Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Process Efficiency”

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 847 records · Page 47
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Two-dimensional forms of robust CO 2 reduction photocatalysts

Photoelectrocatalysts that use sunlight to power the CO 2 reduction reaction will be crucial for carbon-neutral power and energy-efficient industrial processes. Scalable photoelectrocatalysts must satisfy a stringent set of criteria, such as stability under operating conditions, product selectivity, and efficient light absorption. Two-dimensional materials can offer high specific surface area, tunability, and potential for heterostructuring, providing a fresh landscape of candidate catalysts. From a set of promising bulk CO 2 reduction photoelectrocatalysts, we screen for candidate monolayers of these materials, then study their catalytic feasibility and suitability. For stable monolayer candidates, we verify the presence of visible-light band gaps, check that band edges can support CO 2 reduction, determine exciton binding energies, and compute surface reactivity. We find visible light absorption for SiAs, ZnTe, and ZnSe monolayers, and that due to a lack of binding, CO selectivity is possible. We thus identify SiAs, ZnTe, and ZnSe monolayers as targets for further investigation, expanding the chemical space for CO 2 photoreduction candidates.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Positive temperature coefficient of photovoltaic efficiency in solar cells based on InGaN/GaN MQWs

We report a 23.4% improvement of conversion efficiency in solar cells based on InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells by using a patterned sapphire substrate in the fabrication process. The efficiency enhancement is due to the improvement of the crystalline quality, as proven by the reduction of the threading dislocation density. More importantly, the better crystalline quality leads to a positive photovoltaic efficiency temperature coefficient up to 423 K, which shows the property and advantage of wide gap semiconductors like InGaN, signifying the potential of III-nitride based solar cells for high temperature and concentrating solar power applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1992

On-board attitude determination for the Explorer Platform satellite

This paper describes the attitude determination algorithm for the Explorer Platform satellite. The algorithm, which is baselined on the Landsat code, is a six-element linear quadratic state estimation processor, in the form of a Kalman filter augmented by an adaptive filter process. Improvements to the original Landsat algorithm were required to meet mission pointing requirements. These consisted of a more efficient sensor processing algorithm and the addition of an adaptive filter which acts as a check on the Kalman filter during satellite slew maneuvers. A 1750A processor will be flown on board the satellite for the first time as a coprocessor (COP) in addition to the NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer. The attitude determination algorithm, which will be resident in the COP's memory, will make full use of its improved processing capabilities to meet mission requirements. Additional benefits were gained by writing the attitude determination code in Ada.

Jayaraman, C.↗
DOE OSTI2022

A novel approach for produced water treatment: Supercritical water oxidation and desalination

Produced water generated from oil and gas operations contains significant quantities of environmentally hazardous hydrocarbons, organic chemicals, and inorganic salts. Environmental regulations with impaired water disposal mandates produced water treatment and desalination. Industry standard desalination technologies are energy-intensive and mandate extensive produced water pre-treatment including removal of hydrocarbons constituents for efficient operations. Herein this study investigates a novel process intensification approach integrating supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) unit operation with a supercritical water desalination (SCWD) process for energy efficient produced water treatment and desalination. The coupled SCWD-SCWO process is found to be very energy-efficient and cost effective than existing industry standard desalination technologies. For energy efficient operation, the heat generated from the SCWO of hydrocarbons present in the produced water is used for power generation using a high efficiency and low-cost re-heat Rankine cycle process. The cost of treating produced water with proposed SCWO-SCWD process is independent of the salt concentration. The proposed process has the potential to offer step-change improvements over conventional processes in both the efficiency and cost of produced water treatment: for example, a cost and energy saving of 70% and 100% is calculated for the treatment of produced water containing 250 g/l salt and 10.6 g/l hydrocarbon.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Fire and Explosion Safe Technology of Storage and Regasification of Liquefied Petroleum Gas

The technology of storage and regasification of liquefied petroleum gas that implies storage in an isothermal tank and overheating the gas with subsequent supply of the vapor phase to the consumer is offered. The necessary storage and regasification temperatures are achieved by means of utilizing a vapor-compression refrigeration unit in the technological process. The technology allows to improve energy efficiency of the processes, reduce fire-and-explosion hazard, minimize LPG losses, exclude conditions formation of a combustible environment, regulate the storage temperature of LPG of various composition and efficiency of the regasification process, and ensure the composition of volatilized LPG remains constant during regasification.

02 PETROLEUM↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design of a Radioisotope Heat Exchanger Rocket

The state of planetary exploration vehicle technology has become increasingly more advanced over its long history. Better technologies enable more detailed scientific research to be conducted during the vehicle’s life, while advanced manufacturing strategies allow the vehicles to operate for greater lengths of time. However, one aspect of these vehicles has remained constant: the means of exploration. Previous vehicles have all relied on wheels to traverse the surface of the explored planet, limiting their range. The Mars Opportunity Rover, the longest operating rover, only traveled 45.15 km over its life. The radioisotope heat exchanger rocket is a new vehicle concept, designed to use heated gas as a means of propellant. The vehicle collects gas from the surface of a body, stores it in a heated tank, and passes it through a heat exchanger. This process significantly increases the temperature of the collected gas, allowing it to exit through a nozzle with high velocity and efficiency. This process will enable the vehicle to hop across the surface of the body and repeatedly refuel, with the potential of travelling thousands of kilometers during its lifetime. A computer model was constructed to simulate the heat exchanger and nozzle of this proposed system. This simulation allowed the heat exchanger and propellant tank properties to be optimized for the current mission parameters: the exploration of Triton. The nitrogen flows through a 25 kg lithium heat exchanger, consisting of 540, 1.5-mm diameter, 40-cm long Titanium Zirconium Molybdenum pipes, to three operating nozzles. Once landed, the vehicle will conduct science and refueling operations for six days before hopping again. With the optimized design determined from the simulations conducted in this paper, 235.26 kg of nitrogen is collected and stored in a 300 K, 3000 psia tank. With these parameters, a potential hop distance of 39 km with an average specific impulse of 127.5 s is attained. A previous iteration of this vehicle did not include a heat exchanger, instead heating 100 kg of nitrogen to 300 K, only allowing the vehicle to hop 5 km and with a low specific impulse of 60 s. Thus, the addition of the heat exchanger component of the vehicle is shown to potentially double the specific impulse and quadruple the hop distance compared to the previous design.

Thomas E. O'Brien↗
DOE OSTI2015

Abnormal crystal growth in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3-x Cl x using a multi-cycle solution coating process

Recently, the efficiency of organolead trihalide perovskite solar cells has improved greatly because of improved material qualities with longer carrier diffusion lengths. Mixing chlorine in the precursor for mixed halide films has been reported to dramatically enhance the diffusion lengths of mixed halide perovskite films, mainly as a result of a much longer carrier recombination lifetime. Here we report that adding Cl containing precursor for mixed halide perovskite formation can induce the abnormal grain growth behavior that yields well-oriented grains accompanied by the appearance of some very large size grains. The abnormal grain growth becomes prominent only after multi-cycle coating of MAI : MACl blend precursor. The large grain size is found mainly to contribute to a longer carrier charge recombination lifetime, and thus increases the device efficiency to 18.9%, but without significantly impacting the carrier transport property. As a result, the strong correlation identified between material process and morphology provides guidelines for future material optimization and device efficiency enhancement.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Efficient tandem solar cells with solution-processed perovskite on textured crystalline silicon

Stacking solar cells with decreasing band gaps to form tandems presents the possibility of overcoming the single-junction Shockley-Queisser limit in photovoltaics. The rapid development of solution-processed perovskites has brought perovskite single-junction efficiencies >20%. However, this process has yet to enable monolithic integration with industry-relevant textured crystalline silicon solar cells. We report tandems that combine solution-processed micrometer-thick perovskite top cells with fully textured silicon heterojunction bottom cells. To overcome the charge-collection challenges in micrometer-thick perovskites, we enhanced threefold the depletion width at the bases of silicon pyramids. Moreover, by anchoring a self-limiting passivant (1-butanethiol) on the perovskite surfaces, we enhanced the diffusion length and further suppressed phase segregation. These combined enhancements enabled an independently certified power conversion efficiency of 25.7% for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. These devices exhibited negligible performance loss after a 400-hour thermal stability test at 85°C and also after 400 hours under maximum power point tracking at 40°C.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Tuning Block Polymer Structure, Properties, and Processability for the Design of Efficient Nanostructured Materials Systems

Block polymers (BPs) are ideal building blocks for nanoporous membranes, microelectronics templates, energy storage devices, and other technologies. For these systems, precise control over morphology, properties, and processability are essential to optimize performance. The Epps group has used a multidisciplinary approach to control BP nanostructure ordering and orientations, order-disorder and glass transition temperatures, and mechanical and transport properties through the informed manipulation of BP effective segregation strengths and interfacial energetics. For example, alterations in macromolecular interactions between BP chains were achieved through the introduction of composition gradients between copolymer blocks or by adding dopants. In thin films, high-throughput approaches were designed to modify and characterize substrate-polymer interactions, and solvent annealing techniques were developed to facilitate nanoscale alignment and ordering. Finally, by manipulating BP interfacial energetics to gain exquisite tunability of nanostructures and materials' properties, the group is accelerating the development of next-generation BPs that will be harnessed to fabricate inexpensive, efficient, and high-performance devices.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Functionalization of polymer powders for SLS-processes using an atmospheric plasma jet in a fluidized bed reactor

Recently additive manufacturing processes such as selective laser sintering (SLS) of polymers have gained more importance for industrial applications [1]. Tailor-made modification of polymers is essential in order to make these processes more efficient and to cover the industrial demands. The so far used polymer materials show weak performance regarding the mechanical stability of processed parts. To overcome this limitation, a new route to functionalize the surface of commercially available polymer particles (PA12; PE-HD; PP) using an atmospheric plasma jet in combination with a fluidized bed reactor has been investigated. Consequently, an improvement of adhesion and wettability [2] of the polymer surface without restraining the bulk properties of the powder is achieved. The atmospheric plasma jet process can provide reactive species at moderate temperatures which are suitable for polymer material. The functionalization of the polymer powders improves the quality of the devices build in a SLS-process.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

I-process nucleosynthesis and mass retention efficiency in He-shell flash evolution of rapidly accreting white dwarfs

Based on stellar evolution simulations, we demonstrate that rapidly accreting white dwarfs (WDs) in close binary systems are an astrophysical site for the intermediate neutron-capture process. During recurrent and very strong He-shell flashes in the stable H-burning accretion regime H-rich material enters the He-shell flash convection zone. {sup 12}C(p,γ){sup 13}N reactions release enough energy to potentially impact convection, and i process is activated through the {sup 13}C(α,n){sup 16}O reaction. The H-ingestion flash may not cause a split of the convection zone as it was seen in simulations of He-shell flashes in post-AGB and low-Z asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We estimate that for the production of first-peak heavy elements this site can be of similar importance for galactic chemical evolution as the s-process production by low-mass AGB stars. The He-shell flashes result in the expansion and, ultimately, ejection of the accreted and then i-process enriched material, via super-Eddington-luminosity winds or Roche-lobe overflow. The WD models do not retain any significant amount of the accreted mass, with a He retention efficiency of ≲10% depending on mass and convective boundary mixing assumptions. This makes the evolutionary path of such systems to supernova Ia explosion highly unlikely.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Perspectives on future research directions in green manufacturing for discrete products

With the increasing concern due to climate change caused by a higher atmospheric concentration of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases, reducing environmental impact is becoming more important for every part of society. Manufacturing is responsible for a significant amount of energy/material consumption and environmental burden and, therefore, has a great opportunity to reduce its impact through green manufacturing. Green manufacturing presents opportunities across the manufacturing enterprise to increase the efficient usage of energy and material resources. These opportunities include designing products to consume fewer materials and energy during manufacturing and use, incorporating more efficient manufacturing processes, streamlining and optimizing manufacturing schedules and plans, and circularizing products. The goal of this paper will be to provide a perspective from the authors on the opportunities that exist within green manufacturing for discrete products through a review of pertinent topics and future directions. The paper will focus on processes, manufacturing equipment, manufacturing systems, recovering value at a product’s end-of-life, and additional thoughts that include metrics and indicators, techno-economic assessment, and a discussion of efficiency and effectiveness. Key findings from this review include a need for social indicators and renewable energy considerations in scheduling and process planning, integrating Industry 4.0 into circular economy along with social and institutional dimensions, consistency in the ability to measure and conceptualize metrics and indicators, a detailed evaluation of the life cycle impacts and cost of Addit Manuf, and more human and environment-oriented considerations for smart manufacturing.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Quantification of the internal quantum efficiency in GaN via analysis of the heat generated by non-radiative recombination processes

The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in a GaN epilayer is quantified using transient lens (TL) spectroscopy and numerical simulations. TL spectroscopy can optically detect temperature and carrier changes induced in a photo-pumped GaN layer, and the observed temperature change is closely associated with non-radiative recombination processes that create heat. Then numerically solving diffusion equations, which represent the diffusion processes of the photo-generated heat and carriers, provide the spatiotemporal distributions. These distributions are subsequently converted into the refractive index distributions, which act as transient convex or concave lenses. Finally, ray-tracing simulations predict the TL signals. Comparing the experimentally obtained and simulated TL signals quantifies the generated heat and the IQE without the often-adopted assumption that non-radiative recombination processes are negligible at low temperatures.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multi-state Catalysts Modulated by Mechanical Force (Final Report)

The development of more efficient catalytic processes and new approaches to control catalytic activity and selectivity are central to the realization of more selective, atom economic, and energy efficient routes to value added chemicals and polymers. The reactivity and selectivity of a transition metal catalyst is intimately related to the ligand-sphere geometry and, in many cases, the ideal ligand geometry for one step of a catalytic cycle is poorly matched to the ideal ligand geometry for another, resulting in sub-optimal efficiency. Macroscopic mechanical forces are both large, potentially much larger than interatomic forces, and are directional and localized to an extent that differentiates them from other forms of energy input such as heat or light. As such, mechanical force represents a heretofore untapped approach to modulate catalyst geometry, with the potential to reversibly modulate catalyst geometry on the timescale of catalytic turnover or monomer enchainment. This project has addressed the fundamental challenges in material-to-molecule strain coupling associated with the development of a new class of mechanically responsive catalysts (mechanocatalysts) in which active organotransition metal catalysts are strategically embedded in a flexible polymer network such that application of external mechanical force (stretching or deformation) leads to modulation of catalyst geometry, and hence reactivity and selectivity. Our efforts during the tenure of this grant were directed toward the elucidation of force-reactivity relationships of elementary transformations that occur within the first coordination sphere of a transition metal complex employing stiff stilbene photoswitches tethered to a flexible bidentate phosphine ligand derived from MeOBiphep as molecular force probes which provide a range of compressive and extension forces to the coupled transition metal complex depending on the geometry of the stiff stilbene and length of the tethering chains. During the tenure of this grant, we have quantified the rate of C(sp 2 )-C(sp 2 ) reductive elimination from platinum(II) diaryl complexes containing bis(phosphine) force probe ligands as a function of mechanical force; compressive forces decreased the rate of reductive elimination whereas extension forces increased the rate relative to the strain-free MeOBiphep complex with a 3.4-fold change in rate over a ~290 pN range of restoring forces. In a similar manner, we have quantified the rate of oxidative addition of bromobenzene to low-ligated palladium(0) complexes containing force probe ligands as a function of mechanical force; compressive forces increase the rate of oxidative addition, whereas tensile forces decrease the rate with a ~6 fold change in rate across ~340 pN of force applied to the complexes. In both cases, experimental and computational analyses argue strongly against any significant force-induced perturbation of ground state geometry within the first coordination sphere of the reactant complexes. Rather, the force/rate behavior observed for these transformations across these ranges of forces is attributed to the coupling of force to the nuclear motion comprising the reaction coordinates for reductive elimination and oxidative addition. These results together inform the development of catalysts whose activity can be tuned by an external force that is adjusted within a catalytic cycle and suggest opportunities to experimentally map geometry changes associated with reactions in transition metal complexes and potential strategies for force-modulated catalysis.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRS1975

Optical-mechanical line-scan imaging process - Its information capacity and efficiency

Optical-mechanical line-scan techniques have been applied to earth satellite multispectral imaging systems. The capability of the imaging system is generally assessed by its information capacity. An approach based on information theory is developed to formulate the capacity of the line-scan process. Included are the effects of blurring of spatial detail, photosensor noise, aliasing, and quantization. The information efficiency is shown to be dependent on sampling rate, system frequency response shape, SNR, and quantization interval.

Huck, F. O.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Improving ethanol yields with deacetylated and two-stage pretreated corn stover and sugarcane bagasse by blending commercial xylose-fermenting and wild type Saccharomyces yeast

Corn stover and sugarcane bagasse are the most widely available agriculture processing biomass and could serve as feedstocks for production of biofuel. In this study, three different technologies are combined to develop a more efficient conversion process for each of these feedstocks. The three technologies are diluted alkaline deacetylation process, combined thermochemical and mechanical shear pretreatment, and fermentation using a combined inoculum of two commercial Saccharomyces yeast strains. The two yeast strains used were a non-GMO and GMO strain engineered for xylose fermentation. The final ethanol concentrations obtained were 35.7 g/L from deacetylated corn stover and 32.9 g/L from sugarcane bagasse. Blending the two yeast reduced residual xylose content from 1.24 g/L to 0.48g/L and increased ethanol production by 6.5% compared to solely using the C5/C6 yeast. In conclusion, the optimized yeast blend also lowered the amount of C5/C6 yeast required for inoculation by 80%.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Study on the Fluid Flow Characteristics of Coherent Jets with CO{sub 2} and O{sub 2} Mixed Injection in Electric Arc Furnace Steelmaking Processes

As an efficient oxygen supplying technology, coherent jets are widely applied in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking processes to strengthen chemical energy input, speed up smelting rhythm, and promote the uniformity of molten bath temperature and compositions. Recently, the coherent jet with CO{sub 2} and O{sub 2} mixed injection (COMI) was proposed and demonstrated great application potentiality in reducing the dust production in EAF steelmaking. In the present study, based on the eddy dissipation concept model, a computational fluid dynamics model of coherent jets with COMI was built with the overall and detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms (GRI-Mech 3.0). Compared with one-step combustion reaction, GRI-Mech 3.0 consists of 325 elementary reactions with 53 components and can predict more accurate results. The numerical simulation results were validated by the combustion experiment data. The jet behavior and the fluid flow characteristics of coherent jets with COMI under 298 K and 1700 K (25 °C and 1427 °C) were studied and the results showed that for coherent jets with COMI, the chemical effect of CO{sub 2} significantly weakened the shrouding combustion reactions of CH{sub 4} and the relative importance of the chemical effect of CO{sub 2} increases with CO{sub 2} concentration increasing. The potential core length of coherent jet decreases with the volume fraction of CO{sub 2} increasing. Moreover, it also can be found that the potential core length of coherent jets was prolonged with higher ambient temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Integration of genome-scale metabolic model with biorefinery process model reveals market-competitive carbon-negative sustainable aviation fuel utilizing microbial cell mass lipids and biogenic CO 2

Producing scalable, economically viable, low-carbon biofuels or biochemicals hinges on more efficient bioconversion processes. While microbial conversion can offer robust solutions, the native microbial growth process often redirects a large fraction of carbon to CO 2 and cell mass. By integrating genome-scale metabolic models with techno-economic and life cycle assessment models, this study analyzes the effects of converting cell mass lipids to hydrocarbon fuels, and CO 2 to methanol on the facility’s costs and life-cycle carbon footprint. Results show that upgrading microbial lipids or both microbial lipids and CO 2 using renewable hydrogen produces carbon-negative bisabolene. Additionally, on-site electrolytic hydrogen production offers a supply of pure oxygen to use in place of air for bioconversion and fuel combustion in the boiler. To reach cost parity with conventional jet fuel, renewable hydrogen needs to be produced at less than $\$2.2$ to $\$3.1$/kg, with a bisabolene yield of 80% of the theoretical yield, along with cell mass and CO 2 yields of 22 wt% and 54 wt%, respectively. The economic combination of cell mass, CO 2 , and bisabolene yields demonstrated in this study provides practical insights for prioritizing research, selecting suitable hosts, and determining necessary engineered production levels.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗