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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Risks and Benefits of Pressurized Water Reactor Coupling to Energy Storage and Water Desalination

This research explored potential options to improve nuclear pressurized water reactors’ (PWRs) operational flexibility through integration with thermal energy storage (TES) and water desalination technologies. Benefits and challenges of TES technologies were reviewed, which includes sensible heat storage systems, latent heat storage systems, and thermochemical storage systems. Water desalination technologies were reviewed and compared, which includes multi-stage flash, reverse osmosis, and multi-effect distillation. The multi-effect distillation technology was selected to be coupled with a generic PWR. Risk of this cogeneration was quantified using the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methodology. Results suggest that nuclear-desalination cogeneration can be done safely because the additional risk to the PWR is trivial, and even in certain cases the PWR risk is decreased. This cogeneration operation is expected to improve efficiency of thermal utilization and the nuclear plant’s revenues. In summary, this study supports the potential of nuclear-desalination cogeneration systems to address water scarcity while optimizing nuclear energy use and managing safety.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Membrane Contactors for Ammonia Recovery from Anaerobic Digester Centrate: Pretreatment and Process Optimization

Haber-Bosch process allows for the production of modern fertilizers and is crucial for meeting increasing demands for agricultural production. The process requires large amounts of natural gas and contributes to global warming. An alternative to the Haber-Bosch process utilizes membrane contactors to recover nitrogen from the anaerobic digester centrate. In previous studies, high recoveries have been achieved, but membrane fouling decreased the performance and required maintenance to clean the membranes. Furthermore, this study investigated the effect of a settling and ultrafiltration system to pretreat centrate from an anaerobic digester to prevent fouling of the membrane contactor system. The system achieved high recoveries of over 90% for 10 cycles without any performance decline. Tests with increasing distillate concentrations of ammonium sulfate up to 165,000 mg/L-N could not identify a significant decline in membrane performance either. This allows for concentration up to crystallization in a single stage.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energy Where it Matters: Delivering Heat to the Membrane/Water Interface for Enhanced Thermal Desalination

The overall goal of the project is the development of a solar-driven membrane distillation (MD) process that can treat high salinity brines (>100 g/L) at a cost below $1.5/m3. The process relies on thermally and electrically conducting MD membranes that deliver solar heat directly to the membrane surface and prevent membrane fouling through the application of electrical potentials to the membrane surface.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Novel Method for Domestic Stable Isotope Production

This report presents the progress achieved on our chlorine isotope separation efforts in the CRADA #667 agreement. We used a microchannel distillation (MCD) packing structure to enrich HCl isotopes (H35Cl, H37Cl) and an isotachophoresis (ITP) separation to enrich ionic chloride species ( 35 Cl- and 37 Cl-). A 2 m tall MCD column was constructed and achieved 264 separation stages over several days, which is well above the goal of 50 stages outlined in the CRADA. The resulting height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) was 0.76 cm. ITP tests were run ~ 24 hours and achieved a single-stage separation factor of 1.559.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Novel Method for Domestic Stable Isotope Production (CRADA #667) Final Report

This report presents the progress achieved on our chlorine isotope separation efforts in the CRADA #667 agreement. We used a microchannel distillation (MCD) packing structure to enrich HCl isotopes (H35Cl, H37Cl) and an isotachophoresis (ITP) separation to enrich ionic chloride species (35Cl- and 37Cl-). A 2 m tall MCD column was constructed and achieved 264 separation stages over several days, which is well above the goal of 50 stages outlined in the CRADA. The resulting height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) was 0.76 cm. ITP tests were run ~ 24 hours and achieved a single-stage separation factor of 1.559.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data readiness pipeline patterns for scientific AI at scale: Insights from climate, fusion, life sciences, and materials

This article examines how data readiness for AI principles apply to large scientific datasets used to train foundation models. We analyze archetypal workflows across four representative domains—climate, nuclear fusion, life sciences, and materials—to identify common preprocessing patterns and domain‐specific constraints. We introduce a two‐dimensional readiness model that combines canonical preprocessing patterns with a five‐level operational readiness scale, both tailored to high‐performance computing (HPC) environments. This construct helps outline key challenges in transforming large‐scale scientific data into formats suitable for scalable AI training. Together, these dimensions form a conceptual maturity matrix that characterizes scientific data readiness and guides infrastructure development toward standardized, cross‐domain support for scalable and reproducible AI for science. Finally, we evaluate this maturity matrix in the context of case studies including ClimaX (climate), AFLOW (materials), OpenFold (proteomics), and DIII‐D fusion disruption‐prediction workflows, from which we distill lessons learned and provide recommendations to guide practitioners in developing robust AI‐readiness pipelines. Finally, we discuss remaining cross‐cutting challenges that persist across scientific domains.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reward Driven Workflows for Unsupervised Explainable Analysis of Phases and Ferroic Variants From Atomically Resolved Imaging Data

Rapid progress in aberration corrected electron microscopy necessitates development of robust methods for the identification of phases, ferroic variants, and other pertinent aspects of materials structure from imaging data. While unsupervised methods for clustering and classification are widely used for these tasks, their performance can be sensitive to hyperparameter selection in the analysis workflow. In this study, the effects of descriptors and hyperparameters are explored on the capability of unsupervised ML methods to distill local structural information, exemplified by the discovery of polarization and lattice distortion in Sm − dopped BiFeO 3 (BFO) thin films. It is demonstrated that a reward-driven approach can be used to optimize these key hyperparameters across the full workflow, where rewards are designed to reflect domain wall continuity and straightness, ensuring that the analysis aligns with the material's physical behavior. This approach allows the discovery of local descriptors that are best aligned with the specific physical behavior, providing insight into the fundamental physics of materials. The reward driven workflow is further extended to disentangle structural factors of variation via an optimized variational autoencoder (VAE). Lastly, the importance of well-defined rewards is explored as a quantifiable measure of the success of the workflow.

Barakati, Kamyar [University of Tennessee, Knoxvil↗
DOE OSTI2025

Innovative Approach to Recycle Lithium‐Ion Battery Electrolytes via Sequential Chemical Processes

The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EV) has driven the widespread use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). This will result in a large amount of spent batteries that if not properly disposed will pose significant environmental damage, especially from the electrolyte. The electrolyte contains lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF 6 ), which when treated by either incineration or water washing can generate harmful F- and P-containing substances such as hydrofluoric acid (HF). In this study, an innovative two-step process is presented to separate and purify both the solvents and lithium salts from the spent electrolyte. Antisolvent assisted precipitation is used to selectively isolate LiPF 6 salt in the form of a complex with ethylene carbonate. Subsequent distillation then separates the volatile electrolyte solvents and antisolvent from each other effectively. In addition, a new process to further purify LiPF 6 from its ethylene carbonate (EC) complex is also presented. This electrolyte recycling method not only enables the recovery of the high-value LiPF 6 salt and the electrolyte solvents, but also paves the way for environmentally responsible and circular LIB recycling.

electrolyte↗
DOE OSTI2025

Upcycling of Waste Plastics into Carboxylic Acids for Biodegradable Surfactants

This work outlines a process for producing high‐purity (>95%) carboxylate surfactants from post‐consumer recycled high‐density polyethylene (PCR‐HDPE). The approach involves the thermal depolymerization of PCR‐HDPE via pyrolysis, followed by fractional distillation to isolate C9–C14 olefins. These olefins undergo hydroformylation using cobalt carbonyl catalysts to generate aldehydes, which are subsequently oxidized to carboxylic acids using Pinnick oxidation under mild aqueous‐phase conditions. Neutralization of the resulting carboxylic acids with sodium hydroxide produces plastic‐derived carboxylate surfactants (PDCs) in the form of sodium carboxylates. Subsequent purification steps ensure surfactant‐grade purity and enable accurate assessment of physicochemical properties. The resulting PDCs are evaluated for critical micelle concentration (CMC), foamability, surface tension reduction, and calcium ion tolerance, demonstrating competitive behavior with conventional anionic carboxylate surfactants. This route provides a sustainable alternative for surfactant production, reducing reliance on fossil‐derived feedstocks and valorizing plastic waste streams through chemical upcycling.

Biodegradable surfactants↗
DOE OSTI2026

Simultaneous Determination of Halogens and Metals in Waste Plastic Pyrolysis Oil by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

A major barrier to integrating pyrolysis-derived oil into conventional refinery technology is the presence of impurities, particularly halogens and metals, that can deactivate catalysts. This study presents a novel, cost-effective approach for the simultaneous analysis of a subset of halogens, metals, nonmetals, and metalloids in complex, industrially relevant distilled pyrolysis oil samples, this was previously achievable only through multiple techniques. Excellent results were obtained using a widely accessible inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method with helium gas mode and standard laboratory consumables, enabling high-throughput analysis and efficient evaluation of adsorbent performance. Sample preparation is straightforward, requiring only dilution in a compatible matrix, and provides accurate and precise quantification, with 75%–137% spike recovery for Be, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Sb, Tl, and Pb, and 62%–65% spike recovery for Cl and 109%–133% spike recovery for Br. Additionally, an enhanced version of the method using ICP-MS/MS and hydrogen gas is described, which has higher accuracy with 69%–112% spike recovery for Be, B, Ti, V, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Sb, Tl, and Pb, with 85%–102% spike recovery for Cl and 63%–93% spike recovery for Br. Helium mode detection limits for industrially relevant elements (V, Fe, Ni, Cu, As, and Pb) are less than 1.7 µg/kg, and less than 0.2 mg/kg for Br and Cl. Furthermore, this methodology facilitates rapid systematic evaluation of adsorption capacities of materials under time-on-stream conditions and supports robust comparisons across diverse operating environments.

Lazarcik, James [University of Wisconsin-Madison, ↗
DOE OSTI2025

An ecological framework for microbial metabolites in the ocean ecosystem

The ocean microbe‐metabolite network involves thousands of individual metabolites that encompass a breadth of chemical diversity and biological functions. These microbial metabolites mediate biogeochemical cycles, facilitate ecological relationships, and impact ecosystem health. While analytical advancements have begun to illuminate such roles, a challenge in navigating the deluge of marine metabolomics information is to identify a subset of metabolites that have the greatest ecosystem impact. Here, we present an ecological framework to distill knowledge of fundamental metabolites that underpin marine ecosystems. We borrow terms from macroecology that describe important species, namely “dominant,” “keystone,” and “indicator” species, and apply these designations to metabolites within the ocean microbial metabolome. These selected metabolites may shape marine community structure, function, and health and provide focal points for enhanced study of microbe‐metabolite networks. Applying ecological concepts to marine metabolites provides a path to leverage metabolomics data to better describe and predict marine microbial ecosystems.

microbial metabolites↗
DOE OSTI2024

Towards unpolarized GPDs from pseudo-distributions

We present an exploration of the unpolarized isovector proton generalized parton distributions (GPDs) H u−d (x, ξ, t) and E u−d (x, ξ, t) in the pseudo-distribution formalism using distillation. Taking advantage of the large kinematic coverage made possible by this approach, we present results on the moments of GPDs up to the order x 3 — including their skewness dependence — at a pion mass m π = 358 MeV and a lattice spacing a = 0.094 fm.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Inertia estimation for power grids: A review of methods, challenges, and future prospects

The electric power grid is undergoing a significant transformation, shifting from traditional synchronous generators to inverter-based resources (IBRs) such as solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and energy storage systems. This evolution leads to a reduction in system inertia, a critical attribute for maintaining frequency stability in response to disturbances. Consequently, the ability to monitor and estimate system inertia has become increasingly essential. This paper provides a comprehensive review of existing inertia estimation methodologies, analyzing them from multiple perspectives, including the types of data utilized, underlying estimation principles, operational modes, and system-wide applicability. A comparative summary table is included to distill commonalities and key characteristics across various studies. In addition, the paper examines practical implementations of inertia estimation across several major power systems worldwide, including the U.S. interconnections, the Nordic power system, and the U.K. grid. Key challenges are identified, particularly in estimating contributions from virtual inertia sources and load-induced inertia in increasingly converter-dominated networks. To address these emerging challenges, the paper proposes an integrated framework for real-time inertia estimation and monitoring. This framework encompasses critical components such as data acquisition, inertia estimation from both synchronous and non-synchronous sources, load-induced effects, optimization techniques, forecasting, and virtual inertia scheduling. Collectively, these elements enable dynamic, system-wide monitoring and adaptive control of grid inertia.

Inertia estimation↗
DOE OSTI2025

Highly crystalline, low-ash, graphite from coal using an Fe 2 O 3 -based catalytic process with recovery and reuse of catalyst and process acid

This study presents a sustainable process for producing highly crystalline, low-ash graphite from sub-bituminous coal using an Fe 2 O 3 -based catalytic method. The process integrates coal mineral removal, catalyst regeneration, and reagent recycling into a closed-loop system. Acid-soluble Fe-residue and mineral impurities are eliminated from the solid graphite through HCl treatment, followed by hydrolytic distillation to regenerate Fe 2 O 3 and recover HCl for reuse. Coal-derived silica is removed with a KOH rinse, yielding low-ash graphite suitable for high-performance applications. The closed-loop catalytic graphitization, where the recovered Fe 2 O 3 and HCl are used in subsequent graphitization runs, produces graphite with a degree of graphitization exceeding 95%. The L a and L c crystallite sizes reach 65–78 nm and 44–48 nm, respectively, with BET surface areas of 4–10 m 2 /g and an ash content below 0.1 wt.%. Lithium-ion battery testing reveals that anodes fabricated with this graphite deliver an initial discharge capacity between 384.5 and 421.2 mAh/g, averaging 395.0 ± 19.1 mAh/g, along with initial coulombic efficiencies of 85.0–89.1%. After 100 discharge–charge cycles at 0.25C, reversible capacities remain between 358.8 and 369.7 mAh/g, while coulombic efficiency stays above 99.9%. The findings highlight that coal can serve as a viable precursor for high-quality graphite production under relatively mild conditions, avoiding the need for extreme temperatures or aggressive reagents such as hydrofluoric acid, commonly employed in conventional processes. This work demonstrates both technical feasibility and environmental benefits, emphasizing its potential to support large-scale, sustainable graphite production for applications such as lithium-ion batteries.

Catalytic graphitization↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cooperative Effects Associated with High Electrolyte Concentrations in Driving the Conversion of CO2 to C2H4 on Copper

Compared to a conventional electrolyte concentration of 1 M HCOOK, the use of a highly concentrated 7.1 M HCOOK electrolyte increases the Faradaic efficiency (FE) ratio of C2H4/CO from 2.2 +- 0.3 to 18.3 +- 4.8 at -1.08 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) on a Cu gas-diffusion electrode. Based on electrochemical analysis and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation, the identity and concentration of the cation and anion play more important roles in controlling the CO2R reaction pathway than the bulk CO2 solubility and the bulk pH of electrolytes. In situ attenuated reflectance surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (ATR-SEIRAS) suggests that, unlike 1 M HCOOK, the *CO-bridge-binding mode on Cu is dominant in 7.1 M HCOOK electrolyte, which potentially results in less CO release and higher yield of C2H4. This study demonstrates that although we can tailor the electrolyte composition to shift product selectivity, the factors that control the product selectivity are numerous and cannot be distilled down into one correlated property-reactivity relationship.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Crosslinked polymeric ionic liquid stationary phases incorporating a combination of silver(I) and copper(II) ions for olefin separations by gas chromatography

The development of efficient and selective olefin separation technologies is a critical challenge within the chemical industry given the high energy demands of conventional cryogenic distillation methods. To address this, the study explores the effectiveness of polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) stationary phases in gas chromatography (GC) that incorporate both silver(I) ([Ag + ]) and copper(II) ([Cu 2+ ]) ions for enhanced olefin separation via π-complexation interactions. Further, the effects of both non-crosslinked and crosslinked PIL stationary phases containing varying ratios of [Ag⁺] and [Cu²⁺] ions were systematically investigated to evaluate their impact on the separation of olefins from paraffins and structurally similar olefins. Retention measurements using a broad range of olefinic probes revealed that [Ag⁺] ions provided stronger and more consistent π-complexation in PIL-based stationary phases, while [Cu²⁺] ions preferentially enhance olefin retention in crosslinked systems. Furthermore, thermal stability studies showed that [Ag + ]-containing PIL stationary phases maintain stable olefin separation efficiency over prolonged exposure under elevated temperatures, while crosslinked PIL stationary phases containing [Cu 2+ ] ions exhibited stronger retention due to increased surface adsorption. These findings provide insight into the tunability of metal–olefin interactions using PIL-based stationary phases and suggest design strategies for achieving thermally stable and highly selective chromatographic separations of unsaturated hydrocarbons.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

A numerical method for simulating variable density flows in membrane desalination systems

Here, we present a novel method for simulating unsteady, variable density, fluid flows in membrane desalination systems. By assuming the density varies only with concentration and temperature, the scheme decouples the solution of the governing equations into two sequential blocks. The first solves the governing equations for the temperature and concentration fields, which are used to compute all thermophysical properties. The second block solves the conservation of mass and momentum equations for the velocity and pressure. We show that this is computationally more efficient than schemes that iterate over the full coupled equations in one block. We verify that the method achieves second-order spatial-temporal accuracy, and we use the method to investigate buoyancy-driven convection in a desalination process called vacuum membrane distillation. Specifically, we show that with gravity properly oriented, variations in temperature and concentration can trigger a double-diffusive instability that enhances mixing and improves water recovery. We also show that the instability can be strengthened by providing external heating.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modeling of multi-component precipitation and crystallization for zero-liquid-discharge desalination

This study proposes novel ZLD treatment trains that integrate multi-component chemical precipitation and multi-effect evaporative crystallization for efficient brine management. The methodology emphasizes sustainability by integrating CO₂ for chemical precipitation and reducing environmental impact, exemplified with two case studies: produced water that includes industrial waste heat utilization by adopting the emerging vacuum air-gapped membrane distillation (VAGMD) technology, and brackish groundwater that is abundant in sulphate which undergoes treatment by low-salt-rejection reverse osmosis (LSRRO) with interstage chemical precipitation. Here, this study is the first of its kind to simultaneously account for reducing risk of mineral scaling and effective recovery of valuable solids when incorporating VAGMD and LSRRO in ZLD treatment trains. Using Reaktoro and WaterTAP, both Python-based, open-source platforms, we model the recovery of high-purity magnesium, calcium, and sodium salts while optimizing energy consumption and operational efficiency in proposed ZLD pathways for case studies of produced water and brackish desalination brine management. Validation with experimental and reference data confirms the reliability of the models used. In both case studies, the optimized ZLD process achieves recovery rates of 97%, 99%, and 90% for Mg, Ca, and Na, with purities exceeding 99%, and brine volume reduced to less than 4% of the initial feed flow.

3D CT scans↗