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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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

2018 Annual Site Environmental Report Summary

We are committed to act as stewards of our environment to achieve our mission in accordance with all applicable environmental requirements. We set continual improvement objectives and targets, measure and document our progress, and share our results with our workforce, sponsors, and public. We reduce our environmental risk through legacy cleanup, pollution prevention, and long-term sustainability programs.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1975

Combustion and emissions technology

Combustor development is discussed as it relates to emissions reduction. The nature of the aircraft pollution problem is examined along with the aircraft pollution standards that have been established by the Environmental Protection Agency. The effect of engine operating conditions on pollutant formation levels is shown, as well as how close present-day engines are to meeting the established standards. The magnitude of the emissions reductions required to meet these standards is indicated. The progress that has been made in evolving the needed emissions reduction technology is the main topic.

Grobman, J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Joint EPA/NASA/USAF Interagency Depainting Study

Environmental regulations such as National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) are drivers for the implementation of environmentally compliant methodologies in the manufacture of aerospace hardware. In 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated the NESHAP for the Aerospace Manufacture and Rework (Aerospace NESHAP) industry. Affected facilities were to be in compliance by September 1998. Several aerospace manufacturing operations are regulated within the Aerospace NESHAP including Depainting operations. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), EPA, and United States Air Force (USAF) combined resources to evaluate the performance of nine alternative depainting processes. The seven alternative depainting processes were: (1) Chemical stripping (non-methylene chloride); (2) Carbon Dioxide Blasting; (3) Xenon Flashlamp; (4) Carbon Dioxide Laser Stripping; (5) Plastic Media Blasting; (6) Sodium Bicarbonate Wet Stripping; and (7) Waterjet Blasting and Wheat Starch Blasting. All epoxy primer and polyurethane top coat system was applied to 2024-T3 clad and non-clad aluminum test specimens. Approximately 200 test specimens were evaluated in this study. Each coupon was subjected to three, four, or five complete depainting cycles. This paper discusses the conclusions from the study including the test protocol, test parameters, and achievable strip rates for the alternative depainting processes. Test data includes immersion corrosion testing, sandwich corrosion testing and hydrogen embrittlement testing for the non-methylene chloride chemical strippers. Additionally, the cumulative effect of the alternative depainting processes on the metallurgical integrity of the test substrate is addressed with the results from tensile and fatigue evaluations.

Clark-Ingram, M.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Zinc speciation and desorption kinetics in a mining waste impacted tropical soil amended with phosphate

Mining is an important component of the Brazilian economy. However, it may also contribute to environmental problems such as the pollution of soils with zinc and other potentially toxic metals. Our objective was to evaluate changes in the chemical speciation and mobility of Zn in a soil amended with phosphate. Soil samples were collected from a deactivated mining area in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and amended with NH 4 H 2 PO 4 saturated with deionized water to 70 % of maximum water retention and incubated at 25 ± 2 °C in open containers for 60 days. The soil was chemically and mineralogically characterized, and sequential extraction, desorption kinetics, and speciation were carried out using synchrotron bulk-sample and micro–X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES/μ-XANES) spectroscopy at the Zn K-edge, and X-ray fluorescence microprobe analysis (μ-XRF). The combination of μ-XRF and μ-XANES techniques made it possible to identify Zn hotspots in the main species formed after phosphate remediation. The best fit combination for bulk XANES and μ-XANES was observed in Zn-montmorillonite, Zn-kerolite, Zn-ferrihydrite, and gahnite. In the course of phosphate treatment, gahnite, Zn layered double hydroxides (Zn-LDH), Zn3(PO4), and ZnO were identified by bulk XANES, while Zn-ferrihydrite, Zn-montmorillonite, and scholzite were identified by μ-XANES. Zinc in the phosphate-amended soil had the strongest partial correlations (r' > 0.05) with Ni, Co, Fe, Cr, Mn, Si, P, Cd, Pb, and Cd, while the unamended soil showed the strongest correlation with Cu, Pb, Fe, and Si. The application of NH 4 H 2 PO 4 altered Zn speciation and favored an increase in Zn desorption. Here, the most available Zn contents after phosphate amendment were correlated with the release of exchangeable Zn fractions, associated with carbonate and organic matter.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2008

Program Environmental Assurance: Shuttle Environmental Assurance and the Future

Material availability continues to be impacted by domestic and international environmental health and safety (EH&S) regulations, industrial pollution prevention goals and related vendor economics. SEA is an integrated team that works to identify, communicate and address safety and environmentally driven materials obsolescence issues and pollution prevention opportunities.

Glover, Steve E.↗
DOE OSTI2022

ASER Annual Site Environmental Report 2020 Summary

We are committed to act as stewards of our environment to achieve our mission in accordance with all applicable environmental requirements. We set continual improvement objectives and targets, measure and document our progress, and share ourresults with our workforce, sponsors, and public. We reduce our environmental risk through legacy cleanup, pollution prevention, and long-term sustainability programs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2021

Asthma and Particulate Matter Pollution: Insights from Health Survey and Air Quality Monitoring in the Buzzard Point, Washington, DC Neighborhood

Air pollution, climate change, and other environmental factors contribute to increasing asthma in manycities, including Washington, DC. This work provides a case study of how community input, neighborhood-level health surveys, and air quality monitoring can inform the understanding of asthma and air pollution.A partnership between residents, concerned citizens, scientists, and educators has been working for envi-ronmental health in a DC neighborhood located on a major roadway, next to concrete batch plants andclose to several construction projects. A 2016 Community Health and Safety Study by the DC Departmentof Health, Office of Health Equity, recognized this particular neighborhood as more vulnerable to healthimpacts from recent construction in the area, compared with the surrounding areas, due to lower averageincome and higher percentage of seniors and children. This work presents neighborhood health surveysand air quality monitoring data at a more granular, local level than available from DC governmentagencies. The health surveys documented residents’ experiences around air pollution, asthma,and other health concerns. A key finding was evidence that asthma might be undercounted in thisneighborhood; among residents who did not indicate a diagnosis of asthma, many discussed havingsymptoms that could reflect asthma. Air quality monitoring (particulate matter [PM]) did not indicate thatfederal air quality standards have been violated. Real-time PM data, however,illustrated how current PMstandards, such as 1- and 24-hour averages, may fail to capture shorter duration high PM events that areconsistent with resident concerns.

Shizuka Hsieh↗
NASA NTRS1979

Central atlantic regional ecological test site: A prototype regional environmental information system, volume 1

The Central Atlantic Regional Ecological Test Site (CARETS) project was a demonstration project for introducing data from Landsat and high-altitude aircraft sensors into regional land planning and management. This report summarizes the CARETS project results and describes its output of maps, reports, computer tapes, and other products. CARETS used a geographic information system model under which land use maps were prepared from sensor data, then digitized, processed, and linked to other environmental and social data sets, and to environmental consequences such as air pollution, stream runoff, local climatic factors, and coastal erosion. Landsat data showed the test region in 1972 to be nine percent urban and built-up land, 38 percent agriculture, 50 percent forest, three percent nonforested wetlands, and less than one percent barren land, exclusive of water-covered areas. User surveys, conferences, and workshops involving 65 agencies facilitated widespread distribution of data products and produced evaluations concerning their usefulness. We found a heterogeneous user community with diverse information needs largely preferring aerial photographs rather than satellite multispectral scanner data. Among project recommendations are establishment of a network of regional land resource information centers, working toward improved compatibility of Federal, State and local information programs supportive of land use decisions.

Land use↗
DOE OSTI2021

A geospatial environmental and techno-economic framework for sustainable phosphorus management at livestock facilities

Nutrient pollution of waterbodies is a major worldwide water quality problem. Excessive use and discharge of nutrients can lead to eutrophication and algal blooms in fresh and marine waters, resulting in environmental problems associated with hypoxia, public health issues related to the release of toxins and freshwater scarcity. A promising option to address this problem is the recovery of nutrient releases prior to being discharged into the environment. Driven by the sustainable materials management concept, the COW2NUTRIENT (Cattle Organic Waste to NUTRIent and ENergy Technologies) framework is developed for the techno-economic evaluation and selection of nutrient recovery systems at livestock facilities. Furthermore, environmental vulnerability to nutrient pollution determined through a geographic information system (GIS)-based model and techno-economic information of different state-of-the-art nutrient management technologies are combined in a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model, resulting in the selection and economic analysis of the most suitable process for each studied livestock facility. This framework has been employed for studying the implementation of sustainable phosphorus management systems at 2,217 livestock facilities in the Great Lakes area, resulting in capital expenses of 2.5 billion USD if only phosphorus recovery technologies are installed, and up to 5.2 billion USD if nutrient management is combined with biogas and power production. However, considering potential economic incentives for the recovery of phosphorus, net revenues up to 230 million USD per year can be achieved. Therefore, the framework presented reveals the potential of implementing nutrient management systems at regional scale for the abatement of phosphorus releases from livestock facilities.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tropical intertidal microbiome response to the 2024 Marine Honour oil spill

Marine fuel oil (MFO) spills in tropical coastal environments are under-characterized despite increasing risk from maritime activities. Microbial and geochemical responses to the June 2024 Marine Honour MFO spill on Singapore's intertidal sediments were analyzed in real time over 185 days. Using metagenomics and hydrocarbon profiling, microbial community shifts and hydrocarbon degradation were quantified across visibly oiled (high-impact) and clean (low-impact) sites. Microbiomes at all sites adapted rapidly to the spill through increased diversity and abundance of genes encoding alkane and aromatic compound degradation, detoxification, and biosurfactant production. The dominant hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria differed markedly from those reported in other crude oil spills and in regions with different climates. Oil deposition intensity strongly influenced microbial succession and hydrocarbon-degrading gene profiles, and this reflected early toxicity constraints in heavily oiled areas. The persistence of hydrocarbon degradation genes beyond hydrocarbon detection in sediments suggested long-term functional priming may occur. The study provides novel genome-resolved insight into the microbial response to MFO pollution, advances understanding of marine environmental biodegradation, and provides urgently needed baseline data for oil spill response strategies in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Coastal pollution↗
DOE OSTI2024

Site Suitability and Air Pollution Impacts of Composting Infrastructure for California’s Organic Waste Diversion Law

The emerging field of polaritonic chemistry explores the behavior of molecules under strong coupling with cavity modes. Despite recent developments in ab initio polaritonic methods for simulating polaritonic chemistry under electronic strong coupling, their capabilities are limited, especially in cases where the molecule also features strong electronic correlation. To bridge this gap, we have developed a novel method for cavity QED calculations utilizing the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) algorithm in conjunction with the Pauli–Fierz Hamiltonian. Our approach is applied to investigate the effect of the cavity on the S0–S1 transition of n-oligoacenes, with n ranging from 2 to 5, encompassing 22 fully correlated π orbitals in the largest pentacene molecule. Our findings indicate that the influence of the cavity intensifies with larger acenes. Additionally, we demonstrate that, unlike the full determinantal representation, DMRG efficiently optimizes and eliminates excess photonic degrees of freedom, resulting in an asymptotically constant computational cost as the photonic basis increases.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

2024 ASER Summary: Annual Site Environmental Report Summary (Rev. 2)

The Laboratory’s Governing Policy for the Environment: (1) We are committed to act as stewards of our environment to achieve our mission in accordance with all applicable environmental requirements. (2) We set continual improvement objectives and targets, measure and document our progress, and share our results with our workforce, sponsors, and the public. (3) We reduce our environmental risk through legacy cleanup, pollution prevention, and long-term management programs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2013

Environmentally Friendly Rotorcraft Concepts: 2011-2014: US/France MoA Helicopter Aeromechanics - Task 5

Motivation: Greenhouse gas concentrations have increased well beyond their pre-industrial levels due to human activities; Aircraft emissions are becoming regulated in industrialized nations, so future rotorcraft will need to be designed for minimal environmental impact. Objectives: Determine suitable metrics to measure environmental impact of rotorcraft, focusing first on air pollution; Integrate performance metrics with rotorcraft design codes; Generate rotorcraft designs with minimal environmental impact. Outcomes: Obtain an understanding of how targeting reduced emissions affects the rotorcraft design process; Advance the capability of existing rotorcraft design tools to include environmental performance metrics. Tools: Evaluation and predesign - NDARC (NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft) and CREATION (Concepts of Rotorcraft Enhanced Assessment Through Integrated Optimization Network); Flight simulation - CAMRAD II (Comprehensive Analytical Model of Rotorcraft Aerodynamics and Dynamics) and HOST (Helicopter Overall Simulation Tool).

Environmentally Friendly↗
DOE OSTI2023

Face mask integrated with flexible and wearable manganite oxide respiration sensor

Face masks are key personal protective equipment for reducing exposure to viruses and other environmental hazards such as air pollution. Integrating flexible and wearable sensors into face masks can provide valuable insights into personal and public health. The advantages that a breath-monitoring face mask requires, including multi-functional sensing ability and continuous, long-term dynamic breathing process monitoring, have been underdeveloped to date. Here, we design an effective human breath monitoring face mask based on a flexible La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 (LSMO)/Mica respiration sensor. The sensor’s capabilities and systematic measurements are investigated under two application scenes, namely clinical monitoring mode and daily monitoring mode, to monitor, recognise, and analyse different human breath status, i.e., cough, normal breath, and deep breath. This sensing system exhibits super-stability and multi-modal capabilities in continuous and long-time monitoring of the human breath. We determine that during monitoring human breath, thermal diffusion in LSMO is responsible for the change of resistance in flexible LSMO/Mica sensor. Both simulated and experimental results demonstrate good discernibility of the flexible LSMO/Mica sensor operating at different breath status. Our work opens a route for the design of novel flexible and wearable electronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bio-Based Polymers with Performance-Advantaged Properties

Bio-based compounds with unique chemical functionality can be obtained through selective transformations of plant and other non-fossil, biogenic feedstocks for the development of new polymers to displace those produced from fossil carbon feedstocks. Although substantial efforts have been invested to produce bio-based polymers that are chemically identical to and directly replace those from petroleum, a long-pursued goal is to synthesize new, sustainable, bio-based polymers that either functionally replace or exhibit performance advantages relative to incumbent polymers. Owing to anthropogenic climate change and the environmental consequences of global plastics pollution, the need to realize a bio-based materials economy at scale is critical. To that end, in this Review we describe the concept of performance-advantaged, bio-based polymers (PBPs), highlighting examples wherein superior performance is facilitated by the inherent chemical functionality of bio-based feedstocks. We focus on PBPs with C–O and C–N inter-unit chemical bonds, as these are often readily accessible from bio-based feedstocks, which are heteroatom-rich relative to petroleum-derived feedstocks. Finally, we outline guiding principles and challenges to aid progress in the development of PBPs.

bio-based feedstock↗