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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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27 records · Page 2

Analysis of multiple access techniques in multi-satellite and multi-spot mobile satellite systems

In this paper the analysis of mobile satellite systems adopting constellations of multi-spot satellites over non-geostationary orbits is addressed. A link design procedure is outlined, taking into account system spectrum efficiency, probability of bit error and outage probability. A semi-analytic approach to the evaluation of outage probability in the presence of fading and imperfect power control is described, and applied to single channel per carrier (SCPC) and code division multiple access (CDMA) techniques. Some results are shown for the Globalstar, Iridium and Odyssey orbital configurations.

Corazza, Giovanni E.↗

AVESTAR Center for Operational Excellence of Electricity Generation Plants

To address industry challenges in attaining operational excellence for electricity generation plants, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has launched a world-class facility for Advanced Virtual Energy Simulation Training and Research (AVESTARTM). This presentation will highlight the AVESTARTM Center simulators, facilities, and comprehensive training, education, and research programs focused on the operation and control of high-efficiency, near-zero-emission electricity generation plants. The AVESTAR Center brings together state-of-the-art, real-time, high-fidelity dynamic simulators with full-scope operator training systems (OTSs) and 3D virtual immersive training systems (ITSs) into an integrated energy plant and control room environment. AVESTAR’s initial offering combines--for the first time--a “gasification with CO2 capture” process simulator with a “combined-cycle” power simulator together in a single OTS/ITS solution for an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant with carbon dioxide (CO2) capture. IGCC systems are an attractive technology option for power generation, especially when capturing and storing CO2 is necessary to satisfy emission targets. The AVESTAR training program offers a variety of courses that merge classroom learning, simulator-based OTS learning in a control-room operations environment, and immersive learning in the interactive 3D virtual plant environment or ITS. All of the courses introduce trainees to base-load plant operation, control, startups, and shutdowns. Advanced courses require participants to become familiar with coordinated control, fuel switching, power-demand load shedding, and load following, as well as to problem solve equipment and process malfunctions. Designed to ensure work force development, training is offered for control room and plant field operators, as well as engineers and managers. Such comprehensive simulator-based instruction allows for realistic training without compromising worker, equipment, and environmental safety. It also better prepares operators and engineers to manage the plant closer to economic constraints while minimizing or avoiding the impact of any potentially harmful, wasteful, or inefficient events. The AVESTAR Center is also used to augment graduate and undergraduate engineering education in the areas of process simulation, dynamics, control, and safety. Students and researchers gain hands-on simulator-based training experience and learn how the commercial-scale power plants respond dynamically to changes in manipulated inputs, such as coal feed flow rate and power demand. Students also analyze how the regulatory control system impacts power plant performance and stability. In addition, students practice start-up, shutdown, and malfunction scenarios. The 3D virtual ITSs are used for plant familiarization, walk-through, equipment animations, and safety scenarios. To further leverage the AVESTAR facilities and simulators, NETL and its university partners are pursuing an innovative and collaborative R&D program. In the area of process control, AVESTAR researchers are developing enhanced strategies for regulatory control and coordinated plant-wide control, including gasifier and gas turbine lead, as well as advanced process control using model predictive control (MPC) techniques. Other AVESTAR R&D focus areas include high-fidelity equipment modeling using partial differential equations, dynamic reduced order modeling, optimal sensor placement, 3D virtual plant simulation, and modern grid. NETL and its partners plan to continue building the AVESTAR portfolio of dynamic simulators, immersive training systems, and advanced research capabilities to satisfy industry’s growing need for training and experience with the operation and control of clean energy plants. Future dynamic simulators under development include natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) and supercritical pulverized coal (SCPC) plants with post-combustion CO2 capture. These dynamic simulators are targeted for use in establishing a Virtual Carbon Capture Center (VCCC), similar in concept to the DOE’s National Carbon Capture Center for slipstream testing. The VCCC will enable developers of CO2 capture technologies to integrate, test, and optimize the operation of their dynamic capture models within the context of baseline power plant dynamic models. The objective is to provide hands-on, simulator-based “learn-by-operating” test platforms to accelerate the scale-up and deployment of CO2 capture technologies. Future AVESTAR plans also include pursuing R&D on the dynamics, operation, and control of integrated electricity generation and storage systems for the modern grid era. Special emphasis will be given to combining load-following energy plants with renewable and distributed generating supplies and fast-ramping energy storage systems to provide near constant baseload power.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Dynamic modeling and transient studies of a solid-sorbent adsorber for CO{sub 2} capture

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI) is dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of carbon capture technologies from discovery to development, demonstration, and ultimately the widespread deployment to hundreds of power plants. In this multi-lab initiative in partnership with academic and industrial institutions, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) leads the development of a multi-scale modeling and simulation toolset for rapid evaluation and deployment of carbon capture systems. One element of the CCSI is focused on optimizing the operation and control of carbon capture systems since this can have a significant impact on the extent and the rate at which commercial-scale capture processes will be scaled-up, deployed, and used in the years to come. Capture processes must be capable of operating over a wide range of transient events, malfunctions, and disturbances, as well as under uncertainties. As part of this work, dynamic simulation and control models, methods, and tools are being developed for CO{sub 2} capture and compression processes and their integration with a baseline commercial-scale supercritical pulverized coal (SCPC) power plant. Solid-sorbent-based post-combustion capture technology was chosen as the first industry challenge problem for CCSI because significant work remains to define and optimize the reactors and processes needed for successful sorbent capture systems. Sorbents offer an advantage because they can reduce the regeneration energy associated with CO{sub 2} capture, thus reducing the parasitic load. In view of this, the current paper focuses on development of a dynamic model of a solid-sorbent CO{sub 2} adsorber-reactor and an analysis of its transient performance with respect to several typical process disturbances. A one-dimensional, non-isothermal, pressure-driven dynamic model of a two-stage bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) adsorber-reactor is developed in Aspen Custom Modeler (ACM). The BFB stages are of overflow-type configuration where the solids leave the stage by flowing over the overflow-weir. Each bed is divided into three regions, namely emulsion, bubble, and cloud-wake regions. In all three regions, the model considers mass and energy balances. Along with the models of the BFB stages, models of other associated hardware are developed and integrated in a single flowsheet. A valid pressure-flow network is developed and a lower-level control system is designed so that the overall CO{sub 2} capture can be maintained at a desired level in face of the typical disturbances. The dynamic model is used for studying the transient responses of a number of important process variables as a result of the disturbances that are typical of post-combustion CO{sub 2} capture processes.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

EVALUATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE FROM EXISTING COAL FIRED PLANTS BY HYBRID SORPTION USING SOLID SORBENTS

Under contract DE-FE0007603, the University of North Dakota conducted the project Evaluation of Carbon Dioxide Capture from Existing Coal Fired Plants by Hybrid Sorption Using Solid Sorbents. As an important element of this effort, a Technical and Economic Feasibility Study was conducted by Barr Engineering Co. (Barr) in association with the University of North Dakota. The assessment developed a process flow diagram, major equipment list, heat balances for the SCPC power plant, capital cost estimate, operating cost estimate, levelized cost of electricity, cost of CO2 capture ($/ton) and three sensitivity cases for the CACHYS™ process.

Benson, Steven↗

Enabling Coal Technology with Carbon Capture for Future Markets with Flameless Pressurized Oxy-Combustion (FPO)

Future markets for power are expected to require more load following power plants, which reduces output during the night and early morning. This is when the demand for electricity is the lowest, so plants must respond rapidly at any time to peak loads resulting from the variable output of wind and solar power. A coal power plant based on Flameless Pressurized Oxy-combustion (FPO) can go from 5% to 100% of capacity rate in less than 30 minutes in response to fluctuating demand, operating at capacity when power prices are highest. FPO is a proven oxy-combustion technology that was developed to recover energy from low ranking coal, other brown fuels and wastes. ITEA began developing FPO in 2003 on a 5-MWth pilot in Gioia del Colle, Italy, to destroy hazardous industrial waste and as such, design objectives were very high combustion efficiencies and capture of metals in the fuel in the vitreous slag. The technology was subsequently deployed in 2009 at the 15-MWth scale at the Jurong Island petrochemical cluster in Singapore for waste incineration. FPO is an oxy-combustion process whereby oxygen is separated from the air, and it is used in combustion with recirculated flue gas to maintain combustion temperatures at acceptable levels. The resultant flue gas is primarily CO 2 and water, which allows for a relatively simple and cheap CO 2 capture process. This is in contrast to air-combustion systems which require a complex and costly post-combustion capture (PCC) process. Coal is fed to the combustor slurried in water, and the combustor operates at elevated pressure (approximately 12 bar) which improves the overall efficiency and reduces the size and cost of the combustor. Notably, the FPO cycle maintains high efficiency by recovering most of the heat of vaporisation of the contained water. The combustor is designed to coalesce the molten ash particles so that they settle to the chamber walls and drain to the outlet, significantly reducing the particulate content in the exhaust gas and allowing the use of coals with up to 40% alkaline ash content. FPO is a low-emission technology: zero thermal NOx minimises overall NOx; any organic nitrogen is converted to elemental nitrogen (N2). Total organic content (TOC) at combustor exit is hundreds of times lower than for traditional combustion processes, with dioxin and furans close to zero. Work commenced on a DOE funded pilot demonstration project in October 2016 to provide the design for a 50-MWth FPO pilot plant that can fire a wide range of high-to-low rank coals. The project will investigate updating and improving the cycle for power generation with CO 2 capture by incorporating a turbo-expander with a principal steam power island that utilizes a heat recovery steam generator, increasing the overall efficiency of the cycle. A cost study is also performed on the updated FPO design as part of the project. The FPO pilot plant built based on the design will then be demonstrated over a 3-year test program to generate data for the design of a commercial-scale 500 MWth firing module commercial power plant with integral carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), which could start construction in 2025. A discussion of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of various cases are presented, including a comparison of established supercritical with PCC (SCPC) technologies with FPO fitted with CO 2 compression and liquefaction, and FPO ready for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS-ready). This would enable CO 2 capture for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or sequestration when market conditions make it attractive to do so. In addition, a comparison of LCOE of FPO and conventional processes for firing low-ranking coals with high water and ash content will be provided.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Understanding the Contribution of Upstream CO2 Sources to the Total Life Cycle Impacts of Algae Biofuels

This work was presented at the TechConnect Conference in Boston, MA on June 17, 2019. NETL is evaluating the environmental life cycle impacts of algae biofuels synthesized using CO2 from five types of thermoelectric power plants. The power plants considered in the analysis are (1) Subcritical Pulverized Coal-fired Power Plant (SubPC), (2) Supercritical Pulverized Coal-fired Power (SCPC), (3) Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Power Plant (SOFC), (4) Oxycombustion Pulverized Coal Plant (OxyPC), and (5) NGCC to model algae biofuel pathways. Both flue gas and captured (amine-based solvent) CO2 scenarios are considered. Algae-to-biofuel conversion is modeled via Combined Algae Processing (CAP) and Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) pathways with the algae cultivation in open raceway ponds (ORPs) and photobioreactors (PBRs).

Krynock, Michelle↗