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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Alternative Pozzolans for Replacement of Fly Ash in Grout: Literature Review for Continuous Improvement of Cement Waste Forms

The Department of Energy (DOE) is currently responsible for treating radioactive and mixed waste, performing environmental restoration, and closing contaminated tanks and facilities resulting from nuclear weapons production during the Cold War. Cementitious reagents are the most widely used materials for (1) chemically stabilizing and encapsulating radionuclides and hazardous metals and (2) solidifying radioactive wastewater. Cementitious grouts and flowable concretes are also the most widely used materials for tank and facility closures and are used extensively for physical as well as chemical stabilization in environmental restoration projects. Ambient temperature radioactive waste cementation is a widely used technology for producing waste forms for final disposal. The current practice of designing and testing waste forms is based on a mid to late 20th century technology approach (i.e., materials, characterization, and test methods) for generating parameters for risk assessments. DOE technology development is needed to address both current, long-term, and emerging issues in this area as new waste streams come online and as regulations, performance knowledge, and risk assessment methodology continue to evolve. Consequently, the use of cementation as a means of treating chemically challenging radioactive liquid waste streams and reactive debris requires an enduring effort.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Carbon Ores-Derived Critical Materials for Clean Energy Technology Applications

Presented at the 48th International Technical Conference on Clean Energy (Clearwater Clean Energy Conference), Clearwater, Florida, June 16-19, 2024. This presentation describes the Energy & Environmental Research Center’s development of the Upgraded Carbon Ores-to-Products (UCOP) technology to produce high‑quality graphite and other critical materials from coal and coal wastes for clean energy applications such as batteries and electrodes. It outlines the technical approach, including feedstock cleaning, controlled heat treatment, and graphitization, and presents results demonstrating high graphite purity, novel microstructures, and competitive performance relative to commercial graphite. The work highlights the potential for lower environmental impact and domestic supply chains for critical materials amid increasing global demand and supply‑chain constraints.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

Innovating the next generation of commercial smart building software

Nearly 30% of commercial building energy use is wasted due to equipment faults and HVAC controls problems. The result is increased emissions, compromised comfort and productivity, and less reliable coordination of building power needs with a clean grid. The energy impact alone represents $17 billion in potential savings. Today’s smart building software provides a robust solution to address these operational deficiencies. Energy management and information systems (EMIS) are saving up to 9% on average, with two-year paybacks. They are being incorporated into energy management processes, commissioning services, and utility programs. As effective as they are, two barriers prevent even deeper benefits; limited personnel to fix problems once they are identified, and the expense and time to manually implement changes in control systems. In partnership with the research community, the EMIS industry is developing new capabilities to overcome these barriers. Moving beyond siloed products for either fault detection and diagnostics, or optimal control, these new capabilities empower users to not only automatically identify faults, but also to push corrective action, and control improvements to their buildings. In this paper, several areas for enhancements are documented: ‘one-time’ correction of faults such as setpoints, schedules, and economizer lockouts; short-term active testing for automated proportional integral derivative (PID) loop tuning and functional testing; and continuous supervisory control for demand flexibility and year-round efficiency. Results are presented from a pair of partner implementations out of a dozen providers integrating these enhancements into their products, including field tests from across the country, and insights into operator acceptance and integration into operations and maintenance practices.

Casillas, Armando↗
DOE OSTI2021

Current status of biogas upgrading for direct biomethane use: A review

Anaerobic digestion produces biogas, a mixture of CH 4 and CO 2 , where CH 4 is a low cost, environmentally friendly, and renewable energy source. The application of biogas production is increasing rapidly as a means of reducing the pollution impact of organic biomasses. However, biogas contains unwanted elements such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, siloxanes, and carbon dioxide. To remove these elements, several biogas upgrading technologies like water scrubbing, amine scrubbing, pressure swing adsorption, and membrane separation have been developed and are being used at various commercial scales. Problems with these methods are high energy consumption, the use of expensive chemicals, and high operating cost. Therefore, a major effort is currently underway to improve the design of existing methods as well as developing innovative new upgrading technologies such as cryogenic separation and biological upgrading. Here, this review intends to provide a comprehensive overview of the limitations with the existing upgrading technologies along with recent advances in physical, chemical, and biological biogas upgrading technologies (e.g., pressure swing adsorption, membrane separation, biochar adsorption and CO 2 conversion by biological organisms) and further into possible future solutions, such as hybrid systems. Comparative studies of process complexities and associated economic concerns are also provided, and future perspectives that may facilitate research into sustainable biogas upgrading technologies are discussed, focusing in particular on cryogenic separation, novel biological techniques, biochar based upgrading and hybrid technologies incorporating two or more different methods seamlessly integrated.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Process and environmental safety of thermochemical conversion of biomass

Biomass presents a promising opportunity for converting waste into valuable energy, fuels, and chemicals through various thermochemical processes, including hydrothermal carbonization, hydrothermal liquefaction, pyrolysis, gasification, and combustion. However, these processes operate under extreme conditions, introducing significant safety hazards that necessitate meticulous management to prevent accidents. This review discusses potential hazards, risk mitigation strategies, and safety management practices, emphasizing the importance of integrated safety measures into the design and operation of these processes. It also highlights the critical need for robust safety engineering and environmental management strategies tailored to each thermo-chemical process. As these processes transition from laboratory to industrial scale, there is an imperative to develop a clear and concise pathway for emerging industries to achieve regulatory compliance, achieve safety certification, and enable effective stewardship of potential fugitive emissions. By addressing safety and environmental concerns, stakeholders can optimize economic benefits, rural development, and achieve sustained domestic energy generation benefits offered by biomass conversion technologies. Further research on plant design optimization, operational safety, environmental evaluation standardization, and innovative waste management solutions will support the safe and effective scaling of these technologies, ultimately contributing to sustainable management and resource recovery.

09 - BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Desiccants enabling energy-efficient buildings: A review

Buildings account for about 39% of the total energy consumption in the United States. Developing highly energy-efficient and environmentally friendly systems that are either actively or passively integrated into buildings plays a crucial role in decarbonizing the building sector. Among various technologies, desiccant-based energy systems have received particular attention in recent years due to their unique advantages, such as being thermally driven using low-grade waste or solar energies and being reliable over a wide range of operating ranges. Extensive research efforts have been exerted on desiccant-enabled technologies at both material and system levels aiming to increase their performance and achieve high technological readiness levels. The present review paper comprehensively discusses research works made at the system level. It overviews desiccant-based air conditioning systems, desiccant-based humidity pumps, desiccant-based thermal energy storage systems, and desiccant-based appliances. The study identifies challenges and opportunities to accelerate the commercialization of desiccant-enabled technologies. It is found that desiccant materials offer great promise to improve energy efficiency and functionality of future buildings through decoupling the latent and sensible cooling loads in air conditioning systems, humidity pumps integrated into building facades, and next-generation appliances. However, commercial viability and widespread acceptance of desiccant-based systems have been hampered by several major obstacles, including liquid and air flow mal-distribution and inferior thermo-physical properties of desiccant materials resulting in low ab/adsorption and regeneration rates and bulky/costly systems.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Ion separations with membranes

Ion separations are important for resource recovery, water treatment, and energy production and storage. Techniques such as chemical precipitation, selective adsorption, and solvent extraction are effective, but membranes may separate ions continuously with less waste and lower energy costs. Separation of monovalent and multivalent ions with nanofiltration or electrodialysis membranes already enables water softening and edible salt purification. Similar membranes are attractive as separators in vanadium redox flow batteries. Selective partitioning of divalent counter-ions into ion-exchange membranes even allows transport of these ions against their concentration gradients in salt mixtures. However, separations of ions with the same charge is more challenging. Recent research demonstrated highly selective ion “sieving” at small scales. Here, separations using electrical potentials and differences in ion electrophoretic mobilities are promising, but relatively unexplored. Carrier-mediated transport affords high selectivity in liquid membranes, but these systems are not very stable, and selective transport via hopping between anchored carriers has proven elusive. Finally, this paper discusses how concentration polarization decreases selectivities in many membrane processes. Although development of selective, inexpensive ion-separation membranes is a work in progress, successes in water softening and edible salt purification suggests that future selective membranes will serve as complementary methods to traditional purification techniques.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

FY 2021 Site Sustainability Plan

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Fiscal Year 2021 Site Sustainability Plan details the laboratory's current performance status relative federal mandates and goals pertaining to water, waste, fleet, and energy management; clean and renewable energy; green buildings; acquisition and procurement; measures, funding, and training; electronic stewardship; and organizational resilience. It also provides a road map for future site planning and development that support NREL's commitment to business operations that 1) demonstrate the incorporation of clean energy practices and 2) promote the development of a sustainable and resilient campus while growing greater technological capabilities to advance the national renewable energy marketplace.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Operational Simulation of Multi-Functional Charging Station for Sustainable Transportation

As transportation systems move toward electrification and decarbonization, multifunctional charging stations (MFCS) are emerging as key infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs). This paper presents a simulation model of an MFCS that integrates solar photovoltaic (PV), wind power, battery storage, hydrogen (\mathrm{H}_{2}) production, dual-pressure \mathrm{H}_{2} storage, fuel cells, and dynamic grid interactions. The model simulates daily operations using 5 -minute resolution data to capture realtime variability in renewable energy (RE), demand, and electricity prices. A flexible dispatch algorithm dynamically allocates energy for EV charging, \mathrm{H}_{2} production, storage, and grid transactions while respecting system constraints. Results show that the MFCS effectively prioritizes RE usage, minimizes waste, meets diverse energy demands, and achieves net operational profit. The model serves as a valuable decision-support tool for designing and optimizing integrated clean energy hubs for zero-emission transportation.

Gbadegoye, Jeremiah [University of Tennessee, Knox↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ductility of Zircaloy-4 Sibling Pin Cladding

This report summarizes the FY2022-23 work performed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) on sibling pins that are part of the High Burnup (HBU) Spent Fuel Data Project. The project is funded by the US Department of Energy’s Spent Fuel & Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Office, which is part of the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition Office.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Lightning Burnthrough to Containment Breach of 55-Gallon TRU Waste Drums

We investigated by arc-plasma heating the feasibility of attributing inherent lightning protection to 55-gallon DOT 7A, Type A, open head carbon steel drums made of 1.5 millimeter painted carbon steel, designed to protect Department of Energy transuranic nuclear waste. The Sandia Lightning Simulator transferred continuing current in 300 ampere (A), 400 A, and 500 A tests to achieve a 350 coulomb charge transfer and simulate cloud-to-ground lightning attachment to test coupons and 9 drums. A tungsten electrode was placed 0.75 inch from the drums. High-speed photography was recorded to observe the exterior containment breach, or "first light," seen on camera when burnthrough opened a hole in the containment. Sheet metal burnthrough occurred between 18 and 71 coulombs in lid and rolling hoop tests, but 12-gauge closure ring tests did not result in burnthrough, which suggests this feature may provide an inherent air terminal protective feature.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

U.S. DOE Southeast Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership

During the five-year period from September 2018 to December 2023, the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization office (IEDO) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded the Southeast Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership (Southeast CHP TAP), managed the NC Clean Energy Technology Center located at NC State University (NCSU). The Southeast CHP TAP was one of ten regional CHP TAPs established to promote and assist in transforming the market for combined heat and power (CHP) and related technologies, including district energy (DE) and waste heat to power (WHP) throughout the United States. CHP, also known as cogeneration, is an efficient and clean approach to generating on-site electric power and useful thermal energy from a single fuel source.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Improbability of Post-Closure Criticality in Compacted Criticality Control Overpacks after Room Closure at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

As part of its periodic re-certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), an operating repository in bedded salt for the disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste from atomic energy defense activities, the United States Environmental Protection Agency expects a re-evaluation of features, events, and processes, such as post-closure nuclear criticality. Although salt creep beneficially encapsulates the TRU waste in the closed WIPP repository, the spacing between an array of waste packages is disrupted as the salt creep closes disposal rooms and containers lose structural integrity. For most TRU waste, the possibility of post-closure criticality is exceedingly small either because the salt neutronically isolates TRU waste canisters or because closure of a disposal room from salt creep does not sufficiently compact the low mass of fissile material. The criticality evaluation was updated, however, because of the introduction of criticality control overpack (CCO) containers, which may dispose up to 380 fissile gram equivalent plutonium-239 in each container. The criticality potential is evaluated through high-fidelity geomechanical modeling of a disposal room filled with CCO containers during two representative conditions: (1) large salt block fall, and (2) gradual disposal room closure from salt creep. Geomechanical models of roof fall demonstrate three tiers of CCO containers are not greatly disrupted. Geomechanical models of gradual room closure from salt creep (without brine seepage and subsequent gas generation to permit maximum room closure) were used to predict irregular arrays of closely packed CCOs after 1000 years, when room closure has asymptotically approached maximum compaction. Models of spheres or cylinders with 380 fissile gram equivalent of plutonium (as oxide) at the predicted irregular compacted spacing demonstrate that an array of CCO containers is not critical when surrounded by salt and magnesium oxide, provided the mass of hydrogenous material shipped in CCO containers (usually plastics) is controlled or boron carbide (a neutron poison) is mixed with the fissile contents.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development and Characterization of Cementitious Waste Forms for Immobilization of Granular Activated Carbon, Silver Mordenite, and HEPA Filter Media Solid Secondary Waste

At the Department of Energy’s Hanford site, over 53 million gallons of chemically complex and radioactive wastes have been stored in 177 underground tanks. The Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) is under construction and is designed to treat and immobilize these wastes. During operations of WTP, solid secondary wastes (SSWs) will be generated as a result of waste treatment, vitrification, off-gas management, and supporting process activities. SSW treatment processes and resulting disposal pathways for the final disposition form of the SSW are needed to support direct feed low activity waste (DFLAW) operations and facilitate continued operation of WTP. The SSWs produced through WTP operations are expected to include used process equipment, contaminated tools and instruments, decontamination wastes, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, carbon absorption beds (granular activated carbon, GAC), silver mordenite (AgM) and spent ion-exchange resins. These waste streams are planned to be immobilized in a cementitious waste form and disposed of either as stabilized/blended (non-debris) or encapsulated (debris) in a cementitious waste form. Accordingly, cementitious waste forms from these streams were included in the 2017 Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) Performance Assessment (PA). The input data used to represent these SSW forms in the 2017 IDF PA involved many assumptions and associated uncertainties. This data limitation was due to the lack of material- and site-specific data available for representative SSW materials in cementitious matrices. To verify the assumed values used in the IDF PA and fill this limitation in available data, Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS), has initiated a program targeted toward gathering site specific data relevant to Hanford SSW disposal. The work within this report is a continuation of this ongoing program.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Structures and Free Energies of Cerium Ions in Acidic Electrolytes

The Ce 3+ /Ce 4+ redox potential changes with the electrolyte, which could be due to unequal anion complexation free energies between Ce 3+ and Ce 4+ or a change in the solvent electrostatic screening. Ce complexation with anions and solvent screening also affect the solubility of Ce and charge transfer kinetics for electrochemical reactions involving waste remediation and energy storage. Here, we report the structures and free energies of cerium complexes n seven acidic electrolytes based on Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure, LTV vis, and Density Functional Theory calculations. Ce 3+ coordinates with nine water molecules as [Ce(H 2 O) 9 ] 3+ in all studied electrolytes. However, Ce 4+ complexes with anions in all electrolytes except HClO 4 . Thus, our results suggest that Ce 4+ anion complexation leads to the large shifts in standard redox potential. Long range screening effects are smaller than the anion complexation energies but could be responsible for changes in the Ce solubility with acid.

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

Co-design optimization of combined heat and power-based microgrids

With the emergent need for clean and reliable energy resources, hybrid energy systems, such as the microgrid, are widely adopted in the United States. A microgrid can consist of various distributed energy resources, for instance, combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Here, the CHP module is a distributed cogeneration technology that produces electricity and recaptures heat generated as a by-product. It is an energy-efficient technology converting heat that would otherwise be wasted to valuable thermal energy. For an optimal system configuration, this study develops a novel co-design optimization framework for CHP-based cogeneration microgrids. The framework provides the stakeholder with a method to optimize investments and attain resilient operations. The proposed co-design framework has a mixed integer programming (MIP) model that outputs decisions for both plant designs and operating controls. The microgrid considered in this study contains six components: the CHP, boiler, heat recovery unit, thermal storage system, power storage system, and photovoltaic plant. After solving the MIP model, the optimal design parameters of each component can be found to minimize the total installation cost of all components in the microgrid. Furthermore, the online costs from energy production, operation, maintenance, machine startup, and disruption-induced unsatisfied loads are minimized by solving the optimal control decisions for operations. Case studies based on designing a CHP-based microgrid with empirical data are conducted. Moreover, we consider both nominal and disruptive operational scenarios to validate the performance of the proposed co-design framework in terms of a cost-effective, resilient system.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Concept of Negative Capacitance in Ionically Conductive Van der Waals Ferroelectrics

Negative capacitance (NC) provides a path to overcome the Boltzmann limit that dictates operating voltages in transistors and, therefore, may open up a path to the challenging proposition of lowering energy consumption and waste heat in nanoelectronic integrated circuits. Typically, NC effects in ferroelectric materials are based on either stabilizing a zero-polarization state or slowing down ferroelectric switching in order to access NC regimes of the free-energy distribution. Here, a fundamentally different mechanism for NC, based on CuInP 2 S 6 , a van der Waals layered ferrielectric, is demonstrated. Using density functional theory and piezo-response force microscopy, it is shown that an unusual combination of high Cu-ion mobility and its crucial role in determining polarization magnitude and orientation (P) leads to a negative slope of the polarization versus the electric field E, dP/dE < 0, which is a requirement for NC. This mechanism for NC is likely to occur in a wide class of materials, offering new possibilities for NC-based devices. Finally, the nanoscale demonstration of this mechanism can be extended to the device-level by increasing the regions of homogeneous polarization and polarization switching, for example, through strain engineering and carefully selected electric field pulses.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Passive Energy-Saving Solutions for Clothes Dryers: A Modeling and Experimental Study for Improved Efficiency and Affordability

Dryers are integral appliances in modern households, yet their significant power consumption remains a critical challenge for reducing energy bills and upgrades. This work presents the outcomes of a comprehensive investigation aimed at lowering the operating energy costs of the dryer through modeling and experimental approaches. Specifically, the objectives of this research are twofold: (1) to reduce energy consumption without negatively impacting drying performance or time; and (2) to ensure affordability by developing retrofittable solutions characterized by low cost and a quick payback period. These strategies promise universal applicability to all dryer categories, encompassing both gas and electric models, by tackling core issues such as unnecessary heat loss and excess energy supply, both prevalent across dryer designs. Our methodology combines robust modeling frameworks and experimental validation to target energy efficiency improvements through three primary pathways: (1) effective heat loss management using ultralow-cost insulation materials tailored for dryer systems; (2) heat management across the drying cycle, facilitated by passive heat transfer mechanisms, and (3) optimization of heat supply to the load to ensure precise energy delivery, minimizing waste. These innovations are designed to seamlessly integrate with existing dryer configurations, providing a scalable and retrofittable solution that ensures affordability without requiring substantial redesigns or expensive components. Using these methods, the study demonstrates improvement opportunities in dryer energy consumption while maintaining the desired performance. The modeling component utilizes computational simulations to evaluate the thermal and energy performance of these innovations under varied operational conditions, providing foundational insights for experimental design. By addressing critical areas such as heat loss, energy recovery, and supply optimization, this work proposes impactful solutions for lowering the energy costs in domestic clothes dryers. The ultralow-cost, retrofittable nature of the proposed strategies ensures widespread adoption potential across diverse dryer categories, making significant strides toward affordable household energy practices.

Cheekatamarla, Praveen [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000248827↗