Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “hydrocarbon”

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.

At least 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2023

Hydrocarbon Burn Facility SWMU 007 Interim Groundwater Monitoring Report Kennedy Space Center, Florida

This Interim Groundwater Monitoring (IGWM) Report presents the findings of IGWM activities completed in November 2022, and March through May 2023 including results from existing and newly installed groundwater monitoring wells and direct push technology (DPT) groundwater sampling in the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Area of the Hydrocarbon Burn Facility (HBF) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. HBF has been designated as Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) 007 under the KSC Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Corrective Action Program.

Jennifer Buel↗
NASA NTRS2023

Peptide conjugates with polyaromatic hydrocarbons can benefit the activity of catalytic RNAs

Early stages of life likely employed catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) in many functions that are today filled by proteins. However, the earliest life forms must have emerged from heterogenous chemical mixtures, which included amino acids, short peptides, and many other compounds. Here we explored whether the presence of short peptides can help the emergence of catalytic RNAs. To do this, we conducted an in vitro selection for catalytic RNAs from randomized sequence in the presence of ten different peptides with a prebiotically plausible length of eight amino acids. This in vitro selection generated dozens of ribozymes, one of them with ∼900-fold higher activity in the presence of one specific peptide. Unexpectedly, the beneficial peptide had retained its N-terminal Fmoc protection group, and this group was required to benefit ribozyme activity. The same, or higher benefit resulted from peptide conjugates with prebiotically plausible polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as fluorene and naphthalene. This shows that PAH-peptide conjugates can act as potent cofactors to enhance ribozyme activity. The results are discussed in the context of the origin of life.

Kevin J. Sweeney↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Sample Processing Instrumentation to Enable Lab-like Analysis of Lipids, Hydrocarbons, and Kerogen in situ

Introduction: Over the last decade, our team based out of NASA Ames Research Center has made advances in fluidic technologies to enable laboratory-grade processes in space environments. More recently, we have designed and developed two instruments that utilize sample processing steps to extract and purify organic molecules that are key targets in the search for life. The first instrument targets soluble lipids and hydrocarbons that have been preserved in soil or rock material for millions to billions of years called ExCALiBR (Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith). The second instrument called KAMELOT (Kerogen and Macromolecule Extractor Liberating Organics Thermolytically) targets kerogen or insoluble macromolecular material that reside in the residue left behind after solvent extraction. Together, these instruments can be coupled to existing flight sample acquisition and analytical instrumentation (e.g., mass spectrometers) to achieve our overall science goal of identifying molecular patterns and features that are diagnostic of how the organic matter was synthesized, either through biological or non-biological processes.

Mary Beth Wilhelm↗
NASA NTRS2024

Hydrocarbon Burn Facility, SWMU 007 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Assessment Report Addendum

This document discusses the Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) assessment activities performed from May through August 2023 at the Hydrocarbon Burn Facility (HBF) located at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. HBF was used for firefighting training between 1966 and 1994. Aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) that contained PFAS were used as suppressants for fighting petroleum fuel fires during training. PFAS sampling was first completed at HBF in 2015. This PFAS Assessment Report Addendum (ARA) is a continuation of sampling efforts, with an overall objective to further delineate PFAS concentrations in groundwater to the pGCTLs and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tapwater Regional Screening Levels (RSLs) dated November 2023 and better understand groundwater to surface water interaction at the Site. The field activities presented in this PFAS ARA were conducted between May and August 2023 and included the collection of 132 direct push groundwater samples and the collection of five colocated surface water, sediment, and pore water samples from locations south/southeast of HBF in August 2023. Exceedances of the pGCTLs and Tapwater RSLs were observed in the direct push groundwater results; however, groundwater has been delineated to the pGCTLs. Exceedances of the Florida provisional Surface Water Screening Levels (pSWSLs) were observed in surface water and porewater, and concentrations of PFAS in these media confirm PFAS migration within surface channels to the south of the HBF site area. Maximum sediment concentrations, which correlate with the maximum surface water and porewater concentrations, demonstrate that PFAS impacted surface water is the source of sediment impacts. Overall, elevated concentrations of PFAS are centered on the HBF site area that trend north and south along the surface water filled swales and along the edge of Banana River. Based on analytical results, not all surface water features in this area exhibit evidence of transport. PFAS migration/transport appears to be more dominant in surface water features during the wet season. Discharges to the Banana River primarily occur where surface water facilitates transport. In contrast, groundwater transport is more effective during the dry season. During precipitation events in either the dry season or the wet season, there appears to be migration from the intermediate groundwater zone to the shallow zone into the surface water features. Additional sampling and data collection is recommended to support further refinement of PFAS groundwater delineation, a remedial alternative evaluation, and the fate and transport model.

Jennifer Buel↗
NASA NTRS1955

Adaptation of Combustion Principles to Aircraft Propulsion: Basic Considerations in the Combustion of Hydrocarbon Fuels with Air - Volume I

The report summarizes source material on combustion for flight-propulsion engineers. First, several chapters review fundamental processes such as fuel-air mixture preparation, gas flow and mixing, flammability and ignition, flame propagation in both homogenous and heterogenous media, flame stabilization, combustion oscillations, and smoke and carbon formation. The practical significance and the relation of these processes to theory are presented. A second series of chapters describes the observed performance and design problems of engine combustors of the principal types. An attempt is made to interpret performance in terms of the fundamental processes and theories previously reviewed. Third, the design of high-speed combustion systems is discussed. Combustor design principles that can be established from basic considerations and from experience with actual combustors are described. Finally, future requirements for aircraft engine combustion systems are examined.

THEORIES - COMBUSTION↗
NASA NTRS1998

Infrared spectra of substituted polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons

Calculations are carried out using density functional theory (DFT) to determine the harmonic frequencies and intensities of 1-methylanthracene, 9-methylanthracene, 9-cyanoanthracene, 2-aminoanthracene, acridine, and their positive ions. The theoretical data are compared with matrix-isolation spectra for these species also reported in this work. The theoretical and experimental frequencies and relative intensities for the neutral species are in generally good agreement, whereas the positive ion spectra are only in qualitative agreement. Relative to anthracene, we find that substitution of a methyl or CN for a hydrogen does not significantly affect the spectrum other than to add the characteristic methyl C-H and C triple bond N stretches near 2900 and 2200 cm-1, respectively. However, addition of NH2 dramatically affects the spectrum of the neutral. Not only are the NH2 modes themselves strong, but this electron-withdrawing group induces sufficient partial charge on the ring to give the neutral molecule spectra characteristics of the anthracene cation. The sum of the absolute intensities is about four times larger for 2-aminoanthracene than those for 9-cyanoanthracene. Substituting nitrogen in the ring at the nine position (acridine) does not greatly alter the spectrum compared with anthracene.

NASA Discipline Exobiology↗
NASA NTRS1994

Electronic absorption spectroscopy of matrix-isolated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon cations. II. The phenanthrene cation (C14H10+) and its 1-methyl derivative

The ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared absorption spectra of phenanthrene (C14H10), 1-methylphenanthrene [(CH3)C14H9], and their radical ions [C14H10+; (CH3)C14H9+], formed by vacuum-ultraviolet irradiation, were measured in neon matrices at 4.2 K. The associated vibronic band systems and their spectroscopic assignments are discussed. The oscillator strengths were calculated for the phenanthrene ion and found lower than the theoretical predictions. This study presents the first spectroscopic data for phenanthrene and its methyl derivative trapped in a neon matrix where the perturbation of the isolated species by its environment is minimum; a condition crucial to astrophysical applications.

NASA Discipline Exobiology↗
NASA NTRS1992

Dielectric constant of liquid alkanes and hydrocarbon mixtures

The complex dielectric constants of n-alkanes with two to seven carbon atoms have been measured. The measurements were conducted using a slotted-line technique at 1.2 GHz and at atmospheric pressure. The temperature was varied from the melting point to the boiling point of the respective alkanes. The real part of the dielectric constant was found to decrease with increasing temperature and correlate with the change in the molar volume. An upper limit to all the loss tangents was established at 0.001. The complex dielectric constants of a few mixtures of liquid alkanes were also measured at room temperature. For a pentane-octane mixture the real part of the dielectric constant could be explained by the Clausius-Mosotti theory. For the mixtures of n-hexane-ethylacetate and n-hexane-acetone the real part of the dielectric constants could be explained by the Onsager theory extended to mixtures. The dielectric constant of the n-hexane-acetone mixture displayed deviations from the Onsager theory at the highest fractions of acetone. The dipole moments of ethylacetate and acetone were determined for dilute mixtures using the Onsager theory and were found to be in agreement with their accepted gas-phase values. The loss tangents of the mixtures exhibited a linear relationship with the volume fraction for low concentrations of the polar liquids.

NASA Program Exobiology↗