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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1981

Conceptual design study of a coal gasification combined-cycle powerplant for industrial cogeneration

A conceptual design study was conducted to assess technical feasibility, environmental characteristics, and economics of coal gasification. The feasibility of a coal gasification combined cycle cogeneration powerplant was examined in response to energy needs and to national policy aimed at decreasing dependence on oil and natural gas. The powerplant provides the steam heating and baseload electrical requirements while serving as a prototype for industrial cogeneration and a modular building block for utility applications. The following topics are discussed: (1) screening of candidate gasification, sulfur removal and power conversion components; (2) definition of a reference system; (3) quantification of plant emissions and waste streams; (4) estimates of capital and operating costs; and (5) a procurement and construction schedule. It is concluded that the proposed powerplant is technically feasible and environmentally superior.

Bloomfield, H. S.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Recent spectroscopic measurements of NOx in the lower stratosphere

High resolution (0.02 and 0.06 per cm) Fourier transform airborne systems were used for measurements of long path atmospheric absorption spectra, covering many of the NOx infrared bands. Atmospheric emission measurements with liquid helium cooled grating spectrometer systems at 0.5 per cm resolution were also carried out from different altitudes in the NOx bands region. Analysis of the absorption and emission spectra provides quantification of NOx in the lower stratosphere at different latitudes and seasons, as well as diurnal variability.

Goldman, A.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Contributions of Nimbus 7 TOMS Data to Volcanic Study and Hazard Mitigation

Nimbus TOMS data have led to advancements among many volcano-related scientific disciplines, from the initial ability to quantify SO2 clouds leading to derivations of eruptive S budgets and fluxes, to tracking of individual clouds, assessing global volcanism and atmospheric impacts. Some of the major aspects of TOMS-related research, listed below, will be reviewed and updated: (1) Measurement of volcanic SO2 clouds: Nimbus TOMS observed over 100 individual SO2 clouds during its mission lifetime; large explosive eruptions are now routinely and reliably measured by satellite. (2) Eruption processes: quantification of SO2 emissions have allowed assessments of eruption sulfur budgets, the evaluation of "excess" sulfur, and inferences of H2S emissions. (3) Detection of ash: TOMS data are now used to detect volcanic particulates in the atmosphere, providing complementary analyses to infrared methods of detection. Paired TOMS and AVHRR studies have provided invaluable information on volcanic cloud compositions and processes. (4) Cloud tracking and hazard mitigation: volcanic clouds can be considered gigantic tracers in the atmosphere, and studies of the fates of these clouds have led to new knowledge of their physical and chemical dispersion in the atmosphere for predictive models. (5) Global trends: the long term data set has provided researchers an unparalleled record of explosive volcanism, and forms a key component in assessing annual to decadal trends in global S emissions. (6) Atmospheric impacts: TOMS data have been linked to independent records of atmospheric change, in order to compare cause and effect processes following a massive injection of SO2 into the atmosphere. (7) Future TOMS instruments and applications: Nimbus TOMS has given way to new satellite platforms, with several wavelength and resolution modifications. New efforts to launch a geostationary TOMS could provide unprecedented observations of volcanic activity.

Krueger, Arlin J.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Crosscutting Airborne Remote Sensing Technologies for Oil and Gas and Earth Science Applications

Airborne imaging spectroscopy has evolved dramatically since the 1980s as a robust remote sensing technique used to generate 2-dimensional maps of surface properties over large spatial areas. Traditional applications for passive airborne imaging spectroscopy include interrogation of surface composition, such as mapping of vegetation diversity and surface geological composition. Two recent applications are particularly relevant to the needs of both the oil and gas as well as government sectors: quantification of surficial hydrocarbon thickness in aquatic environments and mapping atmospheric greenhouse gas components. These techniques provide valuable capabilities for petroleum seepage in addition to detection and quantification of fugitive emissions. New empirical data that provides insight into the source strength of anthropogenic methane will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on the evolving constraints enabled by new methane remote sensing techniques. Contemporary studies attribute high-strength point sources as significantly contributing to the national methane inventory and underscore the need for high performance remote sensing technologies that provide quantitative leak detection. Imaging sensors that map spatial distributions of methane anomalies provide effective techniques to detect, localize, and quantify fugitive leaks. Airborne remote sensing instruments provide the unique combination of high spatial resolution (<1 m) and large coverage required to directly attribute methane emissions to individual emission sources. This capability cannot currently be achieved using spaceborne sensors. In this study, results from recent NASA remote sensing field experiments focused on point-source leak detection, will be highlighted. This includes existing quantitative capabilities for oil and methane using state-of-the-art airborne remote sensing instruments. While these capabilities are of interest to NASA for assessment of environmental impact and global climate change, industry similarly seeks to detect and localize leaks of both oil and methane across operating fields. In some cases, higher sensitivities desired for upstream and downstream applications can only be provided by new airborne remote sensing instruments tailored specifically for a given application. There exists a unique opportunity for alignment of efforts between commercial and government sectors to advance the next generation of instruments to provide more sensitive leak detection capabilities, including those for quantitative source strength determination.

hyperspectral↗
DOE OSTI2025

Evaluating the feasibility of using downwind methods to quantify point source oil and gas emissions using continuously monitoring fence-line sensors

The dependable reporting of methane (CH 4 ) emissions from point sources, such as fugitive leaks from oil and gas infrastructure, is important for profit maximization (retaining more hydrocarbons), evaluating climate impacts, assessing CH 4 fees for regulatory programs, and validating CH 4 intensity in differentiated gas programs. Currently, there are disagreements between emissions reported by different quantification techniques for the same sources. It has been suggested that downwind CH 4 quantification methods using CH 4 measurements on the fence line of production facilities could be used to generate emission estimates from oil and gas operations at the site level, but it is currently unclear how accurate the quantified emissions are. To investigate the accuracy of downwind methods, this study uses fence-line simulated data collected during controlled-release experiments as input for a non-standard closed-path eddy covariance (EC), the Gaussian plume inverse model (GPIM), and the backward Lagrangian stochastic (bLs) model in a range of atmospheric conditions. This study's EC attempt was unsuccessful due to data collection and instrumentation issues, resulting in invalid results characterized by underestimated emissions, large negative fluxes, and cospectra/ogives that deviated from their ideal shapes. Consequently, the EC results could not be compared with the GPIM and bLS model. The bLs model demonstrated the highest accuracy for single-release single-point emissions, though it exhibited greater uncertainty than GPIM under multi-release conditions. Across the GPIM and bLs model, the most reliable quantification was achieved with 15 min averaging and a narrow 5° wind sector range. Although EC was limited in this context, future studies should consider employing a standard EC system and further optimizing GPIM and bLs approaches – particularly for complex multi-source scenarios – to enhance quantification accuracy and reduce uncertainty.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Orphaned oil and gas well methane emission rates quantified using Gaussian plume inversions of ambient observations

Abstract. Annually, ∼ 3.6 million abandoned oil and gas wells in the US emit a combined ∼ 2.6 Tg methane (CH4), adversely affecting climate and regional air quality. However, these estimates depend on emission factors derived from measuring subpopulations of wells that vary by orders of magnitude due to very limited field sampling and poorly characterized distributions. Currently, US protocols to remediate orphaned wells lacks standardized quantification methods needed to both prioritize plugging and account for emission reductions. Therefore, sensitive, reliable, affordable, and scalable CH4 flux quantification methods are needed. We report the use of a simple Gaussian plume method where the dispersion parameters are constrained by in situ ground measurements of CH4 concentration at four locations 7.5–49 m downwind of the orphan well as well as local winds to estimate the leak rate from an orphan well. We derive a flux of 10.53 ± 1.16 kg CH4 h−1 during a venting procedure in April 2023 that agrees with the directly measured volumetric flow rate of 9.00 ± 0.25 kg CH4 h−1. This is 71 % greater than the 5.3 kg CH4 h−1 flux measured 7 months prior. Additionally, we discovered a secondary leak through the surface casing inferred as 0.43–0.67 kg CH4 h−1 both by our ground Gaussian analysis and by transecting the plume with an uncrewed aerial system (UAS). We show that in situ determination of the dispersion parameters used in our Gaussian inversions allows us to measure methane emissions to 15 % accuracy, significantly reducing errors when compared to the standard practice of assuming stability class. Our results help develop simpler methods and protocols for robust orphan well emission quantification that can be used for reporting.

Follansbee, Emily↗
DOE OSTI2024

Positron emission tomography harmonization in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative: A scalable and rigorous approach to multisite amyloid and tau quantification

Abstract INTRODUCTION A key goal of the Alzheimer's Disease NeuroImaging Initiative (ADNI) positron emission tomography (PET) Core is to harmonize quantification of β‐amyloid (Aβ) and tau PET image data across multiple scanners and tracers. METHODS We developed an analysis pipeline (Berkeley PET Imaging Pipeline, B‐PIP) for ADNI Aβ and tau PET images and applied it to PET data from other multisite studies. Steps include image pre‐processing, refacing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/PET co‐registration, visual quality control (QC), quantification of tracer uptake, and standardization of Aβ and tau standardized uptake value ratios (SUVrs) across tracers. RESULTS Measurements from 10,105 cross‐sectional and longitudinal Aβ and tau PET scans acquired in several studies between 2010 and 2024 can be processed, harmonized, and directly merged across tracers and cohorts. DISCUSSION The B‐PIP developed in ADNI is a scalable image harmonization approach used in several observational studies and clinical trials that facilitates rigorous Aβ and tau PET quantification and data sharing. Highlights Quantitative results from ADNI Aβ and tau PET data are generated using a rigorous, scalable image processing pipeline This pipeline has been applied to PET data from several other large, multisite studies and trials Quantitative outcomes are harmonizable across studies and are shared with the scientific community

Neurosciences & Neurology↗
NASA NTRS2000

Observing Tropospheric Ozone From Space

The importance of tropospheric ozone embraces a spectrum of relevant scientific issues ranging from local environmental concerns, such as damage to the biosphere and human health, to those that impact global change questions, Such is climate warming. From an observational perspective, the challenge is to determine the tropospheric ozone global distribution. Because its lifetime is short compared with other important greenhouse gases that have been monitored over the past several decades, the distribution of tropospheric ozone cannot be inferred from a relatively small set of monitoring stations. Therefore, the best way to obtain a true global picture is from the use of space-based instrumentation where important spatial gradients over vast ocean expanses and other uninhabited areas can be properly characterized. In this paper, the development of the capability to measure tropospheric ozone from space over the past 15 years is summarized. Research in the late 1980s successfully led to the determination of the climatology of tropospheric ozone as a function of season; more recently, the methodology has improved to the extent where regional air pollution episodes can be characterized. The most recent modifications now provide quasi-global (50 N) to 50 S) maps on a daily basis. Such a data set would allow for the study of long-range (intercontinental) transport of air pollution and the quantification of how regional emissions feed into the global tropospheric ozone budget. Future measurement capabilities within this decade promise to offer the ability to provide Concurrent maps of the precursors to the in situ formation of tropospheric ozone from which the scientific community will gain unprecedented insight into the processes that control global tropospheric chemistry

Fishman, Jack↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fossil Energy in the Hydrogen Economy – A Carbon-Water-Energy Nexus Adaptive Evaluation Platform

This project develops tools to evaluate fossil energy within the hydrogen economy. In particular, the project seeks to explore the Carbon-Water-Energy Nexus and develop adaptive evaluation tools. The primary goal of this project was to evaluate fossil-based hydrogen production methods with an emphasis on their sustainability, particularly with respect to carbon emissions and water use. The overall technical objectives that guided this evaluation consisted of 1) technology assessment, which sought to establish a comprehensive baseline of existing and emerging technologies for the generation, transportation, storage, and end use of hydrogen derived from fossil fuels, 2) carbon footprint analysis through quantification and analysis of carbon emissions associated with these hydrogen technologies, and identification of novel strategies and technologies that can effectively mitigate the carbon footprint, 3) water intensity assessment by evaluating the water needs (water-energy nexus) associated with different fossil fuel-based hydrogen technologies and proposing strategies to reduce water use, thus ensuring sustainable resource management, and 4) review of regulatory, policy and economic trends were examined to provide an overview of the factors influencing the adoption and integration of fossil fuel-derived hydrogen technologies into current energy markets. Beyond the technical outcomes, this project contributed to 5) education and workforce development through targeted training and educational opportunities for engineering students, preparing the next generation of professionals with technical, economic, and regulatory expertise in the hydrogen economy. Ultimately, this effort was intended to train the future workforce to provide useful insights to policymakers, industry stakeholders, and the broader energy community to facilitate informed decisions and responsible development within the hydrogen economy.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Computational Fluid Dynamics-Based Modeling of Methane Flows Around Oil and Gas Equipment

Recent studies estimate that emissions from oil and gas production facilities contribute between 20 and 50% of the total methane ( CH 4 ) emitted in the US; therefore, quantifying and reducing these emissions are crucial for achieving climate goals. Methane quantification depends on both measuring methane concentrations and converting them to emissions through a modeling framework. Currently, simple atmospheric dispersion models are primarily used to quantify emissions and concentrations, but these estimates are highly uncertain when quantifying emissions from complex aerodynamic sources, such as oil and gas facilities. This investigation used a CFD modeling approach, which can account for aerodynamic complexity but has hitherto not been used to model methane concentrations downwind of a methane release of a known rate, and compared it against in situ measurements. High-time-resolution (1 Hz) methane concentration and meteorological data were measured during experiments conducted at the METEC on 21 March and 11 July 2024. The METEC site configuration, measured wind data, and controlled emission rates were used as input for the CONVERGE CFD model to model downwind CH 4 concentration. The modeling was carried out between 20 and 70 m, from two different points of release in two separate controlled-release experiments, one from a separator and another from a wellhead. In these experiments, we found that the CFD model could predict the CH 4 concentrations downwind of the release to a good degree. The model was evaluated on multiple metrics to assess its performance in estimating methane concentrations at typical fence line distances (∼30 m). These results help us to understand external flows and the ability of CFD models to predict downwind concentrations in aerodynamically complex environments.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Rare Earth Element Detection and Quantification in Coal and Rock Mineral Matrices

As global demand for rare earth elements (REEs) increases, maintaining the production and supply chain is critical. Technologies capable of being used in the field and in situ in the subsurface for rapid REE detection and quantification facilitates the efficient mining of known resources and exploration of new and unconventional resources. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a promising technique for rapid elemental analysis both in the laboratory and in the field. Multiple articles have been published evaluating LIBS for detection and quantification of REEs; however, REEs in their natural deposits have not been adequately studied. In this work, detection and quantification of two REEs, La and Nd, have been studied in both synthetic and natural mineral matrices at concentrations relevant to REE extraction. Measurements were performed on REE-containing rock and coal samples (natural and synthetic) utilizing different LIBS instruments and techniques, specifically a commercial benchtop instrument, a custom benchtop instrument (single- and double-pulse modes), and a custom LIBS probe currently being developed for in situ, subsurface, borehole wall detection and quantification of REEs. Plasma expansion, emission intensity, detection limits, and double-pulse signal enhancement were studied. The limits of detection (LOD) were found to be 10/14 ppm for La and 15/25 ppm for Nd in simulated coal/rock matrices in single-pulse mode. Signal enhancement of 3.5 to 6-fold was obtained with double-pulse mode as compared to single-pulse operation.

La detection↗
NASA NTRS1987

Nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium effects in stratospheric NO and implications for infrared remote sensing

It is shown that the vibrational state population of stratospheric nitric oxide (NO) could be substantially different from that expected on the basis of LTE. Deviations from LTE may arise because stratospheric NO can be photochemically produced from NO2 with several vibrational quanta. Model calculations suggest that the population of NO(v = 1) could be some 30 percent above that expected from LTE at 30 km, with smaller enhancements above and below. Substantially larger enhancements are predicted for NO(v = 2). This result is shown to have important implications for NO determination by remote sensing of IR emission. Data needed for the quantification of these effects are enumerated.

Kaye, Jack A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Study of Biomass Emissions for Defining Radiative Forcing of Climate

Accurate quantification of the amounts of trace gases and particulate matter emitted from vegetation fires and other sources of biomass burning (agricultural waste and biofuels) on a regional and global basis is required by a number of users, including scientists studying a wide range of atmospheric processes, national governments who are required to report greenhouse gas emissions, and those interested in quantifying the sources of air pollution that affect human health at regional scales. Over the past decade, improvements in the ability to detect and map fires using a number of different satellite systems have been achieved, largely through efforts coordinated through working groups organized by the IGBP Data and Information System and Global Observation of Forest Cover (GOFC) projects. In addition, significant advances and improvement in or understanding of the emissions factors for biomass burning in different biomes has resulted through efforts by the Biomass Burning Experiment (BIBEX) organized through the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry project. A number of satellite-based fire data products have been generated, and a number of new products will shortly be available. These new data products will provide the basis for estimating emissions from biomass burning on a global basis. However, a number of issues remain concerning the availability of other data sets needed to generate these estimates. Recognizing these issues, the GOFC-Fire Satellite Validation Workshop (held in Lisbon, Portugal on 9-11 July 2001), recommended that a workshop focusing on Improving Global Estimates of Atmospheric Emissions from Biomass Burning be organized. This workshop was held from 17- 19 July 2002 on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. This workshop served as the annual meeting of the GOFC/GOLD-Fire Program. The overall goals of the meeting were to review the information products generated from satellite imagery and other sources that are currently available for developing emission estimates from biomass burning, evaluate areas where improved or additional products would be beneficial, and recommend products for use by the atmospheric science community.

Penner, Joyce↗
DOE OSTI2024

Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform Design (Final Report)

As the urgency for understanding methane emissions and the number of methane monitoring technologies being deployed have increased in the last two decades, there is an opportunity and a need to integrate the numerous disparate data sources to enable the detection, quantification, contextualization, and reporting of methane emissions along the oil and gas supply chain. Such an integration would enable emissions reductions through early detection of super emitters, data-driven mitigation strategies, and improved greenhouse gas inventories. The GTI Energy (“GTI”) project team (“the team”) worked with a multitude of industry experts, stakeholders, and subject matter experts (SMEs) to collect guidance, insights, and information to inform the requirements and subsequent engineering, design, deployment, and operations of an integrated methane monitoring platform (IMMP). This final report describes the results of the team’s effort to execute the Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform Design project, ultimately providing an engineering, design, deployment, and operating plan (EDDOP) for the IMMP. This final report summarizes and integrates the project tasks' results and outputs.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Supporting Information for the Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform Design (Final Report)

As the urgency for understanding methane emissions and the number of methane monitoring technologies being deployed have increased in the last two decades, there is an opportunity and a need to integrate the numerous disparate data sources to enable the detection, quantification, contextualization, and reporting of methane emissions along the oil and gas supply chain. Such an integration would enable emissions reductions through early detection of super emitters, data-driven mitigation strategies, and improvedgreenhouse gas inventories. The GTI Energy (“GTI”)project team (“the team”) worked with a multitude of industry experts, stakeholders, and subject matter experts (SMEs) to collect guidance, insights, and information to inform the requirements and subsequent engineering, design, deployment, and operations of an integrated methane monitoring platform (IMMP). This final report describes the results of the team’s effort to execute the Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform Design project, ultimately providing an engineering, design, deployment, and operating plan (EDDOP) for the IMMP. This document provides additional information supporting the findings in the final report.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Intercomparison of Three Continuous Monitoring Systems on Operating Oil and Gas Sites

We compare continuous monitoring systems (CMS) from three different vendors on six operating oil and gas sites in the Appalachian Basin using several months of data. We highlight similarities and differences between the three CMS solutions when deployed in the field and compare their output to concurrent top-down aerial measurements and to site-level bottom-up inventories. Furthermore, we compare vendor-provided emission rate estimates to estimates from an open-source quantification algorithm applied to the raw CMS concentration data. This experimental setup allows us to separate the effect of the sensor platform (i.e., sensor type and arrangement) from the quantification algorithm. We find that 1) localization and quantification estimates rarely agree between the three CMS solutions on short time scales (i.e., 30 min), but temporally aggregated emission rate distributions are similar between solutions, 2) differences in emission rate distributions are generally driven by the quantification algorithm, rather than the sensor platform, 3) agreement between CMS and aerial rate estimates varies by CMS solution but is close to parity when CMS estimates are averaged across solutions, and 4) similar sites with similar bottom-up inventories do not necessarily have similar emission characteristics. These results have important implications for developing measurement-informed inventories and for incorporating CMS-inferred emission characteristics into emission mitigation efforts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2020

Constraining Fossil Fuel CO2 Emissions from Urban Area Using OCO-2 Observations of Total Column CO2

Satellite observations of the total column dry-air CO2(XCO2) are expected to support the quantification and monitoring of fossil fuel CO2 (ffCO2) emissions from urban areas. We evaluate the utility of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) XCO2 retrievals to optimize whole-city emissions, using a Bayesian inversion system and high-resolution transport modeling. The uncertainties of constrained emissions related to transport model, satellite measurements, and local biospheric fluxes are quantified. For the first two uncertainty sources, we examine cities of different landscapes: “plume city” located in relatively flat terrain, represented by Riyadh and Cairo; “basin city” located in basin terrain, represented by Los Angeles (LA). The retrieved scaling factors of emissions and their uncertainties show prominent variabilities from track to track, due to the varying meteorological conditions and relative locations of the tracks transecting plumes. To explore the performance of multiple tracks in retrieving emissions, pseudo data experiments are carried out. The estimated least number of tracks required to constrain the total emissions for Riyadh (<10% uncertainty), Cairo (<10%), and LA (<5%) are 5, 8, and 7, respectively. Additionally, to evaluate the impact of biospheric fluxes on derivation of the ffXCO2 enhancements, we conduct simulations for Pearl River Delta metropolitan area. Significant fractions of local XCO2 enhancements associated with local biospheric XCO2 variations are shown, which potentially lead to biased estimates of ffCO2 emissions. We demonstrate that satellite measurements can be used to improve urban ffCO2 emissions with a sufficient amount of measurements and appropriate representations of the uncertainty components.

Xinxin Ye↗