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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 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Fatigue Performance of High-Strength Pipeline Steels and Their Welds in Hydrogen Gas Service

Objectives of the project include: Enable the use of high strength steel hydrogen pipelines, as significant cost savings can result by implementing high strength steels as compared to lower strength pipes. Demonstrate that girth welds in high-strength steel pipe exhibit fatigue performance similar to lower-strength steels in high-pressure hydrogen gas. Identify pathways for developing high-strength pipeline steels by establishing the relationship between microstructure constituents and hydrogen-accelerated fatigue crack growth (HA-FCG)

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2026

Relaxations of the steady optimal gas flow problem for a non-Ideal gas

Natural gas ranks second in U.S. primary energy consumption. Because most production sites are remote, gas must be transported through pipeline networks equipped with compressors, valves, and other components. For both economic efficiency and system reliability, it is desirable to operate these networks optimally. The governing physics across pipeline components entails nonlinear, non-convex equality and inequality constraints, and the most general steady-flow operations problem is a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program (MINLP).This work focuses on one such steady-flow problem-the Optimal Gas Flow (OGF) for a natural gas pipeline network-which minimizes production cost subject to the steady-flow physics. For day-to-day operations, the ability to quickly compute a globally optimal solution and a strong lower bound for varying demand profiles is crucial. A promising strategy is to build tight relaxations of the OGF’s nonlinear constraints. However, many nonlinearities arising from non-ideal equations of state either lack relaxations or have relaxations that do not scale to realistic network sizes. We address this gap by combining recent advances in polyhedral relaxations for univariate functions to construct tight, computationally efficient relaxations of the OGF with a non-ideal equation of state. These relaxations solve within seconds on a standard laptop. In conclusion, we demonstrate their quality through extensive numerical experiments on very large-scale test networks from the literature and find that the proposed approach proves optimality in 92% of tested instances.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Offshore Oil and Gas Infrastructure Reuse for CCS: Opportunities and Challenges in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico

The United States Gulf of Mexico has historically been a significant oil and gas producing region and continues to produce hydrocarbons today. As such, significant investments have been made to install oil and gas infrastructure such as pipelines, platforms, and wells. As these assets reach the end of their useful life or production associated with the assets is curtailed, the assets become a liability for both the owner/operators and the U.S. and state governments responsible for regulating the assets. There are costs and risks associated with safely decommissioning the assets, and in some cases, the assets may be abandoned (e.g., the owner is no longer a going concern). In parallel, carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology has developed in the United States and interest and incentives for CCS projects have accelerated in recent years, with many public announcements of CCS projects in development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico region. The region is particularly well-suited to CCS due to the high density of industry on the coastline (i.e., CO 2 sources) and favorable geology in the near-offshore region. CCS also requires the use of many of the same assets required for oil and gas production (pipelines, platforms, wells) and the oil and gas industry has direct experience with CO 2 transport and injection (i.e., EOR). Therefore, the combination of existing infrastructure in close proximity to potential CCS project sites appears to provide a potential “win-win” solution for re-use of existing oil and gas assets. This paper presents a high-level evaluation of oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico with the goals of identifying the scale of the opportunity (e.g., how much existing infrastructure is realistically re-usable), identifying gaps in knowledge/policy/information required to evaluate existing infrastructure for re-use, and proposing key actions that could be pursued to further the assessment of existing infrastructure re-use for CCS.

Infrastructure, reuse, re-purpose, oil and gas, pi↗
DOE OSTI2023

Front-End Engineering and Design: Project Tundra Carbon Capture System (Final Report)

As the next phase of Project Tundra, Minnkota Power Cooperative (MPC) completed a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study to install a post-combustion CO 2 capture system (CCS) at the MPC operated (Square Butte Electric Cooperative-owned) Milton R. Young Station (MRYS) Unit 2 (MRY2), a 477-MW power plant fueled by North Dakota lignite. The project team completed the FEED with Fluor’s Econamine FG Plus℠ (EFG+) technology and is taking the next steps leading up to start of construction. Team members included FEED technical lead Fluor Enterprises (Fluor); owner’s engineer and balance of plant (BOP) engineer Burns & McDonnell (BMcD); leading carbon capture consultants (David Greeson Consulting, Hunt International Energy Services); environmental consultants (AECOM, Agora Environmental), other BOP engineering consultants (Golder Associates, Nels); cost-share funding agency, the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC); and the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC). Project Tundra’s goal is to implement carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in North Dakota, while preserving the use of lignite. Future options could lead to revitalizing legacy oil fields and creating a new CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) industry. The topic of this report is the FEED study for the carbon dioxide capture portion of Project Tundra. Building on the findings of a pre-FEED study for MRY2, the key deliverables contained in this FEED study are: a) design, costing, and performance data needed to commence project financing activities; b) engineering and material balances required to file for all project permits; and c) a final project schedule. Based on the results of the previous pre-FEED study, MPC and its team evaluated two options to provide the large amount of steam needed to operate the CCS: 1) installation of new natural gas package boilers and a new pipeline to supply natural gas to the facility and 2) extraction of steam from the existing MRYS steam turbine generator. The FEED study was performed using the package boilers option, as it was deemed to have the lowest technical risk, overall cost, and cost uncertainty. A key feature of the design, however, was the mixing the natural gas boilers’ flue gas with the MRY2 flue gas. This increased the size of the CCS system. This design also enabled the tie-in of Unit 1 flue gas for times when Unit 2 is offline. The CCS was designed to capture a combined 12,978 short tons per day (STPD) of CO 2 from the flue gases produced by the existing MRY Unit 2 along with flue gas produced by the new boiler package within the CCS. The 12,978 STPD CO 2 capture is achieved by normally processing 100% of the total available MRY Unit 2 flue gas (considering full load operation) and 100% of the boiler package flue gas, then removing 90% of the CO 2 available from the processed flue gas streams.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2026

Techno Economic Analysis for Production of Renewable Natural Gas and Value-Added Chemicals from Forest Biomass Residues (CRADA Final Report)

West Biofuels - in collaboration with the University of California San Diego, the University of California Davis, the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), the Colorado School of Mines’ Center for Hydrate Research, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, the Sierra Business Council, and the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas)-will demonstrate an innovative pathway to convert forest biomass to renewable gas (RG). The project, Production of Pipeline Grade Renewable Natural Gas and Value-Added Chemicals from Forest Biomass Residues, will utilize an existing pilot-scale gasification system and data and lessons learned from a lab-scale catalytic reactor design, develop, and demonstrate an integrated pilot-scale RG process with a scaled-up catalytic reactor and hydrate-based gas separation process. This robust and simple process uses a commercial proven gasifier, a commercially available catalyst that can tolerate gas contaminants, and a gas separation process that simplifies the downstream processing. Current testing has shown that the process can yield a large amount of methane rich renewable gas in addition to a mixture of propanol, ethanol and other higher alcohols and the relative amounts can be controlled by shifting the process conditions. This process is novel and groundbreaking because the product mixture of RG and valuable alcohols byproducts makes RG production economically feasible at $\$$12 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) or less using forest biomass from high hazard zones.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Phase I: Natural Gas-Based Energy Storage at Abbott Power Plant

Compressed Natural Gas Energy Storage (CNGES), uses the potential energy of compressed natural gas within an integrated energy storage system. Specifically, an inventory of high-pressure natural gas is stored during off-peak hours in a first stage by controlling the balance of gas entering a pipeline from the transmission system, and in a second stage by using new compressors to fill vessels onsite. The natural gas storage medium is then discharged through an expander-generator to use the potential energy from the gas to generate electricity without combustion. The excess chemical energy stored in the natural gas is integrated with an existing fossil-based asset to provide power generation during peak hours and increase the reliability of the associated fossil generating facility.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
NASA NTRS1974

Comparative evaluation of solar, fission, fusion, and fossil energy resources. Part 4: Energy from fossil fuels

The conversion of fossil-fired power plants now burning oil or gas to burn coal is discussed along with the relaxation of air quality standards and the development of coal gasification processes to insure a continued supply of gas from coal. The location of oil fields, refining areas, natural gas fields, and pipelines in the U.S. is shown. The technologies of modern fossil-fired boilers and gas turbines are defined along with the new technologies of fluid-bed boilers and MHD generators.

Williams, J. R.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Dragonstone Strategy – State of Cybersecurity in the Oil & Natural Gas Sector

The oil & natural gas (ONG) system touches every corner of the nation and increased communications & control capabilities have not only allowed for greater efficiency of system operation, but have also created a massive target for adversaries to launch cyber-attacks. Like any other heavy industrial process, the ONG system relies on a complex system of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) devices. The current state of cyber-preparedness across the ONG industry varies from organization to organization. Among the most common challenges that ONG companies face are remote locations, longlived field assets, and lacking capabilities to find and track malware on their systems. ONG companies tend to be concerned with lack of cyber-awareness from employees, risk stemming from remote access for operations & maintenance, and software vulnerabilities within third-party equipment. Various industry and government organizations are performing research and development activities to address some of these challenges, but in many cases industry stakeholders are not aware of solutions that already exist. It is clear that a need exists for a coherent, comprehensive, multi-layered strategy for assuring the security and resilience of the nation's pipeline infrastructure against cyber threats. For a variety of reasons, the general consensus from stakeholders interviewed by LLNL is that the state of cyber-security within the electric grid is currently outpacing its ONG cousin. Existing strategies for the resilience and cyber-security of the electric grid can and should be leveraged to provide immediate benefits to the ONG system. In LLNL’s view, there are two key factors currently limiting the development of necessary cyber-practices within the ONG industry: The sheer number of differing regulatory bodies and trade groups offering both standards and best-practice recommendations for ONG cyber-security makes it difficult to create a comprehensive, directed, and coherent strategy that is applicable to all players within the ONG industry. The ONG industry is unaware of potentially useful technologies that have been developed for ensuring cyber-security of other infrastructure systems, such as the electric grid. Leveraging these technologies—and the science and engineering behind them—can provide some low-hanging fruit that can greatly improve cyber-security in the ONG industry without significant investments in terms of time and money. In the months following this report, LLNL will continue to perform outreach to key oil & gas industry stakeholders in a continual effort to identify the most pressing cyber-resilience issues in the industry. This outreach will be supplemented with LLNL’s threat intelligence capabilities to begin painting a clearer picture of the overall threat landscape faced by this sector. This assessment will be threat-informed and while the strategy itself will not be classified we will leverage intelligence analysis and adversary capabilities to identify gaps in current cybersecurity practices for oil & gas pipeline systems. Recommended efforts will be compiled into a cyber-resilience roadmap for the oil & gas pipeline sector, in which LLNL will highlight priority activities to immediately improve the state of cyber-resilience in the industry.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2023

Equitable Energy Transition Planning in Holyoke, Massachusetts: A Technical Analysis for Strategic Gas Decommissioning and Grid Resiliency

Buildings account for 30% of the emissions in Massachusetts and are the largest source of emissions in the United States, along with transportation. Pipeline-delivered methane gas is the dominant heating source in Massachusetts, representing 51% of heating in the state. The current gas network in Massachusetts and across many other US states is aging, a relic of the coal gas era, with thousands of miles of cast iron and unprotected steel pipes that are considered leak prone. Even newer plastic pipes are subject to degradation and in need of replacement, an upgrade that averages $2.8 million per mile of pipeline replacement across investor-owned utilities in Massachusetts.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MODELING OF THE CFR ENGINE FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF SI NATURAL GAS COMBUSTION AND CONTROLLED END-GAS AUTOIGNITION

Engine knock and misfire are barriers to pathways leading to high-efficiency Spark-Ignited (SI) Natural Gas engines. The general tendency to knock is highly dependent on engine operating conditions and the fuel reactivity. The problem is further complicated by low emission limits and the wide range of chemical reactivity in pipeline quality natural gas. Depending on the region and the source of the natural gas, its reactivity, described by its methane number (analogous to the octane number for liquid SI fuels) can span from 65 - 95. In order to realize diesel-like efficiencies, SI natural gas engines must be designed to operate at high BMEP near knock limits over a wide range of fuel reactivity. This requires a deep understanding regarding the combustion-engine interactions pertaining to flame propagation and end-gas autoignition (EGAI). However, EGAI, if controlled, provides an opportunity to increase SI natural gas engine efficiency by increasing combustion rate and the total burned fuel, mitigating the effects of the slow flame speeds of natural gas fuels which generally reduce BMEP and increase unburned hydrocarbon emissions. For this reason, in order to study EGAI phenomenon, the present work highlights multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. The CFR engine models are used to investigate fuel-engine interactions that lead to EGAI with natural gas, including effects of fuel reactivity, engine operating parameters, and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). A Three-Pressure Analysis, performed with GT-Power, was used to estimate initial and boundary conditions for the three-dimensional CFD model. CONVERGE CFD v2.4 was used for the three-dimensional CFD modeling where the level set G-Equation model and SAGE detailed chemical kinetics solver were used. An assessment of the different modeling approaches is also provided to evaluate their limitations, advantages and disadvantages, and for which situations they are most applicable. Model validation was performed with experimental data taken with a CFR engine over varying compression ratio, CA50, EGR fraction, and IMEP and shows good agreement in Peak Cylinder Pressure (PCP), PCP crank angle, and the location of the 10%, 50%, and 90% mass fraction burned (CA10, CA50, and CA90, respectively). The models can predict the onset crank angle and pressure rise rate for light, medium, and heavy EGAI under a variety of fuel reactivities and engine operating conditions.

Bestel, Diego↗
DOE OSTI2026

Development Fiber Optic Distributed System for Direct Detection of Subsurface Gases Leakages

Carbon, natural gas, and hydrogen gas storage is an emerging solution to safeguard us against pollution, support goals of negative carbon emission, and protect sources of renewable energy. Properly constructed storage wells provide a virtually impervious barrier to any unintended subsurface transmission. The ability to ensure the long-term integrity of such wells is vital to the success of any storage operation and be successful in the public eyes. Therefore, robust monitoring of any gas migration into the subsurface is highly sought. A fiber-optic distributed chemical sensor (DCS) enables monitoring of long-term well integrity along its depth, ensuring the success of any storage operation and bolsters public acceptance of the safety of the reservoir via leak early detection. The same technique can be applied to gas monitoring in pipeline networks and nuclear stockpile monitoring applications. Fiber based Raman spectroscopy enables DCS, as optical fibers can be deployed in virtually any environment and relay spectroscopic information over long distances back to the user. Hollow core fibers (HCF) make excellent DCSs as the air core of the fiber allows gas from the environment to diffuse into the core, which interacts with the laser signal that is carried in the air core. This work builds upon the previous LDRD project, Fiber Optic System for Direct Detection of Carbon Dioxide Leakage in Carbon Storage Wells (21-FS-003), in which the feasibility of Raman spectroscopy detection of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in HCF detection was demonstrated. We mitigated the risk of this DCS technology by establishing and completing five objectives. The first objective was to model and optically characterize HCF uptake of CO2, establishing the relationship between HCF length, gas diffusion time, detectable gas concentration, and measured Raman intensity. In objective two, we developed a fiber core drilling recipe to enable additional diffusion ports in the fiber core and established a method for maintaining fiber strength and integrity post drilling. Objective three characterized the drilled fibers against the undrilled fibers, establishing the differences in the gas mechanics and optical properties and provided parameters to iterate the drilling process. In objective four, a fusion splicing technique was developed to join the HCF to conventional single-mode fibers, localizing the gas detection point at the drilled HCF hole, emulating a DCS. Lastly, objective five was the testing of the sensor in Edgar Mines at Colorado School of Mines on a CO2 pipeline with a simulated leak, to showcase the ability to detect CO2 leaks. This capstone result showed CO2 leak detection in < 10 minutes, raising the technology readiness level of HCF segments as deployable DCS.

organic↗
DOE OSTI2022

MODELING AND PARAMETRIC STUDY OF END-GAS AUTOIGNITION TO ALLOW THE REALIZATION OF ULTRA-LOW EMISSIONS, HIGH-EFFICIENCY HEAVY-DUTY SPARK-IGNITED NATURAL GAS ENGINES

Engine knock and misfire are barriers to pathways leading to high-efficiency Spark-Ignited (SI) Natural Gas (NG) engines. The general tendency to knock is highly dependent on engine operating conditions and the fuel reactivity. The problem is further complicated by the low emission limits and the wide range of chemical reactivity in pipeline-quality natural gas. Depending on the region and the source of the natural gas, its reactivity, described by its Methane Number (MN), which is analogous to the Octane Number for liquid SI fuels, can span from 65 to 95. In order to realize diesel-like efficiencies, SI NG engines must be designed to operate at high Brake Mean Effective Pressures (BMEP), near or beyond knock limits, over a wide range of fuel reactivity. This requires a deep understanding of the combustion-engine interactions pertaining to flame propagation and End-Gas Autoignition (EGAI), i.e., the autoignition of the unburned gas (end gas) ahead of the flame front. However, EGAI, if controlled, provides an opportunity to increase SI NG engine efficiency by increasing the combustion rate and the total fraction of burned fuel, mitigating the effects of the slow flame speeds characteristic of natural gas fuels, which generally reduce BMEP and increase unburned hydrocarbon emissions. For this reason, to realize diesel-like efficiencies and ultra-low emissions on SI NG engines, this work proposes the study of the main parameters influencing the modeling and prediction of NG EGAI to allow for its control. In this work, a novel EGAI detection and onset determination method was developed to reliably quantify EGAI for data analysis and engine control. The new method allowed the prediction of EGAI on SI NG engines without the need to use engine- and operating-condition-dependent thresholds and reduced the error in quantifying the fraction of the total energy released by the EGAI event by up to 40%pts. One- and three-dimensional engine models were then developed to study the engine/fuel interactions that lead to NG EGAI and its performance benefits. These models, although having decent agreement with experimental data, showed the need to account for NOx chemistry when predicting NG EGAI due to a consistently later prediction of the EGAI onset (~1.65 crank-angle degrees) and thus, a new reduced chemical mechanism for real NG fuels was developed containing NOx chemistry. The new reduced mechanism improved the EGAI onset prediction agreement to within ±0.5 crank-angle degrees and decreased simulation time during combustion by nearly 50% when using the further reduced AREIS50NOx chemical mechanism. These models were then used to study the role of NG composition on EGAI, evaluate the engine/fuel interactions leading to NG EGAI, and perform engine optimization while leveraging EGAI to increase thermal efficiency. Piston design optimization combined with a Controlled EGAI (C-EGAI) combustion mode allowed a Heavy-Duty (HD) SI NG engine to operate at diesel-like efficiencies, i.e., Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) ≥44%. Experimental and modeling data analysis revealed that earlier and faster heat release increases combustion efficiency by an average of 1%pts, increases work transferred to the piston resulting in a decrease in exhaust losses by 50% depending on the engine operating condition while slightly increasing heat losses. Finally, the simulation results revealed an opportunity to further enhance the BTE (up to 50%) by enabling C-EGAI combustion at leaner conditions, λ=1.4-1.6.

Bestel, Diego Bernardi↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Comprehensive Investigation into the Effect of a Low Surface Energy Treatment on Gas Hydrate, Asphaltene, and Wax Formation, Deposition, and Adhesion

The formation/precipitation and deposition of pipeline solids, such as gas hydrates, asphaltenes, and waxes have long plagued production fields. Given the vast differences in chemistries of these solids, any current prevention or mitigation strategy, particularly for cases in which multiple issues are a concern, is likely to involve an extensive assortment of chemical additives that are both costly and add complexity to the system. Surface treatments (coatings), on the other hand, present a relatively viable option for management strategies. A chemically and physically robust surface treatment with the ability to address deposition issues for multiple pipeline solids could not only decrease the operating expenditures for a field through material cost savings and obviation of downstream separation, but could also simplify produced fluids by eliminating additional chemicals from the mixture. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of a particular surface treatment as part of a solids management strategy. This work used an omniphobic surface treatment to probe its effects on gas hydrate, asphaltene, and wax deposition. Specifically, an interfacial tensiometer (IFT) collected contact angle measurements for wettability studies. High-pressure rocking cells studied gas hydrate nucleation and deposition. A bench-scale flow loop quantified the deposition of oil and asphaltenes after a set time period. Finally, a mechanical shear device measured the adhesion force of wax deposits on untreated/treated surfaces. Static contact angle results showed that the omniphobic surface treatment had reduced surface interaction with water droplets in air, altering from the complete wetting on corroded surfaces to slightly hydrophobic conditions of greater than 100°. In addition, rocking-cell tests indicated that these omniphobic surface treatments may prevent gas hydrate deposition for up to 72 hours. The gas hydrate rocking-cell tests also demonstrated possible increases in induction time and occasional elimination of hydrate nucleation with the surface treatment. Finally, the surface treatment application, which also decreased surface roughness, showed that crude oil and asphaltene particles deposition, as well as the shear required to remove solidified wax deposits, could be reduced by a large factor. Overall, promising results were recorded for all major flow-assurance solids in the presence of the surface treatment.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2026

Applications Of Machine Learning to Gas Plume Analysis In Longwave Infrared Hyperspectral Images

Longwave infrared hyperspectral images can be used for gas plume analysis, as many gases exhibit distinct absorption features in this portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. In practice, accurately identifying weak gas signatures is difficult because the observed radiance is dominated by background radiance, which varies with material, temperature, and viewing conditions. Many gas plume analysis pipelines operate on single images, limiting the ability to leverage spatial and multi-view information that could enhance the analysis. The goal of this dissertation is to explore how machine learning and deep learning methods can complement classical approaches to improve gas plume identification in longwave infrared hyperspectral imagery, and to investigate the use of neural radiance fields for hyperspectral scene reconstruction.

3D Scene Reconstruction↗