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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

AL-CRADA-2025-01 Final Report: American-Made Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize Accelerate! Phase 2

This report summarizes the Phase 2 achievements of the Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize project led by Critical Materials Recycling (CMR) in partnership with Ames National Laboratory. The team demonstrated the technical feasibility and economic viability of recovering and reusing rare-earth Nd-Fe-B magnets from end-of-life (EOL) wind turbine generators. Through mechanical disassembly, demagnetization, and precision processing, magnets were harvested and characterized to assess structural, compositional, and magnetic properties. Results showed that recovered magnets performed on par with commercial-grade counterparts, enabling their integration into actuator and motor prototypes without redesign. System-level modeling and finite-element simulations validated operational performance, while Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis revealed up to 20% material cost savings and 2–3% reductions in overall motor system costs. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) further confirmed substantial environmental benefits, including a ~94% reduction in global warming potential relative to virgin magnet production. The project’s success was enabled by a tightly integrated partnership between industry and national lab experts, illustrating a viable path for domestic magnet-to-magnet recycling. These findings support a scalable, circular solution for rare-earth material recovery, reducing dependence on imported critical minerals and advancing sustainable clean energy technologies.

Lograsso, Thomas [Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA↗
DOE OSTI2025

Using low cost, bio-derived and recycled materials in advanced scalable small- and medium- wind turbine manufacturing

In partnership with Bergey Windpower, this project explored the use of recyclable and recycled materials in small- to medium-wind turbine blades (WTBs). A recyclable epoxy resin and infusible thermoplastic resin were investigated using identical fiber reinforcements and manufacturing practices used as Bergey, and the substitution of continuous virgin glass fiber (GF) layers with recycled nonwoven GF (rGF, NW) mats was trialed. The alternative resins both showed very promising performance in terms of static tensile and flexural behavior as well as thermal properties and fatigue behavior in comparison with that of the incumbent materials used at Bergey. The NW rGF materials, however, were found to be a poor substitute for the continuous GF materials for two primary reasons. Firstly, the NW mats took up significantly more resin than their continuous counterparts, which would increase both the weight and the cost of the WTBs. Additionally, an unexpected reaction occurred between the rGF and epoxy materials that resulted in a highly porous, foamed structure. The foaming phenomenon was not observed with the rGF NW and infusible thermoplastic material, but the resin uptake was still prohibitively high. Based on the results of this study, recyclable infusible resins could be viable candidate materials for Bergey in the future. The foaming reaction with the rGF NW mats could prove highly useful in other applications requiring structural foams and has been used to produce demonstrative sandwich panels.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Waste Materials Recycling for In-Space Manufacturing

Logistics and resupply payloads for Lunar and Martian missions are significantly more cost and schedule prohibitive compared to LEO destinations. Recycling of waste and trash materials generated throughout the duration of a mission, as well as previous missions, will be critical for enabling sustained human presence beyond Earth. Currently, no solution exists for recycling waste materials back into feedstock form beyond entry-level hobbyist equipment, which is not suitable nor practical for space applications. There is already over 500,000 lbs of trash on the moon from previous missions, which will grow exponentially over the coming decade throughout the Artemis Campaign. Waste and trash materials are precious resources that, if recovered and properly processed, can be transformed back into usable feedstock form for on-demand manufacturing capabilities. Hence, it is prudent that a recycling solution be developed and infused into future missions.

additive↗
DOE OSTI2026

Recyclable Materials for Resource Constrained Environments

In-space manufacturing exhibits severe limitations in resources as astronauts are only afforded with the materials that are brought on-board the space craft. Consequently, the use of recyclable and re-usable materials is paramount. Researchers at NLR leverage their expertise in polymer and recycling chemistry to develop material systems capable of high performance applications with intentional consideration on multi-life use through chemical recycling, mechanical recycling, bio-degradation, and thermoforming. Disclosed within this poster presentation are highlighted projects that illustrate several recyclable by design material systems that have been developed.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Alkyl-Substituted Polycaprolactone Poly(urethane-urea)s as Mechanically Competitive and Chemically Recyclable Materials

We report the mechanical performance and chemical recycling advantages of implementing alkyl-substituted poly(ε-caprolactones) (PCLs) as soft segments in thermoplastic poly(urethane-urea) (TPUU) materials. Poly(4-methylcaprolactone) (P4MCL) and poly(4-propylcaprolactone) (P4PrCL) were prepared, reacted with isophorone diisocyanate, and chain-extended with water to form TPUUs. The resulting materials’ tensile properties were similar or superior to a commercially available polyester thermoplastic poly(urethane) and had superior elastic recovery properties compared to a PCL analogue due to the noncrystalline nature of P4MCL and P4PrCL. Additionally, monomers were recovered from the TPUU materials in high yields via ring-closing depolymerization using a reactive distillation approach at an elevated temperature and a reduced pressure (240–260 °C, 25–140 mTorr) with zinc chloride (ZnCl 2 ) as the catalyst. The thermodynamics of polymerization were estimated using Van’t Hoff analyses for 4MCL and 4PrCL; these results indicated that the propyl group in 4PrCL results in a lower practical ceiling temperature (T c ) for P4PrCL.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize Phase 2 (Commercialization of Wind Turbine Blade Waste (WTBW)-Based, Lightweight, Cementitious Composite Materials): Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-24-31305

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) and AltiSora, LLC., will develop new lightweight cementitious composite material technologies that will utilize wind turbine blade waste as a raw material to; (1) allow a high value addition (2) at low cost, enabling (3) a significant waste consumption volume; while (4) consuming the entire wind turbine blade, without (5) creating any waste or emissions and to also (6) offer specific benefits to communities involved.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

“Production of High Specific Activity 155 Tb, 161 Tb and 203 Pb for Research and Clinical Applications: Effective Target Design, Target Material Recycling and Radioisotope Separation”

Radioisotopes are essential for the development and application of radiopharmaceuticals that target specific diseases, such as cancer, offering unique potential for precision medicine. The growing demand for theranostic radioisotopes underscores their critical role in personalized medicine, where they enhance diagnostic imaging, minimize patient radiation exposure, and improve targeted tissue uptake, particularly in receptor- and antigen-directed therapies. The theranostic pair terbium-155 (diagnostic) and terbium-161 (therapeutic) holds significant promise for advancing individualized, targeted, and dosimetry-driven radiotherapies. However, the United States currently lacks routine and reliable production of these isotopes. This project made significant progress toward addressing this supply issue by developing production and separation methods for terbium-155 and terbium-161 while also training the next generation of the nuclear and radiochemistry workforce. This grant also strengthened collaboration between scientists at the University of Washington, the University of Missouri and Brookhaven National Laboratory. The research effort focused on evaluating target preparation methods, optimizing irradiation parameters, and refining isolation processes. In addition, the project provided extensive hands-on training to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, equipping them with expertise in radioisotope production technologies and fostering the growth of the nuclear science workforce.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Production of High Specific Activity 155 Tb, 161 Tb and 203 Pb for Research and Clinical Applications: Effective Target Design, Target Material Recycling and Radioisotope Separation (Final Technical Report)

The overall objectives of this project were (1) to develop methods for the production and separation of a diagnostic and therapeutic or “theranostic” pair of radioisotopes, terbium-155 ( 155 Tb) and terbium-161 ( 161 Tb) and (2) to train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in technologies and methods used in radionuclide production. Radionuclides can be incorporated into drugs called radiopharmaceuticals that target a specific disease (e.g., cancer). The need for theranostic radionuclides is escalating with the clinical translation of radiopharmaceuticals due to their implementation in personalized medicine, which has demonstrated enhanced patient treatments. High purity and high specific activity radionuclides are critical for theranostic agent development, for example to maintain diagnostic image quality, to minimize radiation dose to the patient, and to increase uptake in the targeted tissue (e.g., tumor), especially in the case of receptor- and antigen-targeted agents. The 155 Tb (diagnostic) and 161 Tb (therapeutic) radioisotopes that were generated through this project are a theranostic pair with demonstrated potential for the development and translation into individualized, targeted, and dosimetry-driven radiotherapies. However, the development of such radiotherapies has been hindered by the lack of a routine and reliable supply of these isotopes in the United States. Methods for the production, separation, and supply of 155 Tb and 161 Tb were investigated and developed in this project. Further, the strong emphasis throughout the project on the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows has helped to ensure and enhance the nuclear science workforce through the training of the next generation of highly qualified scientists in nuclear and radiochemistry. This grant also continued a collaboration between scientists at the University of Washington (UW), the University of Missouri (MU) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). All three institutions were involved in the project, but to different degrees on the various tasks through which the overall objectives were met.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Thermodynamic Model for Nd(III)–Sulfate Interaction at High Ionic Strengths and Elevated Temperatures: Applications to Rare Earth Element Extraction

Neodymium (Nd), a rare earth element (REE), is critical to numerous industries. Neodymium can be extracted from ore concentrates, waste materials, or recycled materials such as recycled Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. In a standard process, concentrated sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) is used as an extraction/leaching agent. Therefore, knowledge of Nd(III)–sulfate interaction at high ionic strengths is important for optimization of the extraction process. In addition, sulfate is also a major species in natural surface waters and present in nuclear waste streams. Nd(III) has been used a chemical analog to trivalent actinides in nuclear waste research and development. Consequently, knowledge of Nd(III)-sulfate interactions is also impactful to the field of nuclear waste management. Here, in this study, we have developed a thermodynamic model that can describe the interaction of Nd(III) with sulfate to ionic strengths up to ~ 16.5 mol·kg –1 and to temperatures up to 100 °C. The model adopts the Pitzer formulation to describe activity coefficients of aqueous species. This model can be used to design and optimize a chemical process for REE recovery from ore concentrates, recycled materials, and acid mine drainage (AMD) and to understand the mobility of REEs and actinides in the environment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA Centennial Challenge: Three Dimensional (3D) Printed Habitat, Phase 2

The NASA Centennial Challenges: 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge seeks to develop the fundamental technologies necessary to manufacture an off-world habitat using mission recycled materials and/or local indigenous materials. The vision is that autonomous habitat manufacturing machines will someday be deployed to the Moon or Mars to construct shelters for human habitation. NASA and Bradley University, are holding a new US$ 2.5 million competition to design and build a 3-D printed habitat for deep space exploration, including the agency's journey to Mars. The multi-phase 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge, part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program, is designed to advance the additive construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions for Earth and beyond. The first phase of the competition ran through Sept. 27, 2015. This phase, a design competition, called on participants to develop state-of-the-art architectural concepts that take advantage of the unique capabilities 3-D printing offers. The top 3 prizes with a prize purse of $40,000 were awarded at the 2015 World Maker Faire in New York. The second phase of the competition is called the Structural Member Competition and it is divided into three levels happening in the spring and summer of 2017. The Compression Test Competition (Level 1) focuses on the fabrication technologies needed to manufacture structural components from a combination of indigenous materials and recyclables, or indigenous materials alone. For Level 1, teams will develop 3D printable materials, build a 3D printing machine, and print two specimens: a truncated cone and a cylinder. The Level 2 Beam Member Competition is the second of three sub-competitions within the overall Structural Member Competition. For Level 2, teams will print a beam that will be tested. The Level 3 Head to Head Competition is the third of three sub-competitions within the overall Structural Member Competition. For Level 3, teams will develop 3D printable materials, use a 3D printing machine, and print three compression specimens of the elected material, three flexural specimens of the elected material, and one dome structure. Tests conducted on the specimens and the dome structure will determine Level 3 scores and awards. On Earth these same habitat manufacturing capabilities could be used to produce housing wherever affordable housing is needed and access to conventional building materials and skills is limited. Terrestrially, it is envisioned that local indigenous materials (dirt, clay, sand, etc.) could be combined with readily available recyclable materials and used to construct semi-permanent shelters against environmental elements for human habitation. The goal of the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is to foster the development of new technologies necessary to additively manufacture a habitat using local indigenous materials with, or without, recyclable materials. This paper will summarize the Level 2 results of this NASA Centennial Challenge competition and it will discuss related technology advancement.

3D printing↗
DOE OSTI2025

Addressing Inherent Challenges to Chemical Relithiation of Cycled End‐of‐Life Cathode Materials

Recycling end‐of‐life (EOL) lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) is important to retain valuable resources from critical materials present in EOL battery waste. Direct recycling methods offer an opportunity to recover intact valuable cathode materials with minimal re‐processing. An important step of the direct recycling process is relithiation which is used to restore lithium content to EOL cathode materials. However, little has been done to study how preprocessing steps such as washing or binder removal may affect relithiation methods in the direct recycling process. Here, the evolution of fluorine byproducts left over from preprocessing steps during a low‐temperature chemical redox mediator relithiation process is tracked. A facile washing step is presented as a solution for mediating adverse effects of surface contamination on the chemical relithiation performance. The structure, lithium content, and electrochemical performance of relithiated EOL NMC 622 material that underwent a pre‐relithiation washing step to remove fluorine byproducts is shown to match that of pristine NMC 622. In this work, it is showed that redox mediator relithiation as a part of a direct recycling process is a promising low energy method that can be applied to EOL material with inherent surface impurities if the proper pre‐relithiation processing steps are implemented.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Price response of waste resources under demand shocks: four case studies

To quantify potential price changes of waste feedstocks that may be caused by increased demand, this study explored four case studies: 1) recyclable materials at local waste collection and recycling facilities in seven US states, 2) recyclable materials on internationally traded markets, 3) a wood-powered plant in Reading, PA, and 4) an MSW-powered plant in Tulsa, OK. The four case studies provided a total of ninety-one waste material price observations yielding twenty-seven price-supply relationships expressed as price elasticity of supply (PES) and unit price change with change in demand. For the two case studies related to recyclable materials with a global market shock, price changes vary widely from $0.08-$7.84 per ton with each percent change in demand. For the two case studies related to local market shocks in biomass used for energy, observed price changes range from $0.08-$0.23 per ton per percent change in demand. Based on these results, a base range of $0.10-$0.20 per ton per percent change in demand is recommended for local market shocks. I.e., for a facility that collects organic wastes on the order of 200,000-400,000 tons per year at price near zero, a doubling of demand could increase procurement prices by about $10.00-$20.00 per ton. Actual price changes with respect to change in demand may be non-linear. Shocks with broader geographic extent may increase price response due to a reduced opportunity for surrounding markets to mitigate localized market changes.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS2013

Aerospace Fuels From Nonpetroleum Raw Materials

Recycling human metabolic and plastic wastes minimizes cost and increases efficiency by reducing the need to transport consumables and return trash, respectively, from orbit to support a space station crew. If the much larger costs of transporting consumables to the Moon and beyond are taken into account, developing waste recycling technologies becomes imperative and possibly mission enabling. Reduction of terrestrial waste streams while producing energy and/or valuable raw materials is an opportunity being realized by a new generation of visionary entrepreneurs; several relevant technologies are briefly compared, contrasted and assessed for space applications. A two-step approach to nonpetroleum raw materials utilization is presented; the first step involves production of supply or producer gas. This is akin to synthesis gas containing carbon oxides, hydrogen, and simple hydrocarbons. The second step involves production of fuel via the Sabatier process, a methanation reaction, or another gas-to-liquid technology, typically Fischer-Tropsch processing. Optimization to enhance the fraction of product stream relevant to transportation fuels via catalytic (process) development at NASA Glenn Research Center is described. Energy utilization is a concern for production of fuels whether for operation on the lunar or Martian surface, or beyond. The term green relates to not only mitigating excess carbon release but also to the efficiency of energy usage. For space, energy usage can be an essential concern. Another issue of great concern is minimizing impurities in the product stream(s), especially those that are potential health risks and/or could degrade operations through catalyst poisoning or equipment damage; technologies being developed to remove heteroatom impurities are discussed. Alternative technologies to utilize waste fluids, such as a propulsion option called the resistojet, are discussed. The resistojet is an electric propulsion technology with a powered thruster to vaporize and heat a propellant to high temperature, hot gases are subsequently passed through a converging-diverging nozzle expanding gases to supersonic velocities. A resistojet can accommodate many different fluids, including various reaction chamber (by-)products.

Palaszewski, Bryan A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Aerospace Fuels from Nonpetroleum Raw Materials

Recycling human metabolic and plastic wastes minimizes cost and increases efficiency by reducing the need to transport consumables and return trash, respectively, from orbit to support a space station crew. If the much larger costs of transporting consumables to the Moon and beyond are taken into account, developing waste recycling technologies becomes imperative and possibly mission enabling. Reduction of terrestrial waste streams while producing energy and/or valuable raw materials is an opportunity being realized by a new generation of visionary entrepreneurs; several relevant technologies are briefly compared, contrasted and assessed for space applications. A two-step approach to nonpetroleum raw materials utilization is presented; the first step involves production of supply or producer gas. This is akin to synthesis gas containing carbon oxides, hydrogen, and simple hydrocarbons. The second step involves production of fuel via the Sabatier process, a methanation reaction, or another gas-to-liquid technology, typically Fischer- Tropsch processing. Optimization to enhance the fraction of product stream relevant to transportation fuels via catalytic (process) development at NASA GRC is described. Energy utilization is a concern for production of fuels whether for operation on the lunar or Martian surface, or beyond. The term "green" relates to not only mitigating excess carbon release but also to the efficiency of energy usage. For space, energy usage can be an essential concern. Other issues of great concern include minimizing impurities in the product stream(s), especially those that are potential health risks and/or could de-grade operations through catalyst poisoning or equipment damage; technologies being developed to remove heteroatom impurities are discussed. Alternative technologies to utilize waste fluids, such as a propulsion option called the resistojet, are discussed. The resistojet is an electric propulsion technology with a powered thruster to vaporize and heat a propellant to high temperature, hot gases are subsequently passed through a converging-diverging nozzle expanding gases to supersonic velocities. A resistojet can accommodate many different fluids, including various reaction chamber (by-)products.

Palaszewski, B. A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Laminated thermoplastic composite material from recycled high density polyethylene

The design of a materials-science, educational experiment is presented. The student should understand the fundamentals of polymer processing and mechanical property testing of materials. The ability to use American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards is also necessary for designing material test specimens and testing procedures. The objectives of the experiment are (1) to understand the concept of laminated composite materials, processing, testing, and quality assurance of thermoplastic composites and (2) to observe an application example of recycled plastics.

Liu, Ping↗
NASA NTRS1991

Waste treatment integration in space

The circumstances and criteria for space-based waste treatment bioregenerative life-support systems differ in many ways from those needed in terrestrial applications. In fact, the term "waste" may not even be appropriate in the context of nearly closed, cycling, ecosystems such as those under consideration. Because of these constraints there is a need for innovative approaches to the problem of "materials recycling". Hybrid physico-chemico-biological systems offer advantages over both strictly physico-chemico or biological approaches that would be beneficial to material recycling. To effectively emulate terrestrial cycling, the use of various microbial consortia ("assemblies of interdependent microbes") should be seriously considered for the biological components of such systems. This paper will examine the use of consortia in the context of a hybrid-system for materials recycling in space.

Waste Management/methods↗