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At least 127 records · Page 7

Advanced X-Ray Inspection of Reinforced Carbon Composite Materials on the Orbiter Leading Edge Structural Subsystem (LESS)

The post return-to-flight (RTF) inspection methodology for the Orbiter Leading Edge Structural Subsystem (LESS) is currently being defined. Numerous NDT modalities and techniques are being explored to perform the flight-to-flight inspections of the reinforced carbon/carbon (RCC) composite material for impact damage, general loss of mass in the bulk layers, or other anomalous conditions that would pose risk to safe return upon re-entry. It is possible to have an impact upon ascent that is not visually observable on the surface, yet causes internal damage. Radiographic testing may be a useful NDT technique for such occurrences. The authors have performed radiographic tests on full-sized mock samples of LESS hardware with embedded image quality phantoms. Digitized radiographic film, computed radiography and flat panel digital real-time radiography was acquired using a GE Eresco 200 x-ray tube, and Se-75 and Yb-169 radioisotopes.

Hernandez, Jose M.↗

Implications of Climate Mitigation for Future Agricultural Production

Climate change is projected to negatively impact biophysical agricultural productivity in much of the world. Actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate future climate changes, are thus of central importance for agricultural production. Climate impacts are, however, not unidirectional; some crops in some regions (primarily higher latitudes) are projected to benefit, particularly if increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is assumed to strongly increase crop productivity at large spatial and temporal scales. Climate mitigation measures that are implemented by reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations lead to reductions both in the strength of climate change and in the benefits of carbon dioxide fertilization. Consequently, analysis of the effects of climate mitigation on agricultural productivity must address not only regions for which mitigation is likely to reduce or even reverse climate damages. There are also regions that are likely to see increased crop yields due to climate change, which may lose these added potentials under mitigation action. Comparing data from the most comprehensive archive of crop yield projections publicly available, we find that climate mitigation leads to overall benefits from avoided damages at the global scale and especially in many regions that are already at risk of food insecurity today. Ignoring controversial carbon dioxide fertilization effects on crop productivity, we find that for the median projection aggressive mitigation could eliminate approximately 81% of the negative impacts of climate change on biophysical agricultural productivity globally by the end of the century. In this case, the benefits of mitigation typically extend well into temperate regions, but vary by crop and underlying climate model projections. Should large benefits to crop yields from carbon dioxide fertilization be realized, the effects of mitigation become much more mixed, though still positive globally and beneficial in many food insecure countries.

Mueller, Christoph↗

Decarbonizing or illusion? How carbon emissions of commercial building operations change worldwide

To lead the low-carbon transition in global buildings, this study is the first to use the generalized Divisia index method (GDIM) to identify the factors driving carbon emissions and assess the decarbonization performance in commercial building operations (CBOs) of sixteen countries during 2000–2019. Results show that (1) while the global carbon emissions from CBOs have increased at a modest rate of 0.9%/yr, this trend runs counter to the declining emissions in the U.S. (-1.1%/yr) and the significant growth in China (14.4%/yr), which can be attributed to the impact of economy-related factors. (2) The U.S. and China, as the largest emitters, contributed 66.8% of the samples’ decarbonization of CBOs (919.1 million tons of carbon dioxide). (3) Most countries’ CBOs had a decarbonization efficiency level of less than 10%, except for Spain (27.8%). Spain excelled in both areas of per capita and per floor area with an average efficiency of nearly 30%. Moreover, ridge regression successfully confirms the stability of GDIM results and it should be noted GDIM has limitations in characterizing the end-use activity. Overall, this study tracks the historical decarbonization of global CBOs and offers benchmarks for different emitters to forecast the dynamic of building emissions along with economic booms.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Isolating the Impacts of Soil Moisture Initialization on Land Carbon Fluxes at the Sub-Seasonal to Seasonal Scale

Soil moisture, through its impact on transpiration, plays a significant role in controlling the productivity of terrestrial vegetation. Initial soil moisture conditions in a seasonal forecast may therefore affect the forecast of land carbon uptake. Here we investigate the relative impacts of soil moisture initialization and carbon reservoir initialization on forecasts of land carbon fluxes at the sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) scale. The bias-corrected, retrospective meteorology of NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)’s S2S ensemble forecast was used to force the stand-alone Catchment-CN model and thereby estimate terrestrial carbon responses out to nine lead months. Our results show that soil moisture initialization is a major contributor (approximately 44%) to the high global carbon uptake forecast skill seen during the first three lead months. The carbon reservoir initialization explains roughly another half of the monthly carbon forecast skill during this period and becomes relatively more important at longer leads (while the overall forecast skill decreases after the 3 lead month), suggesting a slower but longer-lasting influence of carbon reservoir initialization on carbon fluxes. Our results highlight the significance of a good soil moisture initialization for improved forecasts of carbon fluxes at leads of several months, further support for the usefulness of assimilating the satellite based soil moisture information into terrestrial biosphere models and of a short term carbon forecast to understand current events with often a lag in the availability of flux estimates.

Land carbon↗

Sea Level-Driven Marsh Migration Results in Rapid Net Loss of Carbon

Sea level rise alters coastal carbon cycling by driving the rapid migration of coastal ecosystems, salinization of freshwater systems, and replacement of terrestrial forests with tidal wetlands. Wetland soils accumulate carbon (C) at faster rates than terrestrial soils, implying that sea level rise may lead to enhanced carbon accumulation. Here, we show that carbon stored in tree biomass greatly exceeds carbon stored in adjacent marsh soils so that marsh migration reduces total carbon stocks by ~50% in less than 100 years. Continued marsh soil carbon accumulation may eventually offset forest carbon loss, but we estimate that the time for replacement is similar to estimates of marsh survival (i.e., centuries), which suggests that forest C may never be replaced. These findings reveal a critical C source not included in coastal C budgets driven by migrating ecosystems and rapidly shifting allocations between carbon stored in soils and biomass.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Summary Report of the Carbon-Negative Hydrogen Workshop

This report summarizes the outcomes of the Carbon-Negative Hydrogen Workshop held at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado on June 22-23, 2023. The workshop was co-sponsored by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Energy Technology Laboratory and focused on developing a shared understanding of the importance of and opportunities for generation and use of carbon-negative hydrogen in industrial decarbonization. For the purposes of this workshop, carbon-negative hydrogen was defined as hydrogen (H 2 ) produced in a manner that leads to net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere thus giving rise to a life cycle cradle-to-grave carbon intensity that is below zero.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Biological Mechanisms May Contribute to Soil Carbon Saturation Patterns: Modeling Archive

This Modeling Archive is in support of a TES-SFA publication “Biological Mechanisms May Contribute to Soil Carbon Saturation Patterns” (Craig et al., 2021). We ran and evaluated a multi-assumption soil organic carbon (SOC) model to investigate whether alternative assumptions regarding constraints on soil microbial biomass could lead to soil carbon saturation patterns. We developed this model in the Multi-Assumption Architecture and Testbed (MAAT, https://github.com/walkeranthonyp/MAAT, tag: v1.2.1_Craig2021; Walker et al. 2018). Using MAAT, we embedded three alternative hypotheses in a microbially explicit three-pool SOC model: 1) the efficiency of mineral-associated SOC formation decreases as mineral-associated SOC approaches a maximum value (“Mineral saturation”), 2) the microbial biomass turnover rate increases with increasing microbial biomass (“Density-dependent turnover”), and 3) community carbon use efficiency decreases as microbial biomass increases toward an upper limit (“Density-dependent growth”). We ran a factorial combination of these hypotheses resulting in eight models for three different classes of model (linear decay, Michaelis-Menten decay, or reverse Michaelis-Menten decay), resulting in 24 models, 12 of which are presented or discussed in the related publication. Models were parameterized using values from previous studies with similar models (Wang et al. 2013, Wieder et al. 2014, Li et al. 2014, Georgiou et al. 2017, Hassink and Whitmore 1997) and ran to an approximate steady state (200 years) at six (6) different C input rates corresponding to 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 7, and 10 times the default input value. Further model details are available in the related publication. This archive contains output from three MAAT simulations, and scripts to run these simulations and process and plot the data. Simulations are labeled “lin”, “MM_highKm”, and “RMM_highKm” reflecting factorial runs for linear, Michealis-Menten, and reverse Michaelis-Menten models, respectively. This archive contains: • 3 R scripts prepended with “init_MAAT_” to initialize runs (1 for each simulation), • 1 csv file containing years over which to run simulations (“met_year.csv”), • 1 bash script (.bs) to run MAAT, • 6 XML files that are output from MAAT describing a run (2 for each simulation), • 3 model output csv files prepended by “out_” (1 for each simulation), and • 1 analysis R script for reproducing figures 3 and 4 in Craig et al. 2021. See included user guide (Craig_2021_modeling_archive_20210315.pdf) for file organization details.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Shuttle Wing Leading Edge Root Cause NDE Team Findings and Implementation of Quantitative Flash Infrared Thermography

Comparison metrics can be established to reliably and repeatedly establish the health of the joggle region of the Orbiter Wing Leading Edge reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) panels. Using these metrics can greatly reduced the man hours needed to perform, wing leading edge scanning for service induced damage. These time savings have allowed for more thorough inspections to be preformed in the necessary areas with out affecting orbiter flow schedule. Using specialized local inspections allows for a larger margin of safety by allowing for more complete characterizations of panel defects. The presence of the t-seal during thermographic inspection can have adverse masking affects on ability properly characterize defects that exist in the joggle region of the RCC panels. This masking affect dictates the final specialized inspection should be preformed with the t-seal removed. Removal of the t-seal and use of the higher magnification optics has lead to the most effective and repeatable inspection method for characterizing and tracking defects in the wing leading edge. Through this study some inadequacies in the main health monitoring system for the orbiter wing leading edge have been identified and corrected. The use of metrics and local specialized inspection have lead to a greatly increased reliability and repeatable inspection of the shuttle wing leading edge.

Burke, Eric R.↗

Quasi-Static 3-Point Reinforced Carbon-Carbon Bend Test and Analysis for Shuttle Orbiter Wing Leading Edge Impact Damage Thresholds

Static 3-point bend tests of Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) were conducted to failure to provide data for additional validation of an LS-DYNA RCC model suitable for predicting the threshold of impact damage to shuttle orbiter wing leading edges. LS-DYNA predictions correlated well with the average RCC failure load, and were good in matching the load vs. deflection. However, correlating the detectable damage using NDE methods with the cumulative damage parameter in LS-DYNA material model 58 was not readily achievable. The difficulty of finding internal RCC damage with NDE and the high sensitivity of the mat58 damage parameter to the load near failure made the task very challenging. In addition, damage mechanisms for RCC due to dynamic impact of debris such as foam and ice and damage mechanisms due to a static loading were, as expected, not equivalent.

Fasanella, Edwin L.↗

Carbon Dioxide Removal via Passive Thermal Approaches

A paper describes a regenerable approach to separate carbon dioxide from other cabin gases by means of cooling until the carbon dioxide forms carbon dioxide ice on the walls of the physical device. Currently, NASA space vehicles remove carbon dioxide by reaction with lithium hydroxide (LiOH) or by adsorption to an amine, a zeolite, or other sorbent. Use of lithium hydroxide, though reliable and well-understood, requires significant mass for all but the shortest missions in the form of lithium hydroxide pellets, because the reaction of carbon dioxide with lithium hydroxide is essentially irreversible. This approach is regenerable, uses less power than other historical approaches, and it is almost entirely passive, so it is more economical to operate and potentially maintenance- free for long-duration missions. In carbon dioxide removal mode, this approach passes a bone-dry stream of crew cabin atmospheric gas through a metal channel in thermal contact with a radiator. The radiator is pointed to reject thermal loads only to space. Within the channel, the working stream is cooled to the sublimation temperature of carbon dioxide at the prevailing cabin pressure, leading to formation of carbon dioxide ice on the channel walls. After a prescribed time or accumulation of carbon dioxide ice, for regeneration of the device, the channel is closed off from the crew cabin and the carbon dioxide ice is sublimed and either vented to the environment or accumulated for recovery of oxygen in a fully regenerative life support system.

Lawson, Michael↗

Enhanced Weathering Strategies for Stabilizing Climate and Averting Ocean Acidification

Chemical breakdown of rocks, weathering, is an important but very slow part of the carbon cycle that ultimately leads to CO2 being locked up in carbonates on the ocean floor. Artificial acceleration of this carbon sink via distribution of pulverized silicate rocks across terrestrial landscapes may help offset anthropogenic CO2 emissions. We show that idealized enhanced weathering scenarios over less than a third of tropical land could cause significant drawdown of atmospheric CO2 and ameliorate ocean acidification by 2100. Global carbon cycle modelling driven by ensemble Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) projections of twenty-first-century climate change (RCP8.5, business-as-usual; RCP4.5, medium-level mitigation) indicates that enhanced weathering could lower atmospheric CO2 by 30-300 ppm by 2100, depending mainly on silicate rock application rate (1 kg or 5 kg m(exp -2) yr (exp -1)) and composition. At the higher application rate, end-of-century ocean acidification is reversed under RCP4.5 and reduced by about two-thirds under RCP8.5. Additionally, surface ocean aragonite saturation state, a key control on coral calcification rates, is maintained above 3.5 throughout the low latitudes, thereby helping maintain the viability of tropical coral reef ecosystems. However, we highlight major issues of cost, social acceptability, and potential unanticipated consequences that will limit utilization and emphasize the need for urgent efforts to phase down fossil fuel emissions.

Taylor, Lyla L.↗

Enhanced Weathering Strategies for Stabilizing Climate and Averting Ocean Acidification - Supplementary Information

Chemical breakdown of rocks, weathering, is an important but very slow part of the carbon cycle that ultimately leads to CO2 being locked up in carbonates on the ocean floor. Artificial acceleration of this carbon sink via distribution of pulverized silicate rocks across terrestrial landscapes may help offset anthropogenic CO2 emissions. We show that idealized enhanced weathering scenarios over less than a third of tropical land could cause significant drawdown of atmospheric CO2 and ameliorate ocean acidification by 2100. Global carbon cycle modelling driven by ensemble Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) projections of twenty-first-century climate change (RCP8.5, business-as-usual; RCP4.5, medium-level mitigation) indicates that enhanced weathering could lower atmospheric CO2 by 30-300 ppm by 2100, depending mainly on silicate rock application rate (1 kg or 5 kg m(exp. -2) yr (exp -1)) and composition. At the higher application rate, end-of-century ocean acidification is reversed under RCP4.5 and reduced by about two-thirds under RCP8.5. Additionally, surface ocean aragonite saturation state, a key control on coral calcification rates, is maintained above 3.5 throughout the low latitudes, thereby helping maintain the viability of tropical coral reef ecosystems. However, we highlight major issues of cost, social acceptability, and potential unanticipated consequences that will limit utilization and emphasize the need for urgent efforts to phase down fossil fuel emissions.

Taylor, Lyla L.↗

Solvent-free production of carbon materials with developed pore structure from biomass for high-performance supercapacitors

The study aimed at preparing porous carbon materials, with superhydrophilic characteristics and developed micro/mesoporous structure (CSB-800), from corn stover by a solvent-free method including pre-carbonization, ball milling, and activation. The effect of pre-carbonization, ball milling on the detailed structural composition and properties especially the hydrophilicity and porous structures were studied, and the potential application of CSB-800 as electrode in supercapacitors was also investigated. The results revealed that pre-carbonization increased the accessibility of raw materials as well as the efficiency of the ball milling with KOH, leading to small carbon particles with good dispersion behavior. Ball milling promoted the porosity, surface energy, hydrophilicity, crystallinity, and graphitization of the carbon materials. CSB-800 exhibited a high specific surface area of 2440.6 m 2 /g with developed micro and porous structures. The heteroatom nitrogen formed nitrogen-containing groups of N Q and N X, which provided faradaic pseudocapacitance when CSB-800 was used as an electrode material, and this material presented a specific capacitance of 398 F/g at 0.5 A/g in 1 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte in a three-electrode system, while the value was 243 F/g in a two-electrode system, and the energy density reached 5.01 Wh/kg at a power density of 100 W/kg.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Isotopic fractionation accompanying CO 2 hydroxylation and carbonate precipitation from high pH waters at The Cedars, California, USA

The Cedars ultramafic block hosts alkaline springs (pH > 11) in which calcium carbonate forms upon uptake of atmospheric CO 2 and at times via mixing with surface water. Here, these processes lead to distinct carbonate morphologies with “floes” forming at the atmosphere-water interface, “snow” of fine particles accumulating at the bottom of pools and terraced constructions of travertine. Floe material is mainly composed of aragonite needles despite CaCO 3 precipitation occurring in waters with low Mg/Ca (<0.01). Precipitation of aragonite is likely promoted by the high pH (11.5–12.0) of pool waters, in agreement with published experiments illustrating the effect of pH on calcium carbonate polymorph selection.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

CO 2 fixation into carbon nanofibres using electrochemical–thermochemical tandem catalysis

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fixation into value-added solid carbon such as carbon nanofibres (CNF) for longer-term storage represents a promising avenue for achieving net-negative carbon emissions. However, directly converting CO 2 to CNF via thermocatalytic approaches faces thermodynamic constraints, while electrocatalytic methods typically lead to amorphous carbon with limited yields or require energy-intensive conditions (>720 °C). Here, we present an electrocatalytic-thermocatalytic tandem strategy for CNF production, which circumvents the aforementioned thermodynamic limitations by integrating the co-electrolysis of CO 2 and water into syngas (CO and H 2 ) with a subsequent thermochemical process at relatively mild conditions (370-450 °C, 1 atm), yielding CNF at a high production rate (average 2.5 g carbon g metals -1 h -1 ). Further, the optimal coordinated actions of FeCo alloy and extra metallic Co were ascertained to enhance the dissociative activation of syngas and favour the carbon-carbon bond formation to produce CNF. This tandem strategy opens a door to leverage renewable energy for decarbonizing CO 2 into valuable solid carbon products while producing renewable H 2 .

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Precursor-mediated in situ growth of hierarchical N-doped graphene nanofibers confining nickel single atoms for CO 2 electroreduction

Despite the various strategies for achieving metal–nitrogen–carbon (M–N–C) single-atom catalysts (SACs) with different microenvironments for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR), the synthesis–structure–performance correlation remains elusive due to the lack of well-controlled synthetic approaches. Here, we employed Ni nanoparticles as starting materials for the direct synthesis of nickel (Ni) SACs in one spot through harvesting the interaction between metallic Ni and N atoms in the precursor during the chemical vapor deposition growth of hierarchical N-doped graphene fibers. By combining with first-principle calculations, we found that the Ni-N configuration is closely correlated to the N contents in the precursor, in which the acetonitrile with a high N/C ratio favors the formation of Ni-N 3 , while the pyridine with a low N/C ratio is more likely to promote the evolution of Ni-N 2 . Moreover, we revealed that the presence of N favors the formation of H-terminated edge of sp 2 carbon and consequently leads to the formation of graphene fibers consisting of vertically stacked graphene flakes, instead of the traditional growth of carbon nanotubes on Ni nanoparticles. With a high capability in balancing the *COOH formation and *CO desorption, the as-prepared hierarchical N-doped graphene nanofibers with Ni-N 3 sites exhibit a superior CO2RR performance compared to that with Ni-N 2 and Ni-N 4 ones.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Selectivity Control in Catalytic Reductive Amination of Furfural to Furfurylamine on Supported Catalysts

Abstract Amines are widely used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, polymers, and surfactants. However, amines are mostly produced via petrochemical means, which motivates amine production from renewable resources, such as biomass. However, biomass compounds present added challenges involving poor carbon balances. We show that furfural reacts homogeneously with ammonia to produce reactive primary imines, which form large side products and leads to significant carbon losses. The carbon balance is improved by mixing furfural with furfurylamine prior to reaction to form a secondary imine for use as the reaction substrate. While controlling the primary to secondary amine selectivity is a common challenge in reductive amination, supported metal catalysts, including Ni/SiO 2 , Co/SiO 2 , and Ru/SiO 2 optimize the primary amine yield to 90 to 94 % by using the secondary imine as the reaction substrate. A qualitative correlation between the primary to secondary amine selectivity with the nitrogen binding energy of metals is identified.

Gould, Nicholas S.↗

Results of the TTF-TCNQ and the calcium carbonate crystallization on the Long Duration Exposure Facility

Experiment A0139A on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) carried four large containers into orbit five years with crystal growth solutions for lead sulfide, calcium carbonate, and TTF-TCNQ. Although temperature data was lost, the experimental program had been working since the valves in all containers had been opened. All four experiments produced crystals of varying quality. The calcium carbonate crystals had the best appearance. The TTF-TCNQ crystals were packed together near the valve openings of the container. When taken apart, the single crystals showed some unusual morphological properties. X ray investigations as well as conductivity measurements on long duration space grown TTF-TCNQ crystals will be presented. Comparisons will be made with our previous space solution growth experiments. The TTF-TCNQ crystals are no longer of the highest interest, so this activity has been terminated in favor of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate crystallizations.

Nielsen, Kjeld Flemming↗