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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
NASA NTRS1977

Heat Acclimation and Water-Immersion Deconditioning: Responses to Exercise

Simulated subgravity conditions, such as bed rest and water immersion, cause a decrease in a acceleration tolerance (3, 4), tilt tolerance (3, 9, 10), work capacity (5, 7), and plasma volume (1, 8-10). Moderate exercise training performed during bed rest (4) and prior to water immersion (5) provides some protection against the adverse effects of deconditioning, but the relationship between exercise and changes due to deconditioning remains unclear. Heat acclimation increases plasma and interstitial volumes, total body water, stroke volume (11), and tilt tolerance (6) and may, therefore, be a more efficient method of ameliorating deconditioning than physical training alone. The present study was undertaken to determine the effects of heat acclimation and moderate physical training, performed in cool conditions, on water-immersion deconditioning.

Shvartz, E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Exercise Training During +Gz Acceleration

The overall purpose is to study the effect of passive (without exercise) and active (with exercise) +Gz (head-to-foot) acceleration training, using a short-arm (1.9m radius) centrifuge, on post- training maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max, work capacity) and 70 deg head-up tilt (orthostatic) tolerance in ambulatory subjects to test the hypothesis that (a) both passive and active acceleration training will improve post-training tilt-tolerance, and (b) there will be no difference in tilt-tolerance between passive and active exercise acceleration training because increased hydrostatic and blood pressures, rather than increased muscular metabolism, will provide the major adaptive stimulus. The purpose of the pilot study was to test the hypothesis that there would be no significant difference in the metabolic responses (oxygen uptake, heart rate, pulmonary ventilation, or respiratory exchange ratio) during supine exercise with moderate +Gz acceleration.

Greenleaf, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Evaluation of Thermoregulation After Spaceflight

Altered thermoregulation has been reported following spaceflight simulations such as water immersion and bedrest but it has never been evaluated immediately after actual spaceflight. Impaired thermoregulation may have significant impact during various spaceflight activities such as countermeasure exercise, extravehicular activity (EVA), landing, and egress. It would be manifested as an increased body temperature and heart rate and decreased work capacity and endurance. In this study we evaluated the exercise responses of two crewmembers following a long duration spaceflight and measured their changes in body temperatures, skin blood flow, sweating and heat production during a mild submaximal exercise stress.

Schneider, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Intensive Exercise Training During Bed Rest Attenuates Deconditioning

Intensive exercise training during bed rest attenuates deconditioning. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 207-215, 1997. A 30-d 6 deg head-down bed rest project was conducted to evaluate variable high-intensity, short-duration, isotonic cycle ergometer exercise (ITE) training and high-intensity intermittent resistive isokinetic exercise (IKE) training regimens designed to maintain peak VO2 and muscle mass, strength, and endurance at ambulatory control levels throughout prolonged bed rest. Other elements of the deconditioning (adaptive) syndrome, such as proprioception, psychological performance, hypovolemia, water balance, body composition, and orthostatic tolerance, were also measured. Major findings are summarized in this paper. Compared with response during bed rest of the no exercise (NOE) control group: the ITE training regimen (a) maintained work capacity (peak VO2), (b) maintained plasma and red cell volumes, (c) induced positive body water balance, (d) decreased quality of sleep and mental concentration, and (e) had no effect on the decrease in orthostatic tolerance; the IKE training regimen (f) attenuated the decrease in peak VO2 by 50%, (g) attenuated loss of red cell volume by 40% but had no effect on loss of plasma volume, (b) induced positive body water balance, (i) had no adverse effect on quality of sleep or concentration, and 0) had no effect on the decrease in orthostatic tolerance. These findings suggest that various elements of the deconditioning syndrome can be manipulated by duration and intensity of ITE or IKE training regimens and that several different training protocols will be required to maintain or restore physiological and psychological performance of individuals confined to prolonged bed rest.

Greenleaf, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Exercise Training During Bed Rest Attenuates Deconditioning

A 30-day 6 deg. head-down bed rest study was conducted to evaluate high-intensity, short-duration, alternating isotonic cycle ergometer exercise (ITE) training and high-intensity intermittent isokinetic exercise (IKE) training regiments designed to maintain peak VO2 and muscle mass, strength, and endurance at ambulatory control levels throughout prolonged bed rest. Other elements of the deconditioning (acclimation) syndrome, such as proprioception, psychological performance, hypovolemia, water balance, body composition, and orthostatic tolerance, were also measured. Compared with response during bed rest of the no exercise (NOE) control group: the ITE training regimen (a) maintained work capacity (peak VO2), (b) maintained plasma and red cell volume, (c) induced positive body water balance, (d) decreased quality of sleep and mental concentration, and (e) had no effect on the decrease in orthostatic tolerance; the IKE training regimen (a) attenuated the decrease in peak VO2 by 50%, (b) attenuated loss of red cell volume by 40%, but had no effect on loss of plasma volume, (c) induced positive body water balance, (d) had no adverse effect on quality of sleep or concentration, and (e) had no effect on the decrease in orthostatic tolerance. These findings suggest that various elements of the deconditioning syndrome can be manipulated by duration and intensity of ITE or IKE training regiments, and that several different training protocols will be required to maintain or restore physiological and psychological performance of individuals confined to prolonged bed rest.

Greenleaf, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Exercise Versus +Gz Acceleration Training

Decreased working capacity and "orthostatic" intolerance are two major problems for astronauts during and after landing from spaceflight in a return vehicle. The purpose was to test the hypotheses that (1) supine-passive-acceleration training, supine-interval-exercise plus acceleration training, and supine exercise plus acceleration training will improve orthostatic tolerance (OT) in ambulatory men; and that (2) addition of aerobic exercise conditioning will not influence this enhanced OT from that of passive-acceleration training. Seven untrained men (24-38 yr) underwent 3 training regimens (30 min/d x 5d/wk x 3wk on the human-powered centrifuge - HPC): (a) Passive acceleration (alternating +1.0 Gz to 50% Gzmax); (b) Exercise acceleration (alternating 40% - 90% V02max leg cycle exercise plus 50% of HPCmax acceleration); and (c) Combined intermittent exercise-acceleration at 40% to 90% HPCmax. Maximal supine exercise workloads increased (P < 0.05) by 8.3% with Passive, by 12.6% with Exercise, and by 15.4% with Combined; but maximal V02 and HR were unchanged in all groups. Maximal endurance (time to cessation) was unchanged with Passive, but increased (P < 0.05) with Exercise and Combined. Resting pre-tilt HR was elevated by 12.9% (P < 0.05) only after Passive training, suggesting that exercise training attenuated this HR response. All resting pre-tilt blood pressures (SBP, DBP, MAP) were not different pre- vs. post-training. Post-training tilt-tolerance time and HR were increased (P < 0.05) only with Passive training by 37.8% and by 29.1%, respectively. Thus, addition of exercise training attenuated the increased Passive tilt tolerance. Resting (pre-tilt) and post-tilt cardiac R-R interval, stroke volume, end-diastolic volume, and cardiac output were all uniformly reduced (P < 0.05) while peripheral resistance was uniformly increased (P < 0.05) pre-and post-training for the three regimens indicating no effect of any training regimen on those cardiovascular variables. Plasma volume (% delta) was uniformly decreased by 8% to 14% (P < 0.05) at tilt-tolerance pre- vs. post-training for all regimens indicating no effect of these training regimens on the level of vascular fluid shifts.

Greenleaf, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Changes in peak oxygen uptake and plasma volume in fit and unfit subjects following exposure to a simulation of microgravity

To test the hypothesis that the magnitude of reduction in plasma volume and work capacity following exposure to simulated microgravity is dependent on the initial level of aerobic fitness, peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) was measured in a group of physically fit subjects and compared with VO2peak in a group of relatively unfit subjects before and after 10 days of continuous 6 degrees head-down tilt (HDT). Ten fit subjects (40 +/- 2 year) with mean +/- SE VO2peak = 48.9 +/- 1.7 mL kg-1 min-1 were matched for age, height, and lean body weight with 10 unfit subjects (VO2peak = 37.7 +/- 1.6 mL kg-1 min-1). Before and after HDT, plasma, blood, and red cell volumes and body composition were measured and all subjects underwent a graded supine cycle ergometer test to determine VO2peak period needed. Reduced VO2peak in fit subjects (-16.2%) was greater than that of unfit subjects (-6.1%). Similarly, reductions in plasma (-18.3%) and blood volumes (-16.0%) in fit subjects were larger than those of unfit subjects (blood volume = -5.6%; plasma volume = -6.6%). Reduced plasma volume was associated with greater negative body fluid balance during the initial 24 h of HDT in the fit group (912 +/- 154 mL) compared with unfit subjects (453 +/- 200 mL). The percentage change for VO2peak correlated with percentage change in plasma volume (r = +0.79). Following exposure to simulated microgravity, fit subjects demonstrated larger reductions in VO2peak than unfit subjects which was associated with larger reductions in plasma and blood volume. These data suggest that the magnitude of physical deconditioning induced by exposure to microgravity without intervention of countermeasures was influenced by the initial fitness of the subjects.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2004

Pharmacotherapeutic Aspects of Space Medicine

Medications are used for a wide variety of indications during space flight. For example, astronauts have taken drugs in flight to ameliorate or prevent symptoms of space motion sickness, headache, sleeplessness, backache, nasal congestion, and constipation. Russian cosmonauts reportedly take medications to prevent metabolic disturbances of the myocardium and intestinal flora, and to optimize their work capacity. Although the discomfort associated with some acute responses to microgravity (e.g., space motion sickness) is expected to diminish with length of time in flight, other responses that have delayed onset (e.g., maintaining nutritional status, bone and muscle strength, and perhaps immune response) may affect health and quality of life during longer missions. Therefore, as the duration of space flights increases, the need for treatment with medications is expected to increase accordingly. Medications carried on Space Shuttle missions have varied somewhat from flight to flight, depending on the individual needs of the crewmembers. Medications use during Shuttle flights seems to be more prevalent than during earlier programs, perhaps because drugs are provided in easy-to-use forms. In fact, nearly all medications taken to date have been ingested orally in tablet form. However, given that the oral route may not be ideal for those suffering motion-sickness symptoms, intramuscular and intranasal preparations are being tested. For example, intramuscular administration of promethazine hydrochloride (Phenergan(Registered TradeMark)) has been reported to be more effective in alleviating motion-sickness symptoms. The difficulties involved in conducting definitive studies of drug efficacy during U.S. space flights have been compounded by the absence of a systematic approach to determining which drugs were taken by whom and under what circumstances. The use of some drugs in space has been less efficacious than expected. The onset, intensity, and duration of the response produced by any drug depend upon rates of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of the drug; space flight-induced changes in blood flow and the function of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, liver, or kidneys may alter these processes. Another important aspect of clinical efficacy of medications in space is the stability of pharmaceuticals. As the U.S. space program is moving toward extended Space Shuttle flights and beyond, to space station missions and planetary explorations, understanding how space flight affects organ systems and clinical pharmacology is necessary to optimize pharmacotherapeutics in space and ensure adequate safety and health of crewmembers.

Putcha, Lakshmi↗
NASA NTRS2001

Effect of Exercise Training and +Gz Acceleration Training on Men

Countermeasures for reduction in work capacity (maximal oxygen uptake and strength) during spaceflight and enhanced orthostatic intolerance during re-entry, landing and egress from the return vehicle are continuing problems. The purpose for this study was to test the hypothesis that passive-acceleration training; supine, interval, exercise plus acceleration training and exercise combined with acceleration training would improve orthostatic tolerance in ambulatory men; and that addition of the aerobic exercise conditioning would not alter this improved tolerance from that of passive-acceleration training. Seven men (24-38 yr) underwent "Passive" training on the Ames human-powered centrifuge (HPC) for 30 min, "Exercise" training on the cycle ergometer with constant +Gz acceleration; and "Combined" exercise training at 40% to 90% of the HPC +Gz(max) exercise level. Maximal supine exercise loads increased significant (P<0.05) by 8.3% (Passive), 12.6% (Exercise), and by 15.4% (Combined) after training, but their post-training maximal oxygen uptakes and maximal heart rates were unchanged. Maximal time to fatigue (endurance) was unchanged with Passive was increased (P<0.05) with Exercise and Combined training. Thus, the exercise in the Exercise and Combined training Phases resulted in greater maximal loads and endurance without effect on maximal oxygen uptake or heart rate. There was a 4% to 6% increase (P<0.05) in all four quadriceps muscle volumes (right and left) after post-Combined training. Resting pre-tilt heart rate was elevated by 12.9% (P<0.05) only after Passive training suggesting that the exercise training attenuated the HR response. Plasma volume (% Delta) was uniformly decreased by 8% to 14% (P<0.05) at tilt-tolerance pre- vs. post-training indicating essentially no effect of training on the level of hypovolemia. Post-training tilt-tolerance time and heart rate were increased (P<0.05) only with Passive training by 37.8% and by 29.1%, respectively. Thus, addition of exercise training appeared to attenuate the increased Passive tilt-tolerance.

Greenleaf, John E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Abrstract - OnePlace Redesign Spring 2020 Internship

The project I worked on was the OnePlace Redesign. In that, I converted the OnePlace home page to the Service Portal to match NASA OnePlace’s current application design standards, I was able to allow users to easily find applications in OnePlace and I was able to allow users to easily find and request OnePlace services (new app development, new knowledge base, etc.). It was a major accomplishment to be able to remodel a website that soon the entire Langley center that uses OnePlace will use. The website was made through ServiceNow’s Service Portal, and I organized the applications like never before, allowed a clear styling to applications a user does not have access to and/or are new applications, browsing of applications with clear button divisions, and allowing for different options depending if app is accessible or not, with proper error checking in place and very-well documented code. It was amazing to incorporate all this logic into one widget so that whoever wants to utilize this feature has no trouble at all to do so. The 3 most important things I learned were being able to do this work within ServiceNow, as it is such an important enterprise platform for CRM and boosting the connected workforce of NASA, incorporate built-in APIs from ServiceNow Glide Records to connect Server Scripts to Client Scripts and HTML, and be able to use agile to get another experience of managing work capacity with stories, and having proper communication with the team if every feature is done correctly and steps for continuing forward. The part that I enjoyed the most was the training I did for ServiceNow and I freedom I had to experiment to see how to structure the Service Portal. I was not tied down, and I believe this allowed for a better outcome of the product. As part of the internship, I created a very in-depth design document with the help of my team to document the project goals before it was started and technical documentation (including the design document) summarizing the final result of the product in terms of the new features added and the explanation of the logic thoroughly so that anyone can understand the project easily. The technical documentation will be published as a Knowledge Article within OnePlace Knowledge Base documentation.

Ariel Wald↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The System Complexity Metric (SCM) Explains Systems Design and is Correlated with Cost and Failure Rate

The human short term memory span and working capacity is limited to three to five items, especially if they are organized complex “chunks” of information. The impression of complexity occurs when a system is simply difficult to understand, where there is no apparent pattern to predict its behavior. Hierarchical systems design can reduce perceived complexity and increase the amount of information that can be managed. The SCM was developed to measure complexity and help compare proposed overall system architectures before detailed design information is available. The SCM is defined as the sum of the number of major nodes, N, in the system block diagram plus the number of one-way interactions, I, between the nodes. SCM = N + I. SCM’s are easily determined by direct inspection of high-level block diagrams of life support systems. Axiomatic design develops a hierarchy of subsystem requirements and designs together in a top-down, back-and-forth process. A coupling matrix is used to control the relationships between the subsystem functions and design concepts. Axiomatic design can improve system design by decoupling requirements and designs. Axiomatic design was applied to the planning of a closed life support system, similar to that used on the International Space Station. A materially open as opposed to a closed system design was created by removing the interconnections required to close the system. The open system had the same number of designed subsystems as the closed system, but it had many fewer interconnections and its SCM was lower by about half. The costs were estimated and the MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) tabulated for open and closed space life support systems. The estimated costs were linearly proportional to SCM for the wide variations of SCM in life support, but small differences may not be significant. The flight and preflight MTBF’s both declined exponentially with increasing MTBF, faster than MTBF-2, even though the preflight estimated MTBF’s were about ten times higher than the flight MTBF’s.

System Complexity Metric (SCM)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Risks of Increased Earth Independence

As human space exploration begins to extend beyond the immediate vicinity of Earth, the ability of expertise on the ground to support operations will progressively decrease. Ground control expertise has been the primary countermeasure preventing loss of life and mission over the past sixty years and it will be gradually stripped away as expeditions reach further into space. The large, flexible and adaptive teams of experts on the ground, provide not only engineering analysis and problem-solving but also greatly increased work capacity. Monitoring of the large and fast moving stream of telemetry data is carried out around the clock by 20-30 flight controllers per shift. Analysis of that data and troubleshooting is carried out by an additional 50-100 engineers per shift. Artificial intelligence capabilities will need to be part of the solution but will not the entire solution. As progress continues to be made on intelligent systems, especially those for use in complex, dynamic environments where humans will remain a part of the activity, there is an ever increasing need to focus on how those systems will interact with the humans. Although capabilities such as natural language processing and facial recognition have become common place, even basic aspects of problem-solving, causal reasoning and generative decision-making remain well-beyond of our current capabilities. Advanced data visualization, procedure execution support, and new training approaches will be needed to close the gap between what is currently provided by experts on the ground and what the crew will need to do in increasingly autonomous ways with greater distance from Earth.

human-systems integration architecture↗
DOE OSTI2020

Highly deformable Mg–Al–Ca alloy with Al 2 Ca precipitates

Magnesium (Mg) is the lightest structural metal. However, the poor formability of Mg alloys to great extent limits their applications in making structural parts. Formability is strongly correlated to both high tensile elongation and large work hardening capacity. In this work, we report a new Mg-Al-Ca alloy in which a majority of deformable Al 2 Ca precipitates form while the formation of Laves phases of Mg 17 Al 12 and Mg 2 Ca seems suppressed. Al 2 Ca precipitates imped dislocation motion, leading to large work hardening. Then, Al 2 Ca precipitates deform with dislocations and stacking faults under the enhanced flow stress, which relieve local stress concentration and improve tensile elongation. In addition, solutes Al and Ca suppress twin nucleation while promoting non-basal dislocations in Mg. Our Mg-Al-Ca alloy demonstrates one of the highest combinations of tensile elongation and work hardening capacity among existing Mg alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2022

Environmental Justice Needs-Assessment For Health & Air Quality: Assessing the Needs and Capacity of Organizations Working Towards Health and Environmental Justice Related to Health and Air Quality

Health and air quality are concerns in environmental justice (EJ) work, as air contaminants and their adverse health effects inequitably impact communities that are often underrepresented in research and litigation. Previously, the NASA DEVELOP National Program partnered with organizations that focus on a variety of health and air quality concerns and is now committed to partnering directly with EJ organizations to address inequities in health and air quality through the application of Earth observations. To support the establishment of future partnerships, DEVELOP is working to identify potential partners for further EJ research in the U.S. regarding health and air quality. This project conducted a needs assessment with EJ organizations to quantify their EJ involvement, geospatial capacity, and interest in collaborating with DEVELOP. A broad literature review identified multiple factors influencing health and air quality for potential DEVELOP projects: agriculture, heat, wildfires, industry and transportation infrastructure, and miscellaneous factors (e.g., burning, urban heat island effect, smoke plumes, truck exhaust, and noise). The needs assessment showed that 22% of the organizations interviewed were primarily concerned with transportation infrastructure, 21% with industry, 19% with heat, 10% with miscellaneous factors (e.g., resource mining, COVID-19), 8% with wildfires, 7% with agriculture, and 6% with resource mining. This will help inform the DEVELOP Program's pursuit of EJ projects relating to health and air quality. The team also created a directory for communities impacted by air pollutants to connect with geospatial resources and NASA Applied Sciences personnel for future EJ health and air quality work.

Elizabeth Duran↗
DOE OSTI2026

Large Load Impacts to Distribution System Hosting Capacity

This work examined the impact of large loads on utility distribution system models using the Sandia-developed open-source software DREAMS. It was shown that hosting capacity varies with location and changes after any asset is added to, or removed from, a system. Despite the tested models having similar rated voltages and other characteristics, their thermal and voltage constrained hosting capacity varied over 2 MW. The addition of a 3-phase balanced constant power large load with power factor of 1.0 exhibited non-linear reductions to all voltage constrained hosting capacities. The reductions to thermal constrained hosting capacity from a load with similar characteristics was more linear, related to the size of the added load, and did not impact all model buses. Co-located capacitors were shown to accommodate demand that was beyond the baseline voltage constrained hosting capacity limits, however, the costs and benefits from this approach were found to not be 1:1 and required additional available thermal capacity.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2004

Working Fluids for Increasing Capacities of Heat Pipes

A theoretical and experimental investigation has shown that the capacities of heat pipes can be increased through suitable reformulation of their working fluids. The surface tensions of all of the working fluids heretofore used in heat pipes decrease with temperature. As explained in more detail below, the limits on the performance of a heat pipe are associated with the decrease in the surface tension of the working fluid with temperature, and so one can enhance performance by reformulating the working fluid so that its surface tension increases with temperature. This improvement is applicable to almost any kind of heat pipe in almost any environment. The heat-transfer capacity of a heat pipe in its normal operating-temperature range is subject to a capillary limit and a boiling limit. Both of these limits are associated with the temperature dependence of surface tension of the working fluid. In the case of a traditional working fluid, the decrease in surface tension with temperature causes a body of the liquid phase of the working fluid to move toward a region of lower temperature, thus preventing the desired spreading of the liquid in the heated portion of the heat pipe. As a result, the available capillary-pressure pumping head decreases as the temperature of the evaporator end of the heat pipe increases, and operation becomes unstable. Water has widely been used as a working fluid in heat pipes. Because the surface tension of water decreases with increasing temperature, the heat loads and other aspects of performance of heat pipes that contain water are limited. Dilute aqueous solutions of long-chain alcohols have shown promise as substitutes for water that can offer improved performance, because these solutions exhibit unusual surface-tension characteristics: Experiments have shown that in the cases of an aqueous solution of an alcohol, the molecules of which contain chains of more than four carbon atoms, the surface tension increases with temperature when the temperature exceeds a certain value. There are also other liquids that have surface tensions that increase with temperature and could be used as working fluids in heat pipes. For example, as a substitute for ammonia, which is the working fluid in some heat pipes, one could use a solution of ammonia and an ionic surfactant.

Chao, David F.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bench-Scale Development of a Novel Direct Air Capture Technology Using High-Capacity Structured Sorbents

The work performed under this project has resulted into development of a DAC technology utilizing a structured sorbent to capture CO 2 from ambient air with a key innovation of direct Joule heating of the sorbent for CO 2 desorption. A working SMA, fully integrated with an electrically resistive heating layer, high surface area support, and high CO 2 capacity sorbent coated onto a commercial ceramic monolithic substrate, was successfully developed and demonstrated over >200 adsorption-desorption cycles in a high-fidelity bench test unit directly using ambient air. A cordierite-based monolith was selected as a substrate owing to its high surface area, low bulk density, low heat capacity, and commercial availability. Reaction kinetics study conducted during this project led to development of a promoter for the base Na 2 CO 3 sorbent that could be incorporated into the sorbent to enhance to achieve higher CO 2 adsorption/desorption rates, greater working capacity, and reduced regeneration temperature. An accelerated aging study was conducted in a TGA to determine sorbent stability and no degradation in the sorbent performance was observed even after 250 adsorption-desorption cycles. An electrically resistive heating layer was developed with tunable electrical properties. The heating layer was coated onto the selected cordierite substrate. Aging studies performed showed the electrical properties and heating performance was stable after 500 heating and cooling cycles. The collective findings on the selected cordierite substrate, robust heating layer, promoter and sorbent selection were used to synthesize a full, 6”x6” SMA for bench-scale testing. The bench-scale DAC system was constructed to test full size SMAs using real ambient air for adsorption and joule heating for regeneration. After completing shakedown and commissioning of the 1 kg/day of CO 2 capacity DAC bench unit, an extended operation was performed to complete over 230 cycles with the full size SMA. This testing showed no observable degradation in sorbent performance. A detailed process model, TEA and LCA were developed for a conceptual 100,000 TPY CO 2 removal DAC facility. The LCA results show the net CO 2 e emissions from the DAC system are highly dependent on the electricity source. All other factors, including SMA manufacturing, materials for facility enclosure, etc., are minor cost contributors compared to the energy consumption required for CO 2 removal. With the successful development and validation of the SMA for the sustained performance for CO 2 removal from ambient air with joule heated regeneration in this project, a fully integrated 1 TPY bench-scale DAC system is currently in development with the support of DOE/FECM (DE-FE0032243). The project objective is to demonstrate the engineering design of the DAC system to produce a continuous, high purity CO 2 stream from ambient air. This project will address and validate key engineering features of the DAC system including the gas sealing mechanism and panels, enclosure and air contactor design, and automation sequence to achieve continuous CO 2 production.

42 ENGINEERING↗