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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 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Characterization and Optimization of the Fitting of Quantum Correlation Functions

This case study presents a characterization and optimization of an application code for extracting parton distribution functions from high energy electron-proton scattering data. Profiling this application code reveals that the phase-space density computation accounts for 93% of the overall execution time for a single iteration on a single core. When executing multiple iterations in parallel on a multicore system, the application spends 78% of its overall execution time idling due to load imbalance. We address these issues by first transforming the application code from Python to C++ and then tackling the application load imbalance via a hybrid scheduling strategy that combines dynamic and static scheduling. These techniques result in a 62% reduction in CPU idle time and a 2.46x speedup in overall execution time per node. In addition, the typically enabled power-management mechanisms in supercomputers (e.g., AMD Turbo Core, Intel Turbo Boost, and RAPL) can significantly impact intra-node scalability when more than 50% of the CPU cores are used. This finding underscores the importance of understanding system interactions with power management, as they can adversely impact application performance, and highlights the necessity of intra-node scaling tests to identify performance degradation that inter-node scaling tests might otherwise overlook.

Chuang, Pi-Yueh [Virginia Tech,Dept. of Computer S↗
DOE OSTI2017

Coupling Big Data Analytics and Reactive Transport Modeling for Cost-effective Groundwater Monitoring - 17163

This study presents an innovative approach for sustainable and cost-effective groundwater monitoring. This approach takes advantage of recent advances in various technologies: (1) in situ autonomous sensors, (2) big data analytics, and (3) parallel high-performance computing for flow and reactive transport modeling. In situ sensors are used to periodically measure the key variables (such as pH, redox potential, electrical conductivity, and groundwater level), which control contaminant mobility and the plume spatial and temporal distribution. Based on a limited number of groundwater sampling, the data analytics methods-data mining and machine learning-allow us to identify and quantify the correlations between the in situ-measured variables and contaminant concentrations, and also to detect significant changes associated with the plume mobility. In addition, a state-of-the-art parallel numerical flow and reactive transport simulator Amanzi, and uncertainty quantification software Agni are used to provide an improved physical and mechanistic understanding of the contaminated groundwater system behavior, and to predict the long-term plume distribution for optimizing and adapting the monitoring strategy. Amanzi and Agni were developed as part of the Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management (ASCEM) program of the DOE Office of Environmental Management. Such modeling is critical, particularly, for assessing the impact of climate change and associated hydrological shifts. The developed approach is expected to significantly reduce the groundwater sampling frequency and associated cost. In addition, the real-time information on plume mobility serves as an early warning system, improving the resiliency of contaminated or potentially contaminated sites. We demonstrate this approach using as an example the Savannah River Site (SRS) F-Area, where groundwater is contaminated by various radionuclides, including uranium, tritium and technetium. (authors)

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

Evaluation of SPARC divertor conditions in H-mode operation using SOLPS-ITER

The predicted divertor conditions for the SPARC tokamak are calculated using SOLPS-ITER for a range of scrape-off-layer (SOL) heat flux widths λ q , input powers, and particle fueling locations. Under H-mode scenario conditions with an upstream separatrix density of 1 x 10 20 m -3 , the most conservative range of λ q extrapolations ( 0.15 mm) results in extremely high unmitigated particle and energy fluxes to the divertor, both under full field (12.2 T) and power (P SOL = 29 MW) conditions, and 2/3 field with P SOL = 10 MW. Increasing the cross-field SOL diffusivities by 2–10× reduces the magnitude of the mitigation challenge, however strategies such as impurity seeding or strike-point-sweeping will likely still be required. A combination of steady-state and time-dependent SOLPS-ITER simulations are used to map out phase space diagrams of upstream and divertor conditions. The simulations include parallel currents but neglect cross-field drifts. At low upstream density the inner and outer divertor conditions are highly asymmetric, with a large temperature difference and significant heat fluxes driven by parallel currents. The solution has sharp bifurcations with a region of hysteresis, depending on whether the initial state is at a low or high density. This behavior is observed even when the fueling location, cross-field diffusivity, and impurity level is changed, although the density window with asymmetry is reduced with increasing diffusivity. The addition of neon impurity seeding reduces the divertor heat fluxes, but also causes a drop in the upstream electron density with fixed particle throughput. This drop can be counteracted by increased main ion throughput, however too much neon results in a back transition into the asymmetric divertor regimes suggesting a need for control of both main ion and impurity seeding levels to achieve a desired divertor state.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-G-TeP1-12: Random Repainting as Mitigation for Scanned Ion Beam Interplay Effects

Purpose: Interference of dose application in scanned beam particle therapy and organ motion may lead to interplay effects with distorted dose to target volumes. Interplay effects depend on the speed and direction of the scanning beam, leading to fringed field edges (scanning parallel to organ motion direction) or over- and under-dosed regions (both directions are orthogonal). Current repainting methods can mitigate interplay effects, but are susceptible to artefacts when only a limited number of repaints are applied. In this study a random layered-repainting strategy was investigated. Methods: Mono-energetic proton beams were irradiated to a 10 ×10 cm{sup 2} scanned field at a Varian ProBeam facility. Applied dose was measured with a 2D amorphous silicon detector mounted on a motion platform (CIRS dynamic platform). Motion was considered with different cycles, directions and translations up to ±8 mm. Dose distributions were measured for a static case, regular repainting (repeated meander-like path) and random repainting. Latter was realized by randomly distributing single spot locations during irradiation for a given number of repaints. Efficiency of repainting was analyzed by comparison to the static case. A simulation tool based on treatment logs and motion information was developed to compare measurement results to expected dose distributions. Results: Regular repainting could reduce motion artefacts, but dose distortion was strongly dependent on motion direction. Random repainting with same number of repaints (N=4) showed superior results, independent of target movement direction, while introducing slight penalty on delivery times, caused by an increase of overall scanning travel distance. The simulation tool showed good agreement to measured results. Conclusion: The results demonstrate significant improvement in terms of dose conformity when layered repainting is applied in a randomized fashion. This allows for reduced target margins during treatment planning and limited number of repaints. A combination with e.g. respiratory gating is straight-forward. Authors are employees of Varian Medical Systems Particle Therapy GmbH.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Performance Evaluation of Heterogeneous GPU Programming Frameworks for Hemodynamic Simulations

Preparing for the deployment of large scientific and engineering codes on upcoming exascale systems with GPU-dense nodes is made challenging by the unprecedented diversity of device architectures and heterogeneous programming models. In this work, we evaluate the process of porting a massively parallel, fluid dynamics code written in CUDA to SYCL, HIP, and Kokkos with a range of backends, using a combination of automated tools and manual tuning. We use a proxy application along with a custom performance model to inform the results and identify additional optimization strategies. At scale performance of the programming model implementations are evaluated on pre-production GPU node architectures for Frontier and Aurora, as well as on current NVIDIA device-based systems Summit and Polaris. Real-world workloads representing 3D blood flow calculations in complex vasculature are assessed. Our analysis highlights critical trade-offs between code performance, portability, and development time.

Martin, Aristotle↗
DOE OSTI2017

Mapping of exhaust gas recirculation and combustion-residual backflow in the intake ports of a heavy-duty diesel engine using a multiplexed multi-species absorption spectroscopy sensor [Mapping of EGR and combustion residual backflow in the intake ports of a heavy duty diesel engine using a multiplexed multi-species absorption spectroscopy sensor]

Here, the combustion-residual backflow into the intake ports of a commercial diesel engine (Cummins ISX series) was spatiotemporally mapped using a multiplexed multi-species absorption spectroscopy sensor system; the resulting cycle- and cylinder-resolved measurements are applicable for assessing cylinder charge uniformity, control strategies, and computational fluid dynamics tools. On-engine measurements were made using four compact (3/8 in Outside Diameter) stainless steel probes which enabled simultaneous multi-point measurements, required minimal engine hardware modification, and featured a novel tip design for measurement of gas flows parallel to the probe axis. Three sensor probes were used to perform simultaneous backflow measurements in intake runners corresponding to three of the six engine cylinders, and a fourth probe was installed in the intake manifold plenum for tracking dynamics introduced by an external exhaust gas recirculation mixer. Near-crank-angle resolved measurements (5 kHz, that is, 1.2 crank angle resolution at 1000 RPM) were performed during steady-state engine operation at various levels of external exhaust gas recirculation to measure the gas properties and penetration distance of the backflow into the intake runners on a cylinder- and cycle-basis. Validation of computational fluid dynamics model results is also presented to demonstrate the utility of such measurements in advancing engine research.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Strategy for Multi-Scale Single-Phase Flow Coupling

For practical nuclear engineering applications, multi-scale analysis by adopting the combined use of different scale computational tools, such as system thermal-hydraulics and CFD codes is vital when three-dimensional effects play an important role in the evolution of a given transient or accident scenario. The feasibility of coupling low-fidelity systems codes with higher fidelity CFD tools was demonstrated previously under NEAMS by coupling SAS4A/SASSYS-1 with the commercial CFD code STAR-CD and STAR-CCM+. An “adhoc” coupling strategy was implemented. With the advances in numerical techniques and software engineering, such as the availability of PETSc and MOOSE, modernization of existing systems codes or the development of new system code becomes more compelling. MOOSE (Multi-physics Object Oriented Simulation Environment) is a parallel computational framework developed at INL for enabling the solution of complex, fully-implicit multiphysics systems. It has been utilized in many nuclear applications including the system analysis codes RELAP-7 and the SFR module under current NEAMS Reactor Product Line (RPL). This motivates the development of a coupled scheme for MOOSE-based system analysis code and the commercial CFD code STAR-CCM+. STAR-CCM+ is a generalpurpose commercial CFD code using finite volume formulation for the analysis of compressible and incompressible flows and heat transfer, and it is being included in the toolkit of the NEAMS RPL. This investigation is important for the integration between the MOOSE-based system codes and the high-fidelity advanced simulation capabilities developed under the NEAMS RPL.

Hu, R.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Advanced Control of Next Generation Offshore Wind Turbines

Advanced turbine controls and structural dampers have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of energy (CoE) for offshore wind turbines. Progress made in these two areas on a Department of Energy (DoE) funded program is reported. A lidar-assisted control strategy, with objective to reduce component loads and increase energy capture, is developed and implemented. The controller has been tested in both simulations and on a 3MW utility-scale prototype. The controller results indicate a significant reduction in the tower fatigue loads. In a parallel effort, potential of a passive and semi-active tuned-mass damper (TMD) is evaluated to mitigate fatigue and extreme loads. Simulation results with passive and semi-active TMD indicate significant load reduction for tower and substructure for both fixed-bottom and floating wind turbines. Finally, levelized cost of energy modeling process to account for benefits of advanced controls is discussed.

structural dampers. cost of energy, lidar-assisted↗
DOE OSTI2019

Modern Integrated Decommissioning at Chalk River Laboratories - 19401

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), formerly Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is Canada's premier nuclear science and technology (S and T) organization in Canada. Over the next decade, CNL will be transforming its many different sites through the revitalization of essential site infrastructure, the decommissioning of aging infrastructure and a significant investment in new, world-class science facilities. In particular, the main site for CNL resides at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL), where the majority of parallel activities of revitalization and decommissioning will take place. In 2016, CRL started an ambitious ten year plan to decommission more than 120 buildings. In order to ensure this project remains on track and the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle is maintained, a strategy is required. This strategy is to focus on integrated activities, which meet/exceed international best practices, to ensure the work is carried out as efficiently as possible. Given the complexity of CRL operations and the legacy issues accumulated over 60 years of operation, CNL needed to adopt a modern and integrated approach to handle competing project priorities. As a starting point, achieving complete radiological characterization of many building structures is required. CNL engaged various vendors to modernize radiological surveys from paper records to electronic documentation, deploying modern survey tools such as data-logging instruments, gamma cameras, robotic surveying tools, and introducing tablets to improve the flow of information while workers are in the field. Once fully implemented, these improvements will ensure that quality information is readily available at all stages of decommissioning, which greatly reduces project schedules and results in important company savings. These techniques will ensure that, during planning, historic radiological survey data is easily searchable from the electronic documentation system. Any additional data required can be quickly and safety collected using robotic surveying tools in areas of higher radiation to reduce possible exposure to individuals. As decommissioning progresses, individuals in the field can use tablets, gamma cameras and data-logging instruments to accurately retrieve, collect and share data. As a result of these efforts, CNL is progressing towards becoming a leader in the field of decommissioning within Canada, applying modern techniques and best practices to reduce decommissioning project risk. Access to high quality information results in improved decommissioning plans, which will reduce the amount of rework and scheduling delays required and improve worker safety as the project is executed. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Closing the Nanographene Gap: Surface-Assisted Synthesis of Peripentacene from 6,6'-Bipentacene Precursors

The thermally induced cyclodehydrogenation reaction of 6,6'-bipentacene precursors on Au(111) yields peripentacene stabilized by surface interactions with the underlying metallic substrate. STM and atomic-resolution non-contact AFM imaging reveal rectangular flakes of nanographene featuring parallel pairs of zig-zag and armchair edges resulting from the lateral fusion of two pentacene subunits. The synthesis of a novel molecular precursor 6,6'-bipentacene, itself a synthetic target of interest for optical and electronic applications, is also reported here. The scalable synthetic strategy promises to afford access to a structurally diverse class of extended periacenes and related polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as advanced materials for electronic, spintronic, optical, and magnetic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Understanding and mitigating degradation in amine-based sorbents for CO 2 direct air capture

The success of direct air capture (DAC) of CO 2 depends on sorbents that combine high capacity, low energy requirements, and long-term durability. Amine-based sorbents-including solid-supported aminopolymers, grafted amines, and amine-functionalized resins-remain the leading candidates, but their limited lifetimes drive up costs and constrain deployment. In this review, we outline the current understanding of amine-based sorbent degradation with an emphasis on clearly identifying what is known about structure-property-performance relationships, as well as important knowledge gaps. More specifically, we discuss how polymer chemistry, sorbent design variables, and environmental and process conditions contribute to performance loss. In parallel, we outline how advances in spectroscopy, modeling, and accelerated testing are beginning to illuminate chemical and physical degradation mechanisms. Looking forward, we identify future research directions that will be critical for gaining a deeper understanding of degradation, as well as opportunities for developing innovative mitigation strategies for improving the lifetime of amine-based sorbents.

organic↗
DOE OSTI2015

Strong induced polarity between Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene) and α-SiC and its influence on dielectric permittivity and loss of their composites

Interface polarization and interface zone have been widely utilized to account for the abnormally improved dielectric properties of composites although their formation is rather vague and their influence has never been directly measured. In this work, micro α-SiC was designed as the filler particles incorporated into poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene) with internal double bonds (P(VDF-CTFE-DB)) to construct polymer micro composites through solution casting method. The dielectric constant of the composites is found to be increasing linearly as SiC content increases at lower content and the highest value is obtained as 83 at 100 Hz, which is unusually higher than both pristine polymer (13@100 Hz) and SiC filler (17@100 Hz). By studying the dielectric properties of a bilayer model composite, the real dielectric permittivity of SiC sheet and P(VDF-CTFE-DB) layer has been directly measured to be significantly enhanced than their original value. The induced polarity between high polar PVDF units in polymer matrix and the electron-hole dipoles in α-SiC is responsible for the elevated dielectric properties of both components, which could address the failure of binary series and parallel models in predicting the dielectric permittivity of 0-3 composites as well. The strong dependence of induced polarity on the volume content, thickness, and polar nature of both components strongly suggests establishing promising high induced polarity between polymer matrix and fillers may provide an alternative strategy for fabricating high-k composites.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Low-cost sensor-based damage localization for large-area monitoring of FRP composites

Abstract In recent years, there has been growing interest in self-sensing structural materials across research and industry sectors. Detecting and locating structural damage typically requires numerous sensors wired to a data acquisition (DAQ) circuit, rendering implementation impractical in real structures. This paper proposes an innovative, cost-effective sensor network for damage detection and localization in fiber-reinforced polymer composites. The innovation encompasses three key elements: (1) utilizing carbon fiber tows within the composite as piezoresistive sensors, eliminating the need for additional foreign sensor devices; (2) introducing a novel sensor layout wherein sensor tow branches with varied resistance values are connected in parallel, reducing the number of connections to the DAQ circuit and cutting manufacturing costs significantly; (3) developing a practical sensor terminal fabrication technique to minimize manufacturing expenses. The proposed design methodology for the branch resistance values is first validated using a demonstration panel. Subsequently, the overall strategy is assessed by conducting impact tests on carbon and glass fiber-reinforced composite specimens. Results validate the sensor’s ability to accurately detect and locate structural damage.

Demo, Luke B. (ORCID:0000000208806522)↗
DOE OSTI2026

CORE-BFS: Communication-Optimized REctangular-partitioned BFS Achieving 160.845 TeraTEPS on Frontier Supercomputer

Distributed Breadth-First Search (BFS) is fundamental to many large-scale graph applications, but its performance on parallel systems is often limited by high communication overhead. This paper presents CORE-BFS, an extremely scalable GPU-based BFS implementation that introduces a unique rectangular 2D partitioning-based design for Frontier supercomputer. To further improve performance, we propose four key optimizations: (1) Rectangular 2D-partition specific data formats that use two compressed row and one compressed column status array bitmaps combined with a Double Compressed Sparse Row (DCSR) format per partition, reducing memory footprint and inter-rank traffic; (2) Adaptive frontier & communication strategy that unifies top-down and bottom-up traversal on the rectangular layout, uses lazy synchronization in top-down levels, and switches variants based on frontier size to minimize communication overhead; (3) Frontier-split degree-aware update that maps frontier vertices to thread-centric, wavefront-centric, and block-centric kernels based on their degree to improve GPU utilization and memory coalescing; (4) Row-reduction pipeline that overlaps bottom-up adjacency list processing with row-wise bitmap reduction to hide inter-rank latency. Together, these techniques increase parallelism while reducing memory and communication overhead. On the Graph500 benchmark, CORE - BFS scales up to 9,248 Frontier nodes with scale-42 graphs and reaches 160.845 TTEPS, delivering a 5.42 × speedup over our previous Frontier implementation.

Yang, Haoshen [Rutgers University]↗
DOE OSTI2013

System-Scale Model of Aquifer, Vadose Zone, and River Interactions for the Hanford 300 Area - Application to Uranium Reactive Transport

This report represents a synthesis and integration of basic and applied research into a system-scale model of the Hanford 300 Area groundwater uranium plume, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Richland Operations (DOE-RL) office. The report integrates research findings and data from DOE Office of Science (DOE-SC), Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM), and DOE-RL projects, and from the site remediation and closure contractor, Washington Closure Hanford, LLC (WCH). The three-dimensional, system-scale model addresses water flow and reactive transport of uranium for the coupled vadose zone, unconfined aquifer, and Columbia River shoreline of the Hanford 300 Area. The system-scale model of the 300 Area was developed to be a decision-support tool to evaluate processes of the total system affecting the groundwater uranium plume. The model can also be used to address “what if” questions regarding different remediation endpoints, and to assist in design and evaluation of field remediation efforts. For example, the proposed cleanup plan for the Hanford 300 Area includes removal, treatment, and disposal of contaminated sediments from known waste sites, enhanced attenuation of uranium hot spots in the vadose and periodically rewetted zone, and continued monitoring of groundwater with institutional controls. Illustrative simulations of polyphosphate infiltration were performed to demonstrate the ability of the system-scale model to address these types of questions. The use of this model in conjunction with continued field monitoring is expected to provide a rigorous basis for developing operational strategies for field remediation and for defining defensible remediation endpoints.

uranium reactive transport, parallel computing↗
DOE OSTI2026

Microchannel-based Membrane-less Extraction of Li from Unconventional Lithium Sources & the Separation of REE

This final report provides an overview of the Project's entire duration, covering July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023. It primarily focuses on the achievements, technological developments, and unique challenges the team faced while working on separating and extracting Lithium from produced waters. The project's primary aim was to create an integrated, high-throughput, membrane-less, and modular microfluidic platform that could extract Lithium from unconventional sources. We have successfully met all goals and milestones envisioned in the SOPO document. The most critical primary milestones, including the Go-No-Go milestone (refer to the Gantt chart in the Appendices), were successfully accomplished. We demonstrated phase separation (>90%) and extraction (>85%) performance in the MPSE using synthetic, and representative produced water composition feed at 50 ml/min total flow through MPSE 36. We have also performed a parametric study of the MPSE operations, beyond the scope of SOPO, exploring operating conditions of current and broader interest. The extended investigation of operational parameters is concurrent with our efforts to seek further development of the MPSE technology beyond the scope of the Project. Along these lines of development, we have made efforts to be responsive to DOE calls for technological developments of other types of resources (beyond PW) for the recovery of Critical Materials and higher TRL development (beyond TRL 4). During the work on this Project, we developed and implemented three innovative technical approaches that emerged from our efforts to successfully meet the Project milestones. The innovative & original technical approaches developed and implemented in this Project are now the contributions to process engineering that could be clearly credited to the Project. First, Convergent Design Approach is a comprehensive feedforward & feedback loop of four design phases: i) design for functionality, ii) design for manufacturing, iii) design for sustainability, and iv) design for market. Next was Process Intensification. A major aim of this Project was to create an innovative phase separation & extraction microscale-based technology for Li separation – thus the words microchannel-based in the Project title. A microscale-based technology is intrinsically in the center of the Process Intensification domain as defined by its unique principles. Therefore, Process Intensification was implicitly envisioned in the Project’s SOPO. Lastly, Time Scale Analysis is a novel tool for discovering the needs and directions of Process Intensification implementations in any process technology. This Project is fully credited for developing and implementing the three novel technical approaches mentioned above. These are general contributions to process engineering that emerged from this Project. Beyond the original SOPO scope, the OSU-U.Pitt research group utilized a Convergent Design methodology, integrating first-principles mathematical modeling with experimental validation on the Minimum Development Vehicle. By creating these Digital Twins, the team rapidly assessed manufacturing iterations to support TEA analysis. This framework further enabled the development of advanced Surface Modification Techniques, where hydrophobic and oleophobic coating strategies were optimized via Digital Twin tools and validated through rigorous 100-hour longevity testing. TEA Analysis: The closing efforts of this Project were focused on the TEA analysis. TEA analysis had two primary functions: i) enabling critical assessments of design variations withing 10 the Concurrent Design Approach, thus enabling evolution of the MPSE design to reach faster- better-cheaper alternatives; and ii) to create a bridge between the accomplishments of this Project and future projects of higher TRL, beyond TRL 6 level. It is important to note that the TEA model created in the Project stirred the technological solutions for the recovery of critical materials toward a vision of a very profitable modular plant that has unique zero-waste water discharge signature. More importantly, thanks to our experimental performance data and conservative assumptions, the TEA model predicts minimal technological and investment risks. Low cost of a modular unit of a nominal capacity of [1000 tons of Li 2 CO 3 /year] positions the MPSE based technology within the reach of community investors, thus offering a paradigm shift in the development of critical technologies. The project successfully navigated two primary challenges: solvent selection and manufacturing adaptation. Restricted by the SOPO to existing literature for lithium recovery, the team identified a critical need for a "material excellence program" to develop next-generation solvents, eventually concluding with a preliminary investigation into promising Ionic Liquids (ILs). Simultaneously, COVID-19 supply chain disruptions forced a pivot from traditional manufacturing to advanced additive methods at ATAMI-OSU. By transitioning from stainless steel to 3D-printed polymer substrates, the team achieved a transformative three-order-of- magnitude reduction in manufacturing costs and compressed prototyping timelines from several months to just two days. The MPSE technology offers significant energy, environmental, and economic advantages by overcoming the traditional bottlenecks of phase-separation hardware and contactor size. Unlike conventional mixer-settlers or membrane-based systems, MPSE operates without moving parts or fouling-prone membranes, achieving robust performance even with challenging, viscous, or particulate-heavy feeds. Key performance metrics include an energy intensity reduction of 5–50x (3–40 kJ/m 3 ) compared to incumbent technologies and a dramatic reduction of processing time to under 60 seconds, which drastically reduces the physical plant footprint. These technical efficiencies translate into superior economic outcomes; for a 100 t/year Li 2 CO 3 facility, implementing MPSE is projected to nearly halve contactor CAPEX (from $\$$6.08M to $\$$3.01M) and significantly increase the project's Net Present Value (NPV), derisking new investment and enabling distributed critical-mineral processing configurations. The commercialization of MPSE technology is being spearheaded by Vigsur Dynamics Inc., which has adopted a structured, parallel approach to technical and business development since its formation in January 2026. Following extensive customer discovery and engagement with the Oregon State University accelerator, Vigsur Dynamics is working to establish a business model that transitions from pilot demonstrations to modular hardware sales, ultimately aiming for a "build-own-operate" service strategy. Current technical milestones—including 100 hours of continuous operation, superior energy efficiency, and successful 6-unit modular scale-up— provide a foundation for this transition. Backed by ongoing IP licensing and a growing network of industrial and venture advisors, the company is actively de-risking the platform to replace conventional mixer-settler systems in the critical minerals market.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-D-BRE-06: Modeling the Dosimetric Effects of Volumetric and Layer-Based Repainting Strategies in Spot Scanning Proton Treatment Plans

Purpose: To compare multiple repainting techniques as strategies for mitigating the interplay effect in free-breathing, spot scanning proton plans. Methods: An analytic routine modeled three-dimensional dose distributions of pencil-beam proton plans delivered to a moving target. The interplay effect was studied in subsequent calculations by modeling proton delivery from a clinical synchrotron based spot scanning system and respiratory target motion, patterned from surrogate breathing traces from clinical 4DCT scans and normalized to nominal 0.5 and 1 cm amplitudes. Two distinct repainting strategies were modeled. In idealized volumetric repainting, the plan is divided up and delivered multiple times successively, with each instance only delivering a fraction of the total MU. Maximum-MU repainting involves delivering a fixed number of MU per spot and repeating a given energy layer until the prescribed MU are reached. For each of 13 patient breathing traces, the dose was computed for up to four volumetric repaints and an array of maximum-MU values. Delivery strategies were inter-compared based on target coverage, dose homogeneity, and delivery time. Results: Increasing levels of repainting generally improved plan quality and reduced dosimetric variability at the expense of longer delivery time. Motion orthogonal to the scan direction yielded substantially greater dose deviations than motion parallel to the scan direction. For a fixed delivery time, maximum-MU repainting was most effective relative to idealized volumetric repainting at small maximum-MU values. For 1 cm amplitude motion orthogonal to the scan direction, the average homogeneity metric (D5 – D95)[%] of 23.4% was reduced to 7.6% with a 168 s delivery using volumetric repainting compared with 8.7% in 157.2 s for maximum-MU repainting. The associated static target homogeneity metric was 2.5%. Conclusion: Maximum-MU repainting can provide a reasonably effective alternative to volumetric repainting for systems without the capability to switch energies rapidly.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗