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At least 1,243 records · Page 69
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Design Assessment of Brayton Cycles for Combined Heat and Power from Nuclear Power Plants

Brayton cycles (BCs) are gaining renewed interest for use in high-temperature nuclear reactors for power production. This study explores the potential of nuclear Brayton systems in industrial combined heat and power (CHP) production. After a review of the historical deployment and technical development of BC systems for nuclear and cogeneration applications several BCs in CHP configurations are assessed when applied to representative high-temperature reactor types. The analysis emphasizes process heat delivery options, electrical efficiency, and component performance for the case of a direct cycle—Helium BC in a high temperature gas reactor, and an open-air Brayton cycle with a high temperature gas reactor. The results highlight thermodynamic trade-offs in cogeneration operation, particularly in recuperated configurations, and compare BC-based CHP with conventional Rankine cycle (RC) performance. Key findings suggest Helium BCs offer viable CHP performance primarily at lower process heat temperatures, with open air cycles being less efficient. The work also demonstrates trade-off between CHP performance and power production performance with a detailed comparison to where steam RC has better performance. The work is designed to be used as a reference work when cogeneration is proposed from high temperature reactors alongside the use of BCs.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Understanding the Impact of Lignocellulosic Biomass Variability on the Size Reduction Process: A Review

The importance of size reduction to the commercial deployment of biomass utilization technologies cannot be overemphasized. Size reduction is necessary to create good flowing, easily digestible lignocellulosic biomass. However, inefficiencies and inconsistencies have not been well addressed for the process of size reduction. This has motivated quite a few research studies, some of which have reported the influence of process variables and pretreatment on the size reduction performance as well as the development of novel size reduction equipment and empirical mathematical models. In this Perspective, we present a systematic and critical evaluation of the state of lignocellulosic biomass size reduction research to provide insights for engineers and scientists for future development and investigation. We first briefly discuss the structural biology and failure mode of lignocellulosic biomass. Then, we present a comprehensive, data-driven picture of the interactions among lignocellulosic biomass attributes, size reduction process variables, pretreatment processes, and size reduction process performance (as defined by product characteristics and size reduction energy consumption). The sizing equipment tool wear issues are also summarized. Finally, we highlight some existing gaps and future research opportunities for lignocellulosic biomass size reduction to inform the development of newer technologies that could effectively produce high-value lignocellulosic biomass particles.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS2004

Stress, Cognition, and Human Performance: A Literature Review and Conceptual Framework

The following literature review addresses the effects of various stressors on cognition. While attempting to be as inclusive as possible, the review focuses its examination on the relationships between cognitive appraisal, attention, memory, and stress as they relate to information processing and human performance. The review begins with an overview of constructs and theoretical perspectives followed by an examination of effects across attention, memory, perceptual-motor functions, judgment and decision making, putative stressors such as workload, thermals, noise, and fatigue and closes with a discussion of moderating variables and related topics. In summation of the review, a conceptual framework for cognitive process under stress has been assembled. As one might imagine, the research literature that addresses stress, theories governing its effects on human performance, and experimental evidence that supports these notions is large and diverse. In attempting to organize and synthesize this body of work, I was guided by several earlier efforts (Bourne & Yaroush, 2003; Driskell, Mullen, Johnson, Hughes, & Batchelor, 1992; Driskell & Salas, 1996; Haridcock & Desmond, 2001; Stokes & Kite, 1994). These authors should be credited with accomplishing the monumental task of providing focused reviews in this area and their collective efforts laid the foundation for this present review. Similarly, the format of this review has been designed in accordance with these previous exemplars. However, each of these previous efforts either simply reported general findings, without sufficient experimental illustration, or narrowed their scope of investigation to the extent that the breadth of such findings remained hidden from the reader. Moreover, none of these examinations yielded an architecture that adequately describes or explains the inter-relations between information processing elements under stress conditions.

Stress↗
NASA NTRS1975

Discrete time modelization of human pilot behavior

This modelization starts from the following hypotheses: pilot's behavior is a time discrete process, he can perform only one task at a time and his operating mode depends on the considered flight subphase. Pilot's behavior was observed using an electro oculometer and a simulator cockpit. A FORTRAN program has been elaborated using two strategies. The first one is a Markovian process in which the successive instrument readings are governed by a matrix of conditional probabilities. In the second one, strategy is an heuristic process and the concepts of mental load and performance are described. The results of the two aspects have been compared with simulation data.

Cavalli, D.↗
DOE OSTI2022

In-process, layer-by-layer non-destructive testing of additive manufactured components using linear and nonlinear vibrational resonance

Provided is an additive manufacturing system capable of performing in-process, layer-by-layer non-destructive testing, the additive manufacturing system including: a plate for producing a part thereon; a transducer attached to the plate and configured to induce vibrations in the part; and a laser vibrometer configured to detect a vibrational response of the part to determine whether defect and/or anisotropy exists within the part.

Remillieux, Marcel↗
NASA NTRS2000

SmaggIce User Guide

SmaggIce (Surface Modeling And Grid Generation for Iced Airfoils) is one of NASNs aircraft icing research codes developed at the Glenn Research Center. It is a software toolkit used in the process of aerodynamic performance prediction of iced airfoils. It includes tools which complement the 2D grid-based Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) process: geometry probing; surface preparation for gridding: smoothing and re-discretization of geometry. Future releases will also include support for all aspects of gridding: domain decomposition; perimeter discretization; grid generation and modification.

Baez, Marivell↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Convolution-Based Numerical Solutions of Transient Temperature Fields during Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing: Theory, Accuracy, and Computational Cost

Powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing has found numerous applications in the aerospace domain. However, components fabricated via PBF have a complex time-temperature history that significantly impacts subsequent mechanical performance. This study examines convolution-based numerical solutions of transient temperature fields that support simulations involving arbitrary beam shapes and paths during PBF. The convolutional approach is verified through comparisons with analytical solutions of the temperature field. The computational speed and accuracy of the method are assessed through comparisons with other explicit and implicit numerical techniques. In addition, the straightforward translation of the approach from a CPU to a GPU implementation and the resultant performance improvement are presented. The role of the technique in predicting microstructure evolution during PBF (for a greater process-structure-property-performance framework) is also demonstrated. This work supports the development of computational materials methods for understanding and controlling the time-temperature history during PBF.

powder bed fusion↗
NASA NTRS2015

Double-Diffusive Convection During Growth of Halides and Selenides

Heavy metal halides and selenides have unique properties which make them excellent materials for chemical, biological and radiological sensors. Recently it has been shown that selenohalides are even better materials than halides or selenides for gamma-ray detection. These materials also meet the strong needs of a wide band imaging technology to cover ultra-violet (UV), midwave infrared wavelength (MWIR) to very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) region for hyperspectral imager components such as etalon filters and acousto-optic tunable filters (AO). In fact AOTF based imagers based on these materials have some superiority than imagers based on liquid crystals, FTIR, Fabry-Perot, grating, etalon, electro-optic modulation, piezoelectric and several other concepts. For example, broadband spectral and imagers have problems of processing large amount of information during real-time observation. Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) imagers are being developed to fill the need of reducing processing time of data, low cost operation and key to achieving the goal of covering long-wave infrared (LWIR). At the present time spectral imaging systems are based on the use of diffraction gratings are typically used in a pushbroom or whiskbroom mode. They are mostly used in systems and acquire large amounts of hyperspectral data that is processed off-line later. In contrast, acousto-optic tunable filter spectral imagers require very little image processing, providing new strategies for object recognition and tracking. They are ideally suited for tactical situations requiring immediate real-time image processing. But the performance of these imagers depends on the quality and homogeneity of acousto-optic materials. In addition for many systems requirements are so demanding that crystals up to sizes of 10 cm length are desired. We have studied several selenides and halide crystals for laser and AO imagers for MWIR and LWIR wavelength regions. We have grown and fabricated crystals of several materials such as mercurous chloride, mercurous bromide, mercurous iodide, lead chloride lead bromide, lead iodide, thallium arsenic selenide, gallium selenide, zince sulfide zinc selenide and several crystals into devices. We have used both Bridgman and physical vapor transport (PVT) crystal growth methods. In the past have examined PVT growth numerically for conditions where the boundary of the enclosure is subjected to a nonlinear thermal profile. Since past few months we have been working on binary and ternary materials such as selenoiodides, doped zinc sulfides and mercurous chloro bromide and mercurous bromoiodides. In the doped and ternary materials thermal and solutal convection play extremely important role during the growth. Very commonly striations and banding is observed. Our experiments have indicated that even in highly purified source materials, homogeneity in 1-g environment is very difficult. Some of our previous numerical studies have indicated that gravity level less than 10-4 (-g) helps in controlling the thermosolutal convection. We will discuss the ground based growth results of HgClxBr(1-x) and ZnSe growth results for the mm thick to large cm size crystals. These results will be compared with our microgravity experiments performed with this class of materials. For both HgCl-HgBr and ZnS-ZnSe the lattice parameters of the mixtures obey Vagard's law in the studied composition range. The study demonstrates that properties are very anisotropic with crystal orientation, and performance achievement requires extremely careful fabrication to utilize highest figure of merit. In addition, some parameters such as crystal growth fabrication, processing time, resolution, field of view and efficiency will be described based on novel solid solution materials. It was predicted that very similar to the pure compounds solid solutions also have very large anisotropy, and very precise oriented and homogeneous bulk and thin film crystals is required to achieve maximum performance of laser or imagers. Some of the parameters controlling the homogeneity such as thermos-solutal convection driven forces can be controlled in microgravity environments to utilize the benefits of these unique materials.

Singh, N. B.↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Lookup Table Based Low Resource Usage Waveform Data Compression Block in FPGA

aA lookup table based lossless data compression scheme suitable for FPGA implementation, with very low silicon resource usage, is developed. Different algorithms can be implemented by simply changing the contents of the lookup tables in the functional block while keeping the logic circuits unchanged. It exhibits performance comparable to the zip compression software in Linux distributions. The compression block can fit into almost any existing FPGA used in the online data acquisition systems of high energy physics experiments. The decompression process can be performed in either software or in FPGA firmware, allowing users to process compressed data flexibly.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1993

Intelligent assistance in scientific data preparation

Scientific data preparation is the process of extracting usable scientific data from raw instrument data. This task involves noise detection (and subsequent noise classification and flagging or removal), extracting data from compressed forms, and construction of derivative or aggregate data (e.g. spectral densities or running averages). A software system called PIPE provides intelligent assistance to users developing scientific data preparation plans using a programming language called Master Plumber. PIPE provides this assistance capability by using a process description to create a dependency model of the scientific data preparation plan. This dependency model can then be used to verify syntactic and semantic constraints on processing steps to perform limited plan validation. PIPE also provides capabilities for using this model to assist in debugging faulty data preparation plans. In this case, the process model is used to focus the developer's attention upon those processing steps and data elements that were used in computing the faulty output values. Finally, the dependency model of a plan can be used to perform plan optimization and run time estimation. These capabilities allow scientists to spend less time developing data preparation procedures and more time on scientific analysis tasks.

Chien, Steve↗
DOE OSTI2018

Development of a Two-Fluid Molten Salt Reactor Safeguards Model

This work outlines the development of a two-fluid molten salt reactor process and safeguards model. The model is split into two parts consisting of a process model and a safeguards model. The process model is based on a design by Flibe Energy, the Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor, which is a two-fluid molten salt reactor that performs full salt processing on-site to remove fission products and re-fuel the reactor. The model simulates feed and consumption rates of the reactor fuel and blanket salts. The process model includes the reactor core and salt processing loops. The reactor core model has a robust architecture that allows for integration with other tools and data sets as they become available. A majority of the effort to date has been focused on the process model, and the safeguards model will be developed in detail in future work. A preliminary safeguards analysis was performed based on actinide inventories, and a preliminary materials accountancy approach was initialized. The results of this analysis are presented along with a description of the model development.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hydrogen Mitigation Process Installation at Nevada Solar One

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Acciona Solar Power (ASP) have developed and are implementing a process that addresses the issue of hydrogen buildup in parabolic trough power plants. Our method selectively removes hydrogen from the expansion tanks of the power plant to control hydrogen levels in the circulating heat-transfer fluid (HTF). During previous work, we developed a sensor that measures hydrogen partial pressure in the expansion-tank headspace gas. We demonstrated that our sensor measures hydrogen levels over a wide range of partial pressure—from 1.33 mbar down to 0.003 mbar. More recently, we conceived and developed an integrated process module that performs both hydrogen sensing and separating functions. The sensor/separator measures hydrogen partial pressure in the headspace gas in the same way as our original sensor design. Additionally, the integrated module separates hydrogen from the headspace gas to reduce hydrogen to the level needed to maintain the performance of receivers in the collector field. We demonstrated the performance of a laboratory-scale version of this module. Testing showed that the module performed as expected: the accuracy of the sensing function was ±7%, and the hydrogen extraction rate for the separating mode was consistent with our modeling predictions. The primary benefit of this module is its simple design, both in terms of function and incorporation into the HTF subsystem of the power plant. Most recently, NREL and ASP planned, specified, and designed a mitigation process that is based on the integrated module. We are currently completing installation of this process at ASP's Nevada Solar One power plant in Boulder City, Nevada, USA. The mitigation process is being installed at ground level below the HTF expansion tanks, where it draws headspace gas from the tanks, removes hydrogen, and returns the treated gas back to the tanks. In this paper, we report progress on the installation and describe some of the many design details and challenges that we addressed during the past year. We will generate initial performance data from the Nevada Solar One mitigation process in early 2020.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2018

An Integrated Supercritical System for Efficient Produced Water Treatment and Power Generation

The main goal of this project was to evaluate the feasibility of an integrated supercritical (SC) water desalination and power generation system for treatment of produced waters from CO 2 sequestration, oil production, and coal-bed methane recovery. This system may offer a transformative approach to generating power from coal or natural gas (NG) and purifying saline water or produced water with high total dissolved solids (TDS) in a zero-liquid discharge plant. The closed-loop steam cycle of conventional power plants was replaced with an open-loop steam cycle that heated the pretreated produced water above the SC point of water (374 °C and 221 bar) to precipitate and separate the salts dissolved in the water. After separation of the precipitated salt, the SC steam required further treatment to reduce the salt content from ~100 mg/L (ppm) to <1 ppm to make it suitable for use in turbines for power generation. A SC membrane distillation unit was used to polish the SC steam, which could be sent through a series of turbines for power generation, and the steam exiting the low-pressure turbine could be condensed by cooling water to produce pure water. Project tasks included a process simulation and a techno-economic evaluation of the integrated system; design and assembly of SC salt precipitation and membrane distillation systems; development and characterization of advanced carbon membranes for SC membrane distillation; and pretreatment, desalination, and purification of different produced water samples with salt concentrations of 30,000–200,000 ppm to a high-purity (<1 ppm) level. Process simulations were performed for 550 MW SC coal-fired or NG baseline cases and various scenarios for the proposed integrated SC system using produced water as the water source and coal or NG as the fuel source. Simulation results indicated that the net plant efficiency loss of the proposed SC cogeneration process would be in the range of <1% to ~4%, in which NG and lower TDS produced water cases would have higher efficiencies. The proposed process for coal-fired cases could provide all water needs for the power generation process and generate additional pure water for beneficial use. A techno-economic analysis was performed to estimate the cost of produced water treatment (dollars /kgal of treated water) by conventional treatment processes compared with the proposed cogeneration process. The cost estimation for the proposed cogeneration system included the cost of pretreatment, the cost of power loss to integrate the water desalination process into the power generation system, and the cost of plant modification or retrofitting. The cost of produced water treatment was calculated by assuming three different scenarios in which converting a baseline power plant to the proposed cogeneration plant would increase the cost of the boiler and feed water system by 10%, 50%, and 100%. Results indicated that the cost of produced water treatment, even with a 100% cost increase, was in the range of $8.6–11.6 dollars per kgal, which is about half of the treatment cost by conventional methods. The cost of produced water treatment by the proposed cogeneration system could be further reduced or a considerable income could be generated if the values of saltwater and freshwater products are considered. Overall, the techno-economic analysis results indicated that the proposed integrated SC system could potentially treat produced water at a cost significantly lower than the cost of produced water treatment by conventional technologies. To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed treatment system at a laboratory scale, a SC salt precipitation and membrane distillation system was designed and fabricated to treat a simulated brine or pretreated produced water by precipitating salts and further polishing the SC steam containing ~100 ppm salts to a high-purity steam. Through baseline tests with NaCl solutions, with concentrations ranging from 30,000 to 200,000 ppm, it was demonstrated that concentrated feed solutions could be treated by precipitating salt at SC conditions to a TDS level of 130 ppm. Produced water samples were collected from a potential CO 2 sequestration site, a coal-bed methane site, and an oilfield in Illinois. Representative samples were characterized for various water quality parameters, including pH; turbidity; conductivity; and concentrations of selected anions, cations, alkalinity, dissolved organic carbon, total suspended solids, TDS, and total petroleum hydrocarbons. The produced water samples were first treated by conventional pretreatment methods to remove residual oil, dissolved organic matter, and scale-forming species. Pretreatment methods included coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, activated carbon adsorption, and ion-exchange adsorption. Pretreated produced waters were treated at SC conditions in which salts were precipitated. Analysis of treated samples revealed that the concentration of Na (the main cation) in produced waters was reduced dramatically from 14,000–47,400 ppm in the feed to 21–80 ppm in treated waters. Concentrations of other main cations (Ca, Mg, Sr, K) also decreased significantly from initial values of ~1,000–22,000 ppm to ~1 ppm or less. However, a significant increase in the concentrations of Fe, Ni, Cu, and Co was observed, mainly caused by leaching of these elements from the system (vessels, filters, tubing), which is manufactured from alloys containing Fe, Ni, Cu, and Co. To polish the SC steam containing a salt content of ~100 ppm to a high-purity level of <1 ppm, a SC membrane distillation treatment using carbon membranes was employed. Different types of self-standing or supported carbon membranes were developed from graphite, graphene, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and pyrolytic carbon. Screening tests revealed that only a limited number of developed carbon membranes were suitable for the purification of steam at SC conditions. Membranes that were either fragile and lacked mechanical strength or had large pores and showed limited salt rejection (<20%) were found to be unsuitable for the purification of SC steam. Promising carbon membranes that were successfully tested for purifying SC steam included two graphite membranes (i.e., AF-5, a porous graphite material, and FGS, a flexible graphite sheet) and a carbon nanotube membrane grown on a Hastelloy substrate and then further modified using a proprietary method (i.e., membrane C). The AF-5 membrane exhibited a stable water flux of ~50 kg/m 2 ∙h and ~40% salt rejection. The FGS membrane had a high salt rejection of 95%–98% but a lower water flux of ~15 kg/m 2 ∙h. Membrane C showed an extremely high flux of 200-800 kg/m 2 ∙h, which is one order of magnitude higher than the water flux of conventional membranes. Membrane C also exhibited 87%–93% salt rejection. Overall, a two-stage or multistage polishing treatment by these membranes could lower the salt content of the SC steam from initial values of ~100–200 ppm to the steam quality of <1 ppm or to parts per billion levels required for the power cycle.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Next Generation Durability and Damage Tolerance to Support Certification of Flight Hardware

Durability and Damage Tolerance (D&DT), as currently applied to flight hardware throughout the Agency, is based on continuum and similitude assumptions and does not consider local material properties, environments and responses. These limitations impact our ability to support certification of new component designs, material systems and manufacturing approaches. The primary concern in this Engineering R&A plan is related to the imminent proliferation of parts produced by additive manufacturing (AM). These parts are being advocated by NASA’s suppliers for use on a myriad of flight hardware because of their design flexibility and cost advantages. AM provides opportunities to reduce part counts through complex geometry and reduce manufacturing costs of low volume parts. However, AM materials have some notable metallurgical and microstructural differences compared to traditionally fabricated materials. One of the challenges for the acceptance of AM is the greater tendency for a deleterious defect state, most commonly in the form of porosity, to exist in AM parts. Though this defect state is typically reduced through a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) processing step, the structural performance risks associated with the remaining defects and HIP-healed features is not known. Potential fracture control issues that must be resolved stem from the real possibility that an unhealed defect or a closed defect with less than pristine strength remains at a fracture critical location after HIP. As a result, NASA and the entire aerospace community have been confronted with the need to develop a robust and relevant certification methodology to enable safe implementation of these components. The present work is an important step toward positioning NASA to credibly respond to vendors’ push to implement this new AM materials technology by improving our understanding of AM processing and performance and transitioning that research-based understanding to next-generation engineering capabilities.

Edward H Glaessgen↗
DOE OSTI2024

Preliminary Screening of Features, Events, and Processes for an Arctic-Focused Climate Intervention Performance Assessment

Geoengineering, the deliberate large-scale intervention in Earth's climate system, holds significant potential in the rapidly warming Arctic, where temperatures currently rise at more than twice the global average, accelerating ice sheet and permafrost melt. This contributes to global sea-level rise and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Strategies like solar radiation management (SRM) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) could mitigate these effects; for instance, SRM techniques aim to reflect a portion of the sun's energy back into space, potentially slowing ice melt and stabilizing permafrost. However, geoengineering in the Arctic faces challenges, including potential unintended consequences on the fragile ecosystem, disruption of local weather patterns, and impacts on indigenous communities. Effective governance requires robust international cooperation, environmental impact assessments, and regulatory frameworks. Despite these challenges, geoengineering's potential benefits make it a critical research area. This report explores application of the Performance Assessment (PA) methodology to Arctic Climate Intervention, providing an initial screening of relevant features, events, and processes (FEPs). At the core of the PA approach is the identification and evaluation of FEPs that could impact the performance of the intervention scheme. Here we provide an initial screening of FEPs to consider in the application of PA to Arctic Climate Intervention.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

NMR-Guided High-Temperature Electrolyte Design Using a Novel PF 5 Marker

The thermal degradation of electrolytes containing lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF 6 ) is a well-studied subject. However, practical application of the knowledge is difficult since the effects of the degradation process on battery performance are not well known. In this work, we propose a novel NMR experimental setup allowing direct observation of the effects of various perturbations on the electrolyte thermal degradation process, which guides the design and synthesis of new additives that improve lithium-ion battery performance at elevated temperatures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

A consolidated bioprocess design to produce multiple high-value platform chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass and its technoeconomic feasibility

5-Hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) and furfurals are DOE-listed platform chemicals that can be derived from the renewable carbon in the lignocellulosic biomasses and have the potential to replace petroleum-derived alter- natives. High substrate cost and use of expensive solvents limit the economic feasibility of bio-based HMF production on an industrially relevant scale. The study presents an experimental optimized condition that maximizes the chemical-free production of HMF and furfurals without lowering the yield of total fermentable sugars from Saccharum bagasse. Hydrothermal pretreatment at 210 °C for 15 min yielded approximately 10%, 12%, and 46% of HMF, furfurals, and fermentable sugars per gram of dry biomass, respectively. Additionally, the study proposes a consolidated bioprocess model to produce and recover four high-value bioproducts i.e., HMF, furfurals, ethanol, and acetic acid based on the experimental results and evaluates its technoeconomic feasibility considering HMF as the main product. The minimum selling price (MSP) of HMF was estimated to be 930.6 USD/ t which is competitive with its petroleum-derived precursor alternative p-xylene (1,113 USD/t). The sensitivity analysis performed for the process parameters suggests that pretreatment cost and revenues from coproducts immensely influence the MSP of HMF. The preliminary technoeconomic analysis performed on the consolidated bioprocess design indicates that additional revenue streams from diversified coproducts in biorefineries aid in lowering the MSP of high-value bioproducts.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Data for A Consolidated Bioprocess Design to Produce Multiple High-Value Platform Chemicals from Lignocellulosic Biomass and Its Technoeconomic Feasibility

5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) and furfurals are DOE-listed platform chemicals that can be derived from the renewable carbon in the lignocellulosic biomasses and have the potential to replace petroleum-derived alternatives. High substrate cost and use of expensive solvents limit the economic feasibility of bio-based HMF production on an industrially relevant scale. The study presents an experimental optimized condition that maximizes the chemical-free production of HMF and furfurals without lowering the yield of total fermentable sugars from Saccharum bagasse. Hydrothermal pretreatment at 210 °C for 15 min yielded approximately 10%, 12%, and 46% of HMF, furfurals, and fermentable sugars per gram of dry biomass, respectively. Additionally, the study proposes a consolidated bioprocess model to produce and recover four high-value bioproducts i.e., HMF, furfurals, ethanol, and acetic acid based on the experimental results and evaluates its technoeconomic feasibility considering HMF as the main product. The minimum selling price (MSP) of HMF was estimated to be 930.6 USD/t which is competitive with its petroleum-derived precursor alternative p-xylene (1,113 USD/t). The sensitivity analysis performed for the process parameters suggests that pretreatment cost and revenues from coproducts immensely influence the MSP of HMF. The preliminary technoeconomic analysis performed on the consolidated bioprocess design indicates that additional revenue streams from diversified coproducts in biorefineries aid in lowering the MSP of high-value bioproducts.

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