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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Pressurized in situ X-ray diffraction insights into super/subcritical carbonation reaction pathways of steelmaking slags and constituent silicate minerals

This study explores mineral carbonation of industrial stainless steelmaking slags and relevant synthetic constituent minerals via in situ pressurized X-ray diffraction, to clarify carbonation reaction pathways and efficiency for carbon storage and waste valorization. The primary mineral phases of Argon Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) and Continuous Casting (CC) slags, namely, åkermanite, bredigite, cuspidine, merwinite, and β- and γ-C 2 S, were reacted in a custom-built beryllium-capped XRD reactor filled with either water-saturated (wet) subcritical CO 2 (g), or wet supercritical CO 2(SC) , in a series of carbonation experiments. Formation of calcite and aragonite was observed for most Ca-bearing minerals, transient precipitation of metastable vaterite was observed, while carbonation of AOD and CC slags in CO 2(SC) resulted in hydrated crystalline calcium carbonates and indirect evidence of amorphous carbonate. Overall, results obtained suggest that low-pressure subcritical carbonation routes are attractive for standalone slag carbonation processes, while high-pressure supercritical carbonation routes are amiable to symbiotic integration with CO 2(SC) -generating green technologies.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Integrating Remote Sensing, Field Observations, and Models to Understand Disturbance and Climate Effects on the Carbon Balance of the West Coast U.S.

As an element of NACP research, the proposed investigation is a two pronged approach that derives and evaluates a regional carbon (C) budget for Oregon, Washington, and California. Objectives are (1) Use multiple data sources, including AmeriFlux data, inventories, and multispectral remote sensing data to investigate trends in carbon storage and exchanges of CO 2 and water with variation in climate and disturbance history; (2) Develop and apply regional modeling that relies on these multiple data sources to reduce uncertainty in spatial estimates of carbon storage and NEP, and relative contributions of terrestrial ecosystems and anthropogenic emissions to atmospheric CO 2 in the region; (3) Model terrestrial carbon processes across the region, using the Biome-BGC terrestrial ecosystem model, and an atmospheric inverse modeling approach to estimate variation in rate and timing of terrestrial uptake and feedbacks to the atmosphere in response to climate and disturbance.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2006

Making Activated Carbon by Wet Pressurized Pyrolysis

A wet pressurized pyrolysis (wet carbonization) process has been invented as a means of producing activated carbon from a wide variety of inedible biomass consisting principally of plant wastes. The principal intended use of this activated carbon is room-temperature adsorption of pollutant gases from cooled incinerator exhaust streams. Activated carbon is highly porous and has a large surface area. The surface area depends strongly on the raw material and the production process. Coconut shells and bituminous coal are the primary raw materials that, until now, were converted into activated carbon of commercially acceptable quality by use of traditional production processes that involve activation by use of steam or carbon dioxide. In the wet pressurized pyrolysis process, the plant material is subjected to high pressure and temperature in an aqueous medium in the absence of oxygen for a specified amount of time to break carbon-oxygen bonds in the organic material and modify the structure of the material to obtain large surface area. Plant materials that have been used in demonstrations of the process include inedible parts of wheat, rice, potato, soybean, and tomato plants. The raw plant material is ground and mixed with a specified proportion of water. The mixture is placed in a stirred autoclave, wherein it is pyrolized at a temperature between 450 and 590 F (approximately between 230 and 310 C) and a pressure between 1 and 1.4 kpsi (approximately between 7 and 10 MPa) for a time between 5 minutes and 1 hour. The solid fraction remaining after wet carbonization is dried, then activated at a temperature of 500 F (260 C) in nitrogen gas. The activated carbon thus produced is comparable to commercial activated carbon. It can be used to adsorb oxides of sulfur, oxides of nitrogen, and trace amounts of hydrocarbons, any or all of which can be present in flue gas. Alternatively, the dried solid fraction can be used, even without the activation treatment, to absorb oxides of nitrogen.

Fisher, John W.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Improved Process for Fabricating Carbon Nanotube Probes

An improved process has been developed for the efficient fabrication of carbon nanotube probes for use in atomic-force microscopes (AFMs) and nanomanipulators. Relative to prior nanotube tip production processes, this process offers advantages in alignment of the nanotube on the cantilever and stability of the nanotube's attachment. A procedure has also been developed at Ames that effectively sharpens the multiwalled nanotube, which improves the resolution of the multiwalled nanotube probes and, combined with the greater stability of multiwalled nanotube probes, increases the effective resolution of these probes, making them comparable in resolution to single-walled carbon nanotube probes. The robust attachment derived from this improved fabrication method and the natural strength and resiliency of the nanotube itself produces an AFM probe with an extremely long imaging lifetime. In a longevity test, a nanotube tip imaged a silicon nitride surface for 15 hours without measurable loss of resolution. In contrast, the resolution of conventional silicon probes noticeably begins to degrade within minutes. These carbon nanotube probes have many possible applications in the semiconductor industry, particularly as devices are approaching the nanometer scale and new atomic layer deposition techniques necessitate a higher resolution characterization technique. Previously at Ames, the use of nanotube probes has been demonstrated for imaging photoresist patterns with high aspect ratio. In addition, these tips have been used to analyze Mars simulant dust grains, extremophile protein crystals, and DNA structure.

Stevens, R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Manufacture of Carbon Foam in Continuous Process at Atmospheric Pressure

The objective is to develop continuous processing of carbon foam products made from coal at atmospheric pressure. Both carbon foam panels and lightweight carbon foam aggregates have been developed. A successful outcome would: 1) significantly reduce the cost to manufacture carbon foam through reductions in capital and labor costs, 2) significantly reduce the manufacturing time from weeks to hours, and 3) enable the manufacture of much larger volumes of carbon foam. All of these features are expected to enable carbon foam to enter much larger markets and create meaningful demand for U.S. coal.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2021

Joint CO 2 Mole Fraction and Flux Analysis Confirms Missing Processes in CASA Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over North America

Terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) play a key role in the detection and attribution of carbon cycle processes at local to global scales and in projections of the coupled carbon-climate system. TBM evaluation commonly involves direct comparison to eddy-covariance flux measurements. This study uses atmospheric CO 2 mole fraction ([CO 2 ]) measured in situ from aircraft and tower, in addition to flux-measurements from summer 2016 to evaluate the CASA TBM. WRF-Chem is used to simulate [CO 2 ] using biogenic CO 2 fluxes from a CASA parameter-based ensemble and CarbonTracker version 2017 (CT2017) in addition to transport and CO 2 boundary condition ensembles. The resulting “super ensemble” of modeled [CO 2 ] demonstrates that the biosphere introduces the majority of uncertainty to the simulations. Both aircraft and tower [CO 2 ] data show that the CASA ensemble net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO 2 is biased high (NEE too positive) and identify the maximum light use efficiency E max a key parameter that drives the spread of the CASA ensemble in summer 2016. These findings are verified with flux-measurements. The direct comparison of the CASA flux ensemble with flux-measurements confirms missing sink processes in CASA. Separating the daytime and nighttime flux, we discover that the underestimated net uptake results from missing sink processes that result in overestimation of respiration. NEE biases are smaller in the CT2017 posterior biogenic fluxes, which assimilates observed [CO 2 ]. Flux tower analyses, however, reveal an unrealistic overestimation of nighttime respiration in CT2017 due to the limitation of inversion strategy.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2007

Process for derivatizing carbon nanotubes with diazonium species

The invention incorporates new processes for the chemical modification of carbon nanotubes. Such processes involve the derivatization of multi- and single-wall carbon nanotubes, including small diameter (ca. 0.7 nm) single-wall carbon nanotubes, with diazonium species. The method allows the chemical attachment of a variety of organic compounds to the side and ends of carbon nanotubes. These chemically modified nanotubes have applications in polymer composite materials, molecular electronic applications and sensor devices. The methods of derivatization include electrochemical induced reactions thermally induced reactions (via in-situ generation of diazonium compounds or pre-formed diazonium compounds), and photochemically induced reactions. The derivatization causes significant changes in the spectroscopic properties of the nanotubes. The estimated degree of functionality is ca. 1 out of every 20 to 30 carbons in a nanotube bearing a functionality moiety. Such electrochemical reduction processes can be adapted to apply site-selective chemical functionalization of nanotubes. Moreover, when modified with suitable chemical groups, the derivatized nanotubes are chemically compatible with a polymer matrix, allowing transfer of the properties of the nanotubes (such as, mechanical strength or electrical conductivity) to the properties of the composite material as a whole. Furthermore, when modified with suitable chemical groups, the groups can be polymerized to form a polymer that includes carbon nanotubes ##STR00001##.

Tour, James M.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Single Crystal Casting with Fluidized Carbon Bed Cooling: A Process Innovation for Quality Improvement and Cost Reduction

Superalloy gas turbine blades are being produced by investment casting and directional solidification. A new process, Fluidized Carbon Bed Cooling (FCBC), has been developed and is now being optimized in a prototype casting unit with 10 kg pouring weight. In early test runs with still rather simple mold cluster geometries, a reduction of the primary dendrite arm spacing of around 40 pct compared to the standard radiation cooling process (HRS) could be demonstrated. The improvement is mainly attributed to higher temperature gradients driving solidification, made possible by a functioning Dynamic Baffle. Compared to earlier development efforts in the literature, contamination of the melt and damage to the equipment are avoided using carbon-based fluidized bed materials and the so-called “counter pressure concept.”.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Modularized Production of Fuels and other Value-Added Products from Distributed, Wasted, or Stranded Feedstocks

Distributed, wasted, or stranded feedstocks, when converted and upgraded into fuels, could replace about 6% of the US demand for liquid fuels, which is about 25% of the net import of petroleum by the US. We review the current state of modular approaches for conversion of these feedstocks, including the technology and economics associated with processing carbon-containing waste and stranded, carbon-containing gas. The wide geographic distribution of the feedstocks will require technology that can be scaled down effectively and that can be manufactured, installed, operated and monitored in ways that gain economies of mass production rather than economies of throughput scaling.

Weber, Robert S.↗
DOE OSTI2012

Patterned functional carbon fibers from polyethylene

Patterned, continuous carbon fibers with controlled surface geometry were produced from a novel melt-processible carbon precursor. This portends the use of a unique technique to produce such technologically innovative fibers in large volume for important applications. The novelties of this technique include ease of designing and fabricating fibers with customized surface contour, the ability to manipulate filament diameter from submicron scale to a couple of orders of magnitude larger scale, and the amenable porosity gradient across the carbon wall by diffusion controlled functionalization of precursor. The geometry of fiber cross-section was tailored by using bicomponent melt-spinning with shaped dies and controlling the melt-processing of the precursor polymer. Circular, trilobal, gear-shaped hollow fibers, and solid star-shaped carbon fibers of 0.5 - 20 um diameters, either in self-assembled bundle form, or non-bonded loose filament form, were produced by carbonizing functionalized-polyethylene fibers. Prior to carbonization, melt-spun fibers were converted to a char-forming mass by optimizing the sulfonation on polyethylene macromolecules. The fibers exhibited distinctly ordered carbon morphologies at the outside skin compared to the inner surface or fiber core. Such order in carbon microstructure can be further tuned by altering processing parameters. Partially sulfonated polyethylene-derived hollow carbon fibers exhibit 2-10 fold surface area (50-500 m2/g) compared to the solid fibers (10-25 m2/g) with pore sizes closer to the inside diameter of the filaments larger than the sizes on the outer layer. These specially functionalized carbon fibers hold promise for extraordinary performance improvements when used, for example, as composite reinforcements, catalyst support media, membranes for gas separation, CO2 sorbents, and active electrodes and current collectors for energy storage applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Carbon Electrodes from Powder River Basin Coal Development of Competitive Supercapacitor Electrodes of Diverse Compositions from Coal Extract

Recent demand for coal as a thermal energy source has decreased significantly and will likely continue to decrease as renewable sources of energy become more available and environmental concern and cost from burning coal makes it more costly than renewables. Given that Powder River Basin (PRB) coal in Wyoming has relatively low thermal energy, it is critical for Wyoming to employ coal in other capacities at the current energy transition period in history. Among many potential non-thermal applications, PRB coal can be utilized for membrane and electrode applications through the formation of carbon fibers. Coal-derived membranes can become low-cost, conductive membranes for use in electrodialysis separation processes. Carbon fiber derived electrodes have been shown be a cost-effective alternative to typical electrode materials that can meet or exceed the performance of current carbon electrode materials. In this talk, we demonstrate the manufacture of supercapacitor electrodes from Powder River Basin (PRB) coal-derived precursors. Specifically, PRB coal was treated in cheap solvents, partitioned into liquid extract and solid residue. An electropinning process has been developed that can convert either the liquid extract or the solid residue into carbon fiber mats. The electrospinning process is versatile with many tunable process parameters to achieve desirable physiochemical properties. For example, the coal residue can be manipulated by additional heat treatment, or by adding binders, salts, or surfactants to create a solution that can be electrospun into advanced carbon electrodes with desirable structural and surface properties. Similarly, some of the liquid extract (tar fraction) can be subsequently reacted with toluene diisocyanate to create resinous coal-derived polyurethane (PUs) as a spinnable ink. Carbon nanofiber mats made from our proprietary electrospinning process were further carbonized at temperature ranging from 700°C to 900°C before they are used as electrodes in supercapacitors. Galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) results show that the best performing PU fiber mats can deliver a specific capacitance of 604 F g -1 at the current density of 1 A g -1 . A carbon fiber mat from a different solvent extraction residue also delivered the specific capacitance of 508 F g -1 . These specific capacitance values are comparable to or better than commercial activated carbons, demonstrating the viability of manufacturing carbon nanofiber electrodes from coal without the use of a commercial polymer as binder in the spinning ink.

Cincotta, Robert↗
DOE OSTI2022

Formulations and processing of cementitious components to meet target strength and CO2 uptake criteria

Provided herein are compositions and methods of carbonation processing for the fabrication of cementitious materials and concrete products. Embodiments include manufacturing processes of a low-carbon concrete product comprising: forming a cementitious slurry including portlandite; shaping the cementitious slurry into a structural component; and exposing the structural component to a CO2 waste stream, thereby enabling manufacture of the low-carbon concrete product.

Sant, Gaurav↗
DOE OSTI2017

Quaternary FeCoNiMn-Based Nanocarbon Electrocatalysts for Bifunctional Oxygen Reduction and Evolution: Promotional Role of Mn Doping in Stabilizing Carbon

The intrinsic instability of carbon largely limits its use for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) as a bifunctional catalyst in reversible fuel cells or water electrolyzers. In this paper, we discovered that Mn doping has a promotional role in stabilizing nanocarbon catalysts for the ORR/OER in alkaline media. Stable nanocarbon composites are derived from an inexpensive carbon/nitrogen precursor (i.e., dicyandiamide) and quaternary FeCoNiMn alloy via a template-free carbonization process. In addition to FeCoNiMn metal alloys/oxides, the carbon composites comprise substantial carbon tube forests growing on a thick and dense graphitic substrate. The dense carbon substrate with high degree of graphitization results from Mn doping, while active nitrogen-doped carbon tubes stem from FeCoNi. Catalyst structures and performance are greatly dependent on the doping content of Mn. Various accelerated stress tests (AST) and life tests verify the encouraging ORR/OER stability of the nanocarbon composite catalyst with optimal Mn doping. Extensive characterization before and after ASTs elucidates the mechanism of stability enhancement resulting from Mn doping, which is attributed to (i) hybrid carbon nanostructures with enhanced resistance to oxidation and (ii) the in situ formation of the β-MnO 2 and FeCoNi-based oxides capable of preventing carbon corrosion and promoting activity. Note that the improvement in stability due to Mn doping is accompanied by a slight activity loss due to a decrease in surface area. Finally, this work provides a strategy to stabilize carbon catalysts by appropriately integrating transition metals and engineering carbon structures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1989

A capacitive technique for real-time monitoring polymer coating thickness on carbon filaments during prepregging process

A technique for gauging the coating thickness during prepreg processing of carbon fibers was developed. It is based on the concept of measuring the capacitance of a cylindrical condenser through which a bundle of prepregged fibers is passed axially. Empirical results indicate the capacitance of this condenser element is linearly related to the polymer coating thickness on the fibers in the bundle. The capacitive transducer was successfully used to measure the polymer thickness on several test fiber bundles under static conditions.

Eftekhari, Abe↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Carbon Tracers of Aqueous Processes: Isotopic Analysis of Cr Carbonate Grains With Implications for Bennu Samples

Carbonate grains in carbonaceous chondrites record aqueous alteration events on the asteroidal parent bodies, including evidence for episodic alteration, timing of alteration, and time and temperature evolution of volatiles. Spectral features in the 3.4 μm region at asteroid Bennu have been interpreted as coming from carbonate minerals. Coordinated analysis of carbonate grains will be a valuable tool for analysis of Bennu samples, and related analysis of analog materials provides important context for understanding aqueous alteration of carbonaceous asteroids more broadly. To that end, our team is analyzing carbonates in Bennu analog materials, using Raman spectroscopy to identify carbonates and assess the maturity of related organic materials, vacuum reflectance spectroscopy from the ultraviolet through thermal infrared range to constrain contributions from carbonates and organics, X-ray microtomography and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) to assess the distribution of void space, transmission electron microscopy to characterize space weathering effects, and EPMA and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to measure composition and isotopic ratios. Here, we describe in situ analysis of carbon and oxygen isotopes from carbonates in Grosvenor Mountains (GRO) 95577.

K E Miller↗
DOE OSTI2024

Formulations and processing of cementitious components to meet target strength and CO 2 uptake criteria

Provided herein are compositions and methods of carbonation processing for the fabrication of cementitious materials and concrete products. Embodiments include manufacturing processes of a low-carbon concrete product comprising: forming a cementitious slurry including portlandite; shaping the cementitious slurry into a structural component; and exposing the structural component to a CO 2 waste stream, thereby enabling manufacture of the low-carbon concrete product.

Sant, Gaurav↗
DOE OSTI2016

High-temperature tensile cell for in situ real-time investigation of carbon fibre carbonization and graphitization processes

A new high-temperature fibre tensile cell is described, developed for use at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory to enable the investigation of the carbonization and graphitization processes during carbon fibre production. This cell is used to heat precursor fibre bundles to temperatures up to ~2300°C in a controlled inert atmosphere, while applying tensile stress to facilitate formation of highly oriented graphitic microstructure; evolution of the microstructure as a function of temperature and time during the carbonization and higher-temperature graphitization processes can then be monitored by collecting real-time wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns. As an example, the carbonization and graphitization behaviour of an oxidized polyacrylonitrile fibre was studied up to a temperature of ~1750°C. Real-time WAXD revealed the gradual increase in microstructure alignment with the fibre axis with increasing temperature over the temperature range 600–1100°C. Above 1100°C, no further changes in orientation were observed. The overall magnitude of change increased with increasing applied tensile stress during carbonization. As a second example, the high-temperature graphitizability of PAN- and pitch-derived commercial carbon fibres was studied. Here, the magnitude of graphitic microstructure evolution of the pitch-derived fibre far exceeded that of the PAN-derived fibres at temperatures up to ~2300°C, indicating its facile graphitizability.

Behr, Michael↗