SEARCH · Search NASA
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
This presentation introduced critical mineral and material research from National Energy Technology Laboratory, under Department of Energy Fossil Energy and Carbon Management program.
NETL has been reviewing recently published DOE-funded FEED studies for retrofitting fossil power plants with carbon capture technology. This presentation, prepared for the 8th IEAGHG CCS Cost Network Workshop, presents learnings from reviewing these FEED studies.
This presentation at EPRI's annual Generation Sector Meeting during the Advanced Generation and Carbon Capture and Storage session provides an overview of the recently published Cost and Performance Baseline for Fossil Energy Plants – Volume 1: Bituminous Coal and Natural Gas to Electricity dated May 2025. It further connects viewers with the recently released tool/dashboard, an interactive tool that allows users to manipulate six key study parameters simultaneously for each case and visualize the impact on three metrics: 1) levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), 2) cost of CO2 captured (CCC), and 3) cost of CO2 avoided (CCA).
The growing demand for hydrogen requires the development of clean and energy-efficient technologies for its synthesis. Microwave-assisted thermocatalytic dehydrogenation of fossil fuels has demonstrated the potential to produce H2 with high yield and selectivity, and simultaneously generate valuable nanostructured carbon byproducts. In prior work, iron-based alumina (FeAlxOy) catalysts for this process were made via solution combustion synthesis (SCS). However, the effect of SCS parameters on the dehydrogenation performance is not well understood. The present study investigates this by varying the SCS fuel, Fe:Al molar ratio, and heating mode. The results show subtle changes of these parameters can result in significant differences in the phase composition, specific surface area, and microwave absorbing properties of FeAlxOy, which all affect microwave-assisted dehydrogenation. Notably, H2 selectivity can be increased from 30% to 74%. Statistical testing determined that the SCS fuel used was the most significant SCS parameter affecting dehydrogenation performance.
This NETL report provides a comprehensive techno-economic analysis of current, state-of-the-art, fossil-based ammonia production processes, explicitly utilizing natural gas as the feedstock. The study thoroughly investigates three distinct configurations: conventional Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) without carbon capture, SMR integrated with carbon capture and storage (CCS), and Autothermal Reforming (ATR) also with CCS. The analysis incorporates detailed equipment cost accounting as part of its methodology. The primary objective is to meticulously evaluate the cost and performance of these established and emerging technological pathways, considering factors such as capital expenditures, operational costs, and energy consumption. While the report acknowledges and quantifies environmental impacts, its central focus remains on the economic and technical feasibility of each process design employing these current technologies. The analysis provides a direct comparison of the Levelized Cost of Ammonia (LCOA) for each pathway, revealing how the integration of CCS within these state-of-the-art systems impacts the overall production cost. The ATR+CCS configuration, representing an advanced approach, emerged with a slightly more favorable LCOA compared to SMR+CCS. This benefit was attributed to its inherent process efficiencies, high carbon capture rates, and economy of scale advantages. The report details the energy consumption profiles for each case, including metrics like net energy consumption and thermal efficiency, which are critical for assessing the performance of these contemporary industrial processes. Sensitivity analyses further explore how variables such as natural gas price, capital costs, and capacity factors influence the LCOA across all scenarios, offering critical insights into the economic robustness and scalability of these current ammonia production technologies.
This Core Model Proposal adds fugitive CO2 emissions from coal, crude oil, and natural gas resources to the data system. It also includes an improved method to replace outlier emissions factors for fossil resources. Lastly, it makes some minor changes to the data system and Model Interface headers to fix some inconsistencies in how resource technologies are named in the XMLs.
Funding from DoE grant # FG0204-ER63721, Direct Experiments on the Ocean Disposal of Fossil Fuel CO2, supposed several postdoctoral fellows and research activities at MBARI related to ocean CO2 disposal and the biological consequences of high ocean CO2 levels on marine organisms. Postdocs supported on the project included Brad Seibel, now an associate professor at the University of Rhode Island, Jeff Drazen, now an associate professor at the University of Hawaii, and Eric Pane, who continues as a research associate at MBARI. Thus, the project contributed significantly to the professional development of young scientists.
Scleractinian corals typically form a robust calcium carbonate skeleton beneath their living tissue. This skeleton, through its trace element composition and isotope ratios, may record environmental conditions of water surrounding the coral animal. While bulk unrecrystallized aragonite coral skeletons can be used to reconstruct past ocean conditions, corals that have undergone significant diagenesis have altered geochemical signatures and are typically assumed to retain insufficient meaningful information for bulk or macrostructural analysis. However, partially recrystallized skeletons may retain organic molecular components of the skeletal organic matrix (SOM), which is secreted by the animal and directs aspects of the biomineralization process. Some SOM proteins can be retained in fossil corals and can potentially provide past oceanographic, ecological, and indirect genetic information. Here, we describe a dataset of scleractinian coral skeletons, aged from modern to Cretaceous plus a Carboniferous rugosan, characterized for their crystallography, trace element composition, and amino acid compositions. We show that some specimens that are partially recrystallized to calcite yield potentially useful biochemical information whereas complete recrystalization or silicification leads to significant alteration or loss of the SOM fraction. Our analysis is informative to biochemical-paleoceanographers as it suggests that previously discounted partially recrystallized coral skeletons may indeed still be useful at the microstructural level.
Climate change is an existential threat to the vast global permafrost domain. The diverse human cultures, ecological communities, and biogeochemical cycles of this tenth of the planet depend on the persistence of frozen conditions. The complexity, immensity, and remoteness of permafrost ecosystems make it difficult to grasp how quickly things are changing and what can be done about it. Here, we summarize terrestrial and marine changes in the permafrost domain with an eye toward global policy. While many questions remain, we know that continued fossil fuel burning is incompatible with the continued existence of the permafrost domain as we know it. If we fail to protect permafrost ecosystems, the consequences for human rights, biosphere integrity, and global climate will be severe. The policy implications are clear: the faster we reduce human emissions and draw down atmospheric CO 2 , the more of the permafrost domain we can save. Emissions reduction targets must be strengthened and accompanied by support for local peoples to protect intact ecological communities and natural carbon sinks within the permafrost domain. Some proposed geoengineering interventions such as solar shading, surface albedo modification, and vegetation manipulations are unproven and may exacerbate environmental injustice without providing lasting protection. Conversely, astounding advances in renewable energy have reopened viable pathways to halve human greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and effectively stop them well before 2050. We call on leaders, corporations, researchers, and citizens everywhere to acknowledge the global importance of the permafrost domain and work towards climate restoration and empowerment of Indigenous and immigrant communities in these regions.
In this second paper on the entire virial region of the relaxed fossil cluster RXJ 1159+5531, we present a hydrostatic analysis of the azimuthally averaged hot intracluster medium (ICM) using the results of Su et al. For a model consisting of ICM, stellar mass from the central galaxy (BCG), and an NFW dark matter (DM) halo, we obtain a good description of the projected radial profiles of ICM emissivity and temperature that yield precise constraints on the total mass profile. The BCG stellar mass component is clearly detected with a K-band stellar mass-to-light ratio, M{sub ⋆}/L{sub K}=0.61±0.11 M{sub ⊙}/L{sub ⊙}, consistent with stellar population synthesis models for a Milky Way initial mass function. We obtain a halo concentration, c{sub 200}=8.4±1.0, and virial mass, M{sub 200}=(7.9±0.6)×10{sup 13} M{sub ⊙}. For its mass, the inferred concentration is larger than most relaxed halos produced in cosmological simulations with Planck parameters, consistent with RXJ 1159+5531 forming earlier than the general halo population. The baryon fraction at r {sub 200}, f{sub b,200}=0.134±0.007, is slightly below the Planck value (0.155) for the universe. However, when we take into account the additional stellar baryons associated with non-central galaxies and the uncertain intracluster light (ICL), f{sub b,200} increases by ≈0.015, consistent with the cosmic value and therefore no significant baryon loss from the system. The total mass profile is nearly a power law over a large radial range (∼0.2–10 R {sub e}), where the corresponding density slope α obeys the α−R{sub e} scaling relation for massive early-type galaxies. Performing our analysis in the context of MOND still requires a large DM fraction (85.0%±2.5% at r = 100 kpc) similar to that obtained using the standard Newtonian approach. The detection of a plausible stellar BCG mass component distinct from the NFW DM halo in the total gravitational potential suggests that ∼10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙} represents the mass scale above which dissipation is unimportant in the formation of the central regions of galaxy clusters.
Due to a current lack of physical measurements at appropriate spatial and temporal scales, all current global maps and distributions of fossil fuel carbon dioxide (FFCO2) emissions use one or more proxies to distribute those emissions. These proxies and distribution schemes introduce additional uncertainty into these maps. This paper examines the uncertainty associated with the magnitude of gridded FFCO2 emissions. This uncertainty is gridded at the same spatial and temporal scales as the mass magnitude maps. This gridded uncertainty includes uncertainty contributions from the spatial, temporal, proxy, and magnitude components used to create the magnitude map of FFCO2 emissions. Throughout this process, when assumptions had to be made or expert judgment employed, the general tendency in most cases was toward overestimating or increasing the magnitude of uncertainty. The results of the uncertainty analysis reveal a range of 4–190 %, with an average of 120 % (2 σ ) for populated and FFCO2-emitting grid spaces over annual timescales. This paper also describes a methodological change specific to the creation of the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) FFCO2 emission maps: the change from a temporally fixed population proxy to a temporally varying population proxy.
Fossil glasses produced by impact of meteorites and asteroids with planet earth
Radiochemical measurements of fossil charged particle tracks and uranium distribution in Vaca Muerta meteorite
Growth cycles in fossil pelecypod shells and relationship to tidal cycles in earth-moon system
Relationship of geologic time and days per lunar month to growth patterns in fossil and recent molluscan shells
Paleozoic plant fossil carbohydrate components by chromatographic and enzymatic methods compared with modern plants
Mars surface coloration attributed to limonite as fossil weathering product of hydrosphere during early period in planetary evolution
Carbohydrate content range of various fossils and associated sedimentary matrix, using phenol-sulfuric acid method