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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Analysis of Oil and Gas Ethane and Methane Emissions in the Southcentral and Eastern United States Using Four Seasons of Continuous Aircraft Ethane Measurements

In the last decade, much work has been done to better understand methane (CH 4 ) emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) industry in the United States. Ethane (C 2 H 6 ), a gas that is co-emitted with thermogenic sources of CH 4 , is emitted in the US predominantly by the O&G sector. Here, in this study, we perform an inverse analysis on 200 h of atmospheric boundary layer C 2 H 6 measurements to estimate C 2 H 6 emissions from the US O&G sector. Measurements were collected from 2017 to 2019 as part of the Atmospheric Carbon and Transport (ACT) America aircraft campaign and encompass much of the central and eastern United States. We find that for the fall, winter, and spring campaigns, C 2 H 6 data consistently exceeds values that would be expected based on EPA O&G leak rate estimates by more than 50%. C 2 H 6 observations from the summer 2019 data set show significantly lower C 2 H 6 enhancements in the southcentral region that cannot be reconciled with data from the other three seasons, either due to complex meteorological conditions or a temporal shift in the emissions. Combining the fall, winter, and spring C 2 H 6 posterior emissions estimate to an inventory of O&G CH 4 emissions, we estimate that O&G CH 4 emissions are larger than EPA inventory values by 48%–76%. Uncertainties in the gas composition data limit the accuracy of using C 2 H 6 as a proxy for O&G CH 4 emissions. These limits could be resolved retroactively by increasing the availability of industry-collected gas composition data.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Monitoring Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Operations

The atmospheric concentration of methane has more than doubled since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Methane is the second-most-abundant greenhouse gas created by human activities and a major driver of climate change. This APS-Optica report provides a technical assessment of the current state of monitoring U.S. methane emissions from oil and gas operations, which accounts for roughly 30% of U.S. anthropogenic methane emissions. The report identifies current technological and policy gaps and makes recommendations for the federal government in three key areas: methane emissions detection, reliable and systematized data and models to support mitigation measures, and effective regulation.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2020

Study of Additive Manufacturing Application to Geothermal Technologies

Geothermal reservoir characterization, field construction, and reservoir operations are very technology intensive activities that contribute significantly to the cost of delivering electricity produced from geothermal resources. Many geothermal technologies, such as downhole tools and drilling equipment, have unusual material, design, and manufacturing considerations dictated by the harsh geothermal environment and extreme aspect ratios required for deployment in a borehole. An additional challenge that faces geothermal applications is the low tool production volume needed to support the industry. Whereas tens of thousands of Oil & Gas wells are drilled and completed in the U.S. annually, there are typically only tens of geothermal wells that are drilled and completed. If a tool typically used in Oil & Gas applications cannot be directly used for geothermal, then the cost associated with making the tool suitable for geothermal is often prohibitive. There is therefore a much smaller inventory of technologies available to geothermal as compared to Oil & Gas and the level of efficiency and sophistication associated with field practice suffers accordingly. A number of advanced manufacturing methods, such as additive manufacturing, have received increased R&D as well as commercial attention in recent years because of their ability to rapidly prototype complex parts. Additive manufacturing in particular provides an opportunity to increase the technology available to the geothermal industry by either reducing fabrication costs associated with complex components or enabling economic production of low volume parts where specialized tooling is often required. Additional potential benefits of additive manufacturing include increased design freedom to make higher performing parts that cannot be made conventionally, the ability to integrate components into assemblies without joining operations, and the ability to economically fabricate variations on design in cases, such as casting molds, where there are large up-front costs associated with tooling. We have recently completed a study that investigated technology needs, representative use cases, manufacturability, and a techno-economic framework for comparing conventional to additive manufacturing methods for geothermal applications. This paper will provide an overview of this recent effort, describe the different elements of the assessment, and summarize the key takeaways related to both the feasibility of using additive manufacturing for geothermal technology applications as well as the potential benefits and impacts.

Polsky, Yarom↗
DOE OSTI2021

Co-Processing Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis Oil in an FCC Reactor

Studies of co-processing catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) oil with vacuum gas oil (VGO) are conducted in a Davison Circulating Riser (DCR). The CFP oil (CFPO) for this study was produced by upgrading fast-pyrolysis vapors from pine in an ex-situ fixed-bed reactor. CFPOs were co-processed at up to 5 vol% with VGO at 521°C and 2.57 bar. The yields of oil, aqueous phase, tail gas, and coke were measured. The amount of coke was determined from the carbon containing components in the regenerator flue gas. A compositional analysis was conducted with gas chromatography and elemental analyzers. The organic liquids were distilled into gasoline, jet-fuel, diesel, and resid fractions. A biocarbon analysis was conducted on the organic phase and its individual boiling-point fractions. The results show a small decrease in liquid yield and a generally increased gas yield when co-processing CFPO with VGO. For experiments with E-Cat as catalyst, approximately 70% of biocarbon is incorporated into liquid fuels relative to fossil carbon, while more of the biocarbon is contained in tail gas (as carbon dioxide or olefins) and/or coke. The measurements indicate that cracked CFPO components are predominantly included in the jet-fuel and diesel fractions. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) estimated the minimum fuel selling price (MSFP) for fuel-range products derived from FCC co-processing of CFPO at $3 to $4 per gasoline-gallon equivalent (GGE) at a yield of 51 GGE per ton of biomass.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Co-processing catalytic fast pyrolysis oil in an FCC reactor

Here, studies of co-processing catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) oil with vacuum gas oil (VGO) are conducted in a Davison Circulating Riser (DCR). The CFP oil (CFPO) for this study was produced by upgrading fast-pyrolysis vapors from pine in an ex-situ fixed-bed reactor. CFPOs were co-processed at up to a volume fraction of 0.05 with VGO at 521 degrees C and 257 kPa. The yields of oil, aqueous phase, tail gas, and coke were measured. The amount of coke was determined from the carbon containing components in the regenerator flue gas. A compositional analysis was conducted with gas chromatography and elemental analyzers. The organic liquids were distilled into gasoline, jet-fuel, diesel, and resid fractions. A biocarbon analysis was conducted on the organic phase and its individual boiling-point fractions. The results show a small decrease in liquid yield and a generally increased gas yield when co-processing CFPO with VGO. The experiments showed that 75%-100% of biocarbon is incorporated into liquid fuels relative to fossil carbon, depending on catalyst and CFPO. The measurements indicate that cracked CFPO components are predominantly included in the jet-fuel and diesel fractions. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) estimated the minimum fuel selling price (MSFP) for fuel-range products derived from FCC co-processing of CFPO at 24 to 29 $\$$/GJ ($\$$2.90 to $\$$3.50 per gasoline-gallon equivalent; GGE) at a yield of 4.87-7.14 GJ/t(biomass) or 40-58 GGE/t.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Geochemistry and Microbial Ecology of Produced Waters from Three Different Unconventional Oil and Gas Regions

One of the most significant challenges associated with predicting reservoir fluid properties is accounting for the effect of microbial activity, which catalyzes chemical reactions that lead to corrosion and sulfide release during or after hydraulic fracturing operations. The current understanding of microbial populations living in hydraulic fracturing systems is based on a limited number of samples and well sites, necessitating additional research efforts to confirm preliminary findings and identify factors driving the microbial ecology. The project objective is to profile the geochemistry and microbiology of three different oil and gas basins to order increase the understanding of how microbial activity affects reservoir fluids.

Lipus, Daniel↗
DOE OSTI2025

Potential Supply Chain and Cost Reduction Strategies for Advanced Nuclear Reactors

This milestone represents a level of effort to provide recommendations for a supply chain plan and establish relationships between advanced reactor companies and large companies in the oil & gas and chemical industries. It represents a starting point to develop the plan with options, general equipment lists, and rough associated cost estimates of major equipment and the associated systems needed. This effort will provide an opportunity to leverage the experience that oil & gas and chemicals companies possess in large capital equipment procurement, modularization, acquisition and installation. Potential supply chain solutions will be discussed and preliminary options for worldwide manufacturers will be elucidated. The goal of this effort will be to leverage the years of accumulated experience in the oil & gas and chemical industries in the area of capital equipment acquisition to understand the potential supply chain options and to reduce potential acquisition costs by optimizing the supply chain options for advanced nuclear reactor modularization, manufacturing and acquisition.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Characterization and microbial mitigation of fugitive methane emissions from oil and gas wells: Example from Indiana, USA

Hydrocarbon gas emissions from active, inactive, and improperly sealed or abandoned oil/gas wells significantly contribute to anthropogenically emitted greenhouse gases, predominantly in the form of methane (CH 4 ). We explored the extent of hydrocarbon gas emissions from 20 active, inactive, plugged and abandoned oil/gas wells in Indiana (USA), where it is estimated that there are more than 80,000 well sites throughout the state. After this initial survey, using a static flux tent, we quantified fugitive CH4 emissions from an active gas well to approximately 2 L h -1 . To evaluate the potential for microbial mitigation of hydrocarbon emissions to the atmosphere, we conducted laboratory microcosm experiments to quantify the CH 4 oxidizing potential of soils collected from sites with varying distances to the leaking gas well. Soils in close proximity to the well (0.5 m) efficiently consumed nearly all (97 %) of the added CH 4 , while only 14 % of added CH 4 was consumed by soils that were more distant from the well (20 m). These results suggest that fugitive CH 4 emissions enrich methanotrophic bacteria in soils immediately adjacent to the well. Consistent with this view, we found that prolonged exposure of soils to elevated concentrations of CH 4 enhanced the methanotrophic activity. Together, these findings prompted us to design a “methanotrophic soil mound” to assess the feasibility of mitigating point sources of CH 4 by harnessing the natural methanotrophic capacity of soil microbial communities. We found that a methanotrophic soil mound from a landfill could sustainably mitigate the CH 4 emission from the artificial source, providing a promising low-cost solution to ameliorate fugitive CH 4 emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells to the atmosphere. Finally, the effectiveness of microbe-based remediation is limited in cold climates and arid environments.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Promoting Domestic and International Consensus on Fossil Energy Technologies – Program Area 2: International Oil and Natural Gas

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy's (FE) Office of Oil and Natural Gas (FE Oil & Gas) works to achieve a more secure energy future through the diversified supply of oil and natural gas resources while minimizing environmental impacts. FE Oil & Gas strives to ensure responsible development of these resources through research, policy analysis, regulation, and international leadership. The Office of Oil and Natural Gas supports research and policy options to ensure environmentally sustainable supplies of oil and natural gas for American consumers. The program conducts international activities that support environmental protection and safety of global oil and gas production. The program also oversees the import and export of oil and natural gas. USEA will help FE Oil & Gas to promote safe and responsible development of oil and natural gas in the United States and in other countries by sharing best practices and advanced technology. This will benefit the public by ensuring reliable, clean and affordable supplies of oil and natural gas in the United States.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Mid-Century Net-Zero Scenario for the State of Wyoming and its Economic Impacts

Clean hydrogen has the potential to help achieve 10% economy-wide emissions reductions by 2050 relative to 2005, promote energy security and resilience, and develop a new economy in the United States. In 2030, the hydrogen economy could create about 100,000 new jobs to build new capital projects and clean hydrogen infrastructure. The Wyoming Energy Authority recently announced the state’s energy strategy, which establishes a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Under all likely scenarios, achieving a mid-century net-zero target will pose challenges and create opportunities for Wyoming’s energy sector. If executed properly, the transition could favorably affect the state’s economy overall in the long term. This research program examines the economic impact of fossil energy production in Wyoming and provides various predictions for future energy mixes to achieve net-zero emissions. Preliminary work suggests that Wyoming-based hydrogen production could have significant economic benefits and job creation implications for Wyoming. This study further assesses Wyoming’s opportunities to create hydrogen-based industries, assess economic impacts, identify knowledge gaps and research needs, and create a Hydrogen Center of Excellence to accelerate commercialization and deployment. This project helped to understand Wyoming's areas of focus for research and development and identified its areas of strength and potential challenges in creating a hydrogen ecosystem. As a result of this study, we estimate that for blue hydrogen produced from coal and gas resources, the overall cost reduction will be driven mainly by the carbon-sequestration tax credit and the improvement in carbon capture. Mature technologies, like SMR and PSA, will make limited contributions. They have no or limited reductions from an additional capacity deployment in future costs. We also understand the importance of continued support from public and private sectors for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)-related research, development, and demonstration programs at federal and state levels. The successful and efficient production of blue hydrogen requires a unique blend of energy resources, geology, regulation, law, and infrastructure. Wyoming has the distinction of meeting all these demands. The team also estimates that the availability and command of water resources accessible for hydrogen production are crucial for developing new projects. Water treatment, use, and disposal after treatment will also make projects possible. Primarily, this is relevant for hydrogen made using renewable energy. Wyoming has one of the best wind resource capacity in the nation. Harnessing this resource is challenging due to limited transmission line availability. Hydrogen could become one of the solutions to the stranded resource problem, primarily if the water availability challenge is addressed. Using produced oil & gas water could help to solve the problem. A commonly cited barrier to the expansion of hydrogen markets is the cost associated with constructing new pipelines, which typically require large amounts of capital to develop. Wyoming already possesses much of the export infrastructure needed to connect Wyoming’s hydrogen production with major markets across the West Coast, Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and Front Range regions of the United States, where a large portion of Wyoming’s natural gas is already transported. In addition to transportation by pipeline, rail transportation of hydrogen has also proven feasible. Wyoming uses its extensive railway system to transport large amounts of coal to its export partners across the United States. By using cryogenic or compressed-gas cars, Wyoming has the potential to add hydrogen to its existing network of railroad energy exports. The same technology may also be applied to hydrogen transport via trucks traveling interstate highways. Wyoming’s workforce is ready to meet the demands of clean hydrogen development. Many of the skills and training needed for hydrogen production are the same skills already possessed by Wyoming’s oil & gas and coal workforce. Many government and industry leaders expect clean hydrogen and other low-carbon energy projects to generate significant job growth and to recruit many already-trained oil & gas and coal workers whose jobs may be displaced. As energy companies seek to penetrate the markets for Wyoming hydrogen production, there is a natural mutual benefit to Wyoming’s workers and companies seeking to launch projects with the assistance of a trained workforce. Wyoming’s university and community college system have adopted several programs to ensure that highly qualified engineers and other technically skilled employees continue to graduate with skills to support the development of hydrogen and other innovative energy projects moving forward. Throughout the project, stakeholder outreach and education took many forms, including meetings with several major companies in the industry, collaborating with local government organizations, educational organizations, and national laboratories, tribal outreach and engagement, the sponsoring of several hydrogen-focused projects in many departments throughout the University of Wyoming, and developing a collaboration with international universities. The products of these collaborations consist of working relationships with several companies in the industry, educational institutions, national labs, and local government, as well as strong connections with individuals who will play an essential role in the success of the Hydrogen Energy Research Center.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Air Pollutant Emissions and Regulatory Implications of Co-Processing Raw Bio-Oil in U.S. Petroleum Refineries

Pyrolysis oil, often referred as bio-oil or biocrude, has attracted considerable attention because it has higher energy density and carbon content compared to the raw biomass. Using pyrolysis oil derived from low cost and underutilized biomass to produce renewable hydrocarbon fuels provides a viable link between the agriculture/forestry and (petro-) chemical industry. Co-processing bio-oil with vacuum gas oil (VGO) in petroleum refinery is appealing due to the relatively low capital requirement to retrofit refinery and the compatibility of fuel products with existing infrastructure. In order to implement co-processing, a petroleum refinery would need to consider several process modifications and therefore could be subject to varying levels of air permitting requirements based on bio-oil co-processing ratio, co-processing capacity in existing units, the amount of regulated pollutants expected to be emitted, among other factors. This analysis considers co-processing 5% (by weight) of raw bio-oil with VGO in the fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) unit(s) in a petroleum refinery. We estimate the potential increase in emissions of regulated air pollutants resulting from the modifications required to implement bio-oil co-processing and evaluate the regulatory and permitting implications for three FCC size categories in the U.S. refineries, which could co-processes raw bio-oil to produce partially renewable transportation fuels. We also assess technically feasible emission control options petroleum refineries could adopt to avoid being subject to major source permitting requirements if the estimated increase in regulated air pollutant emission exceeds the applicable threshold for major modifications. Insights from our analysis can help overcome challenges and risks associated with timely obtaining air permits required to implement bio-oil co-processing in existing refineries. Our analysis also provides needed information for decision makers (e.g., local air quality agencies) to understand the potential air quality implications for retrofitting refineries to co-process bio-oil, particularly in areas with high concentration of petroleum refineries.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Design and Operation of a Multi-Bed Catalytic Micro-Reactor for the Study of Co-Processing of Bio-Oils with VGO

An industry wide shift from fossil-based fuel to renewable fuel sources including biomass, municipal waste, and plastics will require new process monitoring methods to minimize transitional risks including off specification product formation and catalyst deactivation. This project aims to provide a machine learning based process monitoring tool composed of online, slipstream mass spectra for use in biomass refineries and co-processing in existing refineries allowing operators to monitor product qualities and adjust process conditions accordingly. In order to maximize the robustness of the tool, large volumes of data must be collected to fine tune model parameters which consists of both micro and pilot scale mass spectral data. Micro-scale data is collected with a multi-tube micro-reactor housing up to six catalysts in horizontal beds, coupled with a molecular beam mass spectrometer. A pyrolizer equipped with an auto-sampler streamlines the micro-scale data collection process. This type of pyrolizer/micro-reactor configuration does not exist on the market, and therefore had to be created for the purposes of this project. The design and commissioning of this reactor will be presented in detail. This reactor set-up is highly flexible and increases throughput of analysis. For catalyst testing, each bed can be individually selected simply by turning valves. For catalyst reduction and regeneration, simultaneous flow through all six beds is used. The reproducibility of the system was first assessed with whole biomass pyrolysis along with pyrolysis of calibration standards. Initial work on this system evaluated two FCC catalysts, equilibrium catalyst (E-cat), and a proprietary catalyst from Johnson Matthey specifically design for co-processing of bio-oil with vacuum gas oil (VGO). This work used model compounds and VGO which illuminated differences in products produced by the catalysts.

biomass↗
DOE OSTI2020

Quantitative Determination of Biomass-derived Renewable Carbon in Fuels from Coprocessing of Bio-oils in Refinery Using a Stable Carbon Isotopic Approach

Increasing renewable carbon incorporation into conventional fuels through coprocessing with vacuum gas oil (VGO, a petroleum refining feedstock) is a critical step in biofuels development, scaling-up, adoption and associated GHG reduction. Optimization of the co-processing parameters maximizes incorporation of the renewable carbon in the fuel products. Quantitative determination of the renewable carbon content in the co-processed products provides direct evaluation of the parameters. The co-processing bio-oil with VGO through hydrocracking (HC) or fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) system resulted in carbon isotopic fractionation that prevented the direct use of the isotope mixing model for quantifying the renewable carbon. Here, we report an algorithm of using a stable carbon isotope approach to quantify the renewable carbon content in co-processing biofuel products through high-precision ?13C analysis. A controlled experiment carried out by blending a fossil diesel (-29.013‰) with a bio-diesel (-30.099‰) at various blending levels up to 98.0/2.0 wt% is presented and has demonstrated the applicability of this approach. The carbon isotope fractionation factors for the bio-oil co-processing were obtained by using a 14C-derived isotope-mixing model. The ?13C method was tested by co-processing 13C-labeled bio-crude and natural woody biomass-derived fast pyrolysis (FP) and catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) bio-oils with VGO. The results were verified by 14C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) method (ASTM-D6866) and compared with the yield mass balance (YMB) method. Strong agreement between d13C and 14C AMS methods demonstrated the applicability of the ?13C method to quantify renewable carbon content in co-processing fuel products and guide the co-processing optimization

Li, Zhenghua↗
DOE OSTI2022

Supplementary Data for "Evaluation of the Economic Implications of Varied Pressure Drawdown Strategies Generated Using a Real-time, Rapid Predictive, Multi-fidelity Model for Unconventional Oil and Gas Wells" by Bello, K., Vikara, D., Sheriff, A., Viswanathan, H., Carr, T., Sweeney, M., O'Malley, D., Marquis, M., Vactor, R.T., and Cunha, L.

The Bello et al. study evaluates the impact of contrasting pressure drawdown on gas productivity and the resulting economics of a well in the Marcellus Shale of the Appalachian Basin. This research applies a techno-economic analysis approach to help identify potential ways pressure management strategies can be used to improve cumulative recovery of hydraulically fractured horizontal wells while maintaining project profitability. Gas production forecast outlook scenarios of the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory Laboratory's MIP-3H well were generated under varying pressure drawdowns using two approaches: 1) a novel physics-informed machine learning (PIML) workflow and 2) via traditional reservoir simulation in Computer Modeling Group’s (CMG) GEM Compositional & Unconventional Simulator. Cash flow and other economic metrics of interest were compiled on the production outlook using the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Unconventional Shale Well Economic Model (UShWEM).The sheets within this Microsoft ExcelTM workbook provide the economic metric outputs for the baseline condition and the one-at-a-time (OAT) sensitivity analysis of UShWEM's input parameters for each of the production scenarios evaluated.

Fracture Network Model↗
DOE OSTI2020

Experimental and theoretical study of the restrained shrinkage cracking of early age well cement

The shrinkage cracking occurring in oil & gas well cement material is a major factor that reduces the cement sheath integrity and impairs the durability of an underground well. Shrinkage mainly takes place in the early hydration period of the cement, and the resulting restrained shrinkage cracking can form a leaking network for oil & gas or carbon dioxide stored in an underground reservoir. It is thus important to understand the early age behavior of well cement and the leaking pathway formation in the well. This study describes the application of the digital image correlation (DIC) method as a tool to measure the strain development and crack distributions of well cement in the lab during early phase changes. A theoretical model is presented to calculate the stress distribution built up in the cement sheath during early ages of well cement hydration, which helps to interpret the experimental observations and determine the major factors influencing the cracking sequences. This study presents the whole hydration – drying shrinkage – and cracking mechanism of early age well cement under restrained ring conditions experimentally and theoretically. Finally, the results offer useful insights on the key material and geometric parameters which control the fracture of a well cementing structure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

PARETO: An open-source produced water optimization framework

PARETO is an optimization framework for onshore produced water management that is meant to empower practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to identify cost-effective and environmentally sustainable ways to manage, treat, and – when possible – beneficially reuse produced water from oil & gas operations. Given user-provided water production, demand, and transportation data, PARETO can help determine where and how to build out produced water infrastructure while simultaneously improving the coordination of water deliveries over time. As shown here, the framework is innately designed to help organizations recognize opportunities for minimizing fresh and brackish water consumption by maximizing produced water reuse in active oil & gas development areas. PARETO is Python-based and is publicly available via GitHub.

42 ENGINEERING↗