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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

I-80 Mid-America Clean Fuels Corridor: Deployment Plan Report

The I-80 Mid-America Clean Fuels Corridor, which spans I-80 from Fort Lee, New Jersey, to Council Bluffs, Iowa, was designated an Alternative Fuels Corridor (AFC) in Round 1 of the Alternative Fuels Corridor program administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Originally called the “I-80 Mid-America Alternative Fuels Corridor,” it is now named the “I-80 Mid-America Clean Fuels Corridor.” As of Round 6 AFC designation, parts of the corridor have sufficient direct current fast charging (DCFC) stations to be designated Electric Vehicle (EV)-Ready and sufficient compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations to be designated CNG-Ready. However, much of the corridor’s approximately 1,240 miles (mi) are not yet EV- or CNG-Ready. This includes about 1,130 mi that are designated EV-Pending and 700 mi that are designated CNG-Pending. This report presents a plan to develop EV charging and CNG fueling infrastructure sufficient to convert the entire length of the corridor to EV-Ready and CNG-Ready. Specific sites are not identified for future infrastructure. Rather, priority exits are identified, and information, analysis, and additional steps are recommended to support further refinement of these locations, as well as additional outreach and deployment efforts.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Post-Calibration Uncertainty Analysis for Travel Times at a Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant

The Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (NWIRP) in McGregor, Texas began manufacturing explosives in 1980 and several hazardous chemicals were discovered in lakes and streams surrounding the site in 1998. Contaminants traveled to local lakes and streams much faster than initially predicted. This research estimated contaminant travel times and identified locations where monitoring wells should be installed to yield the greatest reductions in uncertainties in travel-time predictions. To this end, groundwater and particle-tracking models for NWIRP site were built to predict hydraulic heads and contaminant travel times. Next, parameter (hydraulic conductivities) uncertainties, parameter identifiabilities, observation (hydraulic heads) worth, and predictive (contaminant travel times) uncertainties were quantified. Parameter uncertainties were reduced by up to 92%; a total of 19 of 158 parameters were at least moderately identifiable; travel-time uncertainties were reduced up to 92%. Additionally, travel-time predictions and post-calibration parameter distributions were generated using the null-space Monte Carlo (NSMC) technique. NSMC predicted that conservative tracers exited the flow system within a year, which matches with field data. Finally, an observations-worth analysis found that additional 11 more measurements would reduce travel-time uncertainties by factors from 1.04 to 4.3 over existing data if monitoring wells were installed at the suggested locations.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2022

Synthesizing Stellar Populations in South Pole Telescope Galaxy Clusters. I. Ages of Quiescent Member Galaxies at 0.3 < $\textit{z}$ < 1.4

Using stellar population synthesis models to infer star formation histories (SFHs), we analyze photometry and spectroscopy of a large sample of quiescent galaxies that are members of Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ)-selected galaxy clusters across a wide range of redshifts. We calculate stellar masses and mass-weighted ages for 837 quiescent cluster members at 0.3 < $\textit{z}$ < 1.4 using rest-frame optical spectra and the Python-based Prospector framework, from 61 clusters in the SPT-GMOS Spectroscopic Survey (0.3 < $\textit{z}$ < 0.9) and three clusters in the SPT Hi-z cluster sample (1.25 < $\textit{z}$ < 1.4). We analyze spectra of subpopulations divided into bins of redshift, stellar mass, cluster mass, and velocity-radius phase-space location, as well as by creating composite spectra of quiescent member galaxies. We find that quiescent galaxies in our data set sample a diversity of SFHs, with a median formation redshift (corresponding to the lookback time from the redshift of observation to when a galaxy forms 50% of its mass, $t_{50}$) of $\textit{z}$ = 2.8 ± 0.5, which is similar to or marginally higher than that of massive quiescent field and cluster galaxy studies. We also report median age–stellar mass relations for the full sample (age of the universe at $t_{50}$ (Gyr) = 2.52 (±0.04)–1.66 (±0.12) log$_{10}(M/10^{11}M_⊙$)) and recover downsizing trends across stellar mass; we find that massive galaxies in our cluster sample form on aggregate ~0.75 Gyr earlier than lower-mass galaxies. We also find marginally steeper age–mass relations at high redshifts, and report a bigger difference in formation redshifts across stellar mass for fixed environment, relative to formation redshifts across environment for fixed stellar mass.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Examining Bioethanol-Producing Ultrastructures with Electron Microscopy and Molecular Dynamics

A longstanding goal in the biofuel sector is to increase the efficiency of the circularization of the use of materials (1). One such instance is the degradation of plant material, such as cellulose, and converting it to biofuel via bacterial digestion (2). The bifunctional aldehyde-alcohol dehydrogenase (AdhE) from the anaerobic thermophile C. thermocellum seems to be vital for the production and cellular tolerance of bioethanol; however, it lacks the efficiency to produce ethanol at industry standards (3). Therefore, to understand how C. thermocellum AdhE functions, we used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to obtain a 3.2 A structure of the AdhE complex. When compared to previously published structures from E. coli (4-6), we identified potential regions that control the native conformation of the ultrastructure, as well as located channels that isolate the intermediate aldehyde from the cellular milieu. This high-resolution structure, in combination with molecular dynamics simulations, provides insight into one example of substrate channeling and establishes a basis for future mutagenesis studies.

AdhE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Unlocking Solutions: Innovative Approaches to Identifying and Mitigating the Environmental Impacts of Undocumented Orphan Wells in the United States

In the United States, hundreds of thousands of undocumented orphan wells have been abandoned, leaving the burden of managing environmental hazards to governmental agencies or the public. These wells, a result of over a century of fossil fuel extraction without adequate regulation, lack basic information like location and depth, emit greenhouse gases, and leak toxic substances into groundwater. For most of these wells, basic information such as well location and depth is unknown or unverified. Addressing this issue necessitates innovative and interdisciplinary approaches for locating, characterizing, and mitigating their environmental impacts. Our survey of the United States revealed the need for tools to identify well locations and assess conditions, prompting the development of technologies including machine learning to automatically extract information from old records (95%+ accuracy), remote sensing technologies like aero-magnetometers to find buried wells, and cost-effective methods for estimating methane emissions. Notably, fixed-wing drones equipped with magnetometers have emerged as cost-effective and efficient for discovering unknown wells, offering advantages over helicopters and quadcopters. Efforts also involved leveraging local knowledge through outreach to state and tribal governments as well as citizen science initiatives. These initiatives aim to significantly contribute to environmental sustainability by reducing greenhouse gases and improving air and water quality.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Integration and Mapping of an Open-Source National Well Resource to Inform Geologic Carbon Storage Site Selection and Risk Prevention: The CO2-Locate Database

Geologic carbon storage (GCS) offers a way to capture and permanently store CO₂ from fossil fuel operations in underground geologic structures, aiding in the transition to a carbon-neutral energy economy. However, CO₂ injection sites can experience gas leakage through existing wells that penetrate storage reservoirs, making knowledge of well locations and characteristics crucial for permitting, infrastructure reusability, and risk assessment in GCS. Currently, public wellbore data from state, federal, and tribal entities are inconsistent and fragmented, with gaps and redundancies. To address this, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) developed CO2-Locate, an open-source, geospatial database and online application. CO2-Locate integrates over 50 data sources from federal, state, and tribal entities, creating a standardized national well database. Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the database is publicly available through the Energy Data eXchange (EDX) and viewable via the CO2-Locate web mapping application. This tool allows users to query, filter, and visualize well data to support GCS planning, permitting, and risk assessments. This presentation covers the methods used to create CO2-Locate, including data acquisition, processing, attribute mapping, and integration, much of which is automated for future updates. The web mapping application and its role in GCS site selection will also be discussed.

Tetteh, Daniel A.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Water Level Data from Wells PLM1 and PLM6 for the East River Watershed, Colorado

This dataset (Williams et al., 2020) contains the original un-QA/QC-ed water level data for PLM1 and PLM6 and has been obsoleted. The data contained within this dataset is not to be used. Refer to Faybishenko et al., 2022 (DOI: 10.15485/1866836) for the latest QA/QC-ed data available via ESS-DIVE.This data set contains water level data for the PLM1 and PLM6 wells. PLM1 and PLM6 are location identifiers used by the Watershed Function SFA project for two groundwater monitoring wells along an elevation gradient located along the lower montane life zone of a hillslope near the Pumphouse location. These wells used to monitor subsurface water and carbon inventories and fluxes at the East River Watershed, Colorado, USA. Complete metadata information on the PLM1 and PLM6 wells are available in the related data package reference Varadharajan C, et al (2020). https://doi.org/10.15485/1660962.Data are reported in .csv files per well. The latitude and longitude of each location are given in a file called locations.csv. These data are used for determining the seasonally dependent flow of groundwater under the PLM hillslope. The downslope flow of groundwater in combination with data on groundwater chemistry can be used to estimate rates of solute export from the hillslope to the floodplain and river.These data products are part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area collection effort to further scientific understanding of biogeochemical dynamics from genome to watershed scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Analysis of Abandoned Oil Well Characteristics Affecting Methane Emissions Estimates in the Cherokee Platform in Eastern Oklahoma

Anthropogenic activities increase methane emissions, contributing to greenhouse gas levels and adversely affecting the environment. Abandoned oil and gas wells potentially leak methane, but data are limited. We analyze methane emissions from abandoned wells (n = 179) in the Cherokee Platform in Oklahoma, a previously unaccounted basin, and compare emissions factors (EFs) to those in the Greenhouse Gas Inventory. We compare the contribution of various characteristics to the propensity for leakage. Higher emissions were observed with shallower wells and with unplugged wells. Plugged wells (n = 20) had an average EF of 96 ± 429 g/day and 65 ± 294 g/day for unplugged wells (n = 159). The majority of wells had no detectable leak. We calculated ethane EFs based on geochemical analysis of gas samples, finding higher EFs for unplugged (1.2 ± 5.5 g/day) versus plugged (0.9 ± 4.6 g/day) wells. The data indicate that in addition to the location of abandoned wells, physical characteristics are necessary to consider in estimating methane emissions.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Simulating current flow through a well casing and an induced fracture

A system includes a receiver component that receives a model of a well system, the model comprising a representation of an electrically energized well casing and/or a fracture as a transmission line that leaks electric current as the current traverses the well casing and/or fracture. The receiver component also receives a value that indicates an amount of the current that is applied to the well casing and a location of a source of the current on the well casing. The system further includes an electromagnetic field calculator component that calculates an estimated electromagnetic field at at least one location on the surface of the earth based at least in part upon the representation of the electrically energized well casing and/or fracture, the value that indicates the amount of current that is applied to the well casing, and the location of the source of the current on the well casing.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2024

Aerial imagery dataset of lost oil wells

Orphaned wells are wells for which the operator is unknown or insolvent. The location of hundreds of thousands of these wells remain unknown in the United States alone. Cost-effective techniques are essential to locate orphaned wells to address environmental problems. In this paper, we present a dataset consisting of 120,948 aerial images of recently documented orphan wells. Each of these 512 × 512 images is paired with segmentation masks that indicate the presence or absence of such well. These images, sourced from the National Agriculture Imagery Program, cover the continental United States with spatial resolutions ranging from 30 centimeters to 1 meter. Additionally, we included negative examples by selecting locations uniformly across the United States. Accompanying metadata includes the IDs and spatial resolution of the original images, which are available for free through the United States Geological Survey, and the pixel coordinates of documented orphaned wells identified in these images. This dataset is intended to support the development of deep-learning models that can help locating undocumented orphan wells from such imagery, thereby blunting the environmental damage they do.

Climate-change mitigation↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluation and Optimization of Well Completion Options for the Utah FORGE Site

Orientation and completion for well pairs that have been subjected to multi-zonal stimulation play a critical role in the long-term performance of an Enhanced Geothermal Reservoir. Enhanced geothermal systems often rely on preferential flow along fractures between well injection and production locations. Modeling this preferential flow using discrete fracture networks (DNF) relies on stochastic realizations of the DFN based on geological sampling. Here we present the development of a stochastic optimization methodology to determine well completion options in a discrete fracture network based on using parallel subset simulation. Stochastic optimization will provide insight into regions where placements of the injection and production wells are optimal. An example optimization of well-pair location optimization based on a deterministic-stochastic DFN model representing FORGE follows a discussion of the theory.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Strong temporal variability in methane fluxes from natural gas well pad soils

We measured methane and carbon dioxide fluxes at natural gas well pad soils and undisturbed soils in the Rocky Mountain and Gulf Coast regions of the United States, including producing and gas storage wells. We collected both short-term (15 min) and multi-day (between 3 and 8), continuous measurements at 47 well pads and two undisturbed locations. Methane fluxes varied by more than an order of magnitude over periods as short as 30 min (e.g., 19–593 mg m -2 h -1 in one instance), and diurnal and seasonal variability was also significant (e.g., spring-to-fall change from 509 to 14174 mg m -2 h -1 ). We hypothesize that short-term flux variability was caused by pulsed flow of methane during its migration through the subsurface. Barometric pressure and well conditions likely impacted fluxes, but we found only weak evidence for this. Bacterial methanotrophy appeared to impact methane flux magnitude and variability. We injected methane into the subsurface at one well, and we found that, while fluxes of methane and carbon dioxide, and combustible soil gas concentrations, increased in response to the injection, the response was not uniform, and fluxes exhibited high hourly-scale variability, in spite of a constant injection rate. Methane fluxes tended to be higher at well pad soils compared to background soils (often much higher), and fluxes tended to be higher at well pad locations closer to the well head.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Waterlevel, geochemical, and borehole data from Rifle, Colorado from 2006-2016

The files included in this data package provide site wide water level data, geochemical data, and borehole information associated with the Rifle site in Colorado during the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) led Integrated Field Research Challenge (IFRC) and Scientific Focus Area (SFA) research projects. The data informs hydrogeochemical interactions occurring in the watershed. The readme file contains detailed metadata for the files, including naming conventions, column headers, and data validation.The borehole information is provided in the file called rifle_boreholes.csv. It provides names and location for boreholes/wells at the Rifle. The waterlevel data is provided in the folder rifle_waterlevels. The geochemical data is provided in two folders: the rifle_floodplain_geochemistry folder has data which was collected from wells across the floodplain and a variety of offsite locations that contribute solutes to the floodplain given their upgradient locations. The rifle_plotC_geochemistry folder has data which was collected primarily in plot C, which was a focused study area in which a large number of groundwater manipulation / biostimulation experiments were conducted. While not all geochemical constituents are included for each well location and sampling date, they include anions, cations, trace metals, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, stable isotopes of water and sulfur (as sulfate), and water quality parameters including pH, groundwater electrical conductivity (EC) and dissolved oxygen (DO). All files are in csv or txt format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

A parametric analysis of oilfield design factors affecting the detectability and characterization of electrically conductive hydrofracks

Electrical responses in the vicinity of energized steel-cased well sources offer significant potential for monitoring induced fractures. However, the high complexity of well-fracture-host models spanning multiple length scales compels analysts to simplify their numerical models due to enormous computational costs. This consequently limits our understanding regarding monitoring capabilities and the limitations of electrical measurements on realistic hydraulically fracturing systems. In this paper, we use the hierarchical finite element approach to construct geoelectric models in which geometrically complex fractures and steel-cased wells are discretely represented in 3D conducting media without sacrificing the model realism and computation efficiency. We have discovered systematic numerical analyses of the electrical responses to evaluate the influences of borehole material conductivity and the source type as well as the effects of well geometry, conductivity contrast, source location, fracture growth, and fracture propagation. Furthermore, the numerical results indicate that the borehole material property has a strong control on the electrical potentials along the production and monitoring wells. The monopole source located at a steel-cased well results in a current density distribution that decays away from the source location throughout the well length, whereas the dipole source produces a current density that dominates mainly along the dipole length. Moreover, the conductivity contrast between the fractures and host does not change the overall pattern of the electrical potentials but varies its amplitude. The fracture models near different well systems indicate that the well geometry controls the entire distribution of potentials, while the characteristics of the voltage difference profiles along the wells before and after fracturing are insensitive to the well geometry and the well in which the source is located. Further, the hydraulic-fracturing models indicate that the voltage differences along the production well before and after fracturing have strong sensitivity to fracture growth and fracture set propagation.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Groundwater table elevation and temperature from 2015 to 2024 across Meander C at the Lower Montane site in the East River Watershed, Colorado.

This groundwater level elevation and temperature data package is aimed at improving the predictive understanding of hydro-biogeochemical processes at the lower montane site in the East River Watershed, Colorado. The dataset is obtained using pressure transducers placed in shallow wells in the floodplain. This dataset contains data from wells ER-CPA1 to ER-CPA6. Another dataset contains the data from wells at nearby Locations. Each file contains the water level elevation and the water temperature. Water level elevation has been obtained using the barometric pressure from the pressure transducer (Hobos sensor) in the well, barometric pressure from a sensor in air located at the same site (lower montane), depth from top-of-casing (TOC) to sensor measurement point, and TOC elevation. Data have been checked with a few measurements of water table depths. A real-time kinematic (RTK) global positioning system (GPS) has been used to survey the TOC (data in file Well_Location.csv). The water level elevation is given in UTM13N Geoid2012AB. While depth to water level is not present in the data files, it can be easily calculated with the TOC and distance to ground provided in the GPS coordinate file. The dataset quality is discussed in Collection/Analysis section of the methods. Time-series of measurements were initially added to the archive for the period 2015 to 2019, and later updated with time-series until 2024 (end of data collection). The dataset contains 7 *.csv data files, and 3 *.csv metadata files. Feel free to contact the author with any questions or collaboration interests. The publication year was updated from "2020" to "2025" to reflect the revised version of this dataset.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

CO2-Locate: A Dynamic Database and Tool for Accessing National Oil and Gas Well Data to Inform Carbon Storage Projects

The CO2-Locate Database is a growing compilation of publicly available wellbore resources that have been merged based on common attributes across data sources with an attribute schema developed to be consistent across disparate resources, reduce data gaps, and eliminate record redundancy. The first version of CO2-Locate has been published to Energy Data eXchange (EDX) and includes the integrated public wells dataset as well as additional geospatial summary layers of key wellbore characteristics to protect proprietary resources. Additionally, the CO2-Locate database has been deployed into a web application, enabling easy access, data filtering capabilities, and visualization of U.S. wellbore infrastructure by stakeholders to inform injection site selection and risk assessments.

Dyer, Alec S. [NETL Site Support Contractor, Natio↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modeling and experimental validation of direct contact crossflow packed beds condenser used in HDH desalination systems

Humidification and dehumidification (HDH) desalination systems are alternatives to reverse osmosis desalination systems, especially for high salinity waters. A HDH system is essentially equipped with a humidifier (also called as evaporator) for air to pick up vapor from saline water, a dehumidifier (also called as condenser) to produce freshwater, and a heating source. HDH systems based on direct contact packed beds heat exchangers have remarkably lower costs than traditional HDH systems due to their inexpensive materials and simple configurations. This paper specifically focuses on direct contact crossflow packed beds condensers, in which cooling water vertically drips through the packed beds, directly contacting the horizontal air-vapor flow. A two-dimensional mathematical model that solves for the enthalpy values of the working fluids is proposed in this paper, and the PDEs are solved using finite differences. To validate the model, an experimental condenser was built and tested. Water temperatures inside the test section at twenty-nine locations were measured, as well as the air vapor temperatures of five locations at the outlet. The measured water and air-vapor temperatures agree with the simulation results with less than 10 % error in most of the compared domain.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Data mining of plug-in electric vehicles charging behavior using supply-side data

This paper aims to better understand the charging patterns of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and identify factors that may significantly impact PEVs’ charging behavior. We collected 189,864 supply-side charging session data over 13 months from 821 charging stations in Illinois from ChargePoint. Through descriptive and regression analyses, we characterize the distributions of key charging behavior indicators, including charging location, dwell time, and battery start state of charge (SOC), and quantify the impacts of closely related factors on these charging behaviors. In this work, we find that: (1) PEVs are more likely to charge in the morning at multifamily commercial locations with a lower start SOC compared with single family residential locations; (2) Weekday and morning sessions are more likely to utilize workplace charging and have shorter dwell time compared with weekend and afternoon sessions; (3) Single family residential area and locations with Levels 1/2 chargers have a higher start SOC and longer dwell time compared with other locations and DC fast chargers (DCFCs). These findings provide policy insights to identify potential time and locations to incentivize PEVs for grid services, as well as identify critical location categories for further charging infrastructure investment to better reduce range anxiety and promote PEV adoption.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗