Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Storage and Transfer”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Future orbital transfer vehicle technology study. Volume 1: Executive summary

Reusable space and ground based LO2/LH2 OTV's, both advanced space engines and aero assist capability were compared. The SB OTV provided advantages in life cycle cost, performance and potential for improvement. An all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet was also compared with a fleet of LO2/.H2 OTV's and electric OTV's. The normal growth technology electric OTV used silicon cells with heavy shielding and argon ion thrusters. In this case, the LO2/LH2 OTV fleet provided a 23% advantage in total transportation cost. An accelerated technology LF2/LH2 OTV provided improvements in performance relative to LO2/.H2 OTV but has higher DDT&E cost which negated its cost effectiveness. The accelerated technology electric vehicle used GaAs cells and annealing but still did not result in the mixed fleet being any cheaper than an all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet. It is concluded that reusable LO2/LH2 OTV's can serve all general purpose cargo roles between LEO and GEO for the forseeable future. The most significant technology for the second generation vehicle would be space debris protection, on orbit propellant storage and transfer and on orbit maintenance capability.

Davis, E. E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Nodal Modeling of Submerged Helium Injection Pressurization of a Cryogenic Propellant Tank

Subcooling of cryogenic propellant by helium injection is one of the most effective methods for suppressing bulk boiling and keeping subcooled propellant conditions for pre-launch, launch, and post-launch pressurization applications. For tank pressurization, submerged helium injection can substantially reduce helium consumption by infusing gaseous propellant into the tank ullage. This paper describes a thermodynamic model of the helium bubbling process in liquid oxygen to estimate the amount of oxygen vapor absorbed by the rising helium bubbles and the amount of subcooling of liquid oxygen due to evaporative heat and mass transfer. The physics of helium dissolution during the pressurization process is also modeled, primarily for liquid hydrogen propellant where the dissolution is more significant. The analyses were performed in a simulation model of tank pressurization built with Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP), a general-purpose flow network code developed at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. The numerical predictions of subcooling have been compared with the experimental data of Cho et al. which investigated the propellant subcooling effect as a function of system pressure, helium injection temperature, and flowrate for a non-drained submerged injection system. The numerical predictions of helium consumption have been compared with the test data from a NASA Centaur test vehicle which included both direct and submerged injection with draining of propellants. Hydrogen propellant testing of the Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Engineering Developmental Unit (CPST EDU) conducted at NASA/Glenn Research Facility was also analyzed. The data used for the model validation were taken in 1-g, but the model was developed to be applicable in both multi-g and micro-g environments.

tank pressurization↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Test Article to Demonstrate the Long Duration Storage of Liquid Hydrogen via a Two-Stage Active Cooling Approach

A NASA team is developing a test article for the purpose of demonstrating the long duration storage of liquid hydrogen utilizing passive Cryogenic Fluid Management and cryocoolers via a two-stage active cooling approach. Funded by NASA’s Technology Demonstration Mission Program and managed by the Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project, the team is leveraging demonstrations conducted under pervious NASA activities to develop a fully integrated test article that will demonstrate the zero boil-off storage of liquid hydrogen. This paper discusses the previous activities being leveraged from NASA’s Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer project, the test article design and build, hardware and instrumentation selections, control methodology, and the planned primary and secondary test objectives. The test article assembly and demonstration are both to be conducted in the East Test Area at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and are currently scheduled for Fiscal Year 2024.

Active Cooling↗
NASA NTRS2018

Large Scale Cryogenic Storage with Active Refrigeration

Storage and transfer of cryogenic liquefied gases on volume scales from under 10 liters for lab use, up to hundreds of millions of liters for industrial applications is of paramount importance across a vast range of industries. Traditionally, these commodities have been stored at or near the normal boiling point due to relative ease of operation and safety-related considerations; however, this also means that some percentage will always be lost due to environmental heat leaking into the vessel and causing boil-off. These losses become more concerning as scales increase, and are of particular importance for high-cost commodities such helium and hydrogen. Additionally, the normal boiling point marks the highest liquid density achievable; which becomes a strong driver of end-use system designs such as space launch vehicles. Recent development and testing of an Integrated Refrigeration and Storage (IRAS) system for liquid hydrogen has proven that next generation cryogenic storage operations such as zero boil-off and densification are feasible on a large scale. This IRAS system married an 850 Watt at 20 Kelvin reverse-Brayton cycle commercial cryogenic refrigerator with a 125,000 liter LH2 storage tank via and internal tubular heat exchanger. This allowed heat to be removed directly from the hydrogen, and by extension, provided a means to control the bulk thermodynamic state. Zero boil-off, in-situ liquefaction, and densification down to the triple point was performed during testing, and data such as fluid temperature profiles and tank pressure were gathered. Details regarding the design, setup, and testing of the IRAS system are discussed herein, and the data used to anchor various physics models created to predict the behavior of the system during transient and steady state operation. It is hoped that these efforts will provide a useful basis for the design and implementation of future large scale IRAS systems across numerous industries.

Swanger, Adam M.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Future orbital transfer vehicle technology study. Volume 2: Technical report

Missions for future orbit transfer vehicles (1995-2010) are identified and the technology, operations and vehicle concepts that satisfy the transportation requirements are defined. Comparison of reusable space and ground based LO2/LH2 OTV's was made. Both vehicles used advanced space engines and aero assist capability. The SB OTV provided advantages in life cycle cost, performance and potential for improvement. Comparison of an all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet with a fleet of LO2/LH2 OTVs and electric OTV's was also made. The normal growth technology electric OTV used silicon cells with heavy shielding and argon ion thrusters. This provided a 23% advantage in total transportation cost. The impact of accelerated technology was considered in terms of improvements in performance and cost effectiveness. The accelerated technology electric vehicle used GaAs cells and annealing but did not result in the mixed fleet being any cheaper than an all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet. It is concluded that reusable LO2/LH2 OTV's can serve all general purpose cargo roles between LEO and GEO for the forseeable future. The most significant technology for the second generation vehicle would be space debris protection, on-orbit propellant storage and transfer and on-orbit maintenance capability.

Davis, E. E.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Investigation of methane mass transfer and sorption in Marcellus shale under variable net-stress

Natural gas in shale exists as free and adsorbed gas, subject to prevailing pore pressures and stress conditions. Accordingly, to accurately estimate/predict the shale gas recovery potential, a central requirement is to represent gas transport and sorption behavior under varying stress conditions. The objective of this work is to facilitate the interpretation of laboratory-scale experiments, at relevant conditions, in an attempt to bridge the gap in scales between laboratory- and field-scale observations. We have conducted a series of high-pressure experiments on a full-diameter core sample from the Marcellus shale. These include gas loading (pressure-decay) and depletion (production) experiments with pure methane (CH 4 ) at variable stress conditions to characterize transport and sorption behavior under reservoir-relevant conditions. Here we have formulated and applied a novel integral model for mass transfer and storage in multi-porosity shale systems that allows us to effectively investigate transport and sorption phenomena: We delineate gas transport by interpreting helium (He) pressure-decay experiments and demonstrate how to use the information gained to calculate the relevant transport coefficients of CH 4 and other gases. A separate measurement of the CH 4 sorption isotherm on a smaller sample (a shale cube) was interpreted and combined with the transport description to predict the production behavior of CH 4 from the experiments with the full-diameter core. Our experiments demonstrate that the representation of sorption hysteresis is crucial for predicting and guiding shale gas production: At the end of both gas production experiments, approximately 20% of the initial gas in place remained in the core. Without accounting for sorption hysteresis, our modeling demonstrates that the CH 4 production could be overestimated by 10%. We demonstrate that our integral, triple-porosity model provides an effective approach for the interpretation and prediction of gas transport and sorption behavior during loading and production experiments on shale cores under variable net-stress conditions. In summary, our work combines measurements and modeling of mass transfer and sorption in shales at different scales to validate a characterization approach that facilitates an improved understanding of shale gas production. Furthermore, the triple-porosity model utilized in our work defines a potential pathway for the translation of laboratory-scale experimentation to larger-scale applications.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Advanced Explorations Systems: Concepts for Logistics to Living

The NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Logistics Reduction and Repurposing (LRR) project strives to enable a largely mission-independent cradle-to-grave-to-cradle approach to minimize logistics contributions to total mission architecture mass. The goals are to engineer logistics materials, common crew consumables, and container configurations to meet the following five basic goals: 1. Minimize intrinsic logistics mass and improve ground logistics flexibility. 2. Allow logistics components to be directly repurposed for on-orbit non-logistics functions (e.g., crew cabin outfitting) thereby indirectly reducing mass/volume. 3. Compact and process logistics that have not been directly repurposed to generate useful on-orbit components and/or compounds (e.g., radiation shielding, propellant, other usable chemical constituents). 4. Enable long-term stable storage and disposal of logistics end products that cannot be reused or repurposed (e.g., compaction for volume reduction, odor control, and maintenance of crew cabin hygienic conditions). 5. Allow vehicles in different mission phases to share logistics resources. This paper addresses the work being done to meet the second goal, the direct repurposing of logistics components to meet other on-orbit needs, through a strategy termed Logistics to Living (L2L). L2L has several areas but can be defined as repurposing or converting logistical items (bags, containers, foam, components, etc.) into useful crew items or life support augmentation on-orbit after they have provided their primary logistics function. The intent is that by repurposing items, dedicated crew items do not have to be launched and overall launch mass is decreased. For non-LEO missions, the vehicle interior volume will be relatively fixed so L2L will enable this volume to be used more effectively through reuse and rearrangement of logistical components. Past work in the area of L2L has already conceptually developed several potential technologies [Howe, Howard 2010]. Several of the L2L concepts that have shown the most potential in the past are based on NASA cargo transfer bags (CTBs) or their equivalents which are currently used to transfer cargo to and from the ISS. A high percentage of all logistics supplies are packaging mass and for a 6-month mission a crew of four might need over 100 CTBs. These CTBs are used for on-orbit transfer and storage but eventually becomes waste after use since down mass is very limited. The work being done in L2L also considering innovative interior habitat construction that integrate the CTBs into the walls of future habitats. The direct integration could provide multiple functions: launch packaging, stowage, radiation protection, water processing, life support augmentation, as well as structure. Reuse of these CTBs would reduce the amount of waste generated and also significantly reduce future up mass requirements for exploration missions. Also discussed here is the L2L water wall , an innovative reuse of an unfolded CTB as a passive water treatment system utilizing forward osmosis. The bags have been modified to have an inner membrane liner that allows them to purify wastewater. They may also provide a structural water-wall element that can be used to provide radiation protection and as a structural divider. Integration of the components into vehicle/habitat architecture and consideration of operations concepts and human factors will be discussed. In the future these bags could be designed to treat wastewater, concentrated brines, and solid wastes, and to dewater solid wastes and produce a bio-stabilized construction element. This paper will describe the follow-on work done in design, fabrication and demonstrations of various L2L concepts, including advanced CTBs for reuse/repurposing, internal outfitting studies and the CTB-based forward osmosis water wall.

Shull, Sarah A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development and Validation of Two-Phase CFD Models for Key Elements of Propellant Tank CFM Operations in 1G and Microgravity – An Overview

This paper presents an overview of the state-of-the-art two-phase CFD models that have been developed for various propellant tank storage and transfer operations in 1g, partial gravity and microgravity. The models are developed in the framework of the industry standard ANSYS/Fluent CFD code, the capabilities of which have been significantly enhanced and customized through incorporation of unique submodels via User Defined Functions (UDF)s to satisfy the requirements of its intended variable gravity Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) applications. These models/submodels have been validated against experimental data that cross spatial scales, fluid types, and gravity levels in order to properly anchor the models’ physical and numerical fidelity. The CFM application/processes that have been modeled include tank self-pressurization, tank autogenous pressurization, tank pressure control using both subcooled jet mixing and droplet spray injection mechanisms, tank chilldown/filling, tank drainage, tank slosh for both volatile and non-volatile fluids. The strength and shortcomings of the two-phase models for each application is highlighted and discussed briefly.

Propellant Storage & Pressure Control↗
DOE OSTI2022

GOOML - Finding Optimization Opportunities for Geothermal Operations: Preprint

Geothermal Operational Optimization with Machine Learning (GOOML) is a transferable and extensible component-based geothermal asset modeling framework that considers complex steamfield relationships and identifies optimization prospects using a data-driven approach. We have used this framework to develop digital twins that provide steamfield operators with an operational environment to analyze and understand historical and forecasted power production, explore new steamfield configuration possibilities, and seek optimal asset management for real world applications. The GOOML modeling software is built on a generic component-based systems framework that allows for both historical and forecast analysis. A GOOML model can perform historical data-assimilation using first-principal thermodynamics to create a meaningful data model. Historical production data can then be coupled with a forecast framework to train machine-learning models of steamfield components to predict future outputs. This modeling environment enables digital exploration of steamfield design configurations and operational scenarios. GOOML digital twins have been developed for steamfields in New Zealand and the United States representing differing power generation and field conditions. These digital twins have been validated by comparing hindcast predictions against historical production data. Reinforcement learning experiments were conducted to demonstrate the ability to programmatically explore the operations space using machine learning agents. Our initial results are compelling; two to five percent increases in annual energy production were demonstrated by the GOOML models with no additional infrastructure build required. GOOML offers a new approach to geothermal operations by applying state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, comprehensive data analytics, and interaction with digital twins. Through application of these tools, operators will realize greater availability and higher net generation which will increase the cost effectiveness of geothermal energy projects.

access↗
DOE OSTI2020

Implementation of the Glycolate Destruction Process with Sodium Permanganate in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) - 20141

The Savannah River Site (SRS) seeks to replace formic acid with glycolic acid as a chemical reductant in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), where borosilicate glass is mixed with high-level radioactive waste, melted at high temperatures, then poured into stainless steel canisters for safe storage. Prior research and development have demonstrated the feasibility and advantages of the new nitric-glycolic acid flowsheet over the current nitric-formic acid flowsheet to chemically adjust the radioactive sludge slurry waste in the Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) prior to vitrification. Use of glycolic acid reduces hydrogen and ammonia generation during the reduction process, thus reducing flammability hazards and purge requirements in the DWPF processing vessels. In addition, glycolic acid will support the new Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) by allowing for receipt of higher volumes of waste due to reduction of flammable gases, increased boil-up rates in the vessels, and easing the processing of future sludge batches containing high levels of mercury. However, during DWPF operations, trace amounts of glycolate are anticipated to be entrained in the recycle stream and sent to the Concentration, Storage, and Transfer Facilities (CSTF) via the Recycle Collection Tank (RCT). The RCT receives condensate from the Slurry Mix Evaporator Condensate Tank (SMECT) and Off-gas Condensate Tank (OGCT) that may contain unreacted glycolate. A literature review found the potential for hydrogen generation due to thermolysis of glycolate in caustic CSTF conditions. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) conducted several tests on simulant and radioactive waste from various tanks at SRS and confirmed that glycolate added to waste at concentrations of approximately 1000 mg/L and higher generates hydrogen through thermolysis. There are potential operating scenarios in the future where glycolate concentration could exceed 1000 mg/L in the 2H Evaporator Drop Tank, the highest accumulation point for DWPF organics received via recycle. These findings presented a need to develop another process to mitigate the impact of glycolic acid to the CSTF. Several DWPF compatible options were evaluated for their ability to destroy glycolate in the DWPF recycle stream under various processing conditions, thereby mitigating its introduction to the CSTF. Downselection testing identified sodium permanganate as the most promising and simplest option to oxidize glycolate. It has been demonstrated to be effective in various RCT simulant compositions, operating temperatures, oxidant addition rates, solution pH, and initial glycolate concentrations. A feasibility study identified existing tanks within the facility that could be used for receiving and storing the commercially available sodium permanganate, as well as feeding it to the RCT for processing. The use of existing equipment as well as the ability to purchase the pre-mixed chemical reduces implementation and operational complexity. The downstream impacts of the sodium permanganate reaction were also evaluated and demonstrated to have minimal impact on other chemical species present in the RCT and CSTF, as well as on the materials of construction of the RCT and CSTF vessels and associated piping and instrumentation. Future work is in progress to validate the glycolate destruction process with testing in actual radioactive RCT waste before implementation in DWPF. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Data Curation for Machine Learning Applied to Geothermal Power Plant Operational Data for GOOML: Geothermal Operational Optimization with Machine Learning: Preprint

Geothermal Operational Optimization with Machine Learning (GOOML) is a transferable and extensible component-based geothermal asset modeling framework that considers complex steamfield relationships and identifies optimization prospects using a data-driven approach to physics-guided, data-centric machine learning. This framework has been used to develop digital twins that provide steamfield operators with operational environments to analyze and understand historical and forecasted power production, explore new steamfield configuration possibilities, and seek optimal asset management in real world applications. To create, test, and apply the GOOML framework, diverse time-series datasets spanning multiple years were sourced from various geothermal power plant components within several complex real-world geothermal operations. These operations are based in the United States and New Zealand and include a variety of technologies, end-uses and configurations, collectively covering nearly all relevant operating conditions for modern geothermal fields. Datasets were acquired from multiple sources to ensure that machine learning experiments generalized properly to various operating conditions. It was found that the data varied in quality, format, and completeness. To ensure consistency between the various datasets, a standardized data curation process was developed to reliably streamline data preparation. This paper will discuss best practices as learned from the GOOML data curation process which takes the following steps: 1) acquisition of large quantities of data from power plant operators, 2) digestion of data to gain an initial understanding of what is included, 3) data transformation, which includes converting the data into a standardized machine-readable format so that they can be visualized, quality checked, and cleaned, 4) quality assurance and quality control, involving identification of significant data gaps and apparent anomalies through mapping of data features to real world componentry via the GOOML historical model, followed by discussion with modelers and power plant operators to identify additional data needs and to resolve issues, 5) use in machine learning algorithms, and 6) repetition of steps one through five until all data needs are met and data are deemed suitable for producing trustworthy modeling results which may be disseminated, ideally along with the curated dataset. This iterative process is focused on improving the quality of the data rather than tuning machine learning model parameters and supports a shift towards data-centric AI as a means to improving real-world applicability of geothermal machine learning projects.

access↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mitigating Cyclable Li‐Ion Inventory Loss in Full Cells with Mn‐Rich Disordered Rocksalt Cathodes

Lithium (Li)- and manganese (Mn)-rich disordered rock salt (DRX) materials are promising cathode materials for next-generation Li-ion batteries. Although these cathode materials are Li-ions rich in their pristine state, their incorporation into full cells results in challenges with maintaining Li-ion inventory during cycling. Herein, the degradation mechanisms of DRX materials in different DRX||Graphite full cells are reported. It is found that DRX electrodes contain Li impurities, primarily due to the environmental sensitivity of mechanochemically synthesized DRX materials during sample transfer and storage. In addition, the structural instability of DRX triggers Mn dissolution. Dissolved Mn ions react with exposed Li x C y compounds and induce electrolyte decomposition on the anode, further depleting Li-ion inventory. Control experiments involving the pre-addition of Mn 2+ provide clear evidence of the impact of Mn dissolution on Li-ion inventory. The electrochemical activation process can stabilize DRX, alleviate Mn dissolution and thus mitigate the loss of Li-ion inventory. These mechanistic insights inform the development of chemical pre-lithiation and electrolyte additive strategies to collectively passivate interfaces, mitigate the effects of trace dissolved Mn ions, and preserve Li-ion inventory. Ultimately, the DRX||Graphite full cell achieves highly reversible electrochemical reactions with a high capacity retention. This study fills a research gap in DRX-based full cells and provides insights into degradation mechanisms and optimization strategies for their practical use.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Real-time and post-hoc compression for data from Distributed Acoustic Sensing

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) is an emerging sensing technology that records the strain-rate along fiber optic cables at high spatial and temporal resolution. This technique is becoming a popular tool in seismology, hydrology, and other subsurface monitoring applications. However, due to the large coverage (10’s of km) and high density of measurements (1m spacing at 100’s of Hz), a DAS installation could produce terabytes of data records per day. Because many DAS instruments are deployed in remote locations, this large data size poses significant challenges to its transfer and storage. In this paper, we explore lossless compression methods to reduce the storage requirement in both real-time and post-hoc scenarios. Here we propose a two-stage compression method to improve the compression ratio and compression speed. This two-stage compression method could reduce the storage requirement by 40%, which is 20% more than other lossless methods, such as ZSTD. We demonstrate that the compression method could complete its operation well before the DAS instrument needs to output the next file, making it suitable for real-time DAS acquisition. We also implement a parallel compression method for a post-hoc scenario and demonstrate that our method could effectively utilize a parallel computer. With 256 CPU cores, our parallel compression method achieves the speed of 26GB/second.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Role of pH and Eh in geothermal systems: Thermodynamic examples and impacts on scaling and corrosion

The global demand for sustainable and clean renewable energy sources is rapidly increasing to meet growing energy demands while curtailing the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Harnessing the natural heat or geothermal energy of the Earth's interior can simultaneously address both issues by offering a clean and renewable energy source. Enhanced geothermal systems require the movement and cycling of fluid through a porous rock media. Further, this process requires understanding the chemistry occurring at the fluid-rock and fluid-metal interfaces both in the deep subsurface and surface, where fluid is circulated for energy transfer or storage. In this review paper, we evaluate the current state of research on how two key variables, pH and Eh, control the fluid-rock reactions controlling mineral scaling and the steel corrosion reactions associated with geothermal systems. These variables are frequently used in geochemical modeling to predict chemical reactions in geothermal systems. Prediction of the fluid-rock behavior can be utilized to formulate new strategies for extending the lifespan and efficiency of heat extraction and utilization and maximizing the safety of geothermal systems.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Recent mechanistic developments for cytochrome c nitrite reductase, the key enzyme in the dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium pathway

Cytochrome c nitrite reductase, NrfA, is a soluble, periplasmic pentaheme cytochrome responsible for the reduction of nitrite to ammonium in the Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction to Ammonium (DNRA) pathway, a vital reaction in the global nitrogen cycle. NrfA catalyzes this six-electron and eight-proton reduction of nitrite at a single active site with the help of its quinol oxidase partners. In this study, we summarize the latest progress in elucidating the reaction mechanism of ammonia production, including new findings about the active site architecture of NrfA, as well as recent results that elucidate electron transfer and storage in the pentaheme scaffold of this enzyme.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Solvent-driven aqueous separations for hypersaline brine concentration and resource recovery

Solvent-driven separation processes can extract water and high-value minerals from high salinity or contaminated brines, simultaneously reducing the environmental impact of brine disposal and enabling resource recovery. The efficient dewatering of hypersaline brines is essential for the sustainable minimal and zero liquid discharge processing of industrial wastewaters. Fractional crystallization can selectively extract ions from contaminated waste streams, allowing critical materials to be recycled, including transition and lanthanide metals required for renewable energy generation and storage. Mass transfer in solvent-driven water extraction occurs across a liquid–liquid interface, eliminating the scaling and fouling of membrane and heat exchanger surfaces and limiting the need for extensive pretreatment. Solvent-driven fractional crystallization can leverage sequential treatment and control of process conditions to rapidly recover salts without requiring evaporation of water. Despite promising applications, the principles and potential of solvent-driven aqueous separations remain poorly understood. This critical review explores the opportunities presented by solvent-based aqueous separations from the molecular to process scale, evaluating the chemistry of solvation and system design in the broader context of desalination, resource recovery, water softening, and mineral production.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Enhancing the Chemical Energy Flux in a High-Temperature Tubular Counterflow Solid Fuel Synthesis Reactor Using a Bypass

Redox reactions of metal oxides offer a path towards using intermittent renewable resources for high-density thermochemical energy storage. Thermochemical energy storage often involves the flow of a particulate media. We describe a novel method to increase the throughput in a gravity-driven high-temperature thermochemical storage reactor flowing pelletized MgMnO. The moving bed reactor operates under counter-flow conditions and encounters particle flowability problems at temperatures of 1500 °C leading to sintering of the bed. Inertial forces of a counter-flowing gas can overcome the gravitational forces on the particles and limit the chemical energy storage rate of the reactor. We found that the insertion of a gas bypass (a slotted tube) into the reactor results in a 100% increase of the flow rates and achieved a 50% higher chemical energy storage flux compared to the operation without a bypass tube while mitigating the effects of sintering on the particles. As a result, the higher solid flow rates require a longer heated zone to reach a comparable residence time and extent of reduction compared to the lower flow rates.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Atomic-Scale Imaging of Lithium Vacancies in a Battery Cathode by Multislice Electron Ptychography

Atomic-resolution imaging of battery materials is critical for identification of local defects and structural variations, which are tied to battery performance. However, since battery materials are, by design, optimized to allow ion motion in response to an applied electric field, they are also very sensitive to radiation damage by an electron beam. Image resolution is therefore severely constrained by the dose applied. Here, we show that multislice electron ptychography (MEP) can provide sub-ångström lateral resolution images of both light and heavy elements of a Li-ion battery cathode, along with nanometer-scale depth information and greater dose efficiency than conventional electron microscopy methods. Using the depth-sectioning capability of MEP, we have been able to obtain direct visualizations of Li vacancy clusters, atom column by atom column, in Li x Ni 0.33 Mn 0.33 Co 0.33 O 2 (NMC111) cathodes. This capability to track Li distributions will be valuable in understanding, informing, and optimizing electrode material design for ion storage and transfer.

batteries↗