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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Algorithm-guided experimentation for autonomous AI systems in self-driving laboratories

This presentation summarizes our work in the PrOMMiS project on benchmarking of data-driven optimization algorithms and their applications in self-driving laboratories. This work supports the broader project goal of accelerating the identification of promising separation methods and operating conditions for critical minerals separation processes. We present a systematic benchmarking study of 42 data-driven optimization algorithms on a broad collection of 502 test problems. The results identify BAM, GLCCLUSTER, and MULTIMIN as the most effective optimization solvers, with BAM showing the highest overall performance and solving more than 80% of the benchmark problems. The study also shows that no single solver consistently outperforms the others across all problem types, indicating that our future laboratory applications may benefit from using a small set of strong solvers rather than relying on a single method. The presentation also illustrates an in-silico chemical reactor case study showing that data-driven optimization methods can guide autonomous experimentation in a self-driving laboratory and identify optimal operating conditions within a small number of experiments. Overall, the results provide a basis for selecting efficient optimization methods and demonstrate the practical use of data-driven optimization in self-driving laboratory workflows.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2010

2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission Design Overview

Scheduled to launch in the fall of 2011 with arrival at Mars occurring in the summer of 2012, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will explore and assess whether Mars ever had conditions capable of supporting microbial life. In order to achieve its science objectives, the Mars Science Laboratory will be equipped with the most advanced suite of instruments ever sent to the surface of the Red Planet. Delivering the next mobile science laboratory safely to the surface of Mars has various key challenges derived from a strict set of requirements which include launch vehicle performance, spacecraft mass, communications coverage during Entry, Descent, and Landing, atmosphere-relative entry speeds, latitude accessibility, and dust storm season avoidance among others. The Mars Science Laboratory launch/arrival strategy selected after careful review satisfies all these mission requirements.

Mars↗
NASA NTRS2001

Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Annual Report 1999

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in the foothills near Pasadena, California, is the nation's lead center for the robotic exploration of space. Intense activity in space missions was the hallmark of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a new generation of smaller, less expensive spacecraft were sent out from Earth. From late 1998 to mid-1999, JPL launched a craft testing a futuristic ion engine, an orbiter and lander bound for Mars, a mission to fly by a comet and return a sample of its dust to Earth, a small infrared telescope, and an Earth-circling satellite that uses radar to gauge winds over the oceans. This unprecedented schedule resulted in spectacular achievements, tempered by highly visible mission losses. Weighed together, the successes and failures dramatically underscored the difficulty and risk involved in the unique business of space science and exploration. Among the achievements, the ion-engine-powered Deep Space 1, comet-bound Stardust and Earth-orbiting SeaWinds were joined by such ongoing missions as Mars Global Surveyor, Galileo and Cassini in delivering on their promise and, in some cases, providing surprising new views of space and Earth. At the same time, mission teams were disappointed by the losses of an orbiter and lander at Mars, as well as a small infrared telescope. JPL worked closely with NASA to learn from these experiences and build successful future missions. The Laboratory also achieved a key goal by winning the International Organization of Standards' 'ISO 9001' certification - a standard shared by the world's best engineering organizations. As the year rolled to a close, clocks rolled over from 1999 to 2000. Operations teams at JPL and NASA watched with satisfaction as a major campaign of Year 2000 readiness paid off with no problems among the thousands of computer systems that support the Laboratory's missions. With that auspicious beginning, JPL was positioned to step into the 21st century and embark on even yet unimagined future explorations.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA Laboratory Analysis for Manned Exploration Missions

The Exploration Laboratory Analysis (ELA) project supports the Exploration Medical Capability Element under the NASA Human Research Program. ELA instrumentation is identified as an essential capability for future exploration missions to diagnose and treat evidence-based medical conditions. However, mission architecture limits the medical equipment, consumables, and procedures that will be available to treat medical conditions during human exploration missions. Allocated resources such as mass, power, volume, and crew time must be used efficiently to optimize the delivery of in-flight medical care. Although commercial instruments can provide the blood and urine based measurements required for exploration missions, these commercial-off-the-shelf devices are prohibitive for deployment in the space environment. The objective of the ELA project is to close the technology gap of current minimally invasive laboratory capabilities and analytical measurements in a manner that the mission architecture constraints impose on exploration missions. Besides micro gravity and radiation tolerances, other principal issues that generally fail to meet NASA requirements include excessive mass, volume, power and consumables, and nominal reagent shelf-life. Though manned exploration missions will not occur for nearly a decade, NASA has already taken strides towards meeting the development of ELA medical diagnostics by developing mission requirements and concepts of operations that are coupled with strategic investments and partnerships towards meeting these challenges. This paper focuses on the remote environment, its challenges, biomedical diagnostics requirements and candidate technologies that may lead to successful blood/urine chemistry and biomolecular measurements in future space exploration missions. SUMMARY The NASA Exploration Laboratory Analysis project seeks to develop capability to diagnose anticipated space exploration medical conditions on future manned missions. To achieve this goal, NASA will leverage existing point-of-care technology to provide clinical laboratory measurements in space. This approach will place the project on a path to minimize sample, reagent consumption, mass, volume and power. For successful use in the space environment, NASA specific conditions such as micro gravity and radiation, for example, will also need to be addressed.

Exploration Medical Capability↗
DOE OSTI2015

Cold-Cap Temperature Profile Comparison between the Laboratory and Mathematical Model

The rate of waste vitrification in an electric melter is connected to the feed-to-glass conversion process, which occurs in the cold cap, a layer of reacting feed on top of molten glass. The cold cap consists of two layers: a low temperature (~100°C – ~800°C) region of unconnected feed and a high temperature (~800°C – ~1100°C) region of foam with gas bubbles and cavities mixed in the connected glass melt. A recently developed mathematical model describes the effect of the cold cap on glass production. For verification of the mathematical model, a laboratory-scale melter was used to produce a cold cap that could be cross-sectioned and polished in order to determine the temperature profile related to position in the cold cap. The cold cap from the laboratory-scale melter exhibited an accumulation of feed ~400°C due to radiant heat from the molten glass creating dry feed conditions in the melter, which was not the case in the mathematical model where wet feed conditions were calculated. Through the temperature range from ~500°C – ~1100°C, there was good agreement between the model and the laboratory cold cap. Differences were observed between the two temperature profiles due to the temperature of the glass melts and the lack of secondary foam, large cavities, and shrinkage of the primary foam bubbles upon the cooling of the laboratory-scale cold cap.

Cold Cap↗
DOE OSTI2019

Preserving the Mound Laboratory Legacy-The Mound Cold War Discovery Center - 19550

The Mound Cold War Discovery Center (MCWDC) opened at the former DOE Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg, Ohio, on April 23, 2018, approximately three years after the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management, Dayton History, the Mound Science and EnergyMuseum Association (MSEMA), and the Mound Development Corporation signed the Mound Educational Center Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). This MOA designated each party's responsibilities for the facility and laid the groundwork for DOE to enter into a Cooperative Agreement with Dayton History to design, build, and perform initial operations of the educational center. Dayton History is a nonprofit organization that operates several historical facilities in Montgomery County, Ohio. The Mound Development Corporation is the nonprofit organization that operates the Mound Business Park, privately owned property previously associated with the former DOE Mound Laboratory. The US Atomic Energy Commission began operations at the Mound Laboratory in 1948 as an integrated research, development, and production facility that supported the nation's weapons and energy programs. In October 2015, DOE entered into a five-year Cooperative Agreement with Dayton History to preserve, protect, and make accessible legacy records and information about the history of the Mound site through the development of an educational center. Years One and Two were for design and construction, respectively. Years Three through Five were for operation of the new center. The new center, located in a building owned by the Mound Development Corporation, would carry on the mission started by the MSEMA, a nonprofit organization started by former Mound site employees more than 15 years ago after DOE mission work ended at the site. As part of the cooperative agreement, Dayton History is responsible for creating interactive displays and exhibits to draw, entertain, and educate the public on the Mound site's significant contributions to the protection of the nation; developing educational programs; and initiating marketing strategies for the long-term sustainability of the educational center. In 2016, parties to the MOA officially named the facility the Mound Cold War Discovery Center. The MCWDC was designed to preserve the history of the Mound site through effective, entertaining, and efficient communication of the history of the Mound Laboratory; the site's legacy to the US weapons production complex and space exploration program; and promote understanding of what has happened at the site since DOE mission work ended, including environmental cleanup under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the regulator-approved end state of industrial/commercial land use with associated institutional controls. The cooperative agreement requires Dayton History to develop and implement marketing strategies to support the long-term sustainability of the MCWDC at the Mound site. Dayton History will submit a report after the first year of operation and every year thereafter during the period of the cooperative agreement. These reports will describe and status efforts to obtain sustainability and offer for consideration any operational changes, corrections, or suggestions that may improve the potential for sustainability. Prior to the end of the cooperative agreement, a sustainability assessment decision will be made by DOE to determine whether the MCWDC has enough community interest to financially sustain itself at the Mound site. The status of the MCWDC Legacy Fund established by Dayton History will be considered in DoE's assessment determination. If DOE determines that the MCWDC is not sustainable at the Mound site, the exhibits will be relocated to Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, with the five key exhibits that were predetermined in the MOA to be placed on permanent display, thereby maintaining the legacy of the Mound site. Dayton History is required to submit a final closeout report at the end of Year Five of the cooperative agreement. The report will describe all activities completed under the agreement, provide an assessment of how project goals were achieved or not achieved, and describe how the legacy of the site will be preserved. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Evolution of Stakeholder Relations at the Mound Laboratory-End of DoE's Mission to the Present - 19551

In November 1989, the same month the Berlin Wall fell, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed the Mound Laboratory (Mound Plant or Mound site) in Ohio on the National Priorities List (NPL) due to volatile organic compound contamination in the groundwater. As a result of the Cold War ending, the United States sought to greatly reduce the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal, consolidate the US Department of Energy's (DOE) mission, and close many DOE facilities. In 1991, the City of Miamisburg learned that DOE was planning to close the Mound Laboratory. The city spent two years lobbying in Washington, DC, to keep the facility open; however, that effort was not successful. By 1993, DOE, EPA, and Ohio EPA had signed a Federal Facility Agreement that formalized EPA and Ohio EPA oversight of the DOE environmental cleanup of the Mound NPL site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The decontamination and cleanup of the Mound site fell under two federal laws, CERCLA and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. DOE, EPA, Ohio EPA, the City of Miamisburg, and other local stakeholders all agreed that the Mound site should be cleaned up to an industrial/commercial land use standard. This would allow the site to transition into a privately owned business park. In 1994, the City of Miamisburg created the nonprofit Miamisburg Mound Community Improvement Corporation (MMCIC) that would own, market, and redevelop the site. The City also chartered the Mound Reuse Committee to act as an independent advisory organization, composed of representatives from the local community and business, government, education, and special interest groups. In 1994, DOE and the MMCIC entered into a lease agreement that facilitated immediate reuse of site buildings that were no longer required by DOE and did not require remediation. In 1995, DOE, EPA, and Ohio EPA developed the Mound 2000 Process to more effectively use CERCLA Removal Action authority to evaluate and remediate, as necessary, disparate areas of the Mound site. The Mound 2000 process divided the site into smaller, more manageable areas that accelerated cleanup and allowed areas to be reused more quickly. All areas of the Mound site were cleaned up to meet the EPA standard for industrial/commercial land use. The CERCLA process included opportunities for the public to review proposed cleanup strategies. Public input on cleanup and reuse included that from local citizens, businesses, Miamisburg City Council, local schools and financial institutions, Ohio EPA, Montgomery County, and the State of Ohio. In 1998, while site cleanup was still in process, DOE agreed to sell the entire Mound property to the MMCIC for $10.00. The site sales agreement accelerated reuse by allowing DOE to offer ownership of discrete land parcels to MMCIC as soon as EPA confirmed those areas met CERCLA standards for property transfer. This allowed the Mound site to become one of the first former DOE weapons sites to transition to reuse as a privately owned and operated community asset. Many other former DOE production facilities require continued federal ownership to protect the integrity of the environmental cleanup. In 2011, the MMCIC changed its name to the Mound Development Corporation (MDC) and continued to transition the site for reuse as part of the Mound Business Park. The MMCIC/MDC is a nonprofit economic development arm of the City of Miamisburg. DOE supported the economic development efforts with grants and matching funds. Individual land parcels were transferred from DOE to the MDC according to the DOE Mound Land Transfer Process. Ownership of parcels was transferred to the MDC via quitclaim deeds with no repair, replacements, or rebuild of areas. Each parcel's quitclaim deed contains the CERCLA institutional controls. To reduce the property tax burden, the Miamisburg City Council passed an ordinance that allowed the City to accept temporary ownership of specific parcels and hold ownership until the MDC could either lease or sell them. With the exception of one 23-acre parcel that includes the Operable Unit 1 area (site of former sanitary landfill), the entire site has been transferred to the MDC. Today, the former Mound Laboratory site is home to the vibrant Mound Business Park operated by the MDC. The site contains numerous buildings with active businesses and multiple areas suitable for new construction. Private companies continue cutting-edge work that carries forward the legacy of more than 50 years of DOE research, development, production, and inspiration from the former Mound Laboratory scientists, engineers, technicians, and support personnel. (authors)

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

Laboratory Efficiency Strategies and the Smart Labs Program

Focusing on critical spaces, such as labs, will enable agencies to prioritize federal energy efficiency and decarbonization goals. FEMP's Smart Labs program is an example of emerging efficient laboratory building strategies. The benefits of this program include improved safety and health, reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions, lower operating costs, reduced degradation, and increased retention and recruitment of top talent researchers and sciences. In this session, with the help of our national lab partners, Sandia National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, you will learn about the steps to implement a Smart Labs program of your own and the methods behind the high-performance laboratory building. The partners will share best practices in implementation, practical advice for building a team, and how to address these critical facilities.

decarbonization↗
DOE OSTI2024

Decarbonization Dilemmas: Deliberating Difficult Decisions in Laboratory Design

Dive into the depths of design and decision-making, while we discuss the decarbonization of laboratory buildings! Delve into the dense domain of laboratory design and operations, where every development presents a diverse array of dilemmas and delights. Join us for these dynamic sessions focused on decoding the secrets of sustainable success. Dig deep into the dynamic world of heat pump designs and the delicate balance of heating and cooling loads. Debate between constant and variable fume hood designs, where these decisions determine outcomes. Discover the divergent paths of HVAC system implementation, from the deployment of chilled beams to the diverse array of different terminal unit types. But don't delay; decisive action is demanded for these goals! Dare to dream of decarbonization as we direct discussions on retrofitting existing building stock versus innovative new design approaches. Delve into the depths of debate and emerge with a decisive strategy for sustainable success. Discuss recent discoveries in development from experts associated with existing laboratory buildings with decarbonization goals. These insights and lessons learned will help determine the path forward in our industry's drive for decarbonization designs. Decarbonization is no easy task, but with determination, dedication, and devotion, we can defy the odds and forge a brighter future for laboratory design and operations. Let's dare to decarbonize together!

decarbonization↗
DOE OSTI2026

Optimized manufacturing process for multilayer two-dimensional focusing mirrors in laboratory X-ray applications

Recent advances in laboratory X-ray applications require high-performance optical components that achieve exceptional imaging resolution and beam uniformity within compact experimental setups. Montel mirrors have become a preferred solution due to their unique dual-reflection focusing mechanism and a space-efficient design. Here, in this study, we present an effective manufacturing process for producing Montel mirrors tailored to focus laboratory X-ray beams. The mirrors were fabricated from single-crystal silicon substrates, chosen for their high mechanical stability and compatibility with precision polishing techniques. Our approach begins with the integration of a deterministic chemo-mechanical polishing (CMP)-based pre-shaping step followed by ion beam figuring (IBF), significantly improving manufacturing efficiency. Subsequently, our custom-developed advanced metrology and IBF techniques were employed for fabricating an off-axis, elliptical cylinder Montel mirror system with a 6-mrad total slope, with stringent optical specifications. While post-IBF processes, including multilayer coating, dicing, and gluing, introduced minor surface errors, yet their impact on performance remained negligible. The Montel mirrors manufactured with the optimized process exhibited significantly improved beam uniformity and a reduced focal spot size. These findings validate our approach as a viable solution for high-precision Montel mirror fabrication and facilitate further advancements in laboratory X-ray applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Commissioning of Extended Electron Beam Ion Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Here, the Extended Electron Beam Ion Source (EEBIS) has been installed and commissioned at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) hadron accelerator complex in the spring of 2023. EEBIS has replaced its predecessor, RhicEBIS, which provided ions for BNL hadron facilities for over a decade since 2009. The motivations for the source upgrade are to provide higher intensities of the Au 32+ ion beam for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and to provide of an intense source of polarized 3 He 2+ ions for the future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) at BNL. EEBIS is and will continue to be the primary source for a variety of different ion species for the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at BNL. EEBIS utilizes two identical, two-meter-long unshielded 5T warm bore superconducting solenoids, and it is operated with electron beam current up to 10 A, providing a high-capacity ion traps to fulfill the requirement for high intensity ion beams. The upstream solenoid contains a “short ion trap” with a length of 95 cm, while the “long ion trap” with a length of 178 cm is located inside the downstream solenoid bore. The main features of EEBIS are: * A Gas injection and ionization cell equipped with a Lorenz pulse valve * High-capacity ZAO non-evaporable getter (NEG) custom linear pumping units * In situ apparatus for pumping speed measurements to monitor NEG activation and saturation * “External drift tube” construction with differential pumping stages to provide space for Lorentz pulse valve and 3 He high-field polarization cell * A Ba oxide electron gun cathode. The design of EEBIS as well as the results of its commissioning and first-year operation are presented and discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

WHONDRS laboratory time series moisture manipulative experiment from soil core layers across eastern contiguous US: time series aerobic respiration, geochemistry, and aggregates

This dataset supports a broader study examining the effects of wetting and drying on soil layers across the eastern contiguous United States (CONUS). The dataset provides data generated from a laboratory moisture manipulation experiment. The contents include time series aerobic respiration and moisture; dissolved oxygen; sediment geochemistry data; and field metadata. Samples were collected as part of a collaboration between WHONDRS (Worldwide Hydrobiogeochemistry Observation Network for Dynamic River Systems; https://whondrs.pnnl.gov) and MONet (Molecular Observation Network; https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/monet). The field samples (soil cores) were labeled as MEL_##_COR and subsequent subsamples begin with MEL_##. Additional subsamples were taken for the laboratory experiment and were labeled as EL_##. The labels from the MEL field samples and the EL subsamples can be mapped directly based on the digits following the prefix and underscore (i.e., EL_01 is a subsample from MEL_01). See the critical details section below for more details on sample naming and experimental design.For details on how to navigate this data package, see this infographic from the River Corridor SFA https://data.ess-dive.lbl.gov/portals/PNNLRiverCorridorSFA/About.In addition to this readme, this data package also includes a file-level metadata (FLMD) file that describes each file and a data dictionary (DD) that describes all column/row headers and variable definitions.This dataset is comprised of (1) a folder containing environmental context photos; (2) file-level metadata; (3) data dictionary; (4) field metadata; (5) readme; (6) international generic sample number (IGSN) mapping file; and (7) a subfolder with soil sample data from field samples and the incubation experiment. The sample data subfolder contains (1) effect size; (2) gravimetric moisture from field samples and incubation experiment; (3) respiration rates, raw dissolved oxygen values, and plots; (4) specific conductance, pH, and temperature from the incubation; (5) soil aggregates; (6) a summary containing median values of each data type for each treatment (wet and dry) in the incubation; (7) a summary containing averages for each data type of each soil layer; and (8) methods codes. All files are .csv, .pdf, .jpeg, or .jpg.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Materials laboratories of the future for alloys, amorphous, and composite materials

In alignment with the Materials Genome Initiative and as the product of a workshop sponsored by the US National Science Foundation, we define a vision for materials laboratories of the future in alloys, amorphous materials, and composite materials; chart a roadmap for realizing this vision; identify technical bottlenecks and barriers to access; and propose pathways to equitable and democratic access to integrated toolsets in a manner that addresses urgent societal needs, accelerates technological innovation, and enhances manufacturing competitiveness. Spanning three important materials classes, this article summarizes the areas of alignment and unifying themes, distinctive needs of different materials research communities, key science drivers that cannot be accomplished within the capabilities of current materials laboratories, and open questions that need further community input. Here, we provide a broader context for the workshop, synopsize the salient findings, outline a shared vision for democratizing access and accelerating materials discovery, highlight some case studies across the three different materials classes, and identify significant issues that need further discussion.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Elemental composition of organic aerosol: The gap between ambient and laboratory measurements

Abstract A large data set including surface, aircraft, and laboratory observations of the atomic oxygen‐to‐carbon (O:C) and hydrogen‐to‐carbon (H:C) ratios of organic aerosol (OA) is synthesized and corrected using a recently reported method. The whole data set indicates a wide range of OA oxidation and a trajectory in the Van Krevelen diagram, characterized by a slope of −0.6, with variation across campaigns. We show that laboratory OA including both source and aged types explains some of the key differences in OA observed across different environments. However, the laboratory data typically fall below the mean line defined by ambient observations, and little laboratory data extend to the highest O:C ratios commonly observed in remote conditions. OA having both high O:C and high H:C are required to bridge the gaps. Aqueous‐phase oxidation may produce such OA, but experiments under realistic ambient conditions are needed to constrain the relative importance of this pathway.

Chen, Qi↗
DOE OSTI2022

Experimental validation of multiphysics model simulations of the thermal response of a cement clinker rotary kiln at laboratory scale

Abstract An increasing demand for buildings, transportation systems and civil infrastructure development has driven expansion of cement consumption world‐wide, producing a significant increase in related global energy demand. With approximately 7% of the world‐wide industrial energy consumption (10.7 exajoules [EJ]), the cement industry is the third most energy intensive industrial processes and a key component for concrete, the most consumed composite material in the global construction industry. In cement manufacturing, the cement kiln accounts for most of the energy consumption in the production process. As the heart of a cement plant, the cement kiln is where the kiln feed primarily containing calcium oxide (CaO), silica (SiO 2 ), alumina (Al 2 O 3 ), and iron (Fe 2 O 3 ) are thermally and chemically transformed into clinker minerals. The presented work developed a multiphysics model, designed and built a laboratory‐scale rotary cement clinker kiln, and produced cement clinker at laboratory‐scale. The model was developed to study the interaction between the various thermal, fluid dynamic and chemical interactions involved in the sintering process used to form Portland cement clinker in an effort to reduce energy use. The analytical model was validated through experimental testing using a unique laboratory‐scale rotary cement kiln developed during the investigation. Also demonstrated was the feasibility of producing clinker at laboratory scale. This modeling and lab scale tests were designed to better understand the clinker sintering process so that operational and quality decisions can be made to optimize energy consumption without compromising cement clinker quality. The computational fluid dynamics modeling was developed in COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0. The characteristics of the combustion fluid flow, concentration of species, temperature and heat transfer were studied for a turbulent flow of methane (CH 4 ) gas and oxygen (O 2 ). Theory suggests that heat transfer impacts the cement production process but the multiphysics model more accurately describes the convection, conduction, and radiant heat transfer in the kilning process and thus allows for a better understanding of the energy exchange driving the chemical reactions that produce Portland cement. Clinker minerals were formed because of appropriate burning conditions implemented during experimental model validation.

Tabares, Juan David↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the mobilization of metals by CO 2 leakage into shallow aquifers: exploring release mechanisms by modeling field and laboratory experiments

The dissolution of CO 2 in water leads to a pH decrease and a carbonate content increase in affected groundwater, which in turn can drive the mobilization of metals from sediments. The mechanisms of metal release postulated in various field and laboratory studies often differ. Drawing primarily on previously published results, we examine contrasting metal mobilization behaviors at two field tests and in one laboratory study, to investigate whether the same mechanisms could explain metal releases in these different experiments. Numerical modeling of the two field tests reveals that fast Ca-driven cation exchange (from calcite dissolution) can explain the release of most major and trace metal cations at both sites, and their parallel concentration trends. The dissolution of other minerals reacting more slowly (superimposed on cation exchange) also contributes to metal release over longer time frames, but can be masked by fast ambient groundwater velocities. Therefore, the magnitude and extent of mobilization depends not only on metal-mineral associations and sediment pH buffering characteristics, but also on groundwater flow rates, thus on the residence time of CO 2 -impacted groundwater relative to the rates of metal-release reactions. Sequential leaching laboratory tests modeled using the same metal-release concept as postulated from field experiments show that both field and laboratory data can be explained by the same processes. Finally, the reversibility of metal release upon CO 2 degassing by de-pressurization is also explored using simple geochemical models, and shows that the sequestration of metals by resorption and re-precipitation upon CO 2 exsolution is quite plausible and may warrant further attention.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Pollen structure visualization using high-resolution laboratory-based hard X-ray tomography

A laboratory-based X-ray microscope is used to investigate the 3D structure of unstained whole pollen grains. For the first time, high-resolution laboratory-based hard X-ray microscopy is applied to study pollen grains. Based on the efficient acquisition of statistically relevant information-rich images using Zernike phase contrast, both surface- and internal structures of pine pollen - including exine, intine and cellular structures - are clearly visualized. The specific volumes of these structures are calculated from the tomographic data. The systematic three-dimensional study of pollen grains provides morphological and structural information about taxonomic characters that are essential in palynology. Such studies have a direct impact on disciplines such as forestry, agriculture, horticulture, plant breeding and biodiversity. - Highlights: • The unstained whole pine pollen was visualized by high-resolution laboratory-based HXRM for the first time. • The comparison study of pollen grains by LM, SEM and high-resolution laboratory-based HXRM. • Phase contrast imaging provides significantly higher contrast of the raw images compared to absorption contrast imaging. • Surface and internal structure of the pine pollen including exine, intine and cellular structures are clearly visualized. • 3D volume data of unstained whole pollen grains are acquired and the specific volumes of the different layer are calculated.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Assessment of the genotoxic potential of contaminated estuarine sediments in fish peripheral blood: Laboratory versus in situ studies

Juvenile Senegalese soles (Solea senegalensis) were exposed to estuarine sediments through 28-day laboratory and in situ (field) bioassays. The sediments, collected from three distinct sites (a reference plus two contaminated) of the Sado Estuary (W Portugal) were characterized for total organic matter, redox potential, fine fraction and for the levels of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorines, namely polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichloro diphenyl tricholoethane plus its main metabolites (DDTs). Genotoxicity was determined in whole peripheral blood by the single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE or 'comet') assay and by scoring erythrocytic nuclear abnormalities (ENA). Analysis was complemented with the determination of lipid peroxidation in blood plasma by the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) protocol and cell type sorting. The results showed that exposure to contaminated sediments induced DNA fragmentation and clastogenesis. Still, laboratory exposure to the most contaminated sediment revealed a possible antagonistic effect between metallic and organic contaminants that might have been enhanced by increased bioavailability. The laboratory assay caused a more pronounced increase in ENA whereas a very significant increase in DNA fragmentation was observed in field-tested fish exposed to the reference sediment, which is likely linked to increased lipid peroxidation that probably occurred due to impaired access to food. Influence of natural pathogens was ruled out by unaltered leukocyte counts. The statistical integration of data correlated lipid peroxidation with biological variables such as fish length and weight, whereas the genotoxicity biomarkers were more correlated to sediment contamination. It was demonstrated that laboratory and field bioassays for the risk assessment of sediment contamination may yield different genotoxicity profiles although both provided results that are in overall accordance with sediment contamination levels. While field assays may provide more ecologically relevant data, the multiple environmental variables may produce sufficient background noise to mask the true effects of contamination.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗