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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 253 records · Page 14

MIXv2: a long-term mosaic emission inventory for Asia (2010–2017)

The MIXv2 Asian emission inventory is developed under the framework of the Model Inter-Comparison Study for Asia (MICS-Asia) Phase IV and produced from a mosaic of up-to-date regional emission inventories. We estimated the emissions for anthropogenic and biomass burning sources covering 23 countries and regions in East, Southeast and South Asia and aggregated emissions to a uniform spatial and temporal resolution for seven sectors: power, industry, residential, transportation, agriculture, open biomass burning and shipping. Compared to MIXv1, we extended the dataset to 2010–2017, included emissions of open biomass burning and shipping, and provided model-ready emissions of SAPRC99, SAPRC07, and CB05. A series of unit-based point source information was incorporated covering power plants in China and India. A consistent speciation framework for non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) was applied to develop emissions by three chemical mechanisms. The total Asian emissions for anthropogenic/open biomass sectors in 2017 are estimated as follows: 41.6/1.1 Tg NO x , 33.2/0.1 Tg SO 2 , 258.2/20.6 Tg CO, 61.8/8.2 Tg NMVOC, 28.3/0.3 Tg NH 3 , 24.0/2.6 Tg PM 10 , 16.7/2.0 Tg PM 2.5 , 2.7/0.1 Tg BC (black carbon), 5.3/0.9 Tg OC (organic carbon), and 18.0/0.4 Pg CO 2 . The contributions of India and Southeast Asia were emerging in Asia during 2010–2017, especially for SO 2 , NH 3 and particulate matter. Gridded emissions at a spatial resolution of 0.1° with monthly variations are now publicly available. This updated long-term emission mosaic inventory is ready to facilitate air quality and climate model simulations, as well as policymaking and associated analyses.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A Generic Biogeochemical Module for Earth System Models: Next Generation BioGeoChemical Module (NGBGC), Version 1.0

Physical and biogeochemical processes regulate soil carbon dynamics and CO2 flux to and from atmosphere, influencing global climate changes. Integration of these processes into earth system models (e.g., community land models (CLM)), however, currently faces three major challenges: 1) extensive efforts are required to modify modeling structures and to rewrite computer programs to incorporate new or updated processes as new knowledge is being generated, 2) computational cost is prohibitively expensive to simulate biogeochemical processes in land models due to large variations in the rates of biogeochemical processes, and 3) various mathematical representations of biogeochemical processes exist to incorporate different aspects of fundamental mechanisms, but systematic evaluation of the different mathematical representations is difficult, if not possible. To address these challenges, we propose a new computational framework to easily incorporate physical and biogeochemical processes into land models. The new framework consists of a new biogeochemical module with a generic algorithm and reaction database so that new and updated processes can be incorporated into land models without the need to manually set up the ordinary differential equations to be solved numerically. The reaction database consists of processes of nutrient flow through the terrestrial ecosystems in plants, litter and soil. This framework facilitates effective comparison studies of biogeochemical cycles in an ecosystem using different conceptual models under the same land modeling framework. The approach was first implemented in CLM and benchmarked against simulations from the original CLM-CN code. A case study was then provided to demonstrate the advantages of using the new approach to incorporate a phosphorus cycle into the CLM model. To our knowledge, the phosphorus-incorporated CLM is a new model that can be used to simulate phosphorus limitation on the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems.

Fang, Yilin↗

Impact of storage and extraction methods on peat soil microbiomes

Recovered microbial community structure is known to be influenced by sample storage conditions and nucleic acid extraction methods, and the impact varies by sample type. Peat soils store a large portion of soil carbon and their microbiomes mediate climate feedbacks. Here, we tested three storage conditions and five extraction protocols on peat soils from three physicochemically distinct habitats in Stordalen Mire, Sweden, revealing significant methodological impacts on microbial (here, meaning bacteria and archaea) community structure. Initial preservation method impacted alpha but not beta diversity, with in-field storage in LifeGuard buffer yielding roughly two-thirds the richness of in-field flash-freezing or transport from the field on ice (all samples were stored at −80 °C after return from the field). Nucleic acid extraction method impacted both alpha and beta diversity; one method (the PowerSoil Total RNA Isolation kit with DNA Elution Accessory kit) diverged from the others (PowerMax Soil DNA Isolation kit-High Humic Acid Protocol, and three variations of a modifiedPowerMax Soil DNA/RNA isolation kit), capturing more diverse microbial taxa, with divergent community structures. Although habitat and sample depth still consistently dominated community variation, method-based biases in microbiome recovery for these climatologically-relevant soils are significant, and underscore the importance of methodological consistency for accurate inter-study comparisons, long-term monitoring, and consistent ecological interpretations.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

CO2 interaction with geomaterials.

This work compares the sorption and swelling processes associated with CO2-coal and CO2-clay interactions. We investigated the mechanisms of interaction related to CO2 adsortion in micropores, intercalation into sub-micropores, dissolution in solid matrix, the role of water, and the associated changes in reservoir permeability, for applications in CO2 sequestration and enhanced coal bed methane recovery. The structural changes caused by CO2 have been investigated. A high-pressure micro-dilatometer was equipped to investigate the effect of CO2 pressure on the thermoplastic properties of coal. Using an identical dilatometer, Rashid Khan (1985) performed experiments with CO2 that revealed a dramatic reduction in the softening temperature of coal when exposed to high-pressure CO2. A set of experiments was designed for -20+45-mesh samples of Argonne Premium Pocahontas No.3 coal, which is similar in proximate and ultimate analysis to the Lower Kittanning seam coal that Khan used in his experiments. No dramatic decrease in coal softening temperature has been observed in high-pressure CO2 that would corroborate the prior work of Khan. Thus, conventional polymer (or 'geopolymer') theories may not be directly applicable to CO2 interaction with coals. Clays are similar to coals in that they represent abundant geomaterials with well-developed microporous structure. We evaluated the CO2 sequestration potential of clays relative to coals and investigated the factors that affect the sorption capacity, rates, and permanence of CO2 trapping. For the geomaterials comparison studies, we used source clay samples from The Clay Minerals Society. Preliminary results showed that expandable clays have CO2 sorption capacities comparable to those of coal. We analyzed sorption isotherms, XRD, DRIFTS (infrared reflectance spectra at non-ambient conditions), and TGA-MS (thermal gravimetric analysis) data to compare the effects of various factors on CO2 trapping. In montmorillonite, CO2 molecules may remain trapped for several months following several hours of exposure to high pressure (supercritical conditions), high temperature (above boiling point of water) or both. Such trapping is well preserved in either inert gas or the ambient environment and appears to eventually result in carbonate formation. We performed computer simulations of CO2 interaction with free cations (normal modes of CO2 and Na+CO2 were calculated using B3LYP / aug-cc-pVDZ and MP2 / aug-cc-pVDZ methods) and with clay structures containing interlayer cations (MD simulations with Clayff potentials for clay and a modified CO2 potential). Additionally, interaction of CO2 with hydrated Na-montmorillonite was studied using density functional theory with dispersion corrections. The sorption energies and the swelling behavior were investigated. Preliminary modeling results and experimental observations indicate that the presence of water molecules in the interlayer region is necessary for intercalation of CO2. Our preliminary conclusion is that CO2 molecules may intercalate into interlayer region of swelling clay and stay there via coordination to the interlayer cations.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Life Cycle GHG Emissions from Conventional Natural Gas Power Generation: Systematic Review and Harmonization (Presentation)

This research provides a systematic review and harmonization of the life cycle assessment (LCA) literature of electricity generated from conventionally produced natural gas. We focus on estimates of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted in the life cycle of electricity generation from conventionally produced natural gas in combustion turbines (NGCT) and combined-cycle (NGCC) systems. A process we term "harmonization" was employed to align several common system performance parameters and assumptions to better allow for cross-study comparisons, with the goal of clarifying central tendency and reducing variability in estimates of life cycle GHG emissions. This presentation summarizes preliminary results.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Reversible Bending Fatigue Testing on Zry-4 Surrogate Rods

Testing high-burnup spent nuclear fuel (SNF) presents many challenges in areas such as specimen preparation, specimen installation, mechanical loading, load control, measurements, data acquisition, and specimen disposal because these tasks are complicated by the radioactivity of the test specimens. Research and comparison studies conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) resulted in a new concept in 2010 for a U-frame testing setup on which to perform hot-cell reversible bending fatigue testing. Subsequently, the three-dimensional finite element analysis and the engineering design of components were completed. In 2013 the ORNL team finalized the upgrade of the U-frame testing setup and the integration of the U-frame setup into a Bose dual linear motor test bench to develop a cyclic integrated reversible-bending fatigue tester (CIRFT). A final check was conducted on the CIRFT test system in August 2013, and the CIRFT was installed in the hot cell in September 2013 to evaluate both the static and dynamic mechanical response of SNF rods under simulated loads. The fatigue responses of Zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) cladding and the role of pellet pellet and pellet clad interactions are critical to SNF vibration integrity, but such data are not available due to the unavailability of an effective testing system. While the deployment of the developed CIRFT test system in a hot cell will provide the opportunity to generate the data, the use of a surrogate rod has proven quite effective in identifying the underlying deformation mechanism of an SNF composite rod under an equivalent loading condition. This paper presents the experimental results of using surrogate rods under CIRFT reversible cyclic loading. Specifically, monotonic and cyclic bending tests were conducted on surrogate rods made of a Zry-4 tube and alumina pellet inserts, both with and without an epoxy bond.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Agent-based Large-Scale Emergency Evacuation Using Real-Time Open Government Data

The open government initiatives have provided tremendous data resources for the transportation system and emergency services in urban areas. This paper proposes a traffic simulation framework using high temporal resolution demographic data and real time open government data for evacuation planning and operation. A comparison study using real-world data in Seattle, Washington is conducted to evaluate the framework accuracy and evacuation efficiency. The successful simulations of selected area prove the concept to take advantage open government data, open source data, and high resolution demographic data in emergency management domain. There are two aspects of parameters considered in this study: user equilibrium (UE) conditions of traffic assignment model (simple Non-UE vs. iterative UE) and data temporal resolution (Daytime vs. Nighttime). Evacuation arrival rate, average travel time, and computation time are adopted as Measure of Effectiveness (MOE) for evacuation performance analysis. The temporal resolution of demographic data has significant impacts on urban transportation dynamics during evacuation scenarios. Better evacuation performance estimation can be approached by integrating both Non-UE and UE scenarios. The new framework shows flexibility in implementing different evacuation strategies and accuracy in evacuation performance. The use of this framework can be explored to day-to-day traffic assignment to support daily traffic operations.

big data↗

Analysis of Surface Chemistry and Detector Performance of Chemically Process CdZnTe crystals

The goal is to produce non-conductive smooth surfaces for fabricating low-noise and high-efficiency CdZnTe devices for gamma spectroscopy. Sample preparation and results are discussed. The researachers demonstrated various bulk defects (e.g., dislocations and sub-grain boundaries) and surface defects, and examined their effects on the performance of detectors. A comparison study was made between two chemical etchants to produce non-conductive smooth surfaces. A mixture of bromine and hydrogen peroxide proved more effective than conventional bromine etchant. Both energy resolution and detection efficiency of CZT planar detectors were noticeably increased after processing the detector crystals using improved chemical etchant and processing methods.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Revisiting Fenton Hill Phase I reservoir creation and stimulation mechanisms through the GTO code comparison effort

A series of experiments performed at the Fenton Hill hot dry rock site after stage 2 drilling of Phase I reservoir provided intriguing field observations on the reservoir’s responses to injection and venting under various conditions. Two teams participating in the US DOE Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO)’s Code Comparison Study (CCS) used different numerical codes to model these five experiments with the objective of inferring the hydraulic stimulation mechanism involved. The codes used by the two teams are based on different numerical principles, and the assumptions made were also different, due to intrinsic limitations in the codes and the modelers’ personal interpretations of the field observations. Both sets of models were able to produce the most important field observations and both found that it was the combination of the vertical gradient of the fracture opening pressure, injection volume, and the use/absence of proppant that yielded the different outcomes of the five experiments.

Fu, Pengcheng↗

How the Geothermal Community Upped the Game for Computer Codes

The Geothermal Technologies Office Code Comparison Study brought 11 research institutions together to collaborate on coupled thermal, hydrologic, geomechanical, and geochemical numerical simulators. These codes have the potential to help facilitate widespread geothermal energy development.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Assessing Fossil Fuel and Feedstock Use in the U.S. Plastics and Rubber Sector: A Supply Chain Analysis

In plastics and rubber manufacturing, fossil fuels are consumed both as an energy source and as feedstocks that are converted to higher-value products. For example, in the manufacture of polyethylene, natural gas is consumed both as a fuel and as a feedstock during ethylene production. In this work, we expand on the U.S. Department of Energy's Bandwidth Study on Energy Use and Potential Energy Savings Opportunities in U.S. Plastics and Rubber Manufacturing, which quantified onsite fuel consumption and the potential for reducing fuel consumption by increasing energy efficiency in the plastics and rubber sector. The bandwidth study did not quantify fuel consumed upstream in the supply chain or as a feedstock; however, both contribute significantly to a plastic's total fossil fuel requirements. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2014 Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) estimates that fossil fuels consumed as feedstocks account for approximately 74% of total fossil fuel consumption in the U.S. plastic resin manufacturing sector (NAICS 325211). We employ the Materials Flows through Industry (MFI) supply chain modeling tool, developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), to quantify process fuel and feedstock requirements within the supply chains of the same 10 categories of plastics and rubber commodities covered in the DOE bandwidth report. From these results, we identify supply chains that will have a high feedstock requirement even when energy efficiency is increased. We then use MFI to analyze several alternative plastics supply chains, including those utilizing biomass feedstocks and/or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste upcycling, to determine if these alternatives can potentially reduce both process fuel and feedstock requirements within the supply chains of interest. This presentation will include a case study comparison of supply chain energy consumption for petroleum-derived and bio-derived fiberglass reinforced plastic involving a novel waste PET upcycling technique recently discovered by NREL researchers.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

A Neural Lyapunov Approach to Transient Stability Assessment in Interconnected Microgrids

We propose a neural Lyapunov approach to assessing transient stability in power electronic-interfaced microgrid interconnections. The problem of transient stability assessment is cast as one of learning a neural network-structured Lyapunov function in the state space. Based on the function learned, a security region is estimated for monitoring the security of interconnected microgrids in real-time operation. The efficacy of the approach is tested and validated in a grid-connected microgrid and a three-microgrid interconnection. A comparison study suggests that the proposed method can achieve a less conservative characterization of the security region, as compared with a conventional approach.

Huang, Tong↗

Dynamic Modeling of Power Conversion Stages for an Exascale Supercomputer

In this paper a power conversion and energy consumption model for an exascale supercomputer is investigated. Power consumption, energy loss and efficiency are derived for the 27.2 MW liquid-cooled, centralized, High Performance Computing (HPC) power system, which is supplied directly from the 480 V three-phase mains. Two energy conversion stages are analyzed, measured and modeled. The model is developed in order to be adapted and implemented in a digital twin platform utilizing a Resource Allocator and Power Simulator (RAPS) module. RAPS enables estimation of potential energy savings in the direct AC power supply architecture via both conventional rectifier load sharing (commonly used in HPC systems), as well as smart rectifier load sharing. Moreover, besides the direct AC supply architecture analysis, the full direct DC supply architecture with with 1 kV DC bus were also studied. Comparison of 10 hour time frame operation of the system, with direct 480 V AC voltage supply with conventional and smart load sharing and medium dc voltage supply were done. For the direct AC supply architecture, with conventional and smart load sharing the predicted power loss was approximately 840 kW and 820 kW, respectively and the predicted total system efficiency was 92.87% and 93.05%, respectively. For the direct DC supply architecture with the 1000 V DC supply bus power loss was approximately 340 kW and the predicted total system efficiency was 97.02%.

Wojda, Rafal↗

Modeling and control of cascaded bridgeless multilevel rectifier under unbalanced load conditions

The goal of this project is to model and control a novel unidirectional cascaded multilevel bridgeless rectifier as an active front end in medium and high voltage applications. This topology has many advantages over a conventional cascaded H-bridge rectifier, such as lower implementation cost, higher reliability, and greater flexibility with similar power quality. The complete design process of the proposed converter is developed step by step in order to meet all the desired objectives. The steady-state mathematical model is used to develop a method for the voltage balancing of dc cells. Power factor analysis is discussed to mathematically derive requirements for the number of partially controlled and fully controlled H-bridges in the proposed H-bridge converter. Power loss, efficiency, and cost comparison studies between the traditional cascaded H-Bridge converter and the proposed bridgeless converter demonstrate the advantages. After exploring various well-established control methods, a novel control strategy is proposed to achieve dc voltage balancing, fast and robust grid synchronization, power factor correction, and elimination of zero crossing current distortion under both balanced and unbalanced load conditions. The converter can also be used for reactive power compensation in a grid tied power system if a sufficient number of fully controlled H-bridge modules are included. Processor-In-the-Loop (PIL) simulation has been the utilized to validate the performance of discrete control structure. Simulation and experimental results validate the models and control method.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

A first principle study for the comparison of phonon dispersion of armchair carbon and silicon nanotubes

Using first principles density functional theoretical calculations, the present paper reports a systematic study of phonon dispersion curves in pristine carbon (CNT) and silicon nanotubes (SiNT) having chirality (6,6) in the armchair configuration. Some of the phonon modes are found to have negative frequencies which leads to instability of the systems under study. The number of phonon branches has been found to be thrice as much as the number of atoms. The frequency of the higher optical bands varies from 1690 to 1957 cm{sup −1} for CNT(6,6) while it is 596 to 658 cm{sup −1} for SiNT.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗