the gate and channel. Elimination of the voltage offset simplifies integration of the RT into programmable arrays by enabling the use of various selectors. RTs based on inorganic and organic materials have been recently demonstrated with conductance tuning occurring at potentials of just a few mV and hundreds to thousands of linearly and symmetrically programmable conductance states, enabling near ideal accuracy in neural network simulations. Introduced in the 1980's, redox transistors with metallic gate electrodes and organic channel materials, also known as organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), have been explored for a variety of applications such as chem- and bio-sensing, neural interfaces, and low cost printed circuits. A typical channel material for OECTs is the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). PEDOT is a p-type semiconducting polymer with mobile positively charged polarons that hop chain-to-chain.

Talin, Albert Alec↗
DOE OSTI2022

Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste: Products and Their Uses

This brochure provides a brief summary of products associated with anaerobic digestion of food waste, namely biogas and digestate. The focus is primarily on digestate and its utilization options, which include land application, direct and indirect fuel, bio-oil, biochar, and syngas, as well as other uses.

BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Determining the Role of Synthesis and Reaction Conditions on the Exposed Surface and Shape of ..beta..-Mo2C Catalysts

The production of drop-in quality biofuels typically can be achieved through catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass, followed by hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of the vapor-phase product to reduce the oxygen content and stabilize the bio-oil product. To favor selectivity toward desired deoxygenation products, bifunctional catalysts with both acidic and hydrogenation sites are often employed. Due to both its oxophilicity and its ability to promote hydrogenation reactions, molybdenum carbide catalysts have shown promise for promoting the HDO of CFP vapors. However, the surface structure and composition of carbide catalyst particles are not well understood, precluding the establishment of fundamental structure-function relationships needed for the rational development of molybdedum carbide for HDO, as well as other reactions. For orthorhombic ..beta..-Mo2C, the (100) facet is largely studied for computational surface-reaction analyses, possibly due to its similarities with the close-packed (111) facet of noble-metal catalysts. However, it has previously been postulated through ab initio thermodynamic studies that the (111), (110), and (011) facets are most stable, though there is no consensus. Furthermore, while a majority of previous surface stability analyses of ..beta..-Mo2C focus on bulk terminations, the highly carburizing synthesis conditions and the use of ..beta..-Mo2C in carbon-containing reaction applications could introduce non-stoichiometric coverages of surface carbon. As such, this study uses ab initio thermodynamics calculations to assess the relative surface stability of the low-index facets of ..beta..-Mo2C, including consideration of varying the coverage of surface carbon. From this information, Wulff constructions are utilized to predict the synthesis and reaction condition-dependent shape and surface carbon composition of ..beta..-Mo2C catalyst particles.

BIOMASS FUELS,INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND AN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Assessing the Role of the Support in Acetic Acid Hydrodeoxygenation Selectivity on Pt/TiO2

To produce drop-in quality biofuels following the thermochemical conversion of biomass via catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP), hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) reactions can be performed to remove excess oxygen and create a more stable bio-oil product. HDO reactions involve co-feeding the CFP vapor-phase product and H2 gas over bi-functional catalysts, such as noble-metal catalysts supported on reducible metal oxides (e.g., Pt/TiO2). Recent model-compound studies, focusing on important classes of species in the CFP vapor mixture, have sought to determine the role of the various Pt/TiO2 actives sites (i.e., Pt-metal, TiO2-support, Pt-TiO2-interfacial sites) in producing the observed desired deoxygenation and undesired decarboxylation/decarbonylation products. One important class of compounds in the CFP vapor-phase product is carboxylic acids (e.g., acetic acid). Prior experimental work on acetic acid HDO (AA-HDO) found that Pt/C and Pt/TiO2 catalysts favored the formation of undesired C-C and desired C-O bond-dissociation products; however, the fundamental surface chemistry driving this shift in selectivity has not been established. This presentation employs atomic-scale modeling to determine, through comparisons of adsorption and reaction energetics, how Pt-metal, Pt-TiO2-interface, and interfacial-vacancy sites catalyze the competing reaction pathways for AA-HDO. Our analysis indicates that hydroxyl vacancies at the Pt-TiO2 interface are critical for lowering barriers for C-O bond-cleavage steps, such that they become favorable/competitive with respect to C-C bond-dissociation steps.

BIOMASS FUELS,INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND AN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Co-Hydrotreating of Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis Oils with Straight-Run Diesel

Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass provides an opportunity for producing stabilized bio-oils (CFP oils) that can be further processed into hydrocarbon transportation fuels via hydroprocessing. Standalone hydrotreating of CFP oils has been pursued and has been shown to be able to produce hydrocarbon products with low oxygen contents of <1wt%, but the process is costly due to the high requirements of hydrogen and high capital costs. The costs can be reduced by co-processing in refineries, which takes advantage of the existing refinery infrastructure and the economies of the larger scale of petroleum processing operations. In this contribution, we evaluated co-hydrotreating of CFP oil with straight-run diesel in a laboratory continuous hydrotreating reactor. The CFP oil had been produced over a bi-functional metal-acid catalyst (Pt/TiO2) and contained 17 wt% oxygen on dry basis, and it was fed to the reactor together with straight-run diesel in the proportion of 20 vol%:80 vol%. The co-hydrotreated diesel products had acceptable cetane numbers (>40), and the calculated carbon efficiencies were high (~95%) for the CFP portion of the feed mixtures. Biogenic carbon incorporation in the product was confirmed by C-14 analysis. Sulfided NiMo catalyst gave better performance with respect to the diesel product quality than CoMo did due to the higher hydrogenation activity of NiMo. A comparison of standalone hydrotreating of the CFP oil and the straight-run diesel to co-hydrotreating showed good correspondence. Major challenges and risks associated with co-hydrotreating are discussed in this presentation.

biomass↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bioenergy: A Pathway to Decarbonization

An overview of BETO’s efforts to help engineer carbon reduction and decarbonize the atmosphere with improved carbon conversion technologies, along with bio-based alternatives to fossil fuels and petrochemical-related products.

biofuels, bioproducts, greenhouse gas, carbon foot↗
DOE OSTI2022

MSW Variability Mapping and Conversion to Biofuel

MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) is a form of biomass which consists of categorized components of waste/trash. The general categories are paper, yard trash, construction & debris, appliances, tires, glass, metals, aluminum & steel cans, plastics, organics, inorganics, and HHW (Household Hazardous Waste). This project focuses on the factors within a region or population that contribute to variability in the composition of MSW and in turn MSW’s convertibility to biofuel. A list of contributors was determined (Social Vulnerability Index, Access to Public Transportation, Racial Distribution, GDP, Personal Income) and then JMP was used to perform a Multivariate analysis to determine correlations and a Partial Least-Squares regression to determine Variable Importance Plots for each MSW category. In addition to data analysis, the convertibility of MSW to biofuel was studied via microwave pyrolysis system in order to separate and characterize the various gaseous and bio-oil products.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulation and Optimization of Volatile Fatty Acid Upgrading Strategies for Sustainable Transportation Fuel Production

Underutilized wet waste is a promising feedstock for production of carbon-neutral or carbon-negative liquid transportation fuels. Arrested methanogenesis of wet wastes by microbes, which produces mixtures of C2-C8 carboxylic acids (volatile fatty acids, VFAs), is practiced industrially at a pilot scale and the VFA products can be catalytically upgraded to molecules suitable for use as transportation fuels (alcohols and alkanes) via sequential ketonization and hydrogenation, both steps of which have been demonstrated with high (>90%) yield at the lab scale. We present in this work a simulation-based decision-making framework which evaluates upgrading strategies of VFAs to alcohol- and hydrocarbon-based neat and blended diesel, jet, and gasoline fuels. The processes utilize sequential upgrading steps (ketonization and hydrogenation) accompanied by one distillation step (either separating VFAs before ketonization or alcohols after ketone hydrogenation) to form two liquid streams: a light alcohol stream best suited as a light-duty fuel and a heavy alcohol or hydrocarbon stream best suited as a diesel or jet fuel. Suitability of the liquid products as transportation fuels and maximum blending levels with petrofuels comes from simulation of critical fuel properties (boiling point, flash point, lower heating value, viscosity, melting point, water solubility, and cetane/octane number). Catalytic upgrading steps and fuel property mixing models used by the simulation are experimentally validated. We demonstrate the flexibility of the decision-making algorithm by evaluating processing scenarios for experimentally-observed VFA profiles with varied carbon chain length distributions. Processing scenarios are optimized for either maximum total renewable carbon utilization or production of heavy-duty (jet or diesel) fuels. We evaluate the economic viability and CO2 emissions of each proposed upgrading scenario using techno-economic and life cycle analyses. The decision-making framework developed in this work can also be used to down-select promising strategies for upgrading of other bio-based feedstocks to sustainable fuels and chemicals.

aviation fuel↗
DOE OSTI2022

Engineered microbes for conversion of organic compounds to medium chain length alcohols and methods of use

This disclosure provides a genetically-modified bacterium from the genus Pseudomonas that comprises an exogenous nucleic acid encoding an enoyl-CoA reductase and an exogenous nucleic acid encoding an acyl-CoA reductase that produces medium chain length alcohols. The disclosure further provides methods for producing medium chain alcohols using such genetically-modified bacterium. This disclosure provides a renewable, bio-based production platform for valuable mcl-alcohols that have a wide range of industrial applications. Current production of mcl-alcohols typically occurs through the hydrogenation of plant oils and waxes. This process leads to issues of deforestation and is largely unsustainable. Utilizing waste lignin streams as the carbon source provides a more sustainable feedstock that can be generated from plant waste like corn stover. Along with this, the use of lignin avoids competition with food resources as traditional starch and sugar feedstocks.

Guss, Adam M.↗