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At least 127 records · Page 7

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1988

Development of a two-stage membrane-based wash-water reclamation subsystem

A two-stage membrane-based subsystem was designed and constructed to enable the recycle of wash waters generated in space. The first stage is a fouling-resistant tube-side-feed hollow-fiber ultrafiltration module, and the second stage is a spiral-wound reverse-osmosis module. Throughout long-term tests, the subsystem consistently produced high-quality permeate, processing actual wash water to 95 percent recovery.

Mccray, S. B.↗

DOE OSTI2018

Highly Densified Cu Wirings Fabricated from Air-Stable Cu Complex Ink with High Conductivity, Enhanced Oxidation Resistance, and Flexibility

The microstructure of printed Cu wirings fabricated from air-stable Cu complex inks is greatly modified by low-temperature curing followed by intense pulsed light densification enhancement treatment. The resulting almost full densification of printed Cu wirings enables them to possess a high electrical conductivity of 50% bulk Cu. The dense structure also largely prevents the permeation of oxygen and water into the inner side of the Cu wirings, thereby improving their oxidation resistance and maintaining a stable resistance (R/R0 < 1.5) even after 1000 h aging at 85 °C-85% RH. In addition, the dense and robust structure can improve the resistance to crack generation and propagation in Cu wirings during the bending, so as to improve their flexibility. The relative resistance of Cu wirings can be kept below 1.2 after 1000 bending cycles. All the results indicate that these highly densified Cu wirings fabricated from air-stable Cu complex inks can be used to replace the noble metallic Au and Ag wirings for practical application in flexible electronics.

Li, Wanli↗

DOE OSTI2022

Water dynamics in pristine and porous Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene as probed by quasielastic neutron scattering

MXenes are a novel class of two-dimensional (2D) materials whose applications in energy-storage systems have attracted substantial attention. Still, the rate performance of these materials is often diminished by sheet restacking, which is attenuated via controlled etching in H 2 SO 4 solution. With this process, micropores are formed in MXene sheets that allow transport across 2D layers. As a result, the intercalation and diffusivity of ions are facilitated resulting in improved capacitance retention at high charge-discharge rates. In the present work, we used quasielastic neutron scattering to evaluate the potential changes in water dynamics as a consequence of this mechanism by assessing the behavior of weakly and strongly confined water populations in pristine and porous MXenes. First, we have found that the porous sample accommodates a noticeably higher content of both water populations. Additionally, the fraction of mobile molecules is higher either under strong or weak confinement. Interestingly, regardless of the abundance of weakly confined water in the porous sample, no considerable changes in the dynamical behavior were detected in comparison with the dynamics measured in the pristine material. Finally, for the strongly confined populations of water, our results show that water is able to permeate the micropores introduced by etching and perform unlocalized motions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1985

Stirling engine supporting research and technology

The supporting research and technology effort is intended to provide technical support to the current engine program and also to investigate advanced concepts for the next generation of Stirling engines. Technical areas represented are: seals, materials, engine experiments, combustion, system analysis, cseramics, and tribology. A collage of more recent work in each area is presented. Under seals, analysis and some experimental data on the effect of wear on rod seal performance is presented. The material work described concerns the effect of water content on hydrogen permeation. Results of experiments with the Philips' Advenco engine are presented. A comparison is made of two combustor nozzles, an air atomizing and an ultrasonic atomizing nozzle. A new venture in systems analysis to provide more rigorous Stirling engine simulation is discussed. The results of hydrogen corrosion tests on silicon carbide are presented. Friction and wear tests on candidate materials for engine hot ring tests are discussed.

Tomazic, W. A.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Computer Simulations of Small Molecules in Membranes: Insights from Computer Simulations into the Interactions of Small Molecules with Lipid Bilayers

Two of Ernest Overton's lasting contributions to biology are the Meyer-Overton relationship between the potency of an anesthetic and its solubility in oil, and the Overton rule which relates the permeability of a membrane to the oil-water partition coefficient of the permeating molecule. A growing body of experimental evidence, however, cannot be reconciled with these theories. In particular, the molecular nature of membranes, unknown to Overton, needs to be included in any description of these phenomena. Computer simulations are ideally suited for providing atomic-level information about the behavior of small molecules in membranes. The authors discuss simulation studies relevant to Overton's ideas. Through simulations it was found that anesthetics tend to concentrate at interfaces and their anesthetic potency correlates better with solubility at the water-membrane interface than with solubility in oil. Simulation studies of membrane permeation revealed the anisotropic nature of the membranes, as evidenced, for example, by the highly nonuniform distribution of free volume in the bilayer. This, in turn, influences the diffusion rates of solutes, which increase with the depth in the membrane. Small solutes tend to move by hopping between voids in the bilayer, and this hopping motion may be responsible for the deviation from the Overton rule of the permeation rates of these molecules.

Pohorille, Andrew↗

DOE OSTI2020

Separation characteristics of cations and natural organic matter in electrodialysis

Natural organic matter (NOM) in water can cause the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) when NOM reacts with a disinfectant such as chlorine. Nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) are effective treatment methods to remove NOM. However, the simultaneous presence of both NOM and divalent cations such as Ca 2+ can enhance fouling in NF and RO. Therefore, an appropriate pretreatment to remove such cations before NF or RO would delay fouling and perhaps improve water recovery and NOM removal efficiency. Electrodialysis (ED) is potentially an excellent pretreatment method because it separates inorganic ions well using ion exchange membranes (IEMs) but does not separate NOM well because of its size and consequent low diffusivity. This research focused on ion and NOM separation with ED using three different types of commercially available IEM pairs, two different commercially available NOM sources, and six different influents at 500 mg/L total dissolved solids in the presence or absence of both hardness (Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) and NOM. The target waters of interest in this research were drinking water supplies that require little or no desalination but substantial removal of NOM; after NOM separation in NF or RO, some or all of the ED concentrate can be added to the NF/RO permeate to create the finished water prior to disinfection. The results indicate that ED can effectively separate alkaline earth metal ions without separation of NOM. Cation exchange membranes with high exchange capacity, high selectivity for divalent cations are desirable, and both anion and cation exchange membranes should have low affinity for organic adsorption. As a result, the process would work particularly well for NOM with relatively low hydrophobicity, since NOM adsorption to most surfaces increases with hydrophobicity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Impact of humidity on gas transport in polybenzimidazole membranes

Polybenzimidazoles (PBIs) are promising materials for high temperature H 2 /CO 2 separation in applications such as steam reforming and pre-combustion carbon capture where significant amounts of water are often present. However, PBIs are hydrophilic, and the impact of humidity on PBI gas separation properties is relatively unexplored. Furthermore, opportunity exists to elucidate the interplay between plasticization, free volume, and gas transport in glassy polymer membranes such as PBIs. Here, this study investigates the effect of humidity on H 2 , O 2 , and CO 2 permeabilities at 35 °C in a commercial PBI and two sulfone-containing PBIs. Water uptake significantly reduces PBI gas permeabilities at low humidities due to competitive sorption and antiplasticization. At high humidities, plasticization increases the permeabilities of larger gases in more hydrophilic PBIs. Effective fractional free volumes evaluated from gas permeation data and previously reported water sorption and dilation data suggest water plasticizes PBIs by increasing accessible free volume via enhanced molecular dynamics rather than by creating new free volume cavities.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2014

Dark-field X-ray imaging of unsaturated water transport in porous materials

We introduce in this Letter an approach to X-ray imaging of unsaturated water transport in porous materials based upon the intrinsic X-ray scattering produced by the material microstructural heterogeneity at a length scale below the imaging system spatial resolution. The basic principle for image contrast creation consists in a reduction of such scattering by permeation of the porosity by water. The implementation of the approach is based upon X-ray dark-field imaging via Talbot-Lau interferometry. The proof-of-concept is provided by performing laboratory-scale dark-field X-ray radiography of mortar samples during a water capillary uptake experiment. The results suggest that the proposed approach to visualizing unsaturated water transport in porous materials is complementary to neutron and magnetic resonance imaging and alternative to standard X-ray imaging, the latter requiring the use of contrast agents because based upon X-ray attenuation only.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

NASA NTRS2021

Introduction to the Physics of Ionic Conduction in Narrow Biological and Artificial Channels

The permeation of ions through narrow water-filled channels is essential to life and of rapidly-growing importance in technology. Reaching an understanding of the mechanisms underlying the permeation process requires an interdisciplinary approach, where ideas drawn from physics are of particular importance and have brought encouraging progress in recent years. This Introduction sets into context the several ground-breaking papers presented in the Entropy Special Issue on "The Physics of Ionic Conduction in Narrow Biological and Artificial Channels''.

ion channel↗

DOE OSTI2022

How the Hydrophobic Interface between a Perfluorosulfonic Acid Polymer and Water Vapor Controls Membrane Hydration

Stable hydration in perfluorinated polyelectrolyte membranes such as Nafion is essential to maintain good ion conductivity and manage permeation, especially in vapor-fed devices where water content depends on relative humidity in a gas stream. Extensive studies in the literature have shown that Nafion hydration in water vapor is controlled by its interfacial transport resistance. Nafion forms a fluorine-rich layer at the polymer-gas interface, and it has been proposed that this layer blocks water transport due to its hydrophobicity. To develop a molecular-level description of the physics underlying transport resistance in this system, we have performed a computational reaction-diffusion kinetics study of water evaporation from Nafion. Two distinct models are examined, one mimicking the blocking function proposed in the literature and the other assuming that there is no blocking, treating instead water evaporation as a dynamic balance between uptake from the gas and desorption from the polymer surface. Simulation results are compared to time-dependent infrared data over a range of 100-0% relative humidity from the literature. Only the dynamic model successfully reproduces experimental observations. This indicates that the physical nature of interfacial transport resistance is not slow diffusion across an interfacial layer; rather, it is due to the competition between dehydration and rehydration. The simulation data provide details on the accompanying water distributions throughout the membrane and on interfacial kinetics, showing that they are characterized by strong fluctuations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2025

Produced Water Quality Standards & Techno-economic Analysis for Alternative Treatment Trains

This work presents NETL’s efforts in analyzing the performance and cost of a of water treatment trains for processing produced water. Levelized cost of water (LCOW) and specific energy consumption (SEC) figures are provided for both treatment trains. Permeate compositions are compared to the Type I produced water standards for the state of Texas.

low salt rejection reverse osmosis↗

DOE OSTI2017

Synthesis of Biodegradable and Blood-Compatible Polyurethane Based on Poly(vinylpyrrolidone)

Three kinds of degradable and blood-compatible polyurethane (PU) were synthesized by coupling hydroxyl-terminated poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) with diisocyanate-terminated PU. The chemical structure and molecular weight of the synthesized copolymer were systematically characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum ({sup 1}HNMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The hydrophilicity and water absorption of the synthesized PU was increased by introducing PVP segment. To evaluate the hemocompatibility and degradability of the modified PU films, the extent of platelet adsorption, plasma recalcification time, hemolysis and degradation were measured. All results indicated that the blood compatibility and degradability of the PU films were improved significantly after introduction PVP segment into PU.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2016

Synthesis and Performance Evaluations of SAPO-34 Membranes- Milestone Report for FCRD-MRWFD-2016-000263

This report describes the synthesis and evaluation of molecular sieve zeolite membranes to separate and concentrate tritiated water (HTO) from dilute HTO-bearing aqueous streams. Several silico alumino phosphate (SAPO-34) molecular sieve zeolite membranes were synthesized on tubular supports and characterized with gas and vapor permeation measurements. The pervaporation process performance was evaluated for the separation and concentration of tritiated water. Experiments were performed over a range of tritiated water concentration that correspond to the range anticipated in a nuclear fuel processing system that includes both acid and water streams recycling. The permeate was recovered under vacuum. The tritium concentration ranged from 0.5 to 1 mCi/mL which is about 0.1 mg/L or 0.1 ppm. The separation factors calculated from the measured tritium concentrations ranged from 0.83-0.98. The HTO concentration was three orders of magnitude lower than prior experiments performed with simulated feed containing HDO (>100 ppm) using deuterated water where high separation factors (>10) were obtained using SAPO membranes on alumina disk supports. Although the membrane performance characterization results for HTO were lower than expected, they can be explained on the basis of low feed volume and three orders of magnitude lower HTO concentration compared to HDO concentration in deuterated water. Several new approaches are proposed, such as tuning the diffusion coefficient of HTO, and optimization of membrane thickness that may help achieve preferential transport of tritium (HTO) resulting in a substantially more concentrated permeate.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2024

Understanding and controlling water-organic co-transport in amorphous microporous materials

The transport of molecules in microporous material is a significant and active area of research in separation applications. The movement of vapor/liquid molecules in a high-loading condition in microporous spaces is especially challenging to interrogate. This project aims to understand and control the transport of complex water and organic solvent mixtures in varying structures of microporous carbon molecular sieve (CMS) and activated carbon membranes. Modeling of transport behavior in such carbonaceous samples using computational modeling is difficult due to their amorphous structure. Therefore, this research intends to study the transport mechanism of water-organic mixtures by experimentally revealing fundamental transport properties, such as guest sorption amounts as well as diffusion and permeation rates. Considering the different size and guest-host affinity of water and organic solvent molecules, the objective of this research is to understand the structural conditions within the ultramicropores and micropores that generate different types of molecular transport and selection mechanisms within such complex systems. Carbonaceous materials are developed using tailored pyrolysis techniques to pyrolyze polymeric precursors, including polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC),polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM) -1, and fully aromatic polyamide. The initial stage of the research will focus on the microscopic diffusion and sorption studies of pure component water, xylene isomers, and n,n- dimethylformamide within various carbons. Additional structural investigation on CMS, such as gas physisorption and neutron scattering studies, will be executed to gain deeper insight into these structure-transport relationships. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron microscopy are also used to further characterize these materials. The research will progress to probe mutual diffusion of complex water-organic mixtures within various CMS microstructures. Competitive sorption and permeation studies of the binary mixtures in different microstructural CMS will be followed. The obtained binary mixture transport parameters were used to predict binary water-organic mixtures transport.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1993

Performance of high-recovery recycling reverse osmosis with wash water

Inclusion of a recycling loop for partially-desalted water from second-stage reverse-osmosis permeate has been shown useful for achieving high-recovery at moderate applied pressures. This approach has now been applied to simulated wash waters, to obtain data on retention by the membranes of solutes in a mixture comparable to anticipated spacecraft hygiene wastewaters, and to generate an estimate of the maximum concentration that can be expected without causing membrane fouling. A first experiment set provides selectivity information from a single membrane and an Igepon detergent, as a function of final concentration. A reject concentration of 3.1% Total Organic Carbon has been reached, at a pressure of 1.4 Mega Pascals, without membrane fouling. Further experiments have generated selectivity values for the recycle configuration from two washwater simulations, as a function of applied pump pressure. Reverse osmosis removal has also been tested for washwater containing detergent formulated for plant growth compatibility (containing nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium functional groups.)

Herrmann, Cal C.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Microwatt fuel cell stack

A microwatt fuel cell stack that demonstrates a wide range temperature tolerance, low reactant cross-over and leakage, low internal leakage current, and/or effective water transport is disclosed. Both H 2 and O 2 may be supplied directly to the fuel cell stack (i.e., dead-ended). One-piece gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) may serve as both the active electrode and manifold port. Water removal may be accomplished by permeation through the membrane to “fins” exposed by notches in the bipolar plates and gaskets.

Wilson, Mahlon Scott↗

DOE OSTI2016

Tritium Separation from High Volume Dilute Aqueous Streams- Milestone Report for M3FT-15OR0302092

This report describes the synthesis and evaluation of molecular sieve zeolite membranes to separate and concentrate tritiated water (HTO) from dilute HTO-bearing aqueous streams. Several silico alumino phosphate (SAPO-34) molecular sieve zeolite membranes were synthesized and characterized with gas and vapor permeation measurements. The pervaporation process performance was evaluated for the separation and concentration of tritiated water. Experiments were performed over a range of tritiated water concentration covering the range of concentration anticipated in nuclear fuel processing where potentially both acid and water streams are recycled. The permeate was recovered under vacuum. The tritium concentration ranged from 0.5 to 1 mCi/mL which is about 0.1 mg/L or 0.1 ppm. The HTO concentration was three orders of magnitude lower than experiments performed with simulated feed containing HDO (>100 ppm) using deuterated water where high separation factors (>10) were obtained using SAPO membranes. Separation factor calculated from the measured tritium concentrations ranged from 0.83-0.98. Although the membrane performance characterization results were lower than expected, they can be explained on the basis of low feed volume and three orders of magnitude lower HTO concentration compared to HDO concentration in deuterated water. We have identified several new approaches, such as tuning the diffusion coefficient of HTO, that may help achieve preferential transport of tritium (HTO) resulting in a substantially more concentrated permeate.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2015

Percolation behavior of tritiated water into a soil packed bed

A large amount of cooling water is used in a D-T fusion reactor. The cooling water will contain tritium with high concentration because tritium can permeate metal walls at high temperature easily. A development of tritium handling technology for confining tritiated water in the fusion facility is an important issue. In addition, it is also important to understand tritium behavior in environment assuming severe accidents. In this study, percolation experiments of tritiated water in soil packed bed were carried out and tritium behavior in soil was discussed. Six soil samples were collected in Hakozaki campus of Kyushu University. These particle densities were of the same degree as that of general soils and moisture contents were related to BET surface area. For two soil samples used in the percolation experiment of tritiated water, saturated hydraulic conductivity agreed well with the estimating value by Creager. Tritium retention ratio in the soil packed bed was larger than water retention. This is considered to be due to an effect of tritium sorption on the surface of soil particles. The isotope exchange capacity estimated by assuming that H/T ratio of supplied tritiated water and H/T ratio of surface water of soil particle was equal was comparable to that on cement paste and mortar which were obtained by exposure of tritiated water vapor. (authors)

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗