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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

X-ray Computed Tomography of Irradiated and Unirradiated AGR-3/4 Compacts

X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) has been utilized to image and characterize compacts from the combined third and fourth irradiation of the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Program, AGR-3/4, fuel. The experiment contained tristructural isotropic (TRISO)-coated fuel particles as well as designed-to-fail (DTF) fuel particles. Two irradiated compacts, representing the lower and higher range of AGR-3/4 burnup (4.85% and 14.92% fissions per initial heavy metal atom FIMA) were examined. These represent the first known highly irradiated TRISO fuel compacts to be examined via X-ray CT. Additionally, two unirradiated compacts from the same production batch as the examined irradiation compacts were also imaged for a baseline comparison. As XCT of irradiated TRISO compacts is not a commonly implemented characterization technique, a significant portion of the report focuses on developed methodology and imaging conditions. A specialized sample shielding device was developed and fabricated specifically to limit received dose to staff during sample preparation for XCT and to minimize excess gamma radiation dose to sensitive electronic components with the utilized X-ray system. Significant penetration through the uranium oxycarbide fuel kernels by significantly hardening the X-ray beam with specialized proprietary filters acquired from Carl Zeiss NTS Ltd. The filter utilized resulted in an average X ray photon energy of ~110 keV which approaches uranium’s K-edge (~115 keV), maximizing penetration for a microfocus X-ray source. The gamma-radiation emitted from the irradiated AGR-3/4 TRISO compacts, has the same properties and mechanisms for interaction with matter as X-rays, thus the detection of gamma-radiation by the utilized X-ray detectors was initially a concern. However, although ?-rays did produce an observable signal on the X-ray detector, its contribution to the overall imaging results appeared negligible upon 3D reconstruction. The neglibile impact on the resulting 3D reconstructed volumes were likely the result of: (1) a significantly lower detection efficiency for ?-rays relative to X-rays; (2) An X-ray flux at the detector several orders of magnitude higher than that of the impinging ?-rays from the irradiated compacts. These results suggest that irradiated compacts with significantly higher radiation fields can be examined in the future if an acceptable route for sample handling and preparation can be determined. Additionally, the 3D imaging results of XCT can provide a valuable means of assessing compacts. While in many ways complimentary to traditional post irradiation examination techniques such as optical ceramography, XCT can provide additional insight into compact features traditionally difficult to discern directly from cross-sectional imaging alone. Preliminary analyses on kernel size, morphology (aspect ratio and sphericity), and kernel orientation were presented. Sphericity, a simple morphological shape descriptor, was utilized to screen for kernel extrusions within the high burnup compact. The number of kernel extrusions identified via XCT represented an approximate two-fold increase from the quantity of extruded particles observed (via optical ceramography) in adjacent compacts from the same irradiation capsule. While numerical analysis of the compact datasets was highly preliminary, initial results show promise for providing complimentary metrics to current AGR-3/4 PIE and potentially additional insight into the processes driving TRISO fuel degradation during reactor operation. Additional analyses to be performed at a later date include a more detailed examination of kernel size, kernel sphericity (and observed kernel extrusions), and sphericity. Given all particles can be observed in a single data volume possible correlation of spatial position with observed kernel features will also be made at a later date.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Managing Resin Wastes - Crossing the Digital Divide - 18326

The most important factor undercutting optimal waste management in the nuclear industry is developing a clear picture of the radioactivity content of the waste and its impact on waste disposal cost. For almost 35 years since the publishing of 10CFR61, waste characterization has relied on building its basis from samples collected from the final waste product as it is drawn from service or as it is packaged for disposal. This practice of sampling the product after it was collected continues to be followed to this day; 35 years after the publication of 10CFR61. This process, as it is followed, relies on minimum information and plant knowledge to formulate the characterization. While 10CFR61 and additional guidance documents promote the approach of using anticipated and statistically based scaling factors in addition to using data collected over time and a finite grouping of waste streams encompassing plant wastes, this guidance is often ignored in favor of using the earlier fallback options in the case of a limited sample base. The fallback allows the use of a final sample drawn from the waste when other data was not sufficiently available to be aligned to develop meaningful statistics. The determination of representativeness is obviated by the single sample resulting in a new waste stream being declared with every package. The sample used without statistical corroboration often is not representative. It would be unexpected if that sample were actually representative of anything more than itself. This paper discusses viable options for developing the basis for characterization through direct process monitoring to follow the accumulation of activity at the point of generation relying on hundreds of measurements being collected on a daily and weekly basis that can provide a much more reliable result along with significant cost savings. Direct monitoring of the accumulation of activity in process streams generating solid radwaste, including demineralizers and filter streams, is a more precise approach. Nearly all of these streams are monitored by plant chemistry on a regular schedule to maintain water quality and track fuel performance. The discussion in this paper will focus on resin bed tracking and how process knowledge drawn from routinely collected chemistry data can be brought together to form a consistent and precise solid waste radioactivity inventory. Some of the specific points covered in the paper include application and expansion of the fission product release computer program 3R-STAT, the importance of the spent fuel pool in radioactivity generation and its influence on the overall source term, and results from sample measurements collected over several years to corroborate using direct process measurements for the primary characterization basis. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2017

“A System for Automatically Maintaining Pressure in a Commercial Truck Tire”

Under-inflated tires significantly reduce a vehicle’s fuel efficiency by increasing rolling resistance (drag force). The Air Maintenance Technology (“AMT”) system developed through this project replenishes lost air and maintains optimal tire cavity pressure whenever the tire is rolling in service, thus improving overall fuel economy by reducing the tire’s rolling resistance. The system consists of an inlet air filter, an air pump driven by tire deformation during rotation, and a pressure regulating device. Pressurized air in the tire cavity naturally escapes by diffusion through the tire and wheel, leaks in tire seating, and through the filler valve and its seating. As a result, tires require constant maintenance to replenish lost air. Since manual tire inflation maintenance is both labor intensive and time consuming, it is frequently overlooked or ignored. By automating the maintenance of optimal tire pressure, the tire’s contribution to the vehicle’s overall fuel economy can be maximized. The work was divided into three phases. The objectives of Phase 1, Planning and Initial Design, resulted in an effective project plan and to create a baseline design. The objectives for Phase 2, Design and Process Optimization, were: to identify finalized design for the pump, regulator and filter components; identify a process to build prototype tires; assemble prototype tires; test prototype tires and document results. The objectives of Phase 3, Design Release and Industrialization, were to finalize system tire assembly, perform release testing and industrialize the assembly process.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

Automated image processing routines have the potential to aid in the fuel performance evaluation process by eliminating bias in human judgment that may vary from person-to-person or sample-to-sample. This study presents several MATLAB based image analysis routines designed for fission gas void identification in post-irradiation examination of uranium molybdenum (U–Mo) monolithic-type plate fuels. Frequency domain filtration, enlisted as a pre-processing technique, can eliminate artifacts from the image without compromising the critical features of interest. This process is coupled with a bilateral filter, an edge-preserving noise removal technique aimed at preparing the image for optimal segmentation. Adaptive thresholding proved to be the most consistent gray-level feature segmentation technique for U–Mo fuel microstructures. The Sauvola adaptive threshold technique segments the image based on histogram weighting factors in stable contrast regions and local statistics in variable contrast regions. Once all processing is complete, the algorithm outputs the total fission gas void count, the mean void size, and the average porosity. The final results demonstrate an ability to extract fission gas void morphological data faster, more consistently, and at least as accurately as manual segmentation methods. - Highlights: •Automated image processing can aid in the fuel qualification process. •Routines are developed to characterize fission gas bubbles in irradiated U–Mo fuel. •Frequency domain filtration effectively eliminates FIB curtaining artifacts. •Adaptive thresholding proved to be the most accurate segmentation method. •The techniques established are ready to be applied to large scale data extraction testing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Kalman-filtered compressive sensing for high resolution estimation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from sparse measurements.

The estimation of fossil-fuel CO2 emissions (ffCO2) from limited ground-based and satellite measurements of CO2 concentrations will form a key component of the monitoring of treaties aimed at the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. The limited nature of the measured data leads to a severely-underdetermined estimation problem. If the estimation is performed at fine spatial resolutions, it can also be computationally expensive. In order to enable such estimations, advances are needed in the spatial representation of ffCO2 emissions, scalable inversion algorithms and the identification of observables to measure. To that end, we investigate parsimonious spatial parameterizations of ffCO2 emissions which can be used in atmospheric inversions. We devise and test three random field models, based on wavelets, Gaussian kernels and covariance structures derived from easily-observed proxies of human activity. In doing so, we constructed a novel inversion algorithm, based on compressive sensing and sparse reconstruction, to perform the estimation. We also address scalable ensemble Kalman filters as an inversion mechanism and quantify the impact of Gaussian assumptions inherent in them. We find that the assumption does not impact the estimates of mean ffCO2 source strengths appreciably, but a comparison with Markov chain Monte Carlo estimates show significant differences in the variance of the source strengths. Finally, we study if the very different spatial natures of biogenic and ffCO2 emissions can be used to estimate them, in a disaggregated fashion, solely from CO2 concentration measurements, without extra information from products of incomplete combustion e.g., CO. We find that this is possible during the winter months, though the errors can be as large as 50%.

Ray, Jaideep↗
DOE OSTI2018

Olivine, dolomite and ceramic filters in one vessel to produce clean gas from biomass

Highlights: • Syngas free of particles and with very low amount of tar is produced from biomass gasification. • Combination is tested of primary catalyst in the gasifier fluidized bed with catalytic ceramic candles in its freeboard. • Remarkable process intensification and thermal integration is obtained. • The adoption of catalytic filter candles doesn’t increase the required standard filtration surface in practical applications. - Abstract: Heavy organic compounds produced during almond shells gasification in a steam and/or air atmosphere, usually called tar, are drastically reduced in the product gas by using simultaneously in one vessel a ceramic filter placed in the freeboard and a mixture of olivine and dolomite particles in the fluidized bed of the gasifier. The content of tar in the product gas during a reference gasification test with air, in presence of fresh olivine particles only, was 8600 mg/Nm{sup 3} of dry gas. By gasifying biomass with steam at the same temperature level of 820 °C in a bed of olivine and dolomite (20% by weight), and in the presence of a catalytic ceramic filter inserted in the freeboard of the fluidized bed gasifier, the level of tar was brought down to 57 mg/Nm{sup 3} of dry producct gas, with a decrease of more than two orders of magnitude.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Identification of Silver and Palladium in Irradiated TRISO Coated Particles of the AGR-1 Experiment

Evidence of the release of certain metallic fission product through intact tristructural isotropic (TRISO) particles has been seen for decades around the world, as well as in the recent AGR-1 experiment at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). However, understanding the basic mechanism of transport is still lacking. This understanding is important because the TRISO coating is part of the high temperature gas reactor functional containment and critical for the safety strategy for licensing purposes. Our approach to identify fission products in irradiated AGR-1 TRISO fuel using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Energy Filtered TEM (EFTEM), has led to first-of-a-kind data at the nano-scale indicating the presence of silver at triple points and grain boundaries of the SiC layer in the TRISO particle. Cadmium was also found in the triple junctions. In this initial study, the silver was only identified in SiC grain boundaries and triple points on the edge of the SiC-IPyC interface up to a depth of approximately 0.5 um. Palladium was identified as the main constituent of micron-sized precipitates present at the SiC grain boundaries. Additionally spherical nano-sized palladium rich precipitates were found inside the SiC grains. These nano-sized Pd precipitates were distributed up to a depth of 5 um away from the SiC-IPyC interlayer. No silver was found in the center of the micron-sized fission product precipitates using these techniques, although silver was found on the outer edge of one of the Pd-U-Si containing precipitates which was facing the IPyC layer. Only Pd-U containing precipitates were identified in the IPyC layer and no silver was identified in the IPyC layer. The identification of silver alongside the grain boundaries and the findings of Pd alongside grain boundaries as well as inside the grains, provide significant knowledge for understanding silver and palladium transport in TIRSO fuel, which has been the topic of international research for the past forty years. Additionally the usefulness of the advanced electron microscopic techniques for TRISO coated particle research is demonstrated in this paper.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2009

Criteria for Modeling in LES of Multicomponent Fuel Flow

A report presents a study addressing the question of which large-eddy simulation (LES) equations are appropriate for modeling the flow of evaporating drops of a multicomponent liquid in a gas (e.g., a spray of kerosene or diesel fuel in air). The LES equations are obtained from the direct numerical simulation (DNS) equations in which the solution is computed at all flow length scales, by applying a spatial low-pass filter. Thus, in LES the small scales are removed and replaced by terms that cannot be computed from the LES solution and instead must be modeled to retain the effect of the small scales into the equations. The mathematical form of these models is a subject of contemporary research. For a single-component liquid, there is only one LES formulation, but this study revealed that for a multicomponent liquid, there are two non-equivalent LES formulations for the conservation equations describing the composition of the vapor. Criteria were proposed for selecting the multicomponent LES formulation that gives the best accuracy and increased computational efficiency. These criteria were applied in examination of filtered DNS databases to compute the terms in the LES equations. The DNS databases are from mixing layers of diesel and kerosene fuels. The comparisons resulted in the selection of one of the multicomponent LES formulations as the most promising with respect to all criteria.

Bellan, Josette↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating the performance of portable air filter walls for the James Webb Space Telescope launch campaign

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in December 2021. JWST’s requirements permitted processing in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Class 7 or better facilities, but CSG was only equipped with ISO Class 8 facilities. To temporarily upgrade the air cleanliness in the Payload Processing Facility, Fueling Hall, and Final Assembly Building Encapsulation Hall, NASA provided two portable High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) and carbon filter walls that were used in each location. The walls were comprised of stacks of two modules high and arranged in push-push configurations as shown to be most effective via Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations of expected floor layouts in each facility. After delivery to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2020, the walls underwent initial verification measurements inside a cleanroom and validation testing in an uncontrolled area to quantify their improvement of air cleanliness and particle and molecular fallout. Validation testing showed improvements of 83-99% for airborne particle counts, 79-91% for particle fallout, and 50-90% for molecular fallout. The particle improvements were applied to the contamination budget analysis that tracked current and predicted future cleanliness against End-of-Life requirements for JWST’s critical surfaces. At CSG, the walls successfully maintained an ISO Class 7 environment or better within their envelope in each location, despite their presence in ISO Class 8 facilities with dense integration operations.

HEPA, Contamination Control, Filtration↗
NASA NTRS2022

Evaluating the Performance of Portable Air Filter Walls for the James Webb Space Telescope Launch Campaign

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in December 2021. JWST’s requirements permitted processing in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Class 7 or better facilities, but CSG was only equipped with ISO Class 8 facilities. To temporarily upgrade the air cleanliness in the Payload Processing Facility, Fueling Hall, and Final Assembly Building Encapsulation Hall, NASA provided two portable High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) and carbon filter walls that were used in each location. The walls were comprised of stacks of two modules high and arranged in push-push configurations as shown to be most effective via Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations of expected floor layouts in each facility. After delivery to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2020, the walls underwent initial verification measurements inside a cleanroom and validation testing in an uncontrolled area to quantify their improvement of air cleanliness and particle and molecular fallout. Validation testing showed improvements of 83-99% for airborne particle counts, 79-91% for particle fallout, and 50-90% for molecular fallout. The particle improvements were applied to the contamination budget analysis that tracked current and predicted future cleanliness against End-of-Life requirements for JWST’s critical surfaces. At CSG, the walls successfully maintained an ISO Class 7 environment or better within their envelope in each location, despite their presence in ISO Class 8 facilities with dense integration operations.

HEPA, Contamination Control, Filtration↗
DOE OSTI2017

Characteristics of Muon Computed Tomography of Used Fuel Casks Using Algebraic Reconstruction

Cosmic raymuons passing through matter lose energy from inelastic collisions with electrons and are deflected from nuclei due to multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS). The recent developments in position sensitive muon detectors that can measure incoming and outgoing trajectories of individual muons indicate that MCS could be an excellent candidate for spent nuclear fuel imaging. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate tomographic scanning of spent nuclear fuel stored within vertical and horizontal dry storage casks. A quantitative analysis of the characteristics of images obtained with filtered back projection (FBP) and algebraic reconstruction techniques (ART) are presented herein, as such a comparison has not been carried out in the past. FBP is a fast tool to determine object boundaries. ART can include muon path models and prior knowledge that can improve resolution and reduce measurement time. The results demonstrate that missing fuel assemblies can be identified with more than 5 projections and that use of muon momentum significantly increases image resolution. It is expected that MCS can be used to successfully reconstruct the dry cask contents and allow identification of all described scenarios in hours. It is also expected that when total variation minimization and a non-local mean filter are applied, ART may yield much better image quality than FBP.

Liu, Zhengzhi↗
NASA NTRS1989

Orbit and attitude determination results during launch support operations for SBS-5

Presented are orbit and attitude determination results from the launch of Satellite Business Systems (SBS)-5 satellite on September 8, 1988 by Arianespace. SBS-5 is a (HS-376) spin stabilized spacecraft. The launch vehicle injected the spacecraft into a low inclination transfer orbit. Apogee motor firing (AMF) attitude was achieved with trim maneuvers. An apogee kick motor placed the spacecraft into drift orbit. Postburn, reorientation and spindown maneuvers were performed during the next 25 hours. The spacecraft was on-station 19 days later. The orbit and attitude were determined by both an extended Kalman filter and a weighted least squares batch processor. Although the orbit inclination was low and the launch was near equinox, post-AMF analysis indicated an attitude declination error of 0.034 deg., resulting in a saving of 8.5 pounds of fuel. The AMF velocity error was 0.4 percent below nominal. The post-AMF drift rate was determined with the filter only 2.5 hours after motor firing. The filter was used to monitor and retarget the reorientation to orbit normal in real time.

Hartman, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Infrared Measurements of Forward Heat Conduction during Simulated Microgravity Flame Spread in the Narrow Channel Apparatus

An infrared (IR) camera provides a way of examining temperature trends associated with simulated microgravity flame spread in the Narrow Channel Apparatus (NCA). The IR camera measures the surface temperature of solid poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) fuel. These tests examine the forward conduction of heat ahead of the flame front in the non-thermally thin fuel.The NCA is a combustion wind tunnel that simulates a microgravity flame spread environment by employing a narrow gap between the fuel and ceiling of the device, limiting the effects of buoyancy. Test conditions of a 5 mm gap, mean opposed flow velocity of 15 cm/s, and fuel thickness of 3 mm are used.PMMA is selected as the fuel due to repeatability of test results, ease of computational modeling, and known combustion mechanics. Using specific lens and bandpass filter combinations the PMMA can be imaged as effectively opaque. The spectral emissivity for PMMA was calculated and incorporated into the calibration of the camera.Surface temperatures from the IR camera are compared to results from thermocouples embedded in the surface of the fuel. The IR camera results show that nontrivial forward conduction occurs during tests, and therefore must be included in computational models of the process.

Berry, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2012

Imaging of high-energy x-ray emission from cryogenic thermonuclear fuel implosions on the NIF

Accurately assessing and optimizing the implosion performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules is a crucial step to achieving ignition on the NIF. We have applied differential filtering (matched Ross filter pairs) to provide broadband time-integrated absolute x-ray self-emission images of the imploded core of cryogenic layered implosions. This diagnostic measures the temperature- and density-sensitive bremsstrahlung emission and provides estimates of hot spot mass, mix mass, and pressure.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Cosmic ray muon computed tomography of spent nuclear fuel in dry storage casks

Radiography with cosmic ray muon scattering has proven to be a successful method of imaging nuclear material through heavy shielding. Of particular interest is monitoring dry storage casks for diversion of plutonium contained in spent reactor fuel. Using muon tracking detectors that surround a cylindrical cask, cosmic ray muon scattering can be simultaneously measured from all azimuthal angles, giving complete tomographic coverage of the cask interior. This article describes the first application of filtered back projection algorithms, typically used in medical imaging, to cosmic ray muon scattering imaging. The specific application to monitoring spent nuclear fuel in dry storage casks is investigated via GEANT4 simulations. With a cylindrical muon tracking detector surrounding a typical spent fuel cask, simulations indicate that missing fuel bundles can be detected with a statistical significance of ~18σ in less than two days exposure and a sensitivity at 1σ to a 5% missing portion of a fuel bundle. Finally, we discuss potential detector technologies and geometries.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Direct Measurement of U235 and Pu239 in Spent Fuel Rods with Gamma-Ray Mirrors

The amounts of fissile Pu and U in spent nuclear fuel are of primary concern to the safeguards community. In particular, there are issues when safeguards transitions from an item accountancy basis (such as fuel bundles) to a fissile material mass basis as occurs when spent fuel enters a reprocessing plant. Discrepancies occur because item accountancy requires estimating the content of fissile material using indirect techniques such as the fuel burn-up and item-level measurements of radiation emissions from fission by-products. Direct measurement of the fissile content by monitoring line emissions from fissile species themselves is impossible because the lines are much weaker than those emitted by shorter-lived isotopes in the fuel. The goal of this project is to develop a technique to directly measure these weaker lines despite the presence of overwhelming radiation from other isotopes. This is achieved by using gamma-ray mirrors as a narrow band-pass filter. The mirrors reflect only energies of interest toward a HPGe detector that is shielded from direct view of the spent fuel and its fierce emissions. This can significantly improve the reliability with which the mass of fissile material is tracked.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Isotopic Analysis of Spent Nuclear Fuel with an Ultra-High Rate HPGe Spectrometer

A longstanding challenge is the assay of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Determining the isotopic content of SNF requires gamma-ray spectroscopy. PNNL has developed new digital filtering and analysis techniques to produce an ultra high-rate gamma-ray spectrometer from a standard coaxial high-purity germanium (HPGe) crystal. This ~40% efficient detector has been operated for SNF measurements at a throughput of about 400k gamma-ray counts per second (kcps) at an input rate of 1.3 Mcps. Optimized filtering algorithms preserve the spectroscopic capability of the system even at these high rates. This talk will present the results of a SNF measurement with aged SNF pellets at PNNL’s Radiochemical Processing Laboratory, first results with a FPGA front end processor capable of processing the data in real time, and the development path toward a multi-element system to assay fuel assemblies.

Fast, James E.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Model-Based Sensor Placement for Component Condition Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis in Fossil Energy Systems

Design and operation of energy producing, near “zero-emission” coal plants has become a national imperative. This report on model-based sensor placement describes a transformative two-tier approach to identify the optimum placement, number, and type of sensors for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis in fossil energy system operations. The algorithms are tested on a high fidelity model of the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant. For a condition monitoring network, whether equipment should be considered at a unit level or a systems level depends upon the criticality of the process equipment, its likeliness to fail, and the level of resolution desired for any specific failure. Because of the presence of a high fidelity model at the unit level, a sensor network can be designed to monitor the spatial profile of the states and estimate fault severity levels. In an IGCC plant, besides the gasifier, the sour water gas shift (WGS) reactor plays an important role. In view of this, condition monitoring of the sour WGS reactor is considered at the unit level, while a detailed plant-wide model of gasification island, including sour WGS reactor and the Selexol process, is considered for fault diagnosis at the system-level. Finally, the developed algorithms unify the two levels and identifies an optimal sensor network that maximizes the effectiveness of the overall system-level fault diagnosis and component-level condition monitoring. This work could have a major impact on the design and operation of future fossil energy plants, particularly at the grassroots level where the sensor network is yet to be identified. In addition, the same algorithms developed in this report can be further enhanced to be used in retrofits, where the objectives could be upgrade (addition of more sensors) and relocation of existing sensors.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗