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

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At least 1,279 records · Page 71
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

2017 Meander C sediment characterization from the East River, Colorado

This dataset includes characterization data collected on sediment samples from Meander C as part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA) located in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The data were collected to investigate the nature of mineral-organic associations across the meander transect and with depth. Samples were collected in 2017, and analyzed using sequential extractions (water, pyrophosphate, HCl, and dithionite) and density fractionation. Data collected include: texture, pH, root biomass, and metals (Fe, Al, Ca, Si) of bulk sediment samples; C and N of heavy fraction; and extractable OC, Fe, and Al, and organic matter characterization using high-resolution mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) of sequential extractions. Sample locations are included in the ‘sample_metadata.xlsx” file. Sediment characterization data is included in the accompanying csv files: bulk and density fractions (MCB2017_density-and-bulk-fractions.csv), sequential extractions (MCB2017_sequential-extractions.csv), and FT-ICR-MS data from sequential extractions in three files to be read by the R package ftmsRanalysis (MCB2017_FTICRMS-sequential-edata.csv, MCB2017_FTICRMS-sequential-emeta.csv, and MCB2017_FTICRMS-sequential-fdata.csv). Sediment was collected in triplicate; ID’s refer to individual samples.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Rare earth element potential in coal and coal ash in the U.S. Gulf Coast

United States heavy reliance on imports of critical minerals (CMs), including rare earth elements (REEs), underscores the importance of development of domestic sources. The study objective was to quantify CM and REE concentrations in coal and coal ash in the US Gulf Coast region. CM and REE concentrations were measured for 118 samples from outcrops and 14 mines in the Gulf Coast. Results show that total REE + Yttrium (REY) concentrations (dry coal basis) are comparable to those of the upper continental crust (UCC) with localized hot spots, such as the Texas Gibbons Creek mine (REY ≤ ~ 2860 ppm). When normalized to UCC REY concentration (169 ppm, dry coal basis), REY to UCC ratios for Gulf Coast coal samples range from 0.1 to 17 (median ratio 0.6). REE extractability from lignites is high (median: 63%–93%) using environmentally benign weak acid. In addition to raw coal, coal ash from power plants could also serve as an REE source with a median ratio of REY in ash relative to coal of 4; however, extractability from coal ash is generally much lower (≤ 5% using the same weak acid as in coal). The median basket price for extracted REY as oxides from coal, assuming 70% extractability, is $\$3.2$ per tonne of coal and $\$186$ billion based on 58 billion metric tonnes of dry coal in the Gulf Coast. REEs important for magnets (Pr + Nd + Tb + Dy) account for ~ 80% of the total value. The corresponding median basket price for extracted REY as oxides from coal ash, assuming ~ 30% extractability, is ~$\$4.4$ per tonne of ash and $\$1.2$ billion based on 258 million tonnes of ash. REE production from coal would likely require co-products, such as activated carbon or humic acids, to attain economic viability. Production of REEs from coal ash could offset remediation costs related to potential water contamination. This reconnaissance study shows the potential for REE production from coal and coal ash in the Gulf Coast; however, carbon coproducts and/or societal benefits would likely be required for socioeconomic viability.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2021

A panel analysis of groundwater use in California

We report groundwater is a relevant source of drinking and agricultural water in many regions of the world, but many aquifers have been unsustainably over-drafted and polluted. This has significant environmental, health, and economic implications. We rely on panel analysis, with small-sample corrections for cluster-robust variance estimation and hypothesis testing, to investigate the dynamics of groundwater extraction. We focus on California, yet our approach could be helpful to analyze the dynamics of groundwater extraction in other groundwater-reliant regions of the world. In California, over-reliance on groundwater has led to significant overdraft, affecting long-term water supply reliability and groundwater pumping costs. It further caused subsidence and infrastructure damage, harmed groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and threatened the sustainability of groundwater resources in the state. We use panel data of the 56 California Water Plan planning areas over the 1998–2015 period. We concentrate on agricultural and urban water use and the major water projects in the state, to provide a better understanding of the relationships between groundwater extraction and water use and supply. Results suggest that reducing agricultural water in Central California and urban water in Southern California could reduce groundwater extraction in these regions by approximately the same amount of the reduced water. Other opportunities to reduce the stress on the groundwater resources in the state are available for other regions, yet with lower benefits. Results also suggest that a decrease in deliveries from the Central Valley Project to the southern part of the Central Valley would increase groundwater extraction by approximately the same proportion. Changes in deliveries from the major water projects in the state, as well as from other sources of surface water, would also have some, yet lower impacts on groundwater extraction in the Central and Southern California.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Organic amendments change soil organic C structure and microbial community but not total organic matter on sub-decadal scales

Organic C has many benefits for soil, but it is depleted by tillage and crop harvest, and especially so for biofuel crops. Accordingly, strategies such as partially retaining stover or planting a cover crop can help ameliorate the negative effect of C removal. We used a long-term field experiment to study the impacts of stover retention and planting cover crop on soil organic matter (SOM), its extractable components and the soil microbial community. SOM chemical composition characterization was determined by electrospray ionization (ESI) coupled with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) in sequential water, methanol (MeOH), and chloroform (CHCl3) extracts. The characteristics of the soil bacterial community were measured by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA), real-time quantitative PCR, and 16S rRNA gene sequence. The variations in total SOM content, total microbial biomass, and bacterial population were slight among treatments, but SOM chemical compounds, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) biomass, and bacterial structure changed significantly, and especially so in the coupled application of stover retention and cover crop. Specifically, stover retention enriched more lignin-like compounds in soil, whereas cover crop enriched more condensed hydrocarbons, and had more compounds with an aromaticity index (AI) >0.5. The bacterial community was not altered by the cover crop, but the corn stover retention increased the relative abundances of Myxococcales (Deltaproteobacteria) and decreased that of Actinobacteria. Redundancy analysis (RDA) further unveiled that the bacterial community in the stover treatments had significantly positive association with CHCl3-extracted chemical classes, i.e. unsaturated hydrocarbon and lipid with the coupled application (stover and cover crop), and lignin and protein with the single corn stover treatment. Taken together, our study shows how different C addition practices influence the molecular composition of SOM and the structure of soil microbial communities.

Xu, Jiangbin↗
DOE OSTI2022

Analysis of solid uranium particulates on cotton swipes with an automated microextraction-ICP-MS system

Here, an automated microextraction method coupled to an inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) was developed for the direct analysis of solid uranium particulates on the surface of cotton swipes. The microextraction probe extracts particulates from the sample surface, in a flowing solvent, and directs the removed analyte to an ICP-MS for isotopic determination. The automated system utilizes a mechanical XY stage that is software controlled with the capability of saving and returning to specific locations and a camera focused to the swipe surface for optimal viewing of the extracted locations (i.e., material present). Here, particulates (n = 135) were extracted and measured by ICP-MS, including 35 depleted uranyl nitrate hexahydrate (UN) (used for mass bias corrections), 50 uranyl fluoride (UO 2 F 2 ), and 50 uranyl acetate (UAc) particulates. Blank extractions were performed on the cotton swipes between triplicate sample analyses. Between each swipe extraction, the probe was sent between two wells containing 10% and 5% HNO 3 to clean the probe head and to eliminate any analyte carryover between particulates. The measured 235 U/ 238 U and 234 U/ 238 U isotope ratios for the UO 2 F 2 particulates were 0.00725(8) and 0.000054(4), a percent relative difference (% RD) of –0.041% and –1.7% from the reference isotope ratios determined in-lab through multi-collector ICP-MS analysis of dissolved aliquots of the U material. The UAc samples had a measured 235 U/ 238 U isotope ratio of 0.00206(7), a –0.96% relative difference from the reference value of 0.00208(1). The 234 U/ 238 U and 236 U/ 238 U isotope ratios were 0.000008(1) and 0.000031(4), –5.1% RD and –4.3% RD, respectively. The automated sample stage enabled seamless and rapid particle analysis, leading to a significant increase in throughput versus what was previously possible. Additionally, the saved location capability reduced user sampling error as sampling locations were easily stored and recalled. Analysis of U particles on the swipe surface – including blanks, mass bias, and triplicate extractions – was completed in less than an hour without any sample preparation necessary.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Pyruvate, phosphate dikinase regulatory protein impacts light response of C4 photosynthesis in Setaria viridis

In C4 plants, the pyruvate (Pyr), phosphate dikinase regulatory protein (PDRP) regulates the activity of the C4 pathway enzyme Pyr, phosphate dikinase (PPDK) in a light-/dark-dependent manner. The importance of this regulatory action to C4 pathway function and overall C4 photosynthesis is unknown. To resolve this question, we assessed in vivo PPDK phospho-regulation and whole leaf photophysiology in a CRISPR–Cas9 PDRP knockout (KO) mutant of the NADP-ME C4 grass green millet (Setaria viridis). PDRP enzyme activity was undetectable in leaf extracts from PDRP KO lines. Likewise, PPDK phosphorylated at the PDRP-regulatory Thr residue was immunologically undetectable in leaf extracts. PPDK enzyme activity in rapid leaf extracts was constitutively high in the PDRP KO lines, irrespective of light or dark pretreatment of leaves. Gas exchange analysis of net CO2 assimilation revealed PDRP KO leaves had markedly slower light induction kinetics when leaves transition from dark to high-light or low-light to high-light. In the initial 30 min of the light induction phase, KO leaves had an ~15% lower net CO2 assimilation rate versus the wild-type (WT). Despite the impaired slower induction kinetics, we found growth and vigor of the KO lines to be visibly indistinguishable from the WT when grown in normal air and under standard growth chamber conditions. However, the PDRP KO plants grown under a fluctuating light regime exhibited a gradual multi-day decline in Fv/Fm, indicative of progressive photosystem II damage due to the absence of PDRP. Collectively, our results demonstrate that one of PDRP’s functions in C4 photosynthesis is to ensure optimal photosynthetic light induction kinetics during dynamic changes in incident light.

Plant Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impact of the MARATHON data on F 2⁢n⁡ /F 2⁢p and off-shell effects in light nuclei

The neutron structure function, F 2⁢n⁡ , has historically been extracted from measurements of the deuteron structure function, which is limited by our understanding of the nuclear effects on the bound proton and neutron. The MARATHON Collaboration recently extracted F 2⁢n⁡ from the comparison of 3 H and 3 He targets, where the nuclear effects are larger but nearly identical, yielding a precise extraction of F 2⁢n⁡ /F 2⁢p . Here, to ensure that this comparison is not biased by the specific model of nuclear effects used by MARATHON, we examine a range of models of the nuclear effects to obtain a more conservative, but more model-independent, extraction of F 2⁢n⁡ /F 2⁢p for comparison with deuteron extractions. Even with this approach, the results are precise enough to compare to deuteron extractions, providing new constraints on the nuclear effects in the deuteron and indicating the need for larger nuclear corrections than those included in most models.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Slider Crank WEC Performance Analysis with Adaptive Autoregressive Filtering

This paper investigates a performance analysis of wave excitation force prediction to extract wave power for a slider crank power take-off system (PTOS) based on auto regressive (AR) filters. To efficiently convert wave energy into electricity, the prediction of wave excitation forces to keep the generator and the wave excitation force in sync is important for maximum energy extraction. The study shows a prediction methodology of half period and zero crossings in the practical scenario of irregular ocean waves. The prediction has been tested for different wave periods and with different filter orders. The prediction results have been used in the PTOS simulation to analyze the energy extraction. It has been shown that the prediction accuracy in the wave half period between the truth data and the predicted data drives the WEC energy extraction efficiency. The amplitude of the wave force is not used and hence the prediction deviation in the wave force amplitude does not affect the PTOS energy extraction. Further analysis shows that the optimum energy can be extracted at 15 th order filter with moderate prediction horizon length.

autoregressive filter↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Power Reclamation of Utilizing Micro-Hydro Turbines in the Aeration Basins of Wastewater Treatment Plants

Upgrading the aeration basin technology can improve the oxygen transfer efficiency (OTE), while keeping the energy consumption at its minimum level. Therefore, this paper introduces a new idea of installing micro-propeller turbines in the aeration basin of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to extract power from the high-velocity location in the water column. This extracted power can be used to operate a mixer at the top of the membrane to induce the mixing in that region, which will drive the less oxygenated wastewater into the water column. The rest of the extracted power will rotate microturbine rotors for electric power generation. By applying the proposed microturbines to the 13 audited facilities, it was demonstrated to achieve a gross annual energy-savings of 3,836.9 MWh, a gross annual cost-saving of $260,497, and total CO 2 emissions that would be reduced by 2,714 metric tons/year. Generally, the addition of the proposed microturbines can save up to 15.7% of the annual plant electricity consumption (1.3–12.8% of the plant annual electricity bills).

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Charge radii of the nucleon from its flavor dependent Dirac form factors

In this report we have determined the proton and the neutron charge radii from a global analysis of the proton and the neutron elastic form factors, after first performing a flavor decomposition of these form factors under charge symmetry in the light cone frame formulation. We then extracted the transverse mean-square radii of the flavor dependent quark distributions. In turn, these are related in a model-independent way to the proton and neutron charge radii but allow us to take into account motion effects of the recoiling nucleon for data at finite but high momentum transfer. In the proton case we find $\langle r_p \rangle$ = 0.852±0.002 (stat.) ± 0.009 (syst.) (fm), consistent with the proton charge radius obtained from muonic hydrogen spectroscopy. The current method improves on the precision of the $\langle r_p \rangle$; extraction based on the form factor measurements. Furthermore, we find no discrepancy in the $\langle r_p \rangle$ determination among the different electron scattering measurements, all of which, utilizing the current method of extraction, result in a value that is consistent with the smallest $\langle r_p \rangle$ extraction from the electron scattering measurements. Concerning the neutron case, past results relied solely on the neutron-electron scattering length measurements, which suffer from an underestimation of underlying systematic uncertainties inherent to the extraction technique. Utilizing the present method we have performed the first extraction of the neutron charge radius based on nucleon form factor data, and we find $\langle r^2_n \rangle$ = -0.122±0.004 (stat.) ± 0.010 (syst.) (fm 2 ).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Scoreboard

Emerging HPC machines have given rise to enhanced compute power that far outstrips the machine's ability to save large scale results for post-processing. To combat this, in situ data analysis techniques are slowly being adopted. With in situ data management favoring workflows composed of multiple simulations and analyses connected in transit on heterogeneous machines, scientists and engineers need a tool that enables them to create data extracts, visualizations, and interactively monitor and steer their simulations. Scoreboard Phase II is a next generation analysis software that supports composite in transit workflows on heterogeneous architectures and restores interactivity to in situ data analysis through simulation monitoring and computational steering. Scoreboard provides a simulation dashboard with graphs of metrics over time, controls for setting custom simulation steering parameters, controls for managing the set of data extracts being produced in the simulation, as well as the ability to explore data extracts, all from a web browser. Realizing the vision outlined in this project required research into making a system that integrates end to end from simulations all the way to the user. In situ tools generally suffer from complexity and excessive software dependencies. Scoreboard, by contrast, is easy to build and integrate into simulation codes and it provides first class FORTRAN support. The Scoreboard library is capable of in situ and in transit data analysis that can produce data extracts commonly needed for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. Simulations can transparently stage data in transit to a Scoreboard Endpoint program, which can accept their data and produce the requested data extracts. This lets simulations return to their work while the Endpoint works on the analysis. Efficiently staging the data at scale was a topic of this research. Scoreboard provides the means to let the user manage data extracts and monitor/steer many simulations from a web browser. This area of the research focused on discovery of in transit network components to expose and control their steering parameters within an interactive browser-based user interface that includes: system topology, gathered metrics, notifications, dynamically-generated steering controls, and exploration of visualization data products.

Whitlock, BradJoseph [Intelligent Light] (00000001↗
DOE OSTI2021

Evaluation of bacterial hosts for conversion of lignin-derived p-coumaric acid to 4-vinylphenol

Abstract Hydroxycinnamic acids such as p -coumaric acid (CA) are chemically linked to lignin in grassy biomass with fairly labile ester bonds and therefore represent a straightforward opportunity to extract and valorize lignin components. In this work, we investigated the enzymatic conversion of CA extracted from lignocellulose to 4-vinylphenol (4VP) by expressing a microbial phenolic acid decarboxylase in Corynebacterium glutamicum , Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis . The performance of the recombinant strains was evaluated in response to the substrate concentration in rich medium or a lignin liquor and the addition of an organic overlay to perform a continuous product extraction in batch cultures. We found that using undecanol as an overlay enhanced the 4VP titers under high substrate concentrations, while extracting > 97% of the product from the aqueous phase. C. glutamicum showed the highest tolerance to CA and resulted in the accumulation of up to 187 g/L of 4VP from pure CA in the overlay with a 90% yield when using rich media, or 17 g/L of 4VP with a 73% yield from CA extracted from lignin. These results indicate that C. glutamicum is a suitable host for the high-level production of 4VP and that further bioprocess engineering strategies should be explored to optimize the production, extraction, and purification of 4VP from lignin with this organism.

4-hydroxystyrene↗
DOE OSTI2022

LAI, EVI, NDVI, and kNDVI in 23 pantropical forests affected by 21 cyclones

Statement of purpose: Cyclones alter the function and composition of tropical forests, making effects of intensifying cyclones on carbon-rich forests a critical topic of study. Here, we quantified cyclone-induced damage and recovery of 21 cyclone disturbances affecting 23 pantropical forest sites between 1988-2017 utilizing leaf area index (LAI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and transformed NDVI (kNDVI) values from Google Earth Engine. Field observations collected in a meta-analysis (Bomfim et al., 2022, in review) were used to ground-truth and test effects of soil resource availability and disturbance factors on damage and recovery. This meta-analysis also served as the basis to begin vegetation index extraction, utilizing unique site and date combinations, from tropical forests effect by cyclone disturbances. We began collecting NDVI (5km resolution) from the NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of AVHRR Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Version 5 data product (Vermote, 2019) for all case studies included, 42. Next, we began extracting Landsat data from Landsat 4, 5, and 8, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, in search of higher resolution data. We selected a 3 by 3 Landsat pixel area, leading to a 90m resolution data extraction. The specific imagery used includes Landsat 4 USGS Landsat 4 TM Collection 1 Tier 1 TOA (top of atmosphere) Reflectance, Landsat 5 USGS Landsat 5 TM (thematic mapper) Collection 1 Tier 1 TOA Reflectance, and Landsat 8 USGS Landsat 8 Collection 1 Tier 1 TOA Reflectance. Within Google Earth Engine, we selected the date and location (latitude and longitude), calculated NDVI, kNDVI, and EVI utilizing Landsat bands (see metadata_NGEE-tropics_cyclones), and extracted post- and pre-cyclone values for each case study to calculate cyclone-induced change in the vegetative index. Due to limited spatial resolution of Landsat remote sensing data, MODIS products were investigated next. First, the MOD13Q1.006 Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day Global 250m product was used to extract 250m EVI and NDVI (Didan, 2015) and then the MCD15A3H.006 MODIS Leaf Area Index/FPAR 4-Day Global 500m product product was used to extract LAI 500m (Myneni et al., 2015). Pre- and post-cyclone values, change in the vegetative index, and standard deviation for all values are included in the main csv (see case_study_data.csv) for all vegetative indices collected, including LAI 500m, EVI 250m, NDVI 250m, NDVI 90m, kNDVI 90m, EVI 90m, and NDVI 5km. Lastly, recovery values were calculated utilizing a standardization method (see metadata_NGEE-tropics_cyclones) and recovery values for MODIS (see MODIS_recovery.csv) and Landsat (Landsat_recovery.csv) data are included.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Development of Algal Biomass Yield Improvements in an Integrated Process (Final Report)

This project built on the success of Global Algae Innovations Algae Biomass Yield Phase 1 project to accelerate the commercialization of algal biofuels through development of an integrated, economical, photosynthetic, open raceway system to produce algal oil. Two parallel pathways to a biofuel were investigated. In the algal crude oil pathway, highlighted in blue, the dewatered algal biomass slurry is used as a feed to hydrothermal liquefaction to produce an algae crude oil and recycle aqueous stream. In the algal lipid oil pathway, highlighted in green, the algal biomass slurry is dried, and the oil is extracted to produce an algal lipid oil biofuel intermediate and a high protein algae meal co-product. Upgrading to drop-in fuels has been demonstrated for the biofuel intermediates in both pathways. Since the algal lipid oil pathway requires lipid accumulation, the productivity is generally lower than the algal crude oil pathway, but the required productivity for economical algal biofuel production is also lower because the coproduct value is greater. The outdoor cultivation was performed at the Kauai Algae Farm. The project team has expertise across the full breadth strain development, advanced algal cultivation, open raceway contamination control, CO 2 supply, harvesting, dewatering, extraction, hydrothermal liquefaction, technoeconomic analysis and life cycle analysis: Hildebrand laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography – diatom strain development. Mayfield laboratory at UCSD - green algae strain development. TSD Management Associates- CO 2 supply, algal harvesting and dewatering, and algal drying and extraction. Qualitas - large-scale test site for algal harvesting technology. Texas A&M University - algal drying and extraction technology. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - hydrothermal liquefaction technology. GE Water and Power - membrane technology. National Renewable Energy Laboratory - algal techno-economic analysis. Phase 1 of the project resulted in tremendous productivity and pre-processing improvements in an integrated, large-scale, low-cost cultivation and pre-processing process that moved algal technology closer to economic viability for biofuels than ever before. Phase 2 accomplishments further facilitate development of a commercial algal biofuel industry by adding: several top performing strains and strain development tools including breeding; open-pond cultivation innovations that achieved a 30% improvement in overall productivity, an 83% reduction in cost, and a 95% reduction in energy use relative to conventional technology; further improvements in harvesting that led to the Zobi harvester ® as a universal, economical, low energy, commercially available microalgae harvesting solution; breakthroughs in drying and extraction including a new low energy drying process and several new low energy extraction unit operations that together with the Zobi harvester ® achieve a 90% reduction in cost and 97% reduction in energy use relative to conventional technology. These improvements are sufficient to enable economical production of algae biofuel and protein meal co-product if the process were scaled up to a commercial-scale 5,000-acre algae farm.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Numerical Simulations of Geologic Storage Reservoir Management to Support Risk Mitigation Evaluation

This report provides a detailed description of a set of numerical simulations that represent reservoir behavior over time in response to different operational decision scenarios for detection of potential leakage and reduction or avoidance of leakage impact at a hypothetical geological carbon storage (GCS) site. These simulations serve as the basis for a series of GCS leakage risk forecasts that are to be developed using the National Risk Assessment Partnership’s Open-Source Integrated Assessment Model (NRAP-Open-IAM), and a demonstration of a simple decision support workflow for evaluation of mitigation strategies based on results of those system model forecasts. This risk assessment and decision support study is forthcoming. Four injection scenarios were considered: a constant rate carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) injection case (base case), a case with CO 2 injection rate adjustment, a case with early termination of injection operations, and a case with brine extraction. CO 2 injection operations were controlled to ensure that the pressure transient remains below the defined manageable reservoir fracture pressure, with consideration shown to hypothetical locations within the modeled spatial domain where the overburden was weaker and lower transient pressure increases were allowable. Additionally, a brine extraction alternative was considered as a reservoir management and risk mitigation option to reduce reservoir pressure, steer the plume away from any hypothetical geohazard such as fault as needed, and enhance storage capacity. Such operational actions contribute to risk management overtime. This study explores the potential utility of reservoir management for risk reduction at GCS sites. This study shows that the injection design may modify the time to CO 2 breakthrough at a legacy well; in particular, these results show that brine extraction can add value for mitigating risk both by delaying leakage and reducing pressure build-up. For the scenario considered, both pressure plots and pressure distributions demonstrate that pressure build-up was decreased by 3% with brine extraction. Additionally, extraction of brine afforded enhancement of CO 2 storage capacity by 5% compared to the base case. These findings suggest that brine extraction has substantial potential to steer the risk-related reservoir effects away from known geohazards (e.g., faults and legacy wells) by conducting pressure transient effects and CO 2 plume movement toward the production well. Injection rate adjustment scenarios considered in this study show potential value for managing both reservoir pressure transients and CO 2 plume behavior. Operational actions for reducing injection and/or early termination of injection (as compared to the base case), however, require careful design; tailoring both the extent and timing of injection rate adjustment over the injection and post-injection operational period must be thoroughly planned to balance maximizing storage and minimizing subsurface environmental risk. The study also gives preliminary consideration to the effectiveness that monitoring strategy may play in providing useful information to inform reservoir management decisions for risk reduction. Two types of monitoring were considered: 1) pressure build-up or pressure transient; and 2) potential leakage detection from a CO 2 mass or plume. Four hypothetical legacy wells, two plugged and two abandoned, were placed in the model domain. Monitoring along these wells was measured over time in individual stacked reservoir formations and shale formations to support risk mitigation decisions, especially operational decisions that assisted in risk reduction. These simulations will serve as the basis for a series of GCS leakage risk forecasts that are to be developed using NRAP’s Open-IAM, and demonstration of a simple decision support workflow for comparative assessment of mitigation alternatives based on results of those system model forecasts. This risk assessment and decision support study is forthcoming.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Enhanced Light Outcoupling from OLEDs Fabricated on Novel Low-Cost Patterned Plastic Substrates of Varying Periodicity

OLEDs continue to make strides in display applications, but their commercial utilization in solid-state lighting (SSL) is lagging. An ongoing challenge, in particular for manufacturing, is the need for enhanced efficiency and hence the necessity to increase in an inexpensive approach the extraction of the light generated inside the OLED into the forward (viewing) hemisphere. In conventional OLEDs fabricated on a transparent flat anode coated on glass, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) is only ~20%. About 50% of the light is lost to internal waveguiding in the high refractive index (RI) organic + ITO anode layers and to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at the organic/metal cathode interface. Another ~30% of the light is externally waveguided in the substrate to its edges. While extraction of the externally waveguided light is commonly addressed by adding a microlens array (MLA) or a scattering layer at the substrate’s air-side, light outcoupling increases by only ~1.6-1.7x (vs up to 2.5x in improving from ~20% to ~50%). The use of a hemispherical lens or an index matching fluid (IMF) at the substrate/photodetector (PD) interface increases the outcoupling by at least 2x; these approaches however, are not viable industrially, and even a MLA is sometimes undesirable due to its non-planar, scattering structure. In multi-stack tandem OLEDs, where the metal cathode is far from the emitting zone(s), the impact of photons loss to SPPs decreases. Our project addressed the ~50% loss to the internally waveguided light and SPPs. We evaluated OLEDs fabricated on patterned or planarized plastic substrates manufactured in a cost-effective approach compatible with a roll-to-roll (R2R) process. The OLEDs were either (i) patterned to various degrees depending on the pitch a and height or depth h of the pattern features or (ii) planar, with a pattern buried under a flat high RI planarization layer. We demonstrated that the outcoupling from green patterned OLEDs reaches ~50% by mitigating plasmon–related loss and internal waveguiding, even without the addition of a MLA, a hemispherical lens, or IMF. Simulations conducted in parallel with the experimental effort demonstrated how diffraction by conformally corrugated OLEDs increases the outcoupling to >60%. Structures with varying pitch values were also simulated indicating that combining domains of varying pitch could increase outcoupling to 55-60%. Experimentally, we additionally assessed the role a and h in determining not only the OLED efficiencies, but also their structural properties, i.e., the uniformity and conformality throughout the OLED stack. As planar OLEDs are preferred over corrugated devices, we studied different patterns in plastic substrates that were planarized by a high RI formulation. Planar green OLEDs on such structures showed enhanced efficiencies with EQEs larger than 60% with the addition of an IMF (to extract the substrate mode) at the substrate/Si PD interface. White OLEDs showed EQEs of 45.5%. Plastic substrates are currently less attractive than glass substrates due to drawbacks such as permeability to water vapor and oxygen, and in some cases thermal instability. Plastic substrates however, are flexible and easy to handle unlike thin flexible glass, and once transparent thin barrier films are available, they will become more attractive; they are already of interest in medical applications. Importantly, as it is easy to generate various patterns in different plastic materials, they provide excellent means for assessing and optimizing enhancing extracting structures. Such structures can also be transferred to glass substrates with some process modifications. The technical effectiveness and economic feasibility of the project lie in the patterning of the extracting plastic substrates in an approach that is scalable to R2R manufacturing. R2R processes are of drastically lower-cost than batch or single-unit fabrication. The patterned plastic can be a part of an integrated substrate either plastic or glass, which includes also a MLA or a planar layer with embedded scattering particles, as well as a conductive metal mesh/electrode design. SSL is environmentally-friendly and as OLED SSL becomes more efficient it will reduce electricity consumption, and hence lighting cost, as well as produce less expensive attractive lighting fixtures. Our university-industry collaboration is hence of major benefit to the public as it demonstrates the feasibility of manufacturing optimized extracting substrates for highly efficient OLEDs for SSL in a future R2R process, which would drastically reduce the manufacturing cost and increase production in the USA. Moreover, newly developed methods by our team allow low-cost roll manufactured substrates to be transferred to flexible or rigid glass substrates, which solves the plastic substrate barrier issues, and when combined with device encapsulation will increase the OLEDs’ environmental stability.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

CoDCon Project (Final Report)

The co-decontamination (CoDCon) project was established in FY 2016 with the objectives of (a) evaluating the uncertainty in the uranium (U)/plutonium (Pu) ratio in a mixed U/Pu product from a tributyl phosphate (TBP)–based solvent extraction flowsheet, and (b) developing and demonstrating on-line optical spectroscopy for real-time monitoring of key components (e.g., Pu, U, and HNO 3 concentrations) in the process solutions. We were interested in assessing the accuracy and precision to which a specific uranium-to-plutonium (U/Pu) ratio can be achieved, which for the purposes of this project was set at a U/Pu mass ratio of 7/3. The uncertainty associated with achieving this specific target U/Pu ratio was investigated during five flowsheet tests using laboratory-scale solvent extraction equipment. In addition, optical spectroscopic techniques were incorporated into the CoDCon solvent extraction testing system, allowing real time monitoring of all input and output process streams. Two CoDCon flowsheet tests were performed in FY 2018 using a simple dissolved fuel simulant containing only U (~1 M) and Pu (~15 mM) in nitric acid (HNO 3 ; ~3 M). In FY 2019, two additional flowsheet tests were performed. For the first of these (CoDCon Run 3), the dissolved fuel simulant was similar to that used in the first two tests, with the inclusion of 1 mM neptunium (Np). The second test conducted in FY 2019 (CoDCon Run 4) used a more representative dissolved fuel simulant, including addition of non-radioactive fission product elements. A fifth CoDCon flowsheet test (CoDCon Run 5) was conducted in FY 2020, with the following additional objectives: (1) routing of the technetium (Tc) in the simulated dissolved fuel solution to the solvent extraction raffinate, and (2) routing of the Np in the simulated dissolved fuel solution to the U/Pu product. All tests used a bank of sixteen 2 cm centrifugal contactors. The tests involved first loading the solvent (30 vol% TBP dissolved in n-dodecane) with U and Pu (and Np, for Run 5), then the Pu (and Np) was stripped from the loaded solvent with a U(IV) solution (~50 mM) and the flowsheet conditions were adjusted such that some U partitioned into the Pu-containing product stream. The amount of U accompanying the Pu was monitored in real time using optical spectroscopic techniques coupled with chemometric modeling. Based on the real-time spectroscopic measurement of the U/Pu ratio, adjustments were made to the flowrate of the fresh TBP solvent phase used to scrub U from the aqueous Pu-containing product. This proved to be a very effective way to control the U/Pu mass ratio in the product. This report presents the results of the CoDCon Run 5 test. The flowsheet tested in Run 5 was substantially different than that run in the prior tests, especially the solvent loading section of the flowsheet. Two key changes were made. First, based on the objective to extract all the Np and route it with the U/Pu product, pentavalent vanadium [V(V)] was added to the feed and scrub solutions. The purpose of the V(V) was to convert all the Np to the +6 oxidation state, which is extractable by TBP. Second, a high acid (8 M HNO 3 ) scrub was added to the flowsheet to scrub the Tc from the solvent. This was followed by a low acid scrub (0.05 M HNO 3 ) to reduce the residual HNO 3 concentration in the solvent prior to the Pu stripping step. The output from the low acid scrub was collected separately, rather than routing towards the raffinate. The modifications to the solvent loading part of the flowsheet were only partially successful. The treatment with V(V) was effective at converting the Np to Np(VI). Only 1.3% of the Np remained in the raffinate solution. However, ~40% of the Np stripped out of the solvent in the low acid scrub step; nearly 20% of the Pu also was stripped from the solvent during the low acid scrub. For further development, either modifications to the flowsheet, or concentration and recycle of the low acid stream into the

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advanced Brine Processing to Enable U.S. Lithium Independence (CRADA Report)

Current production of LiOH, which is needed to make Li-ion battery cathode active materials, utilizes a multistep process including solar evaporation, precipitation with Na 2 CO 3 and then conversion to LiOH using Ca(OH) 2 . This process requires a large amount of land area for solar evaporation, the right weather conditions, and chemicals for the conversion process that result in NaCl and CaCO 3 waste products. The production of Ca(OH) 2 is very energy intensive and evolves significant quantities of CO 2 . An alternative process flow utilizing direct lithium extraction techniques, followed by a chemical free conversion process can have benefits in reducing the needed land requirements and chemicals for traditional brine processing. There are many potential direct lithium extraction technologies that are currently being developed. The direct lithium extraction process from typical brine sources will produce a LiCl solution with some impurities including typically high concentrations of Na. This brine then needs to be converted to LiOH for use in battery cathode production. Ideally this conversion could occur without the use of additional chemicals. Electrochemistry can do this conversion either via electrolysis or bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BPED) to produce LiOH and HCl in solution. BPED utilized bipolar membranes to split water, which has a reduced potential as compared to splitting water at electrodes into hydrogen and oxygen gas. This reduced potential required results in a significant energy savings for BPED over electrolysis methods. This CRADA project aimed to develop such an integrated process using direct lithium extraction followed by BPED to produce a LiOH solution. That solution can then be crystallized into battery grade LiOH. In particular, Albemarle utilized a direct lithium extraction process to produce a concentrated LiCl solution that could be used for the BPED process. The BPED process was first tested using various LiCl solutions with impurity ions added at bench scale to understand the effects of impurities and determine processing parameters. Then testing was performed using the direct lithium extracted brine at the bench scale before scaling the process up. After the process was scaled up a long duration test was carried out to estimate the lifetime of the membranes, which is key to the economics of the BPED process.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗