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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 1,531 records · Page 85
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Simple and Scalable Process for Nanocellulose Production from Residues and Waste (CRADA Final Report)

This project successfully developed an innovative, cost-effective, and scalable method for converting low-cost agricultural waste feedstocks into nanocellulose—a sustainable material with wide-ranging industrial applications. It addressed the critical challenges of high production costs and limited global supply, which have hindered the widespread adoption of nanocellulose in industry. Through this work, significant advancements were made in optimizing resource use, improving process efficiency, and reducing costs. Notable achievements included a 50% reduction in water usage, 30% lower chemical consumption, and 20% energy savings, all while maintaining high-quality product standards. The technical feasibility of the process was further validated at a 10L scale in collaboration with the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Development Unit (ABPDU), demonstrating scalability and replicability. Key challenges in reducing nanocellulose production costs were addressed by utilizing low-cost biomass feedstocks and implementing low-temperature conversion reactions, leading to lower capital and operating expenses. The project also mitigated financial risk by generating critical data on the feasibility, adaptability, and scalability of the conversion technology, paving the way for its commercial implementation. Public benefits include advancing the circular bioeconomy, reducing environmental impact, fostering job creation, and enabling a shift toward biobased materials as sustainable alternatives to fossil-based products. These outcomes align closely with national goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable technological innovation.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

HydroMINE: Simple, Modular and Scalable (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

Hydromine is a novel extremely versatile solution to hydrokinetics energy generation, where the external water flow facing energy sweeping area (&structure) is completely passive. One or multiple Hydromine units can easily deploy from a multitude of floating or stationary marine structures, opening a multitude of application and use cases. Proposing Hydromine, it was initially found that the concept could easily scale into all of the four areas of ARPA-E SHARKS cases, as well as other applications, this is illustrated in Figure 1. Also, the relatively aggressive cost of energy targets of the program could be met in the conceptual phase.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Completely Positive, Simple, and Possibly Highly Accurate Approximation of the Redfield Equation

Here we present a Lindblad master equation that approximates the Redfield equation, a well known master equation derived from first principles, without significantly compromising the range of applicability of the Redfield equation. Instead of full-scale coarse-graining, this approximation only truncates terms in the Redfield equation that average out over a time-scale typical of the quantum system. The first step in this approximation is to properly renormalize the system Hamiltonian, to symmetrize the gains and losses of the state due to the environmental coupling. In the second step, we swap out an arithmetic mean of the spectral density with a geometric one, in these gains and losses, thereby restoring complete positivity. This completely positive approximation, GAME (geometric-arithmetic master equation), is adaptable between its time-independent, time-dependent, and Floquet form. In the exactly solvable, three-level, Jaynes-Cummings model, we find that the error of the approximate state is almost an order of magnitude lower than that obtained by solving the coarse-grained stochastic master equation. As a test-bed, we use a ferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-chain with long-range dipole-dipole coupling between up to 25-spins, and study the differences between various master equations. We find that GAME has the highest accuracy per computational resource.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

The response of fabric variations to simple shear and migration recrystallization

The observable microstructures in ice are the result of many dynamic and competing processes. These processes are influenced by climate variables in the firn. Layers deposited in different climate regimes may show variations in fabric which can persist deep into the ice sheet; fabric may 'remember' these past climate regimes. In this paper, we model the evolution of fabric variations below the firn–ice transition and show that the addition of shear to compressive-stress regimes preserves the modeled fabric variations longer than compression-only regimes, because shear drives a positive feedback between crystal rotation and deformation. Even without shear, the modeled ice retains memory of the fabric variation for ~200 ka in typical polar ice-sheet conditions. Our model shows that temperature affects how long the fabric variation is preserved, but only affects the strain-integrated fabric evolution profile when comparing results straddling the thermal-activation-energy threshold (~–10°C). Even at high temperatures, migration recrystallization does not eliminate the modeled fabric's memory under most conditions. High levels of nearest-neighbor interactions will, however, eliminate the modeled fabric's memory more quickly than low levels of nearest-neighbor interactions. Finally, our model predicts that fabrics will retain memory of past climatic variations when subject to a wide variety of conditions found in polar ice sheets.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Role of Simple Spatial Gradient in Reinforcing the Accuracy of Temperature Determination of HED Plasma via Spectral Line-Area Ratios

We report on the simulation of temperature gradients in tamped NaFMgO target-foil plasma, heated and backlit by z-pinch dynamic hohlraum radiation. Our approach compares the spectroscopic output of a collisional-radiative model (prismspect) with soft X-ray absorption spectra collected on Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) Z Pulsed Power Facility. The pattern of minimum χ2 is seen to agree with an efficient, three-parameter model. Results show that a negligible gradient in electron temperature Te is consistent with experimental data, justifying the assumptions of previous work. The predicted sensitivity of line spectra to the gradient-aligned profile of Te is documented for each spectral feature, so that the line-area ratio between a pair of spectral features may be assessed as a proxy for the existence and quantification of such gradients.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Simple Technique to Improve Microcrystals Using Gel Exclusion of Nucleation Inducing Elements

A technique is described for generating large well diffracting crystals from conditions that yield microcrystals. Crystallization using this technique is both rapid (crystals appear in <1 h) and robust (48 out of 48 co-crystallized with a fragment library, compared with 26 out of 48 using conventional hanging drop). Agarose gel is used to exclude nucleation inducing elements from the remaining crystallization cocktail. The chemicals in the crystallization cocktail are partitioned into high concentration components (presumed to induce aggregation by reducing water activity) and low concentration nucleation agents (presumed to induce nucleation through direct interaction). The nucleation agents are then combined with 2% agarose gel and deposited on the crystallization shelf of a conventional vapor diffusion plate. The remaining components are mixed with the protein and placed in contact with the agarose drop. This technique yielded well diffracting crystals of lysozyme, cubic insulin, proteinase k, and ferritin (ferritin crystals diffracted to 1.43 Å). The crystals grew rapidly, reaching large size in less than one hour (maximum size was achieved in 1–12 h). This technique is not suitable for poorly expressing proteins because small protein volumes diffuse out of the agarose gel too quickly. Nonetheless, it is a useful technique for situations where crystals must grow rapidly (such as educational applications and preparation of beamline test specimens) and in situations where crystals must grow robustly (such as co-crystallization with a fragment library).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Simple and Accurate Energy-Detector-Based Transient Waveform Detection for Smart Grids: Real-World Field Data Performance

Integration of distributed energy sources, advanced meshed operation, sensors, automation, and communication networks all contribute to autonomous operations and decision-making processes utilized in the grid. Therefore, smart grid systems require sophisticated supporting structures. Furthermore, rapid detection and identification of disturbances and transients are a necessary first step towards situationally aware smart grid systems. This way, high-level monitoring is achieved and the entire system kept operational. Even though smart grid systems are unavoidably sophisticated, low-complexity algorithms need to be developed for real-time sensing on the edge and online applications to alert stakeholders in the event of an anomaly. In this study, the simplest form of anomaly detection mechanism in the absence of any a priori knowledge, namely, the energy detector (also known as radiometer in the field of wireless communications and signal processing), is investigated as a triggering mechanism, which may include automated alerts and notifications for grid anomalies. In contrast to the mainstream literature, it does not rely on transform domain tools; therefore, utmost design and implementation simplicity are attained. Performance results of the proposed energy detector algorithm are validated by real power system data obtained from the DOE/EPRI National Database of power system events and the Grid Signature Library.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simple and Effective Squash-PCR for Rapid Genotyping of Industrial Microalgae

Microalgae are recognized for their versatility in providing renewable energy, biopharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals, attributed to their sustainable, renewable, and cost-effective nature. Genetic engineering has proven highly effective in enhancing microalgae production. PCR-based genotyping is the primary method for screening genetically transformed microalgae cells. Recently, we developed a novel PCR method, namely Squash-PCR, and employed it for the molecular analysis of industrially important fungi and yeasts. In this study, we successfully implemented the Squash-PCR technique in 12 industrially significant algae species. This approach offers a quick and reliable means of obtaining DNA templates directly from squashed algal cells, eliminating the need for time-consuming and labor-intensive cultivation and genomic DNA extraction steps. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of Squash-PCR in detecting and characterizing target genes of interest in 12 different algae species. Overall, this study establishes the Squash-PCR method as a valuable tool for molecular studies in algae, enabling researchers to rapidly screen and manipulate genetic traits in diverse algal species.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Simple Bioparticle Filtration Device Based on an Ultralow-Fouling Zwitterionic Polyurethane Membrane for Rapid Large-Volume Separation of Plasma and Viruses from Whole Blood

Plasma separation from whole blood is oftent required as an essential first step when performing blood tests with a viral assay. However, developing a point-of-care plasma extraction device with a large output and high virus recovery remains a significant obstacle to the success of on-site viral load tests. Here, we report a portable, easy-to-use, cost-efficient, membrane-filtration-based plasma separation device that enables rapid large-volume plasma extraction from whole blood, designed for point-of-care virus assays. The plasma separation is realized by a low-fouling zwitterionic polyurethane-modified cellulose acetate (PCBU-CA) membrane. The zwitterionic coating on the cellulose acetate membrane can decrease surface protein adsorption by 60% and increase plasma permeation by 46% compared with a pristine membrane. The PCBU-CA membrane, with its ultralow-fouling properties, enables rapid plasma separation. The device can yield a total of 1.33 mL plasma from 10 mL whole blood in 10 min. The extracted plasma is cell-free and exhibits a low hemoglobin level. In addition, our device demonstrated a 57.8% T7 phage recovery in the separated plasma. The results of real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed that the nucleic acid amplification curve of the plasma extracted by our device is comparable to that obtained by centrifugation. With its high plasma yield and good phage recovery, our plasma separation device provides an excellent replacement for traditional plasma separation protocols for point-of-care virus assays and a broad spectrum of clinical tests.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗