Miniature, nanosecond, spark detector for liquid chromatographic analysis of crude oils and fuels
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Search NASA
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Over the past 20 years, the use of oil-film interferometry to measure the skin friction coefficient (C(sub f) = tau/q where tau is the surface shear stress and q is the dynamic pressure) has increased. Different forms of this oil-film technique with various levels of accuracy and ease of use have been successfully applied in a wide range of flows. The method's popularity is growing due to its relative ease of implementation and minimal intrusiveness as well as an increased demand for C(sub f) measurements. Nonetheless, the accuracy of these methods has not been rigorously addressed to date. Most researchers have simply shown that the skin-friction measurements made using these techniques compare favorably with other measurements and theory, most of which are only accurate to within 5-20%. The use of skin-friction data in the design of commercial aircraft, whose drag at cruise is 50% skin-friction drag, and in the validation of computational fluid dynamics programs warrants better uncertainty estimates. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
Edible oil is a critical component of the proposed plant-based Advanced Life Support (ALS) diet. Soybean, peanut, and single-cell oil are the oil source options to date. In terrestrial manufacture, oil is ordinarily extracted with hexane, an organic solvent. However, exposed solvents are not permitted in the spacecraft environment or in enclosed human tests by National Aeronautics and Space Administration due to their potential danger and handling difficulty. As a result, alternative oil-processing methods will need to be utilized. Preparation and recovery options include traditional dehulling, crushing, conditioning, and flaking, extrusion, pressing, water extraction, and supercritical extraction. These processing options were evaluated on criteria appropriate to the Advanced Life Support System and BIO-Plex application including: product quality, product stability, waste production, risk, energy needs, labor requirements, utilization of nonrenewable resources, usefulness of by-products, and versatility and mass of equipment to determine the most appropriate ALS edible oil-processing operation.
Invited presentation to the American Society for Microbiology Microbe meeting in Houston, TX, June 15-19, 2023
A diagnostic tool for detecting damage to gears was developed. Two different measurement technologies, oil debris analysis and vibration were integrated into a health monitoring system for detecting surface fatigue pitting damage on gears. This integrated system showed improved detection and decision-making capabilities as compared to using individual measurement technologies. This diagnostic tool was developed and evaluated experimentally by collecting vibration and oil debris data from fatigue tests performed in the NASA Glenn Spur Gear Fatigue Rig. An oil debris sensor and the two vibration algorithms were adapted as the diagnostic tools. An inductance type oil debris sensor was selected for the oil analysis measurement technology. Gear damage data for this type of sensor was limited to data collected in the NASA Glenn test rigs. For this reason, this analysis included development of a parameter for detecting gear pitting damage using this type of sensor. The vibration data was used to calculate two previously available gear vibration diagnostic algorithms. The two vibration algorithms were selected based on their maturity and published success in detecting damage to gears. Oil debris and vibration features were then developed using fuzzy logic analysis techniques, then input into a multi sensor data fusion process. Results show combining the vibration and oil debris measurement technologies improves the detection of pitting damage on spur gears. As a result of this research, this new diagnostic tool has significantly improved detection of gear damage in the NASA Glenn Spur Gear Fatigue Rigs. This research also resulted in several other findings that will improve the development of future health monitoring systems. Oil debris analysis was found to be more reliable than vibration analysis for detecting pitting fatigue failure of gears and is capable of indicating damage progression. Also, some vibration algorithms are as sensitive to operational effects as they are to damage. Another finding was that clear threshold limits must be established for diagnostic tools. Based on additional experimental data obtained from the NASA Glenn Spiral Bevel Gear Fatigue Rig, the methodology developed in this study can be successfully implemented on other geared systems.
A round robin study evaluating the analysis of biomass liquefaction oils (BLOs) from fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) was performed, involving fifteen laboratories in seven countries in order to assess the current status of analytical techniques for the determination of nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine content in BLOs and evaluate potential differences in origin (i.e. fast pyrolysis vs HTL). The BLOs were produced from a range of feedstocks including pine, mixed softwoods, forest residues, micro-algae, miscanthus, and wheat straw to cover a variety in nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine content and speciation. Nine samples were distributed, comprised of eight separate BLOs and one blind duplicate produced by five producers. The samples were analyzed for water, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine content. No analytical test method was mandated; laboratories were encouraged to utilize whichever method they determined would be most applicable, relying on the existing body of BLO literature as a guide. The results of this round robin study are presented in this paper. The results of the carbon, hydrogen, and water measurements as reference analyses had relative standard deviations (2.9%, 3.5, and 5.6%, respectively) that were comparable to those found in past round robin studies on fast pyrolysis bio-oil. The analysis of nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine showed higher levels of variability. Laboratories mostly chose the same method for water, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen determination whereas there were a variety of methods chosen for sulfur and chlorine determination. The results suggest that specific analytical methods for the determination of nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine should be further refined to ensure reproducible and accurate results for BLO analysis due to their importance on emissions, material selection, and catalyst activity.
Not Available
Concentrations of inorganic elements is a key quality metric for bio-oils as certain elements impact upgrading processes and product quality. Unless reduced or removed during production and processing, alkali and alkaline metals native to lignocellulosic biomass can carry over into bio-oils contributing to ash content and degraded catalyst performance during upgrading to hydrocarbon fuels or chemical products. Non-metallic elements such as sulfur and phosphorus can also negatively impact upgrading catalysts and product quality. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) can be used to measure inorganic elements of interest in bio-oils. This procedure covers the preparation and analysis of fast pyrolysis (FP) and catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) bio-oils. The concentrations of these elements can indicate potential bio-oil quality from the perspective of deoxygenation processes. The implications of elemental composition will depend on process parameters such as upgrading catalyst sensitivities. This Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP) covers two methods for quantification of inorganic elements by ICP-OES: Procedure A uses microwave assisted digestion with concentrated nitric acid, and Procedure B is an organic ICP-OES method utilizing a diglyme solvent.
Mass spectrometric analysis of DC 704 diffusion pump oil fragmentation
Nitrogenous compounds from Colorado Green River Formation oil shale using high resolution mass spectrometry
Pyrolysis has been proposed as a potential technology for managing the growing volume of plastic waste generated worldwide. Co-pyrolysis of plastic waste with biomass is a promising technology for generating fuel and chemical products. However, this process generates tar as a waste product. The chemical properties of this tar have yet to be thoroughly analyzed. Further, this study presents the results of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of oil and tar obtained from the pyrolysis of pure plastics including high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), and plastic-biomass mixtures. GC–MS analysis revealed the presence of C 7 –C 37 carbon-containing hydrocarbons, which include alkanes and alkenes as the dominant products. FTIR data revealed the presence of various functional groups, including alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids, indicating the complexity of the pyrolysis and copyrolysis oil obtained from waste plastics and biomass. TGA data show that tar from all four plastics has a higher decomposition rate, suggesting the presence of heavier hydrocarbons compared with their corresponding oils. This research will be of interest to researchers looking to advance the study of plastic and biomass waste management.
The analysis presented in this report evaluates the benefits of CO₂ offshore transport via pipeline or ship within the GOM. It takes a top-down framework to estimate the costs. First, this analysis designed a reduced-order model (ROM) based on the cash flows in the FECM/NETL CO₂ Transport Cost Model (also known as CO2_T_COM). The ROM takes capital expenses (CAPEX) and operating expenses (OPEX) to calculate the CO₂ breakeven price based on the cash flows. Second, this analysis developed regression models utilizing published data from other analyses to estimate CAPEX and OPEX. Since the ROM is a simplified cash flow calculation, it is easy to exchange the core regression models to estimate various costs. The ROM and regression models provided a framework that can be easily used by other researchers, decision-makers, operators, and regulators. The objective of this analysis is to assess the CO₂ breakeven cost range for pipeline and ship transport of captured CO₂ given the CO₂ source and storage reservoir located in the GOM.
We report here an analysis of the polarization dependence of L-band radar backscatter from the main slick of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with specific attention to the utility of polarimetric decomposition analysis for discrimination of oil from clean water and identification of variations in the oil characteristics. For this study we used data collected with the UAVSAR instrument from opposing look directions directly over the main oil slick. We find that both the Cloude-Pottier and Shannon entropy polarimetric decomposition methods offer promise for oil discrimination, with the Shannon entropy method yielding the same information as contained in the Cloude-Pottier entropy and averaged in tensity parameters, but with significantly less computational complexity
Low-salinity waterflooding (LSWF) has proven to improve oil recovery in carbonate formations through rock wettability alteration, although the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Multivalent ionic exchange and calcite dissolution have usually been investigated using geochemical analysis in secondary coreflooding. In this work, coreflooding, in tertiary mode, coupled with a surface reactivity analysis approach was employed to investigate the interplay of wettability alteration mechanisms such as mineral dissolution, electrostatic bond attraction, and the effect of pH at in situ conditions. Improved oil recovery (IOR) in tertiary mode observed by coreflooding in Indiana limestone rocks showed an ionic strength dependence, that is, reducing brine ionic strength resulted in an increase in oil recovery. Coreflooding results showed that the seawater and low-salinity brines deprived of Mg 2+ ions resulted in the lowest IOR in tertiary mode, indicating the significance of Mg 2+ on IOR in limestone rocks. Similar results were observed through the contact angle measurement showing the limestone rock wettability state dependence on ionic strength and the effect of Mg2+ ions. Surface reactivity analysis showed an increase in solution pH, Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ions concentration in the effluent solution from the coreflooding in tertiary mode using low salinity brines (about 40 and 20% increase in the effluent composition for Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , respectively). These changes in solution composition were used to calculate the in situ oil–brine and rock–brine zeta potential using a validated surface complexation model, showing the changes of zeta potential as brine is injected into limestone rocks. The results show that using seawater-like brine in tertiary mode resulted in no mineral dissolution or ionic exchange. However, improved oil recovery (IOR) using such seawater-like brine was due to wettability alteration caused by reduced electrostatic bond attraction associated with Mg 2+ ions [from 2.6 × 10 –13 (mol/m 2 ) 2 for formation water salinity to 1.5 × 10 –13 (mol/m 2 ) 2 for seawater salinity]. Using low-salinity brines in tertiary mode improved oil recovery by mineral dissolution, resulting in oil desorption and an increase in solution pH. Finally, the increase in solution pH also resulted in reduced electrostatic bond attraction which lead to rock wettability alteration using low-salinity brines.
Not provided.
A squeeze-film damper, consisting of two circular plates, having only normal oscillatory relative motion is considered. The liquid lubricant between the plates is assumed to contain a single central gas bubble. The effect of the bubble on the damper performance is analyzed. Comparison is made with the performance of a pure liquid damper. Substantial deviations in peak dynamic pressures are predicted which explain discrepancies between experimental and theoretical results reported in the literature.