SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “volume”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,099 records · Page 61

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2023

Soot Formation and Ignition Characteristics of Ethanol/Gasoline Blends in a Rapid Compression Machine

With the ever-increasing demand for sustainable energy, alcohol fuels have garnered interest for use in heavy duty engines. The significant infrastructure for ethanol production and blending of ethanol with gasoline make these fuels/fuel blends desirable candidates. However, development of heavy duty engine technology that is capable of burning alcohol fuels while retaining the advantages of traditional diesel combustion requires an improved understanding of the soot formation for these fuels under conditions relevant to mixing-controlled combustion. This work uses an extinction diagnostic to study the sooting tendency of ethanol and gasoline/ethanol blends ranging from E10 to E98 during ignition in a homogeneous environment. Experiments were conducted in a rapid compression machine (RCM) for compressed conditions of 20 ± 1 bar and an approximately constant temperature (± 10K) which was unique for each fuel. For a given soot volume fraction, a linear relationship was observed between ethanol content and the equivalence ratio in which that soot volume fraction was formed. Accounting for the oxygenated nature of ethanol, E85 and E98 fuels produced similar amounts of soot at a given Φ ox, , suggesting other factors outside of fuel oxygen content, such as fuel morphology, impact soot formation. Ignition delay data is reported for compressed pressures of 20 ± 1 bar and compressed temperatures ranging from 633 – 670 K for E10 and 771 – 789 K for E98. Varying pressures for E10 and E98 at conditions producing similar soot volume fractions demonstrated a linear dependence of soot formation on pressure, regardless of if the pressure considered was at top dead center or peak combustion pressure. Furthermore, the data gleaned from this work will be used to select soot models and chemical kinetic mechanisms for RCM simulations to ultimately model heavy duty engine technology with the studied fuels.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Infinite temperature at zero energy

We construct a family of static, geometrically local Hamiltonians that inherit eigenstate properties of periodically-driven (Floquet) systems. Our construction is a variation of the Feynman-Kitaev clock -- a well-known mapping between quantum circuits and local Hamiltonians -- where the clock register is given periodic boundary conditions. Assuming the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) holds for the input circuit, our construction yields Hamiltonians whose eigenstates have properties characteristic of infinite temperature, like volume-law entanglement entropy, across the whole spectrum -- including the ground state. We then construct a family of exactly solvable Floquet quantum circuits whose eigenstates are shown to obey the ETH at infinite temperature. Combining the two constructions yields a new family of local Hamiltonians with provably volume-law-entangled ground states, and the first such construction where the volume law holds for all contiguous subsystems.

FOS: Physical sciences↗

DOE OSTI2025

Mind the crosscap: $τ$-scaling in non-orientable gravity and time-reversal-invariant systems

Spectral statistics of quantum chaotic systems are governed by random matrix universality. In many cases of interest, time-reversal symmetry selects the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble (GOE) as the relevant universality class. In holographic CFTs, this is mirrored by the presence of non-orientable geometries in the dual gravitational path integral. In this work, we analyze general properties of these matrix models and their gravitational counterparts. First, we develop a formalism to express the universal level statistics in the canonical ensemble for arbitrary spectral curves, leading to a topological expansion with finite radius of convergence in the late-time $τ$-scaling limit. Then, we focus on topological gravity and study topological recursion on the moduli space of non-orientable surfaces. We find that the Weil-Petersson volumes display non-analytic behaviour multiplying polynomials in the boundary lengths. The volumes give rise to wormholes with late-time divergences, in contrast with the orientable case, which is finite. We identify systematic cancellations among WP volumes implied by the consistency and finiteness of the $τ$-scaling limit. In particular, the cancellation of late-time divergences requires a nontrivial genus resummation. Working in the gravitational microcanonical ensemble, we derive and resum all orders of the topological expansion matching the GOE matrix model in the high-energy regime.

Chaotic Dynamics (nlin.CD)↗

DOE OSTI2024

Energy-conserving physics for nonhydrostatic dynamics in mass coordinate models

Abstract. Motivated by reducing errors in the energy budget related to enthalpy fluxes within the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), we study several physics–dynamics coupling approaches. Using idealized physics, a moist rising bubble test case, and the E3SM's nonhydrostatic dynamical core, we consider unapproximated and approximated thermodynamics applied at constant pressure or constant volume. With the standard dynamics and physics time-split implementation, we describe how the constant-pressure and constant-volume approaches use different mechanisms to transform physics tendencies into dynamical motion and show that only the constant-volume approach is consistent with the underlying equations. Using time step convergence studies, we show that the two approaches both converge but to slightly different solutions. We reproduce the large inconsistencies between the energy flux internal to the model and the energy flux of precipitation when using approximate thermodynamics, which can only be removed by considering variable latent heats, both when computing the latent heating from phase change and when applying this heating to update the temperature. Finally, we show that in the nonhydrostatic case, for physics applied at constant pressure, the general relation that enthalpy is locally conserved no longer holds. In this case, the conserved quantity is enthalpy plus an additional term proportional to the difference between hydrostatic pressure and full pressure.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

Comparison of wind-farm control strategies under realistic offshore wind conditions: wake quantities of interest

Wind-farm control strategies aim to increase the efficiency, and therefore lower the levelized cost of energy, of wind farms. This is done by using turbine settings such as the yaw angle, blade pitch angles, or generator torque to manipulate the wake that negatively affects downstream turbines in the farm. Two inherently different wind-farm control methods have been identified in the literature: wake steering (WS) and active wake mixing (AWM). As one of two companion papers focused on understanding practical aspects of these two wind-farm control strategies using large-eddy simulation (LES), we below analyze the wake quantities of interest for a single wind turbine performing WS and AWM, while the companion article (Frederik et al., 2025) focuses on turbine quantities of interest including power and structural loads for the same computational setup and also includes two-turbine arrays with full and partial wake overlap. The simulations, which are based in the LES solver AMR-Wind, are tailored to have inflow conditions representative of measurements from a site off the East Coast of the US, including with strong veer and low turbulence. The turbine, which is modeled in OpenFAST and coupled to the LES, is the IEA 15 MW, an open-source offshore design. After presenting an overview of the wake recovery for the different wake-control cases, the analysis probes the fluid-dynamic causes for the different performance of the arrays reported in the companion article by examining control volumes around the wakes and the budget of the mean-flow kinetic energy (MKE) within these volumes. In the high veer environment considered, the MKE recovery is dominated by mean convection, and this is shown to especially benefit the WS strategy when a neighboring turbine is directly downstream: there is ≈65 % more available power for a downstream turbine than in the baseline case, and this power is gained primarily through mean convection on the left-tip and top-tip faces of the control volume. However, the case with imperfect knowledge of the exact wind direction favors the pulse-type AWM strategy, largely because of ≈9 % increased turbulent entrainment from aloft versus the baseline that could be related to an apparent resistance to skewing in the pulsed wake. The general reduced effectiveness of helix-type and other individual-pitch-based AWM strategies for inflow with high veer and low turbulence as reported in the companion paper is due, in part, to low magnitudes of phase-averaged turbulent entrainment. Two main findings of this study are thus that veer has a significant impact on the effectiveness of different wake-control strategies and that pulse-type AWM may be a useful strategy when the objective is power maximization in realistic, offshore flow environments with imperfect knowledge of the exact wake overlap position on the downstream turbine.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

CACTI ARM Aerial Facility Measurements of Ice Nucleating Particles

The dataset comprises measures, using Colorado State University's Ice Spectrometer (IS, an immersion freezing device with a range from 0°C down to -26 to -29°C) of atmospheric ice nucleating particle (INP) concentrations taken on the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program Aerial Facilty (AAF) G-1 aircraft. INP measurements on the G-1 were collected from varied altitudes on different flights over the region of the Sierras de Córdoba mountain range of north-central Argentina, centred over ARM's Mobile Facility (AMF-1) near Villa Yacanto, where ground-based INP measures were being taken concurrently. Both studies took place as part of the Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) Experiment. A filter sampling system was deployed on the G-1 to collect aerosol particles for post-processing of INPs collected on filters (measuring their immersion freezing ability) once returned to Colorado State University (CSU). Filter holders used were pre-cleaned aluminum in-line units loaded with pre-cleaned and pre-sterilized 47 mm dia. Nuclepore polycarbonate filters (0.2 mm pore size). Filters were drawn for varied times, resulting in varied volumes collected (51 to 1667 SL). Mass flow rate was recorded in real-time so that total sampled volume (at standard temperature and pressure) could be determined. A total of 34 sample filters were collected over the IOP, including 5 blanks. Filters were stored at -20°C freezer prior to frozen return to Colorado State University (CSU). . Processing to obtain spectra of INP number concentration active via the immersion freezing mechanism versus temperature was conducted using CSU's IS instrument (McCluskey et al., 2018). For measurment of INPs, collected aerosol particles were re-suspended in 7 mL of 0.02 µm-filtered deionized water. Aliquots of each suspension, and serial dilutions, were dispensed into trays which were fit into aluminum blocks in the IS. Samples are cooled at 0.33°C min-1 and the freezing temperatures of wells recorded automatically. Cumulative INP concentrations were determined by first calculating the INPs per mL of suspension based on Vali (1971) and then converting to concentration per standard liter of air using the proportion of the total liquid sample dispensed and the air sample volumes. Aliquots of suspensions from selected samples were also heat treated (95°C for 20 min) to denature and deactivate biological INPs, and digested in 10% H2O2 at 95°C under UV-B to remove all organic carbon INPs. McCluskey, C. S., J. Ovadnevaite, M. Rinaldi, J. Atkinson, F. Belosi, D. Ceburnis, S. Marullo, T. C. J. Hill, U. Lohmann, Z. A. Kanji, C. O’Dowd, S. M. Kreidenweis, P. J. DeMott, 2018: Marine and Terrestrial Organic Ice Nucleating Particles in Pristine Marine to Continentally-Influenced Northeast Atlantic Air Masses, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 123, 6196–6212, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028033. Vali, G., 1971: Quantitative evaluation of experimental results on the heterogeneous freezing nucleation of supercooled liquids. J. Atmos. Sci., 28, 402–409.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

MOSAiC-Colorado State University Ice Spectrometer

This data set contains atmospheric ice nucleating particle (INP) measurements, using Colorado State University’s (CSU) Ice Spectrometer (IS), of filter collections taken at the U.S. DOE ARM AMF2 site onboard the R/V Polarstern P-deck during the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) field campaign. Samples were collected from October 27, 2019 to September 24, 2020. A filter sampler was mounted approximately 15 m above ground level on a railing in proximity to (and approximately 3 m below) the Aerosol Observation System (AOS) inlet. Single-use filter units open to the atmosphere were pre-cleaned and pre-loaded with 47-mm diameter Nuclepore polycarbonate (0.2 µm pore-diameter) filters. Filters were typically drawn for a three-day period, with an average volume of air filtered of 87,000 standard liters. Total volumes were calculated through recorded daily flow rates using a mass flow meter (TSI). After collection, filters were stored and transported frozen until analysis using CSU’s IS instrument (McCluskey et al., 2018). Aerosol particles were first re-suspended in 8 mL of 0.1 µm-filtered deionized (DI) water. Aliquots of each suspension, and corresponding 11-fold dilutions, were dispensed into polymerase chain reaction (PCR) trays and placed into the aluminum blocks of the IS. Samples were cooled at approximately 0.33 °C min -1 and freezing detected optically with corresponding temperatures recorded. Cumulative INP concentrations were determined through calculating the number of INPs per mL of suspension (Vali, 1971) and converting to concentration per standard L of air by accounting for the proportion of liquid used and volume of air collected. All samples were corrected for the number of INPs on the average of four field blanks (cleaned, handled, transported, and analyzed in the same way without air flow). Two-tailed, 95% confidence intervals for binomial sampling are provided (Agresti and Coull, 1998). Select samples were also heat treated (95 °C for 20 min) to denature and deactivate biological INPs present and digested in 10% H 2 O 2 at 95 °C under UV-B for 20 min to remove any organic carbon INPs. Agresti, A, and BA Coull. 1998. "Approximate is better than “exact” for interval estimation of binomial proportions." American Statistics 52: 119–126. https://doi.org/10.2307/2685469 McCluskey, CS, J Ovadnevaite, M Rinaldi, J Atkinson, F Belosi, D Ceburnis, … and PJ DeMott. 2018. "Marine and Terrestrial Organic Ice-Nucleating Particles in Pristine Marine to Continentally Influenced Northeast Atlantic Air Masses." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 123 (11): 6196–6212, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028033 Vali, G. 1971. "Quantitative Evaluation of Experimental Results and the Heterogeneous Freezing Nucleation of Supercooled Liquids." Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 28: 402-209. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1971)028<0402:QEOERA>2.0.CO;2

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Global Geo-processed Data of Aquifer Properties by 0.5° Grid, Country and Water Basins

This repository of global hydrogeologic datasets contains aquifer properties on 0.5° scale, including depth to groundwater (Fan et al., 2013), aquifer thickness (de Graaf et al., 2015), WHYMap aquifer classes (Richts et al., 2011), porosity and permeability (Gleeson et al., 2014), digitized and geo-processed from their respective sources. Globally gridded aquifer properties could be used independently to estimate global groundwater availability or used as critical inputs to the superwell model to simulate groundwater extraction and provide estimates of pumped volumes and unit costs under user-specific scenarios. Key resources related to this data are: Niazi, H., Ferencz, S., Graham, N., Yoon, J., Wild, T., Hejazi, M., Watson, D., & Vernon, C. (2024; In-prep). Long-term Hydro-economic Assessment Tool for Evaluating Global Groundwater Cost and Supply: Superwell v1. Geoscientific Model Development. superwell model repository which uses this data to simulate groundwater extraction and provides estimates of the global extractable volumes and unit-costs ($/km3) of accessible groundwater production under user-specified extraction scenarios. Repository Overview Main output: aquifer_properties.csv contains all processed outputs, including aquifer properties like porosity, permeability, aquifer thickness, and depth to groundwater. shapefiles.zip: contains all digitized GIS databases and shapefile for all aquifer properties prep_inputs.R: R script that processes the shapefiles to produce the aquifer_properties file plot_inputs.R: R script for plotting the maps and conducting preliminary analysis on the available groundwater volume basin_to_country_mapping.csv, basin_country_region_mapping.csv and continent_county_mapping.csv provide the mapping between continents, 32 energy-economic macro regions, countries, and water basins for post-processing aquifer_properties.csv Maps: Each map visualizes the spatial distribution of one of the aquifer properties across the globe map_in_Porosity.png map_in_Permeability.png map_in_Aquifer_thickness.png map_in_Depth_to_water.png map_in_Grid_area_km.png map_in_WHYClass.png Sample inputs sample_inputs.py: this script samples inputs from the aquifer_properties dataset, ensuring the sampled and original inputs maintain the same distributions sampled_data_100.csv contains 100 sampled data points and sampled_data_100.png compares their distributions Dataset Overview The main outputs are consolidated in a comprehensive aquifer_properties.csv file and include the following fields: GridCellID: Unique identifier for each (roughly 0.5°) grid cell Continent: Continent name Country: Country name GCAM_basin_ID: Identifier for GCAM hydrologic basin Basin_long_name: Full name of the basin WHYClass: Hydrogeologic classification based on WHYMap aquifer classes (Richts et al., 2011) Porosity: Soil porosity (%) (Gleeson et al., 2014) Permeability: Soil permeability (in square meters; Gleeson et al., 2014) Aquifer_thickness: Thickness of the aquifer (in meters; de Graaf et al., 2015) Depth_to_water: Depth to groundwater (in meters; Fan et al., 2013) Grid_area: Area of the grid cell (in square meters) Key References The datasets are digitized versions of global hydrogeologic properties from the following key literature sources: Depth to Groundwater: Fan, Y., Li, H., & Miguez-Macho, G. (2013). Global Patterns of Groundwater Table Depth. Science, 339(6122), 940-943. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1229881 Aquifer Thickness: de Graaf, I. E. M., Sutanudjaja, E. H., van Beek, L. P. H., & Bierkens, M. F. P. (2015). A high-resolution global-scale groundwater model. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19(2), 823-837. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-823-2015 Porosity and Permeability: Gleeson, T., Moosdorf, N., Hartmann, J., & van Beek, L. P. H. (2014). A glimpse beneath earth's surface: GLobal HYdrogeology MaPS (GLHYMPS) of permeability and porosity. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(11), 3891-3898. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL059856 Aquifer classes: Richts, A., Struckmeier, W. F., & Zaepke, M. (2011). WHYMAP and the Groundwater Resources Map of the World 1:25,000,000. In J. A. A. Jones (Ed.), Sustaining Groundwater Resources: A Critical Element in the Global Water Crisis (pp. 159-173). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3426-7_10 Cite as Niazi, H., Watson, D., Hejazi, M., Yonkofski, C., Ferencz, S., Vernon, C., Graham, N., Wild, T., & Yoon, J. (2024). Global Geo-processed Data of Aquifer Properties by 0.5° Grid, Country and Water Basins. MSD-LIVE Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.57931/2307831 Contact Reach out to Hassan Niazi or open an issue in superwell repository for questions or suggestions.

aquifer thickness↗

DOE OSTI2020

Closing the Loops on Solar Photovoltaics Modules: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach for the Study of Circular Economy Strategies

Solar photovoltaics (PV) installed capacity have grown exponentially since the early 2000s (average annual growth rate of 50%). With 4,700 GW projected installed capacity by 2050, the volume of PV panels waste is also expected to become substantial. Though renewables are a sine qua non to the establishment of a truly circular economy (CE), the issue arising from their end-of-life management needs to be resolved. The management of PV end-of-life also represent a singular opportunity to create value, from recovered valuable, rare or critical materials (e.g. silver, tellurium, indium). Moreover, the PV case illustrates some of the current barriers to CE; for instance, the need for a common definition of waste (PV are defined as e-waste in the European Union but as general waste in the United States) and potential loss of innovations' advantages (PV average efficiency has continuously grown the past 10 years). In this study, an agent-based modeling (ABM) approach is proposed to simulate PV end-of-life management in the United States. The model explores how the decisions of the various actors involved in handling PV waste affect the quantities of PV that are reused, recycled, or land-filled. In the model, manufacturers, residential, and nonresidential PV owners, installers, and recyclers are represented by agents while governmental policies and regulations are treated as exogenous variables. PV-market data are used to define agents' characteristics (e.g., installed PV capacities or producing costs). Agents' decision rules draw on the literature related to industrial symbiosis (IS) and peoples' waste behaviors as they appear as the most widely used model to implement CE principles at a meso level. Specifically, the concepts of mutual trust between IS actors and knowledge about the IS philosophy are yielded to define the agents' decision process. The primary outputs of the ABM are the costs and volume of waste associated with each end-of-life pathway. Preliminaries results indicate recycling of residential PV is affected by the cost, perceived difficulty of recycling behaviors, and social norms. Moreover, the type of network connecting agents and the initial recycling rate strongly influence results. The model also highlights the crucial role of recycling behavior adoption: in case of early failure of PV, recycled volumes increase by about 40%. This represents an additional 5.7 billion USD from potential recovered silver. Finally, although results for the PV case are presented here, the developed ABM aims at being a general tool for the study of CE strategies and the CE transition. Furthermore, steps of this research include extending the model to encompass circular economy strategies (e.g., design for recycling or lifetime extension) and validating its general architecture from various case studies.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Apparatus, turbine nozzle and turbine shroud

An apparatus is disclosed including a first and second article, a first interface volume disposed between and enclosed by the first article and second article, a cooling fluid supply, and at least one cooling fluid channel in fluid communication with the cooling fluid supply and the first interface volume. The first article includes a first material composition. The second article includes a second material composition. The at least one cooling fluid channel includes a heat exchange portion disposed in at least one of the first and second article downstream of the cooling fluid supply and upstream of the first interface volume. A turbine shroud is disclosed wherein the first and second articles are an outer and inner shroud. A turbine nozzle is disclosed wherein the first and second articles are an endwall and fairing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2020

Split heating and cooling systems

The present disclosure relates to air conditioning systems and methods. An aspect of the present disclosure is a device that includes a housing having an external surface and defining an interior volume, a heat exchanger positioned within the interior volume, a fluid line partially positioned within the interior volume, a sleeve extending from the external surface and terminating at a distal end of the sleeve, and a fluid connector. The sleeve has an outside wall spanning a length of the sleeve and defining an internal cavity, the fluid connector is positioned at or near the distal end, a portion of the fluid line is positioned within the internal cavity, and the fluid line provides a fluid connection between the heat exchanger and the fluid connector.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2021

DOE Award No.: DE-FE0023919 Phase 4 Scientific/Technical Report

This is the Phase 4 Report for the ‘Deepwater Methane Hydrate Characterization and Scientific Assessment or Genesis of Methane Hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM2)’ research project (DOE Award No. DE-FE0023919). The report summarizes activities from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The project is led by the University of Texas at Austin (UT). The project objective is to gain insight into the nature, formation, occurrence and physical properties of methane hydrate-bearing sediments for the purpose of methane hydrate resource appraisal through the planning and execution of drilling, coring, logging, testing and analytical activities that assess the geologic occurrence, regional context, and characteristics of marine methane hydrate deposits in the Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf (OCS). We published a dedicated American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin volume describing initial results from the UT-GOM2-1 expedition in Sept. 2020. This is part 1 of a multi-volume commitment by AAPG to this project. We further confirmed that the natural gas in hydrate at GC-955 was formed by primary microbial processes (>76.1 %). The in-situ effective permeability hydrate-bearing sandy silts at the GC-955 reservoir ranges from 0.1 md (1.0×10-16 m2) to 2.4 md (2.4×10-15m2) in cores with 83% to 93% hydrate saturation. The intrinsic permeability (the single phase permeability) is estimated from reconstituted samples to be ~12 md (1.2×10-14 m2) to ~41 md (4.1×10-14 m2). We used observation and models to interpret that the core degradation that is found in pressure cores is due to dissociation of the methane hydrate in the outer circumference of the core and dissolution of that methane into the fresh pore water that the core is stored with. We are designing approaches to minimize this core loss in the future. We spent an enormous amount of effort to further improve the ability of the pressure coring tool (the PCTB) to pressure seal correctly. We completed upgrading the upper section of the PCTB to address poor pressure. We successful tested the modifications at Geotek’s test facility in Salt Lake City (Bench Test II). We completed a Land Test of the PCTB at the Schlumberger Cameron Test and Training Facility (CTTF). The tool did not seal in 6 out of 7 tests and we clearly demonstrated that cuttings were wedging in the ball valve assembly, keeping the ball valve from sealing. We reproduced the failure mechanism observed during the land test at Salt Lake City and confirmed the sensitivity of the ball valve assembly to grit. Geotek designed and tested 9 modifications to address this issue and the PCTB is now 100% successfully sealing in the presence of grit. Our science expedition is scheduled for spring 2022 and we are fully focused on preparing for this. UT and Ohio State completed a Shallow Hazard Assessment report for each proposed UT-GOM2-2 drilling location, pursuant to 30 CFR 250.214(f) and 250.244 (f). The Shallow Hazard Reports will accompany the UT-GOM2-2 Exploration Plan that is submitted to BOEM, and completes the geological and geophysical analysis for UT-GOM2-2 permitting efforts. We updated the UT-GOM2-2 Operations Plan (Version 1). We completed the UT-GOM2-2 Science and Sample Distribution Plan (Version 1). We evaluated the scope, budget, and schedule that would result from using a commercial vessel. We developed detailed drilling schedule, mud volume, and resource estimates. We developed a vessel specification document and a well plan, and sent these documents to prospective vessel contractors.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Semi-solid electrodes with a polymer additive

Embodiments described herein relate generally to electrochemical cells having semi-solid electrodes that include a gel polymer additive such that the electrodes demonstrate longer cycle life while significantly retaining the electronic performance of the electrodes and the electrochemical cells formed therefrom. In some embodiments, a semi-solid electrode can include about 20% to about 75% by volume of an active material, about 0.5% to about 25% by volume of a conductive material, and about 20% to about 70% by volume of an electrolyte. The electrolyte further includes about 0.01% to about 1.5% by weight of a polymer additive. In some embodiments, the electrolyte can include about 0.1% to about 0.7% of the polymer additive.

Tan, Takahiro↗

DOE OSTI2021

Swell Behavior of Elastomers with a Hydrothermal Liquefaction Bio-Crude and a Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil

The compatibility of seventeen elastomer materials with two heavy biofuels (fast pyrolysis bio-oil and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) bio-crude) and diesel was assessed through volume change measurements. The elastomers included two fluorocarbons, six acrylonitrile rubbers (NBRs), and one each of fluorosilicone, neoprene, polyurethane, silicone, epichlorohydrin rubber (ECO), a blend of polyvinyl chloride and NBR (OZO), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), hydrogenated NBR (HNBR) and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM). The specimens were immersed in each test fuel for four weeks at 50°C and then measured for volume change. Afterwards, the specimens were dried, and the volume was remeasured. Ingeneral, the bio-oil produced unacceptable swelling in the fluoroelastomers, ECO, OZO, neoprene, polyurethane, SBR, HNBR, EPDM, silicone and five of the NBRs. In most cases, the HTL bio-crude produced lower (though still unacceptable) swelling than the bio-oil. Materials that showed good compatibility with the HTL biocrude were the fluoroelastomers, OZO, and silicone.

Kass, Michael↗

DOE OSTI2021

Deposition of integrated protective material into zirconium cladding for nuclear reactors by high-velocity thermal application

A zirconium alloy nuclear reactor cylindrical cladding has an inner Zr substrate surface, an outer volume of protective material, and an integrated middle volume of zirconium oxide, zirconium and protective material, where the protective material is applied by impaction at a velocity greater than 340 meters/second to provide the integrated middle volume resulting in structural integrity for the cladding.

Mazzoccoli, Jason P.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Kinetic Measurements in Heterogeneous Catalysis

This contribution is about the experimental determination of the rate of a heterogeneous catalytic reaction and the analysis of kinetic data. In this case, the reaction rate can be defined as the frequency at which the closed sequence of elementary steps transforming reactants into products is occurring. However, the rate of chemical reaction is not directly observed; rather, one records the rate of substance change. The rate of chemical reaction is calculated based on the rate of substance change and assumed stoichiometry of the reaction. In order to make this an intensive quantity (i.e., independent of the volume in which the reaction is performed, this frequency is divided by the latter or by a quantity proportional to the latter). As the focus of what follows is on heterogeneously catalyzed reactions this can be the catalyst mass, the catalyst surface area or the total number of active sites present in the reaction volume confined by the walls of a chemical reactor. For example, the rate may be reported as one of the following: Net rate of consumption/production of component i mol m-3 s-1 Net specific rate of consumption/production of component i mol kg-1 s-1 Rate of substance change (per unit volume of catalyst) mol m-3 s-1 Specific reaction rate (per unit mass of catalyst) mol kg-1 s-1 Net rate of consumption/production of component i mol m-2 s-1 The turnover frequency (TOF) is a characteristic originally introduced by Boudart [1] is expressed as TOF=R/G_tot , where R is the steady-state rate of reactant consumption or product generation and G_totis the total areal density of active sites [mol m-2]. The latter is typically taken from experimental chemisorption data obtained at low temperature. The advancement of a chemical reaction leads to changes in the amounts of reactants and products which, for a stoichiometric single reaction, are connected by the stoichiometric coefficients. In many cases, for the sake of simplicity, we will assume that the investigated reaction proceeds according to a single reaction pathway, so that the net production rate of a reaction component is directly proportional to the reaction rate and that the latter equals the net production rate of any of the involved components when divided by the appropriate stoichiometric coefficient. For complex stoichiometric reactions the net production rates of the involved components are linear combinations of the reaction rates. Different goals for kinetic measurements can be formulated: Catalyst testing, i.e., obtaining the kinetic dependences for the development and discrimination of efficient catalytic materials. Precise kinetic characterization of active materials via high-throughput screening is a part of such activity. Detailed kinetics, i.e., revealing the detailed mechanism of complex catalytic reaction via systematic kinetic studies, both steady-state and non-steady-state Industrial kinetics, i.e., obtaining data and relationships for describing and predicting the behaviour of catalytic reactors and processes at industrial scale Finally, mathematical modeling and analysis where kinetic measurements provide data for understanding complex kinetic phenomena, e.g., oscillations, non-linear self-organization, etc.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

High-sensitivity multi-channel atomic magnetometer

High-sensitivity multi-channel atomic magnetometers are described. Methods for operating multi-channel atomic magnetometers are also described. Moreover, devices incorporating a plurality of multi-channel atomic magnetometers are described. A multi-channel atomic magnetometer may use the spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) technique. A multi-channel atomic magnetometer may achieve multi-channel operation in a single module, reducing the cost of sensors. A multi-channel atomic magnetometer may be a 16-channel atomic magnetometer. A multi-channel atomic magnetometer may include a single large vapor cell including alkali-metal atoms and at least one buffer gas that restricts motion of atomic spins of the alkali-metal atoms, thereby making relatively small internal cell volumes act as a multiple independent local sensing channels. A multi-channel atomic magnetometer may include a broad pump beam that simultaneously polarizes all (or substantially all) of the alkali-metal atoms in each internal sensing volume of the vapor cell, and a broad probe beam that simultaneously measures magnetic fields at multiple sensing volumes with a photodiode array.

Kim, Young Jin↗

DOE OSTI2021

Nanoscale biochemical sample preparation and analysis

Provided herein are methods and systems for biochemical analysis, including compositions and methods for processing and analysis of small cell populations and biological samples (e.g., a robotically controlled chip-based nanodroplet platform). In particular aspects, the methods described herein can reduce total processing volumes from conventional volumes to nanoliter volumes within a single reactor vessel (e.g., within a single droplet reactor) while minimizing losses, such as due to sample evaporation.

Kelly, Ryan T.↗