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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Global warming potential estimates of mass timber constructions beyond the first life: A dynamic radiative forcing modeling approach

In the face of a warming planet, steps must be taken to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated with our building industry, which is a significant contributor to global emissions. Large, prefabricated wood elements such as mass timber panels (MTP) have great potential to achieve these reductions as they help displace high-embodied‑carbon materials like concrete and steel. Furthermore, storing the wood's biogenic carbon in buildings benefits the climate because it delays the eventual release of the carbon into the atmosphere. While these climate impacts have been assessed for the construction phase of mass timber buildings, relatively few life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have evaluated the climate impacts for the buildings' end-of-life (EOL) phase. This research estimates the climate impacts of four EOL scenarios for MTP: reusing as MTP, recycling into particleboard, incinerating, and landfilling. Using dynamic radiative forcing modeling and factoring in temporal GHG emissions and biogenic carbon storage, the global warming potential impacts are calculated for construction, deconstruction, and EOL processing of hybrid mass timber buildings in the U.S. Pacific Northwest for 160 years (GWP 160 ). The 160-year temporal scale used in this paper is an arbitrary scale, with the first 80 years being the assumed life of the building, followed by a series of reuse, recycle, or disposal scenarios over the second 80 years of that temporal scale. Of the four EOL scenarios considered in this paper, the ‘reuse’ scenario has the lowest net GWP 160 impact (calculated by summing the GWP 160 and carbon storage benefits, i.e., GWP$^{bioCS}_{160}$ ), emerging as a climate-preferred scenario, followed by ‘landfill’, ‘incinerate’, and ‘recycle’ scenarios. The lower net GWP 160 impact associated with the reuse scenario is due to the low fossil carbon emissions during EOL processing, as well as the biogenic carbon storage benefits. The results of this study also highlight the importance of efficient reuse and recycling strategies for wood in MTP.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Active Reconditioning of Retired Lithium-ion Battery Packs from Electric Vehicles for Second Life Applications

Utilizing the remaining capacity in retired lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries from electric vehicles (EVs) for second-life applications has shown economic and environmental benefits. However, achieving homogeneity among the capacities of cells before their second life is critical to exploit the benefits. This article proposes a new active reconditioning approach with the potential to make short-term reconditioning of batteries before second life feasible. A control objective map determines each cell's state-of-charge (SOC) operating window based on its capacity relative to other cells. The SOC reference translates into distinct differential currents through the cells, wherein the higher-capacity cells undergo more frequent and deep charge and discharge cycles than their lower-capacity counterparts. The proposed solution achieves capacity homogeneity within the battery pack with low reconditioning time and minimal fade in the overall pack capacity. The feasibility of the reconditioning approach under varying load and environmental conditions is assessed through simulations, encompassing factors such as the number of cycles per day, depth-of-discharge, battery pack temperature, and cell resting time at different SOCs. Furthermore, the simulation model employs a battery pack with sixteen series-connected 75 Ah Kokam lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) cells with a 3.6% initial capacity imbalance. A reconditioning time of 1.3 months is achieved with a final capacity imbalance of 0.1% and an overall capacity fade of 0.005%, thereby confirming the viability of the reconditioning process. Moreover, experimental validation using eight retired battery cells from a Nissan Leaf demonstrates a substantial decrease in the capacity imbalance of cells from 9.4% to 2.15% within 78 days, effectively affirming the efficacy of the proposed reconditioning scheme.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Foam Fracturing Fluid Half-life Experimental Data

Foam thermal stability was studies at Temple University in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL). The goal of this project is to explore thermally stable foams as hydrofracking fluid media for potential applications in enhanced geothermal system (EGS). Data generated from this project will allow researchers to explore foam as potential fracturing fluid. More than 800 data points on the half-life of foams are recorded in Excel files in the included archive resource (Half-life of Foams with Different Surfactants and Stabilizing Agents). The Excel file within each surfactant folder contains half-life data of the respective surfactant with different stabilizing agents, pressure, and temperature. The respective folders also contains Word files describing the details of the data included in the respective Excel sheet.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Battery Performance, Thermal, and Life Modeling for Southern California Edison (Cooperative Research and Development Final Report)

The objective of this project is to develop battery performance models, thermal models and life models for SCE to use in simulation and analysis of grid services involving energy storage. NREL will fit the models to three separate chemistries using test data provided by SCE. The dataset for each chemistry will include electrical, thermal and aging response to different temperatures and cycling conditions, measured under a variety of cell-level and module-level experiments described in SCE test protocol documents. Once tuned to a test dataset, the battery system model software will provide predictions of battery energy and power loss, and thus cycle and calendar life, for any energy storage grid service power profile of interest to SCE. The automated battery life modeling and simulation tool can also be applied to any other grid battery systems as long as necessary input data is available to accelerate battery model development and battery lifetime analysis.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Life Cycle Assessment for Closed-Loop Pumped Hydropower Energy Storage in the United States

The federal government has initiated an aggressive set of policies to achieve a net-zero carbon emission goal for the electricity sector by 2050. As a result, rapid growth in deployment of renewable energy technologies is expected. Most commercially mature technologies are temporally variable and do not provide grid inertia, while renewable technologies with high projected deployment have intermittent generation methods. Energy storage technologies are needed to both dispatch power on-demand and help provide the needed grid inertia. Pumped storage hydro (PSH) is a well-established technology that has gained renewed interest in recent years offering energy-balancing, grid stability, control of electrical network frequency, and large-scale storage capacity. For widespread adoption of PSH, more information is needed regarding its current life cycle environmental impacts. The objective of this study is to perform a full life cycle assessment (LCA) of new closed-loop PSH in the U.S. The functional unit for this study is 1 kWh of electrical power delivered to the grid and the base case project lifetime is 80 years. The life cycle inventory for this project accounts for all material and energy flows associated with the green-field construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of a closed-loop PSH plant in the U.S. Collected data represents a range of potential PSH specifications and geographic locations coming from all prospective closed-loop PSH installations in the U.S. with data available. In addition, existing PSH installations are used to provide assumptions for inventory inputs. Results presented will include the global warming potential (GWP IPCC 100a) and Energy Return on Investment (EROI) from our base case (average PSH installation) as well as from scenario analyses and model sensitivity. These results will be compared to the impacts from existing PSH sites and alternate storage technologies. Methods align with the assumptions and guidelines put in place by previous PSH LCAs to ensure an accurate comparison with the results from this report.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sustainable Electric Vehicle Batteries for a Sustainable World: Perspectives on Battery Cathodes, Environment, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Life Cycle, and Policy

Abstract Li‐ion batteries (LIBs) can reduce carbon emissions by powering electric vehicles (EVs) and promoting renewable energy development with grid‐scale energy storage. However, LIB production and electricity generation still heavily rely on fossil fuels at present, resulting in major environmental concerns. Are LIBs as environmentally friendly and sustainable as expected at the current stage? In the past 5 years, a skyrocketing growth of the EV market has been witnessed. LIBs have garnered huge attention from academia, industry, government, non‐governmental organizations, investors, and the general public. Tremendous volumes of LIBs are already implemented in EVs today, with a continuing, exponential growth expected for the years to come. When LIBs reach their end‐of‐life in the next decades, what technologies can be in place to enable second‐life or recycling of batteries? Herein, life cycle assessment studies are examined to evaluate the environmental impact of LIBs, and EVs are compared with internal combustion engine vehicles regarding environmental sustainability. To provide a holistic view of the LIB development, this Perspective provides insights into materials development, manufacturing, recycling, legislation and policy, and beyond. Last but not least, the future development of LIBs and charging infrastructures in light of emerging technologies are envisioned.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Acute Copper Toxicity Displays a Nonmonotonic Relationship with Age Across the Medaka ( Oryzias latipes ) Life Span

The ability of an organism to cope with environmental stressors varies across the life span because of developmental stage–specific responses and age-related functional declines. In the present study, we examined the effect of age on acute copper toxicity in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes). We first determined the median lethal concentration (LC50) at 96 h for embryos, 7-day-old fry, and 6-month-old medaka. Embryos were exposed to 0, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, and 500 ppb CuSO 4 through hatching. Fry were exposed to 0, 20, 50, 75, 100, 150, 250, and 500 ppb CuSO 4 for 96 h. Adult fish were exposed to 0, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 ppb CuSO 4 for 96 h. The 96-h LC50 was 804 ppb for embryos, 262 ppb for embryonically exposed larvae, 60.3 ppb for 7-day-old fry, and 226 ppb for adults. We then challenged cohorts of fish aged 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, and 16 months with a 225-ppb CuSO 4 exposure to determine the acute toxicity across the life span. The fish exhibited a bimodal tolerance to copper, with tolerance peaking in 2- and 3-month-old fish and again at 10 and 11 months of age. Our data demonstrate that copper sensitivity is dynamic throughout the medaka life span and may be influenced by trade-offs with reproduction. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2999–3006. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Life-cycle analysis of hydrogen production from water electrolyzers

The United States' focus on decarbonization has spawned interest among policymakers in deploying water electrolysis technology for clean hydrogen production. However, water electrolyzers also raise concerns regarding their substantial use of carbon-intensive materials. Here, we conduct a comprehensive life-cycle analysis (LCA) of three prominent water electrolyzer technologies to investigate the environmental implications of their manufacturing and life cycles under different energy sources. All electrolyzer technologies employing low-carbon energy (nuclear, solar, or wind) exhibit life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 0.3-2.4 kg-CO 2-eq /kg-H 2 . This is significantly lower than the corresponding GHG emissions for hydrogen production via both conventional steam methane reforming and alternative autothermal reforming with carbon capture and storage (by > 50%). The well-to-gate GHG emissions of low-carbon electrolyzers (0-0.36 kg-CO 2-eq / kg-H 2 ) qualify for Tier I of the production tax credit in the U.S.' Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, indicating their suitability for producing decarbonized hydrogen under this program.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and energy use of polylactic acid, bio-derived polyethylene, and fossil-derived polyethylene

Bioplastics recently have become an attractive, viable, and popular alternative to conventional petroleum-based plastics, with the hope that replacing fossil-derived plastics with renewable alternatives will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fossil energy consumption (FEC). The bioplastic industry is encouraging creative designs and enhanced properties such as biodegradability, which is considered a sustainable solution for waste plastic management. However, biodegradability also means that carbon in the product is emitted to the atmosphere as GHG emissions. In this paper, a life cycle analysis (LCA) of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) and bio-polyethylene (bio-PE) plastics was conducted to understand the environmental effects of these bioplastics from feedstock production to product end-of-life (EOL). In particular, emissions from biodegradability (EOL emissions) are accounted for. The results were compared to those of conventional fossil-based plastics such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Results showed that the lowest GHG emissions (-1.0 and 1.7 kg CO 2 e per kg for bio-PE and PLA with no biodegradation, respectively) and FEC (29 and 46 MJ per kg of bio-PE and PLA, respectively) were achieved with bio-derived plastics, particularly bio-PE plastic. However, despite the benefits of biogenic carbon uptake, when landfill and composting emissions were considered for the PLA pathway, the life cycle emissions of PLA increase significantly, from 16% to 163% depending on the biodegradation condition, compared to the case where there is no degradation in the landfill. This study also contributed to understand the effects on the GHG emissions of biodegradability in landfill and composting scenarios, regional electricity mix, and plastics manufacturing technologies. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Assessment of small mechanical wastewater treatment plants: Relative life cycle environmental impacts of construction and operations

Many slow growing and shrinking rural communities struggle with aging or inadequate wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and face challenges in constructing and operating such facilities. Although existing literature has provided insight into the environmental sustainability of large facilities, including both the construction and operational phases, these studies have not examined small, rural facilities treating less than 7,000 m 3 /d (1.8 MGD) of wastewater in adequate depth and breadth. In this study, a detailed inventory of the construction and operational data for 16 case studies of small WWTPs was developed to elucidate their environmental life cycle impacts. Conventional LCA framework was followed. The results show that the environmental impacts of both the construction and operational phases are considerable. Operational impacts are highly related to energy usage. Improving energy efficiency of a plant may reduce the environmental impacts related to operations. Construction impacts can vary considerably between facilities. Process-related factors (e.g., concrete and reinforcing steel used in basins) are typically sized using the design flow; thus much of the variability in construction impacts among plants stems from the non-process related infrastructure. Multiple regression analysis was used as an exploratory tool to identify which non-process related plant aspects contribute to the variable environmental impact of small WWTPs. These factors include aluminum, cast iron, and the capacity utilization ratio (defined as the ratio of average flow to design flow). Furthermore, industry practitioners should consider these factors when aiming to reduce the environmental impacts of a small WWTP related to construction. Scenario sensitivity analyses found that the environmental impact of construction became smaller with longer design life, and the end-of-life consideration does not heavily influence the environmental sustainability of a WWTP.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Systematic feature design for cycle life prediction of lithium-ion batteries during formation

Optimization of the formation step in lithium-ion battery manufacturing is challenging due to limited physical understanding of solid-electrolyte interphase formation and the long testing time (∼100 days) for cells to reach the end of life. We propose a systematic feature-design framework that requires minimal domain knowledge for accurate cycle life prediction during formation. By only using two simple Q (V) features designed from our framework, extracted from formation data without any additional diagnostic cycles, we achieved an average of 9.87% error for cycle life prediction. Here, the physics-based investigation guided by the two designed features shows that the voltage ranges identified by our framework capture the effects of formation temperature and microscopic-particle resistance heterogeneity. By designing highly predictive, robust, and interpretable features, our approach can accelerate industrial battery formation research, leveraging the interplay between data-driven feature design and mechanistic understanding.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fatigue life prediction of powder bed fused–laser beam AlSi10Mg: Incorporating critical defects via crystal plasticity modelling

The current study provides a microstructurally-based computational framework to predict the fatigue life of additive manufactured (AM), i.e., powder bed fused–laser beam (PBF-LB), AlSi10Mg specimens using the crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM). The fractography analysis, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), uniaxial and cyclic responses, and fatigue life of specimens were used to inform the computational framework. CPFE simulation was used to compute fatigue indicator parameters (FIPs) as fatigue driving forces. A new fatigue criterion is introduced based on FIPs, which was calibrated using experimental fatigue data. The proposed fatigue measure was evaluated versus the specimens with critical defects of various sizes and locations subjected to different stress amplitudes. The results show that the developed framework can capture the fatigue life of samples with different critical defect locations and sizes along with different stress amplitudes for both high-cycle fatigue (HCF) and very high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) regimes.

Additive manufacturing↗
DOE OSTI2021

Energy, greenhouse gas, and water life cycle analysis of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide monohydrate from brine and ore resources and their use in lithium ion battery cathodes and lithium ion batteries

Life cycle analyses (LCAs) were conducted for battery-grade lithium carbonate (Li 2 CO 3 ) and lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LiOH·H 2 O) produced from Chilean brines (Salar de Atacama) and Australian spodumene ores. The LCA was also extended beyond the production of Li 2 CO 3 and LiOH·H 2 O to include battery cathode materials as well as full automotive traction batteries to observe the effect that the lithium production pathways had on these end products. The LCA here covers material, water, and energy flows associated with lithium acquisition; lithium concentration; production of lithium chemicals, battery cathode powders, and batteries; and associated transportation activities along the supply chain. Based on battery cathode material, the difference in lithium source represents a difference of up to 20% for NMC811 cathode greenhouse gases (GHGs) and up to 45% for NMC622 cathode GHGs. For full batteries, this represents a difference of up to 9% for NMC811 batteries and 20% for NMC622 batteries. Production of Li 2 CO 3 from brine-based resources had less life cycle GHG emissions and freshwater consumption per tonne of Li 2 CO 3 than Li 2 CO 3 from ore-based resources. And LiOH·H 2 O produced from brine-based lithium also had less life cycle GHG emissions and freshwater consumption per tonne of LiOH·H 2 O than LiOH·H 2 O from ore-based resources.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions analysis of battery-grade lithium production in Finland

Various countries are undertaking initiatives to domestically produce battery-related critical materials. Within Finland, Keliber Technology Oy is developing capabilities for battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) production from spodumene ores. A detailed life-cycle assessment (LCA) of this pathway is conducted to determine its life-cycle GHG impacts using Argonne's R&D GREET (Research and Development Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies) model. The analysis shows life-cycle GHG emissions of similar to 9.2 kg CO 2-eq /kg LHM, dominated by contributions from three energy sources - diesel, natural gas, and electricity - and two material inputs - lime (CaO) and soda ash (Na 2 CO 3 ). Sensitivity analyses highlight the potential to reduce these impacts using low-carbon electricity, sequestration of process CO 2 emissions generated during CaO and Na 2 CO 3 production, and bio-based energy for LHM production (by similar to 15 % each). A comparative analysis shows lower impacts for Keliber's LHM than for existing LHM production from Australian spodumene ores processed in China (by similar to 40 %).

CCS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multivariable degradation modeling and life prediction using multivariate fractional Brownian motion

In system prognostics and health management, multivariable degradation models have been widely developed to predict the life of complex systems using degradation data of multiple Performance Characteristics (PCs). Recent studies have detected a Long-Term Memory (LTM) effect among the degradation process of various PCs, implying a strong coupling phenomenon between the future degradation behavior and historical degradation trajectory. Although the LTM has been widely integrated into single-PC-based degradation modeling, it has not been considered in multi-PC-based scenarios. To capture LTM among multiple PCs, this article proposes a novel LTM-integrated Multivariate Degradation Model (MDM) for system life prediction based on multivariate fractional Brownian motion, which simultaneously incorporates the cross-correlation among different PCs. To estimate parameters of the LTM-integrated MDM, a maximum likelihood method is developed. Here, two likelihood-ratio hypothesis tests are developed to test the existence of the overall and individual LTM effect among multiple PCs. Both simulation studies and physical experiments on the performance degradation of solar energy conversion and storage devices are conducted to validate the proposed model. Results reveal that the proposed LTM-integrated MDM significantly outperforms existing MDMs in life prediction, while the lifetime uncertainty is heavily underestimated by those traditional approaches that neglect the LTM.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

CORSIA: The first internationally adopted approach to calculate life-cycle GHG emissions for aviation fuels

The aviation sector has grown at a significant pace in recent years, and despite improvements in aircraft efficiency, the sector's impact on climate change is a growing concern. To address this concern, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) established the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to help reduce aviation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper presents a methodology agreed by the 193 ICAO member states to evaluate the life-cycle GHG emissions of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), in the CORSIA system. The core life-cycle assessment and induced land use change values of SAFs are presented to determine the GHG savings of certified pathways. The paper aims to present that a number of SAFs can yield significant life-cycle emission reductions compared to petroleum-derived jet fuel. This implies the potentially major role of SAFs in reducing aviation's carbon footprint.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

California's harvested wood products: A time-dependent assessment of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions

Following life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, this study presents a state-level estimation of embodied carbon of wood products harvested in 2019 from California and subsequently processed, manufactured, transported, used, and disposed at the end-of-life (EoL). In a conventional static approach to LCA, all GHG emissions were aggregated and considered to occur at year 0 of the given time horizon (500 years in this study) and used a static characterization factor (CF). In dynamic LCA, GHG emissions occurring in different years were considered, and their global warming impact (GWI) was determined using a time-dependent CF over the selected time horizon of 500 years. Four scenarios were developed to examine the impact of EoL choices on GWI. It was found that dynamic GWI for all scenarios ranged from 0.27 to 0.93 million tonne CO₂e, which were 45–73 % lower than those estimated with static LCA approach, indicating that the static LCA approach could lead to an underestimation of the benefits of substituting wood for non-wood products, compared to those based on dynamic LCA approach. This analysis also demonstrated that the choice of EoL treatment option is a key factor affecting the estimated GWI as it directly determines the annual emission of GHGs released into atmosphere and subsequently their warming effect depending on the time harvested wood products (HWPs) spend in the horizon of assessment. Altogether, the dynamic LCA performed in this study enabled more robust interpretations of embodied carbon by including temporal boundaries associated with the HWPs life cycle.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sarcocystis cruzi (Hasselmann, 1923) Wenyon, 1926: redescription, molecular characterization and deposition of life cycle stages specimens in the Smithsonian Museum

Currently, 7 named Sarcocystis species infect cattle: Sarcocystis hirsuta, S. cruzi, S. hominis, S. bovifelis, S. heydorni, S. bovini and S. rommeli; other, unnamed species also infect cattle. Of these parasites of cattle, a complete life cycle description is known only for S. cruzi, the most pathogenic species in cattle. The life cycle of S. cruzi was completed experimentally in 1982, before related parasite species were structurally characterized, and before the advent of molecular diagnostics; to our knowledge, no archived frozen tissues from the cattle employed in the original descriptions remain for DNA characterization. Here, we isolated DNA from a paraffin-embedded kidney of a calf experimentally infected with S. cruzi in 1980; we then sequenced portions of 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, COX1 and Acetyl CoA genes and verified that each shares 99–100% similarity to other available isolates attributed to S. cruzi from naturally infected cattle. We also reevaluated histological sections of tissues of calves experimentally infected with S. cruzi in the original description, exploiting improvements in photographic technology to render clearer morphological detail. Finally, we reviewed all available studies of the life cycle of S. cruzi, noting that S. cruzi was transmitted between bison (Bison bison) and cattle (Bos taurus) and that the strain of parasite derived from bison appeared more pathogenic than the cattle strain. Based on these newfound molecular, morphological and physiological data, we thereby redescribed S. cruzi and deposited reference material in the Smithsonian Museum for posterity.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗