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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 OSTI2020

Building Blocks from Biocrude: High-Value Methoxyphenols (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

Integrating biofuels production with bioproducts presents an opportunity to explore options for recovering high-value chemicals as additional revenue-generating products from biofuel conversion pathways. Thus, the overall objective of this project was to develop a comprehensive separation strategy to economically recover valuable methoxyphenols (MPs) consisting of guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol, 4-ethylguaiacol, 4-propylguaiacol, eugenol, and isoeugenol from biocrude as building blocks to demonstrate that bioproducts could enable cost-effective production of biofuels via integrated catalytic pyrolysis and hydroprocessing. The upgradability of the remaining biocrude fraction to biofuel after separation of the products was evaluated by hydrotreating. Finally, techno-economic analysis (TEA) was performed to examine the economic potential of recovering select MPs from biocrude in parallel with biofuels production.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quarterly Soil Core and Root Analyses from the Missouri Ozarks AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) Site, Ashland, Missouri, 2017-2023

This dataset contains quarterly soil core measurements from the Missouri Ozarks AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) site located at the University of Missouri’s Thomas H. Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Area near Ashland, Missouri. These data will be used to parameterize an ensemble of MOFLUX-optimized soil carbon-nitrogen models, used to simulate carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling responses to future hydroclimatic scenarios and the trajectory of soil C stocks with concomitant forest decline. Beginning in 2017, eight soil cores were collected approximately quarterly near plot 1 of the southeast transect, near the automated soil respiration flux chambers, from 0–15 cm depth. Data are currently available through 2023 (2017-06-14 to 2023-11-13); additional observations will be appended to this dataset as they become available. Cores were analyzed for gravimetric moisture content, pH, total carbon and nitrogen, texture, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, and extractable dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen. This dataset contains one data file in comma separate (*.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma separate (*.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Machine Learning-Driven Solvent Screening for Biobased 2,3-Butanediol Extraction

Biobased 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) is a valuable biomass-derived chemical due to its versatility in being transformed into a wide variety of products. However, the separation and purification of 2,3-BDO from fermentation broth remain a significant challenge owing to its high boiling point and hydrophilic nature. Herein, we developed a machine learning (ML)-based screening workflow that uses molecular calculations as training data and requires only a small number of experimental measurements for validation to identify alternative solvent candidates for the liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) of 2,3-BDO from aqueous solution. In particular, 130 density functional theory (DFT) calculations with the implicit solvation method not only built a correlation between the computational partition coefficient and the experimental distribution coefficient of 2,3-BDO but also parameterized an Extra-Trees ML model to screen the distribution coefficient for a wider range of 6717 organic solvents. The experimental measurements of only 24 solvents were needed to validate the computational results. A list of 50 prioritized solvents was proposed for 2,3-BDO LLE, and seven additional experimental measurements were conducted to further verify our selected solvents. The impact of the extraction temperature and solvent-to-feed ratio was also investigated for selected solvents in experiments. Furthermore, this work suggested alternative solvents for 2,3-BDO LLE and proposed a versatile workflow that requires fewer experiments and can be applied to a broader range of LLE studies.

Extraction↗
DOE OSTI2020

Solvent selection for biphasic extraction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural via multiscale modeling and experiments

We introduce a comprehensive conceptual framework for selecting solvents for reactive extraction in biphasic organic-water systems and demonstrate it for the separation of HMF (5-hydroxylmethylfurfural), a platform chemical produced in the acid-catalyzed dehydration of hexoses. We first perform in silico screening of ~2500 solvents, from the ADFCRS-2018 database using the ADF COSMO-RS implementation, and classification, based on the solvent partition coefficient. We then determine experimentally the partition coefficients for HMF, fructose, and products of HMF rehydration (levulinic acid (LA), and formic acid (FA)), the mutual water-organic solvent solubilities, and the separation factors in >50 select solvents spanning multiple homologous series at room temperature and a typical reaction temperature with in situ sampling. We find that COSMO-RS is excellent for screening purposes (typical error in most cases within a factor of ~2). Increased temperatures lead to significant reduction in partitioning, and room temperature measurements are clearly inadequate for solvent selection. Upon down selecting classes of solvents based on separation performance, we perform experimental thermal stability and reaction compatibility studies of a small set of solvents at relevant reactive-extraction temperatures. We discover that many substituted phenols exhibit an order-of-magnitude increase in partitioning compared to conventional solvents due chiefly to hydrogen bond interactions and show the necessary stability but retain a significant fraction of water and LA, factors that need to be considered in technoeconomic analysis. In contrast, anilines, aldehydes, and acids are good to excellent regarding separation but incompatible with this specific reaction medium. Furthermore, this multifaceted framework can be extended to other biomass-derived products and processes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2012

An Analysis of AERONET Aerosol Absorption Properties and Classifications Representative of Aerosol Source Regions

Partitioning of mineral dust, pollution, smoke, and mixtures using remote sensing techniques can help improve accuracy of satellite retrievals and assessments of the aerosol radiative impact on climate. Spectral aerosol optical depth (tau) and single scattering albedo (omega (sub 0) ) from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurements are used to form absorption [i.e., omega (sub 0) and absorption Angstrom exponent (alpha(sub abs))] and size [i.e., extinction Angstrom exponent (alpha(sub ext)) and fine mode fraction of tau] relationships to infer dominant aerosol types. Using the long-term AERONET data set (1999-2010), 19 sites are grouped by aerosol type based on known source regions to: (1) determine the average omega (sub 0) and alpha(sub abs) at each site (expanding upon previous work); (2) perform a sensitivity study on alpha(sub abs) by varying the spectral omega (sub 0); and (3) test the ability of each absorption and size relationship to distinguish aerosol types. The spectral omega (sub 0) averages indicate slightly more aerosol absorption (i.e., a 0.0 < delta omega (sub 0) <= 0.02 decrease) than in previous work and optical mixtures of pollution and smoke with dust show stronger absorption than dust alone. Frequency distributions of alpha(sub abs) show significant overlap among aerosol type categories and at least 10% of the alpha(sub abs) retrievals in each category are below 1.0. Perturbing the spectral omega (sub 0) by +/- 0.03 induces significant alpha(sub abs) changes from the unperturbed value by at least approx. +/- 0.6 for Dust, approx. +/-0.2 for Mixed, and approx. +/-0.1 for Urban/Industrial and Biomass Burning. The omega (sub 0)440nm and alpha(sub ext) 440-870nm relationship shows the best separation among aerosol type clusters, providing a simple technique for determining aerosol type from surface- and future space-based instrumentation.

Giles, David M.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Developing a High Value Chemical Coproduct: Bio-Base Insecticides from Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis

Coproduction of biochemicals from the thermochemical conversion of biomass is a strategy to reduce biofuel costs and improve bio-oil quality in an integrated biorefinery. (Challenge) Cost effective separations of coproducts from thermochemical conversion streams remains a challenge largely due to the heterogenous nature and stability of thermochemical conversion streams. (Solution) Bio-based insecticides isolated from catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) oils are a viable coproduct that can overcome the oil is more stable, they are a high value product, and they can remain a mixture of components. (Approach) This work focuses on the development of a bio-based insecticide coproduct that is distilled from a catalytic fast pyrolysis bio-oil produced using a platinum on titanium dioxide (Pt/TiO2) catalyst to upgrade pyrolysis vapors.

BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1999

Biomass Burning Influences on the Composition of the Remote South Pacific Troposphere: Analysis Based on Observations from PEM Tropics-A

Airborne, in-situ measurements from PEM-Tropics-A (September/October 1996) are analyzed to show the presence of distinct pollution plumes in the middle-tropical troposphere of the remote South Pacific (10-30degS). These elevated plumes cause a relative maximum at about 5-7km attitude in the vertical distribution of primary and secondary species characteristic of fuel combustion and biomass burning (CO, C2H2, C2H6, CH3Cl, PAN, O3). Similar plumes were also observed at mid-latitudes in the middle troposphere during three flights east of New Zealand (40-45degS). In all, pollution plumes with CO larger than 100 ppb were observed 24 times on 7 separate flight days south of the equator. The observed plumes were generally embedded in very dry air. Ten-day back trajectory analysis supports the view that these originated from the biomass burning regions of South Africa (and South America) and were transported to the South Pacific along long-distance subsiding trajectories. The chemical composition of the southern Pacific troposphere analyzed from the PEM-Tropics-A data is compared with data from the tropical regions of the northern Pacific (PEM-West-A) and southern Atlantic (TRACE-A) during the same Sept/Oct time period. Sizable perturbations in the abundance of ozone and its key precursors, resulting from the transport of pollution originating from biomass burning sources, are observed in much of the Southern Hemispheric troposphere.

Singh, H. B.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Manufacturing of Continuous Microporous Polymeric Fibers for Separation Applications

Polyolefin plastic waste, particularly polypropylene, is one of the most prevalent components in the plastic waste stream generated globally. However, only a small fraction of this waste is recycled and reintegrated into second applications. These materials have significant embedded energy that could be used for additional productivity if recycled properly. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop scalable processing techniques with high throughput to effectively recycle it. We report the continuous manufacturing of microporous fibers using waste polypropylene plastic and melt-processable lignin, a plant biomass constituent produced as a byproduct in paper mills or biorefineries, as a template to create pores. Further, these filaments with hierarchical porosity─created by controlled microphase separation during high-speed extensional flow followed by removal of lignin─exhibit exceptional capillary action for hydrophobic liquids. The resulting porous fibers can be used for various separation applications. For example, the oil uptake of the fibers is 9.59 ± 0.82 g/g for applications in oil recovery in bodies of water. In addition, polyethylenimine infiltration within these nanoporous fibers introduces cyclic room temperature sorption and thermal desorption potential of acidic gases such as CO 2 in a bench-scale experiment. The fibers exhibit multiple cycles of CO 2 absorption, with a range of 0.15 to 0.17 mmol/g. Thus, these polyethylenimine-infiltered nanoporous polypropylene fibers can also be used in removing acidic gases from a gas mixture.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Direct flue gas capture for algae cultivation and subsequent valorization: evaluating life cycle emissions and costs

Algae cultivation and processing is an important pathway under discussion within the broader CO 2 capture and utilization umbrella. Here, we discuss the results of a life-cycle analysis and techno-economic analysis of a pilot-scale photobioreactor that uses flue gas directly from natural gas or biogas combustion at 3–5% CO 2 concentration. The system requires minimal freshwater use as it has been successfully run with industrial wastewater and has a much smaller areal footprint compared with open pond cultivation. Introducing the flue gas directly to the photobioreactor avoids the need for CO 2 separation and pressurization, which is undertaken in many other algae cultivation systems. For the end-use of the biomass, the default case assumes conversion of algae to liquid fuels via hydrothermal liquefaction. The results indicate that the pilot-scale system has a higher cost, and comparable greenhouse gas emissions compared to pond-based systems, especially as the grid is anticipated to evolve to a lower carbon intensity. The costs of algae biofuel production range from $\$12–16$ per GGE at the current pilot scale. Depending on whether the source of the carbon is fossil or biogenic, the net emissions are 68 g CO 2 e per MJ and −4 g CO 2 e per MJ respectively. If the marine algae species is used instead of the freshwater species, it offers an additional 16 g CO 2 e per MJ carbon fixation in the form of calcium carbonate. The findings point to broadly desirable trends in GHG emissions and costs, while the discussion aims to shed light on areas that could further improve the scalability of the system.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1993

Reclamation with Recovery of Radionuclides and Toxic Metals from Contaminated Materials, Soils, and Wastes

A process has been developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the removal of metals and radionuclides from contaminated materials, soils, and waste sites. In this process, citric acid, a naturally occurring organic complexing agent, is used to extract metals such as Ba, Cd, Cr, Ni, Zn, and radionuclides Co, Sr, Th, and U from solid wastes by formation of water soluble, metal-citrate complexes. Citric acid forms different types of complexes with the transition metals and actinides, and may involve formation of a bidentate, tridentate, binuclear, or polynuclear complex species. The extract containing radionuclide/metal complex is then subjected to microbiological degradation followed by photochemical degradation under aerobic conditions. Several metal citrate complexes are biodegraded, and the metals are recovered in a concentrated form with the bacterial biomass. Uranium forms binuclear complex with citric acid and is not biodegraded. The supernatant containing uranium citrate complex is separated and upon exposure to light, undergoes rapid degradation resulting in the formation of an insoluble, stable polymeric form of uranium. Uranium is recovered as a precipitate (polyuranate) in a concentrated form for recycling or for appropriate disposal. This treatment process, unlike others which use caustic reagents, does not create additional hazardous wastes for disposal and causes little damage to soil which can then be returned to normal use.

Francis, A. J.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Optimizing bioenergy biofuel harvest: a comparative analysis of stepwise and integrated methods for economic and environmental sustainability

Switchgrass is a promising bioenergy feedstock due to its high biomass yield potential, adaptability to marginal lands, and low carbon intensity for feedstock production. However, accurate cost estimation and assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the energy-intensive harvesting process are essential for evaluating the sustainability of bioenergy. This study provides a comparative analysis of two harvesting methods: the Stepwise Method, which separates operations into multiple stages, and the Integrated Method, which combines mowing and raking into a single pass. The analysis was conducted under four scenarios based on field sizes and biomass yields. Using three years of field-scale switchgrass harvest data from 125 sites, GHG emissions, energy consumption, and harvesting costs were quantified using the GREET model and techno-economic analysis. Additionally, regression analysis identified key climate and operational factors affecting fuel consumption. The Stepwise method was the most cost-effective for large fields with high biomass yield, achieving the lowest harvesting costs ($37.70 per ton). In contrast, the Integrated Method performed better in small fields and low-yield conditions, reducing GHG emissions by 9 % and energy use by 5 %. Regression analysis confirmed that a larger field size reduced fuel consumption, while higher biomass yield and longer operational time increased fuel use. Maximum temperature also contributed to a slight increase in fuel consumption. Furthermore, these results provide actionable insights for optimizing harvesting strategies based on field-specific conditions and operational goals, contributing to the economic and environmental sustainability of bioenergy production.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Developing a Carbon Negative Biorefinery for Organic Waste Valorization

Production of bio-based chemicals have become increasingly attractive as efforts to meet carbon neutrality goals expand. Diverse organic waste feedstocks can be valorized via arrested anaerobic digestion and chain elongation to produce important key intermediates, such as medium chain carboxylic acids. Our work aims to develop a carbon negative biorefinery that funnels multiple organic waste feedstocks into a chemically consistent stream of carboxylic acids that are then upgraded to exemplary carbon negative products. The pairing of a hydrolysis reactor with a chain elongation reactor will allow each biological step to be optimized to improve the ability to valorize a variety of organic waste streams. Specifically, this work has so far been aimed at screening for potential chain elongating organisms to produce VFAs and MCCAs of interest. Four chain elongating organisms were tested for their chain elongation potential with diverse single and mixed substrates. So far, Megasphaera elsdenii and Actinobacillus succinogenes have been tested to determine potential differences in titer as well as product speciation due to variations in pH. To do this, each organism was tested under 3 different substrate combinations with pH maintained at either 5.5, 6, or 7. With better understanding of their metabolic needs and optimal operating conditions, these chain elongating organisms could provide a valuable option to facilitate the chain elongation necessary to produce precursor molecules. In addition to optimizing the bioconversion steps, downstream processing of carboxylic acids is also a key component for the overall feasibility of the process. Our group previously developed a downstream in-situ product recovery (ISPR) process for continuously recovering bio-based carboxylic acids from fermentation broth. The ISPR includes: (i) a solid-liquid separation as a cell retention device, (ii) a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) to selectively extract the desired bio-based acids, and (iii) a distillation to obtain the neat product. The integrated process was demonstrated at bench-scale and is now scaled up for pilot-scale operations. A more cost-efficient membrane-based emulsion separation is introduced for LLE in downstream separation process with greatly promoted mass transfer, leading to -2800 times smaller needed membrane area than membrane contactors to achieve the same butyric acid extraction rate.

BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Controlling Ligand Excimer Formation with Dipole Changes in Emissive Rare-Earth/Phosphonic Acid Complexes

The interactions between substituted arylvinyl phosphonic acid (AVPA) ligands within a Eu-AVPA complex are shown to influence the outcomes of excited state evolution after photoexcitation. Compared with unfunctionalized AVPAs, pairs of ligands functionalized with CF 3 in the para position preassociate in the ground state of complexes with Eu 3+ according to calculated geometry optimizations. The CF 3 -substituted AVPA complexes show evidence of red-shifted optical absorption and undergo more efficient excimer formation, as revealed by transient absorption spectroscopy. We rationalize this behavior through simulations of excited-state geometry optimizations that reveal evolution toward interligand phenyl-phenyl planarity for specific excited states. Emission from complexed Eu 3+ after energy transfer from the ligand is found to be weaker with CF 3 substitution, which we hypothesize is due to intracomplex, interligand aggregates with excimer-promoting geometries. These observations point to the need to consider ground-state geometries as well as dynamic excited-state processes to understand the flow of energy in rare earth coordination complexes.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Marine Algae Polysaccharides: An Overview of Characterization Techniques for Structural and Molecular Elucidation

Polysaccharides make up a large portion of the organic material from and in marine organisms. However, their structural characterization is often overlooked due to their complexity. With many high-value applications and unique bioactivities resulting from the polysaccharides’ complex and heterogeneous structures, dedicated analytical efforts become important to achieve structural elucidation. Because algae represent the largest marine resource of polysaccharides, the majority of the discussion is focused on well-known algae-based hydrocolloid polymers. The native environment of marine polysaccharides presents challenges to many conventional analytical techniques necessitating novel methodologies. We aim to deliver a review of the current state of the art in polysaccharide characterization, focused on capabilities as well as limitations in the context of marine environments. This review covers the extraction and isolation of marine polysaccharides, in addition to characterizations from monosaccharides to secondary and tertiary structures, highlighting a suite of analytical techniques.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A separations and purification process for improving yields and meeting fuel contaminant specifications for high-octane gasoline produced from dimethyl-ether over a Cu/BEA catalyst

In this work, we have been developing a three-step conversion of biomass-derived syngas to methanol to dimethyl-ether (DME) to non-aromatic hydrocarbons for use as high-octane gasoline and sustainable aviation fuel. This process produces branched alkanes from DME using a Cu/BEA catalyst and is a promising alternative to other syngas conversion processes such as Fischer-Tropsch to linear alkanes and traditional ZSM-5 catalyzed methanol to aromatic gasoline. In this short article we describe some advances in our understanding related to separations and purification via the use of more detailed experimental speciation in an updated process model involving multiple phase equilibrium-based separation steps. Primary modeled reactor outlet constituents (and weight %) are: C3 and lighter hydrocarbon gases (11.1%), C4s (54.5%), H 2 (1.2%), CO 2 (2.9%), water (5.0%), unreacted DME (16.5%), methanol (2.3%), and C5+ hydrocarbons (6.4%). DME (the primary reactant) and H 2 recycle and reuse are important for the overall process efficiency, and the recycle of C4s is important to increase the C5+ yield via reactivation and homologation. Thus H 2 , C4s, and DME are targeted for recycle, while methanol and water need to be removed from the product to conform with fuel specifications. Model predictions from Aspen Plus using the NRTL-RK property method indicate a fuel composition with C5+ content of 97.1 wt%, with minor constituents: 2.4 wt% C4s, 0.3 wt% methanol, 0.1 wt% DME, 0.03 wt% water, and 0.01 wt% C3s. These ranges of minor components conform with fuel quality requirements, and the modeled product is amenable for unconstrained blending to boost gasoline octane ratings.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simultaneous optimization of simulated moving bed adsorption and distillation for 2,3‐butanediol recovery

Abstract A combined simulated moving bed (SMB) and distillation separation scheme is developed to recover 2,3‐butanediol (BDO) from a dilute fermentation broth. The scheme was integrated into a lignocellulosic biorefinery that produces hydrocarbon fuels from corn stover with BDO as an intermediate. BDO recovery is one of the most challenging processes in this biorefinery; and given the high associated energy duties, direct distillation is considered cost‐prohibitive. An alternative separation is SMB adsorption in nanoporous materials, which can reject 90% of the water and reduce subsequent distillation costs. Rigorous models were used to optimize the SMB and distillation simultaneously. The separation can be added to the biorefinery while keeping the projected minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) below $0.66 USD (US dollars) per liter gasoline‐equivalent ($2.50/GGE, gallon gasoline equivalent). Finally, sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the effects of cost and lifetime of the adsorbent, titer concentration, and BDO purity.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗