At the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory in Dallas, Texas, the Earth`s surface and internal temperature are studied. With financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy, a data base containing geothermal temperature well information for the United States is being developed. During this calendar quarter, activity with this project has continued involving several different tasks: planning and development of the geothermal system thermal-well data base and temperature-depth data, and development of a World Wide Web home page.

None

The Nash Draw Brushy Canyon Pool in Eddy County New Mexico is a field demonstration in the U. S. Department of Energy Class IH Program. Advanced reservoir characterization techniques are being used at the Nash Draw project to develop reservoir management strategies for optimizing oil recovery from this Delaware reservoir. Analysis, interpretation, and integration of recently acquired geological, geophysical, and engineering data revealed that the initial reservoir description was too simplistic to capture the critical features of this complex formation. As a result of the analysis, a proposed pilot area was reconsidered. Comparison of seismic data and engineering data have shown evidence of discontinuities in the area surrounding the proposed injector. Analysis of the 3-D seismic has shown that wells in the proposed pilot are in an area of poor quality amplitude development. The implication is that since amplitude attenuation is a function of porosity, then this is not the best area to be attempting a pilot pressure maintenance project. Because the original pilot area appears to be compartmentalized, the lateral continuity between the pilot wells could be reduced. The 3-D seismic interpretation indicates other areas may be better suited for the initial pilot area. Therefore, the current focus has …

The central Radiological Control Organization, originally under the previous Management and Operations contractor (Westinghouse Hanford Company) decided that a significant improvement in ALARA implementation would result if examples of engineered controls used for radiological work were assembled in one location to provide a ``showcase`` for workers and managers. The facility would be named the ALARA Center of Technology (ACT) and would include the latest technologies used to accomplish radiological work, as well as proven techniques, tools, and equipment. A location for the Center was selected in the 200 East Area of Hanford in a central location to be easily accessible to all facilities and contractors. Since there was little money available for this project, a decision was made to contact several vendors and request loans of their tools, equipment, and materials. In return, the center would help market products on site and assist with product demonstrations when the vendors visited Hanford. Out of 28 vendors originally contacted, 16 responded with offers to loan products. This included a containment tent, several glove bags, BEPA filtered vacuum cleaners, portable ventilation systems, fixatives, temporary shielding, pumps, and several special tools. Vendors who could not provide products sent videos and brochures. Westinghouse Hanford Company …

The primary objective of this project is to apply robotic and optical sensor technology to the operational inspection of mixed toxic and radioactive waste stored in barrels, using Automated Baseline Change Detection (ABCD), based on image subtraction. Absolute change detection is based on detecting any visible physical changes, regardless of cause, between a current inspection image of a barrel and an archived baseline image of the same barrel. Thus, in addition to rust, the ABCD system can also detect corrosion, leaks, dents, and bulges. The ABCD approach and method rely on precise camera positioning and repositioning relative to the barrel and on feature recognition in images. The ABCD image processing software was installed on a robotic vehicle developed under a related DOE/FETC contract DE-AC21-92MC29112 Intelligent Mobile Sensor System (IMSS) and integrated with the electronics and software. This vehicle was designed especially to navigate in DOE Waste Storage Facilities. Initial system testing was performed at Fernald in June 1996. After some further development and more extensive integration the prototype integrated system was installed and tested at the Radioactive Waste Management Facility (RWMC) at INEEL beginning in April 1997 through the present (November 1997). The integrated system, composed of ABCD imaging software …

A study was undertaken at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to characterize uranium, 6{percent} niobium ingots produced via electron beam melting,hearth refining and continuous casting and to compare this material with conventional VIM/skull melt /VAR material. Samples of both the ingot and feed material were analyzed for niobium, trace metallic elements, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Ingot samples were also inspected metallographically and via microprobe analysis.

'In the first year of the project progress has been made in several areas which are central to the project. Development of Joint Hydrogcological-Geophysical Co-Interpretation Procedure A strong effort was invested in developing the concepts and the algorithm of the joint hydrogeological-geophysical co-interpretation approach. The reason for the concerted effort in that direction is the large amount of time the authors expect this task will take before completion, and also by the need to direct the data collection efforts. They are currently testing several ideas for co-interpretation, but they are at a quite advanced stage. They are testing these ideas using synthetic studies as well as some preliminary data that has been collected at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab site. Part of the efforts is in developing methods for estimation of the semi-variograms of the logconductivity based on direct measurements as well as on seimsic velocity measurements as obtained from cross-well tomography. Preliminary tests show that these two sources of data complement each other quite well: the direct measurements supply the medium to small wave number portion of the logconductivity spectra, while a high resolution seismic survey supplies a good coverage of the large wave number part of the spectra. …

This report documents Atlantic Research Corporation's (ARC) Phase 11 effort on the Department of Energy's (DOE) Continuous Fiber Ceramic Composite (CFCC) program. This project is supported by the DOE cooperative agreement DE-FCO2-92CE40998. Such DOE support does not constitute an endorsement of the views expressed in this report. ARC'S CFCC Phase II effort began during October 1993 and was suspended in March of 1997 when, for business considerations, ARC closed the Amercom operation. This report covers progress from Phase II program inception through Amercom closure. ARC'S Phase II effort built upon the results of the Phase I Applications Assessment and Process Engineering developments to produce CFCC test components for end-user evaluation. Initially, the Phase 11 effort planned to develop and produce three CFCC components: CFCC compression rings for stationary diesel engines, CFCC hot gas fans for industrial furnace applications, and CFCC hot gas filters for current and advanced coal fired power cycles. As the program progressed, the development effort for the diesel engine piston rings was suspended. This decision was based on technical issues, cost factors and reduced program funding; the status of CFCC diesel engine piston ring development will be discussed in detail in section 2.2.1.

The first objective is to utilize reservoir characterization and advanced technologies to optimize the design of a carbon dioxide (CO) project for the South Cowden Unit (SCU) located in Ector County, Texas. The SCU is a mature, relatively small, shallow shelf carbonate unit nearing waterflood depletion. The second objective is to demonstrate the performance and economic viability of the project in the field. All work this quarter falls within the demonstration project.

The primary objective of this work is to determine the forms of nitrogen in coal that lead to nitrogen release during devolatilization. Experiments are to be performed in two existing laminar flow reactors available at Brigham Young University, which are both capable of temperatures (up to 2000 K), particle heating rates (104 to 105 K/s), and residence times (up to 500 ms) relevant to conditions commonly encountered in industrial pulverized coal combustors. The forms of nitrogen in coal, char, and tar samples are analyzed using state-of-the-art techniques, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and high resolution nitrogen-specific chromatography. These sophisticated analysis techniques are being performed in collaboration with other researchers at BYU, the University of Utah, and industrial organizations. Coals have been obtained as a function of rank, including eight coals from the University of Utah that are to be used in pilot scale tests in support of the DOE Coal-2000 HIPPS (High Performance Power Systems) and LEBS (Low- Emission Boiler Systems) programs. Anticipated results from the proposed research are (a) nitrogen release parameters during devolatilization for specific coals pertinent to the HIPPS and LEBS projects, (b) better fundamental understanding of the chemistry of nitrogen release, and …

A novel burner, in which fuel (natural gas) and oxidant (oxygen or air) are separately injected into a furnace, shows promise for achieving very low nitrogen oxide(s) (NOx) emissions for commercial furnace applications. The dilute oxygen combustion (DOC) burner achieves very low NOx through in-furnace dilution of the oxidant stream prior to combustion, resulting in low flame temperatures, thus inhibiting thermal NOx production. The results of a fundamental and applied research effort on the development of the DOC burner are presented. In addition, the results of a market survey detailing the potential commercial impact of the DOC system are disclosed. The fundamental aspects of the burner development project involved examining the flame characteristics of a natural gas turbulent jet in a high-temperature (~1366 K) oxidant (7-27% O2 vol. wet). Specifically, the mass entrainment rate, the flame lift-off height, the velocity field and major species field of the jet were evaluated as a function of surrounding-gas temperature and composition. The measured entrainment rate of the fuel jet decreased with increasing oxygen content in the surrounding high-temperature oxidant, and was well represented by the d+ scaling correlation found in the literature. The measured flame lift-off height decreased with increasing oxygen content and …

We discuss the exploration of the newly proposed blowout regime of the plasma wakefield accelerator and advanced photoinjector technology for linear collider applications. The plasma wakefield experiment at ANL produced several ground-breaking results in the physics of the blowout regime. The photoinjector R and D effort produced breakthroughs in theoretical, computational, and experimental methods in high brightness beam physics. Results have been published.

We established a novel experiment to study the ignition of pulverized coals under conditions relevant to utility boilers. Specifically, we determined the ignition mechanism of pulverized-coal particles under various conditions of particle size, coal type, and freestream oxygen concentration. We also measured the ignition rate constant of a Pittsburgh #8 high-volatile bituminous coal by direct measurement of the particle temperature at ignition, and incorporating this measurement into a mathematical model for the ignition process. The model, called Distributed Activation Energy Model of Ignition, was developed previously by our group to interpret conventional drop-tube ignition experiments, and was modified to accommodate the present study.

This work will examine three major areas in which CO{sub 2} flooding can be improved: fluid and matrix interactions, conformance control/sweep efficiency, and reservoir simulation for improved oil recovery. The first full quarter of this project has been completed. We began examining synergistic affects of mixed surfactant versus single surfactant systems to enhance the properties of foams used for improving oil recovery in CO{sub 2} floods. The purpose is to reduce the concentration of surfactants or finding less expensive surfactants. Also, we are examining the effect of oil saturation on the development of foam in CO{sub 2}-surfactant solution systems. CO{sub 2} flooding of low permeability, vugular, and fracture reservoirs are another major thrust of this project. Work conducted this quarter involved simulating gravity stable floods using large core samples; results showed excellent recovery in a low permeability vugular core.

None

The objective of this research project is to evaluate the potential of supercritical fluid (SCF) extraction for the recovery and fractionation of the wax product from the slurry bubble column (SBC) reactor of the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process. The wax, comprised mostly of branched and linear alkanes with a broad molecular weight distribution up to C{sub 100}, will be extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent that has a critical temperature near the operating temperature of the SBC reactor, i.e., 200-300{degrees}C. Initial work is being performed using n-hexane as the solvent.

In mid 1993, the DOE Defense Programs initiated the Small Business Initiative (SBI) which was designed to provide technical support to the Nation`s small businesses. The initial participating facilities were Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, and Sandia National Laboratory. The Allied-Signal Kansas City Plant and the Savannah River Site came on board, later. The program was designed to keep the DOE-DP technical skills honed, to maintain baseline technology capabilities vital to safeguarding the nation into the 21st century, and to share technical resources with the small business community. The approach utilized to accomplish this was to establish mutually beneficial technology partnerships with small businesses that could leverage advanced technologies and improve the US position in the global economy. Through the fourth quarter of FY96, $3.819M of $4.002M of SBI funds were costed. Four hundred fifty-four technical assistance requests were received during the year and 438 were completed. Total reported private sector impact resulting from technical assistance for the FY was $184M. Six new SBI Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA) were initiated during the year. Nine new user agreements were signed during the year. The Tennessee Governor`s School for Manufacturing, the first …

We outline the techniques used within PEREGRINE, a 3D Monte Carlo code calculation system, to model the photon output from medical accelerators. We discuss the methods used to reduce the phase-space data to a form that is accurately and efficiently sampled.

During this reporting period we have further studied the oxidation of soluble coal macromolecules by lignin peroxidase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Previous studies by others have suggested that a soluble fraction (coal macromolecule B-111) from a nitric acid solubilized North Dakota Lignite is depolymerized by this enzyme. Our investigations indicate that fraction B-111 is a substrate for lignin peroxidase as this material is decolorized in the presence of lignin peroxidase H{sub 8} and hydrogen peroxide. Of interest, however, is the observation that little, if any, depolymerization of this material occurs. Instead, it appears that lignin peroxidase and coal macromolecule B-111 form a precipitate. These results are similar to those observed in our investigations of lignin peroxidase mediated oxidation of oxalate solubilize coal macromolecule. Previous studies in our laboratory using a spectrophotometric assay suggested that, in addition to oxalate, several other fungal metabolites are able to solubilize leonardite. We have reinvestigated this phenomenon using a more reliable gravimetric procedure for assessing solubilization. Our results confirm our earlier findings that malate, oxaloacetate and citrate are effective solubilizing agents whereas succinate, fumarate and {alpha}-ketoglutarate solubilize relatively small amounts of leonardite. Finally, we have studied the composition of the insoluble material remaining following extensive solubilization …