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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 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Extraction of valuable chemicals from food waste via computational solvent screening and experiments

About 1.3 billion tons of global food production end up in landfills and composting, leading to significant anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Extracting antioxidant and antimicrobial chemicals (flavonoids, phenolic acids, etc.) from food waste is an economically lucrative valorization strategy but is hindered by efficient solvent selection. Here we perform in silico high throughput screening to identify high solubility solvents for key phenolics and reveal more than 100+ higher-performing solvents than the traditional ethanol and methanol. Solubilities of nine shortlisted solvents are measured and found in reasonable agreement with model predictions. Analysis of the Conductor like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS) σ-profiles and Hansen Solubility Parameters reveals that polarity and hydrogen bonding make dimethylformamide (DMF) an excellent single solvent. We showcase the replacement of high-solubility toxic solvents with green mixtures and demonstrate the approach to potato peel waste. As a result, our work provides a blueprint for solvent selection and generates new insights into extraction from food waste.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1973

Remote sensing of chlorophyll and temperature in marine and fresh waters.

An airborne differential radiometer was demonstrated to be a sensitive, real-time detector of surface chlorophyll content in water bodies. The instrument continuously measures the difference in radiance between two wavelength bands, one centered near the maximum of the blue chlorophyll a absorption region and the other at a reference wavelength outside this region. Flights were made over fresh water lakes, marine waters, and an estuary, and the results were compared with 'ground truth' measurements of chlorophyll concentration. A correlation between output signal of the differential radiometer and the chlorophyll concentration was obtained. Examples of flight data are illustrated. Simultaneous airborne measurements of chlorophyll content and water temperature revealed that variations in chlorophyll are often associated with changes in temperature. Thus, simultaneous sensing of chlorophyll and temperature provides useful information for studies of marine food production, water pollution, and physical processes such as upwelling.

Arvesen, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Flight feeding systems design and evaluation. Supplement 1: Production guides

The requirements for processing, packaging, testing, and shipment of foods selected for use in the Apollo food system are presented. Specific foodstuffs chosen from the following categories are discussed: (1) soups; (2) juices; (3) breads; (4) meat and poultry products; (5) fruits and nuts; (6) desserts; and (7) beverages. Food procurement for the mobile quarantine facility and for Apollo preflight and postflight activities is also discussed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1982

A point focusing collector for an integrated water/power complex

The utilization potential of the point focusing parabolic dish is identified. Its main design parameters are summarized. Performance tests and the utilization of the collector as primary energy source in a food-water-power complex are described. Process heat, heat storage, heat transfer, and cogeneration are discussed.

Zewen, H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Investigating combustion as a method of processing inedible biomass produced in NASA's biomass production chamber

The Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Breadboard Project at the John F. Kennedy Space Center is a research program to integrate and evaluate biological processes to provide air, water, and food for humans in closed environments for space habitation. This project focuses on the use of conventional crop plants as grown in the Biomass Production Chamber (BPC) for the production and recycling of oxygen, food, and water. The inedible portion of these crops has the potential to be converted to edible biomass or directly to the elemental constituents for direct recycling. Converting inedible biomass directly, by combustion, to carbon dioxide, water, and minerals could provide a baseline for estimating partitioning of the mass balance during recycling in a CELSS. Converting the inedible biomass to carbon dioxide and water requires the same amount of oxygen that was produced by photosynthesis. The oxygen produced during crop growth is just equal to the oxygen required to oxidize all the biomass produced during growth. Thus, the amount of oxygen produced that is available for human consumption is in proportion to the amount of biomass actually utilized by humans. The remaining oxygen must be available to oxidize the rest of the biomass back to carbon dioxide and water or the system will not be a regenerative one.

Dreschel, T. W.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Microbial Burden Approach : New Monitoring Approach for Measuring Microbial Burden

Advantages of new approach for differentiating live cells/ spores from dead cells/spores. Four examples of Salmonella outbreaks leading to costly destruction of dairy products. List of possible collaboration activities between JPL and other industries (for future discussion). Limitations of traditional microbial monitoring approaches. Introduction to new approach for rapid measurement of viable (live) bacterial cells/spores and its areas of application. Detailed example for determining live spores using new approach (similar procedure for determining live cells). JPL has developed a patented approach for measuring amount of live and dead cells/spores. This novel "molecular" method takes less than 5 to 7 hrs. compared to the seven days required using conventional techniques. Conventional "molecular" techniques can not discriminate live cells/spores among dead cells/spores. The JPL-developed novel method eliminates false positive results obtained from conventional "molecular" techniques that lead to unnecessary delay in the processing and to unnecessary destruction of food products.

microbial monitoring↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Uncertainty of Crop Yield Projections Is Reduced by Improved Temperature Response Functions

Increasing the accuracy of crop productivity estimates is a key element in planning adaptation strategies to ensure global food security under climate change. Process-based crop models are effective means to project climate impact on crop yield, but have large uncertainty in yield simulations. Here, we show that variations in the mathematical functions currently used to simulate temperature responses of physiological processes in 29 wheat models account for is greater than 50% of uncertainty in simulated grain yields for mean growing season temperatures from 14 C to 33 C. We derived a set of new temperature response functions that when substituted in four wheat models reduced the error in grain yield simulations across seven global sites with different temperature regimes by 19% to 50% (42% average). We anticipate the improved temperature responses to be a key step to improve modelling of crops under rising temperature and climate change, leading to higher skill of crop yield projections.

Wang, Enli↗
DOE OSTI2025

Upstream considerations for gas fermentation processes

Gas fermentation enables the production of fuels, chemicals, and foods from gaseous carbon sources and could serve as a technology for valorizing carbon that may otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere. In this review, we focus on upstream feedstock considerations: the supply of carbon and the supply of electrical power. Electrical power serves a dual role, providing both process energy and biochemical redox potential (via hydrogen or reduced intermediates). We define gas fermentation as bioprocesses involving gaseous feedstocks metabolized by microbes, distinct from microbial electrosynthesis. Trends in CO 2 point sources and low-carbon electricity systems are analyzed, highlighting opportunities and challenges for future deployment. This review synthesizes current knowledge and identifies key R&D priorities for process integration at industrial scale.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1978

Easy Meal

The woman pictured below is sitting down to a nutritious, easily-prepared meal similar to those consumed by Apollo astronauts. The appetizing dishes shown were created simply by adding water to the contents of a Mountain House* Easy Meal package of freeze dried food. The Easy Meal line is produced by Oregon Freeze Dry Foods, Inc., Albany, Oreaon, a pioneer in freeze drying technology and a company long associated with NASA in developing suitable preparations for use on manned spacecraft. Designed to provide nutritionally balanced, attractive hot meals for senior adults, Easy Meal is an offshoot of a 1975-77 demonstration project managed by Johnson Space Center and called Meal System for the Elderly. The project sought ways to help the estimated 3.5 million elderly Americans who are unable to take advantage of existing meal programs. Such services are provided by federal, state and local agencies, but they are not available to many who live in rural areas, or others who are handicapped, temporarily ill or homebound for other reasons. Oregon Freeze Dry Foods was a participant in that multi-agency cooperative project. With its Easy Meal assortment of convenience foods pictured above left, the company is making commercially available meal packages similar to those distributed in the Meal System for the Elderly program. In the freeze drying process, water is extracted from freshly-cooked foods by dehydration at very low temperatures, as low as 50 I degrees below zero. Flavor is locked in by packaging the dried food in pouches which block out moisture and oxygen, the principal causes of food deterioration; thus the food can be stored for long periods without refrigeration. Meals are reconstituted by adding hot or cold water, depending on the type of food, and they are table ready in five to 10 minutes. Oregon Freeze Dry Foods offers five different meal packages and plans to expand the line.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effects of soybean 7S protein on the quality and digestibility of dry rice noodles under twin‐screw extrusion process

Summary Starch and protein are important components of food, the mixed system formed between them (complexes, gels, mixtures, etc.) can improve the physical and chemical properties of starch and protein, and its potential application in the food industry has also attracted widespread attention. In this study, indica rice flour and soybean 7S protein (β‐Conglycinin) were used as the experimental materials to explore the effect of soybean 7S protein addition on the quality and digestibility of rice noodles. Aims to develop rice noodles with high protein and low GI, so that people can take care of their health while satisfying their appetites. The results showed that with the increase of soybean 7S protein addition, the starch digestibility decreased, resulting in the estimated glycaemic index (eGI) and glycaemic load (GL) decreasing. However, the cooking loss rate and breakage rate of rice noodles gradually increased, the water absorption first increased and then decreased, and the taste of rice noodles is acceptable when the 7S protein addition amount is within 9%. The interaction between starch and soybean 7S protein was mediated by weak interactions such as hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic forces indicated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD).

Qiao, Fan↗
DOE OSTI2023

Enhanced, continuous, liquid-liquid extraction and in-situ separation of volatile fatty acids from fermentation broth

In 2018 alone, the US landfilled 35.3 million tons of food waste, about 24% of the total landfilled mass. In addition to the negative impacts landfills have demonstrated on the environment and human health, some states have begun to outlaw or dissuade the disposal of food waste and sewage sludge into landfills altogether. An urgent need has thus been created for the development of digestion processes like anaerobic digestion (AD) and arrested methanogenesis (AM) to convert food waste into valuable chemical products. Unfortunately, the buildup of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) during these processes eventually halts the reaction, and energy efficient methodologies for VFA removal are critical for the operation of fermenters. Additionally, VFAs themselves can serve as valuable chemical precursors, and recently AD processes have been modified to increase VFA production during fermentation. However, even with significant research over the past three decades, the separation of VFAs from the fermenter broth has remained expensive. Moreover, the separation of these VFAs from the fermenter broth may cost up to 50% of the entire process budget, hindering the widespread commercial adoption of AD and AM. Here we present a novel liquid-liquid extraction process termed CLEANS (Continuous Liquid-liquid Extraction And iN-situ Separation) as a highly efficient method for continuously separating VFAs from a real fermentation broth solely under gravity. Our optimized process (using an aqueous broth feed pH of 2.5, tri-noctylamine as an extractant, and a 10:1 ratio of aqueous broth to organic extractant), achieved a VFA distribution constant K D = 44.5 ± 7.9, a single-pass recovery = 81.3 ± 2.5%, and an extraction factor = 8.1 ± 0.3. These KD values are over an order of magnitude higher than what has been previously reported for comparable processes. A high aqueous-to-organic flowrate ratio, enabled for the first time by CLEANS, was found to be particularly crucial for achieving optimal extraction. Our separation process demonstrates excellent reproducibility and potential for scalability. The economic and environmental implications of this work are briefly discussed.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2024

Harmonizing Food Systems Emissions Accounting for More Effective Climate Action

Food systems—encompassing activities in food production, land-use change, supply chains and waste management—contribute significantly to climate change. Recent estimates indicate that food systems produce over 30% of annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (about 20% of CO 2 , 50% of CH 4 , and 75% of N 2 O), with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimating a notably broad range of 23%–42% of global GHG emissions. This paper synthesizes current research on the contributions of food systems to climate change, highlights challenges in quantifying their impact and proposes a harmonized accounting framework for more effective climate action. We recommend that an expert committee aligned with the IPCC develop guidance for food systems emissions accounting in four key areas, including: (1) defining system boundaries and nomenclature; (2) developing protocols to allocate broader sectoral emissions to food systems; (3) prioritizing critical areas for research into activity data and emissions factors; and (4) developing a balanced framework for evaluating the impact of mitigation interventions in light of other food systems imperatives. The committee should be integrated into two key international policy processes—the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Food Systems Summit—to support coordinated action towards global net-zero goals. Guidance from the committee could significantly improve the ability of governments, companies, and researchers to estimate, report, monitor and ultimately reduce the climate impacts of food systems.

GHG accounting↗
NASA NTRS2010

Comparison of Traditional and Innovative Techniques to Solve Technical Challenges

Although NASA has an adequate food system for current missions, research is required to accommodate new requirements for future NASA exploration missions. The Inadequate Food System risk reflects the need to develop requirements and technologies that will enable NASA to provide the crew with a safe, nutritious and acceptable food system while effectively balancing appropriate resources such as mass, volume, and crew time in exploratory missions. As we go deeper into space or spend more time on the International Space Station (ISS), there will be requirements for packaged food to be stored for 3 5 years. New food packaging technologies are needed that have adequate oxygen and water barrier properties to maintain the foods' quality over this extended shelf life. NASA has been unsuccessful in identify packaging materials that meet the necessary requirements when using several traditional routes including literature reviews, workshops, and internal shelf life studies on foods packaged in various packaging materials. Small Business Innovative Research grants were used for accelerating food packaging materials research with limited success. In order to accelerate the process, a theoretical challenge was submitted to InnoCentive resulting in a partial award. A similar food packaging challenge was submitted to Yet2.com and several potential commercial packaging material suppliers were identified that, at least partially, met the requirements. Comparisons and results of these challenges will be discussed.

Perchonok, Michele↗
DOE OSTI2026

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF AN ENGINEERING SCALE HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION SYSTEM

This work evaluates the Modular Hydrothermal Liquefaction System (MHTLS), an engineering-scale, integrated continuous HTL plant operated at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), for converting realistic wet wastes into energy-dense biocrudes. The production campaigns discussed here processed algae, sewage sludges, lignocellulosic blends, Industrial food waste, and engineered food-waste slurries at 350?°C and around 200?bar, with nominal feed rates of ~12?L?h?¹. We report biocrude yields and composition, establish mass and elemental (C, N) balances, and quantify energy performance via heater duties, heat-exchanger behavior, and system-level efficiencies. Biocrudes contained 76–80?wt?% C (dry, ash-free) with HHVs of 38-41?MJ?kg?¹, substantially higher than feed materials HHVs of 16.6–26.1?MJ?kg?¹ and approaching petroleum fuels. Dry, ash-free biocrude yields of 32–53?wt?% corresponded to 43–71?wt?% carbon yields, with 18–40?wt?% of feed carbon routed to the aqueous phase. Thermal efficiencies were 50-65%, and total energy efficiencies, including reactor heat input, were 35-55%. A counter-current tube-in-tube heat exchanger delivered U values of 200–450?W?m?²?K?¹, with fouling-induced declines impacting heat recovery and heater duty. The analysis highlights three priorities for the process intensification of HTL: robust, fouling-resistant heat recovery, hydrodynamically suitable reactor and heat-exchanger designs, simplified and predictable solids management, and biocrude-water separation.

Biocrude production↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) Technology Demonstration and Risk Reduction Updates FY23-FY24

The Next STEP Phase BTrash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) is being developed for a technology demonstration on the International Space Station(ISS) to process common spacecraft consumables trash such as food packaging and clothing to reduce trash storage volume, recover water, safen(e.g. reduce biological activity), and shape the trash for storage, jettison, reuse (e.g.,radiation shielding) and/or recycling. Sierra Space is developing the flight demonstration hardware and National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) continues to conduct risk reduction activities to exploreoperational scenarios, setting the stage for successful on-orbit tests. After the flight demonstration on ISS, the TCPS becomes available to be infused into NASA short-and long-term missions.This paper will discuss the rationale for the updated requirement definitions outlined in the 2023 International Conference on Environmental System TCPS paper and the ongoing risk reduction activities. In addition, drawing from lessons learned in the development of the TCPS, a discussion of other compression technologies will be introduced for various mission types.

Trash Compaction Processing System↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) Technology Demonstration and Risk Reduction Updates FY23-FY24 Presentation

The Next STEP Phase BTrash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) is being developed for a technology demonstration on the International Space Station(ISS) to process common spacecraft consumables trash such as food packaging and clothing to reduce trash storage volume, recover water, safen(e.g. reduce biological activity), and shape the trash for storage, jettison, reuse (e.g.,radiation shielding) and/or recycling. Sierra Space is developing the flight demonstration hardware and National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) continues to conduct risk reduction activities to exploreoperational scenarios, setting the stage for successful on-orbit tests. After the flight demonstration on ISS, the TCPS becomes available to be infused into NASA short-and long-term missions.This paper will discuss the rationale for the updated requirement definitions outlined in the 2023 International Conference on Environmental System TCPS paper and the ongoing risk reduction activities. In addition, drawing from lessons learned in the development of the TCPS, a discussion of other compression technologies will be introduced for various mission types.

Trash Compaction Processing System↗
DOE OSTI2021

Challenges in simulating economic effects of climate change on global agricultural markets

Abstract Many approaches have been used to investigate climate change impacts on agriculture. However, several caveats remain in this field: (i) analyses focus only on a few major crops, (ii) large differences in yield impacts are observed between projections from site-based crops models and Global Gridded Crop Models (GGCMs), (iii) climate change impacts on livestock are rarely quantified, and (iv) several causal relations among biophysical, environmental, and socioeconomic aspects are usually not taken into account. We investigate how assumptions about these four aspects affect agricultural markets, food supply, consumer well-being, and land use at global level by deploying a large-scale socioeconomic model of the global economy with detailed representation of the agricultural sector. We find global welfare impacts several times larger when climate impacts all crops and all livestock compared to a scenario with impacts limited to major crops. At the regional level, food budget can decrease by 10 to 25% in developing countries, challenging food security. The role of land area expansion as a major source of adaptation is highlighted. Climate impacts on crop yields from site-based process crop models generate more challenging socioeconomic outcomes than those from GGCMs. We conclude that the agricultural research community should expand efforts to estimate climate impacts on many more crops and livestock. Also, careful comparison of the GGCMs and traditional site-based process crop models is needed to understand their major implications for agricultural and food markets.

Gurgel, Angelo C. (ORCID:0000000183319508)↗