This project focused on fuel stream preparation improvements prior to injection into a solid oxide fuel cell reformer. Each milestone and the results from each milestone are discussed in detail in this report. The first two milestones were the creation of a coking formation test rig and various testing performed on this rig. Initial tests indicated that three anti-carbon coatings showed improvement over an uncoated (bare metal) baseline. However, in follow-up 70 hour tests of the down selected coatings, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis revealed that no carbon was generated on the test specimens. These follow-up tests were intended to enable a down selection to a single best anti-carbon coating. Without the formation of carbon it was impossible to draw conclusions as to which anti-carbon coating showed the best performance. The final 70 hour tests did show that AMCX AMC26 demonstrated the lowest discoloration of the metal out of the three down selected anti-carbon coatings. This discoloration did not relate to carbon but could be a useful result when carbon growth rate is not the only concern. Unplanned variations in the series of tests must be considered and may have altered the results. Reliable conclusions could only be drawn from …

The objective of this project was to create a low-cost, robust anticipatory wireless sensor network (A-WSN) to ensure the security and reliability of the United States energy infrastructure. This document highlights Eaton Corporation's plan to bring these technologies to market.

A large amount of corn stover is available in the U.S. corn belt for the potential production of cellulosic bioethanol when the production technology becomes commercially ready. In fact, because corn stover is already available, it could serve as a starting point for producing cellulosic ethanol as a transportation fuel to help reduce the nation's demand for petroleum oil. Using the data available on the collection and transportation of corn stover and on the production of cellulosic ethanol, we have added the corn stover-to-ethanol pathway in the GREET model, a fuel-cycle model developed at Argonne National Laboratory. We then analyzed the life-cycle energy use and emission impacts of corn stover-derived fuel ethanol for use as E85 in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs). The analysis included fertilizer manufacturing, corn farming, farming machinery manufacturing, stover collection and transportation, ethanol production, ethanol transportation, and ethanol use in light-duty vehicles (LDVs). Energy consumption of petroleum oil and fossil energy, emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide [CO{sub 2}], nitrous oxide [N{sub 2}O], and methane [CH{sub 4}]), and emissions of criteria pollutants (carbon monoxide [CO], volatile organic compounds [VOCs], nitrogen oxide [NO{sub x}], sulfur oxide [SO{sub x}], and particulate matter with diameters smaller than 10 micrometers [PM{sub …

This report summarizes the environmental status of Ames Laboratory for calendar year 2007. It includes descriptions of the Laboratory site, its mission, the status of its compliance with applicable environmental regulations, its planning and activities to maintain compliance, and a comprehensive review of its environmental protection, surveillance and monitoring activities. Ames Laboratory is located on the campus of Iowa State University (ISU) and occupies 11 buildings owned by the Department of Energy (DOE). See the Laboratory's Web page at www.external.ameslab.gov for locations and Laboratory overview. The Laboratory also leases space in ISU owned buildings. In 2007, the Laboratory accumulated and disposed of waste under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued generator numbers. All waste is handled according to all applicable EPA, State, Local and DOE Orders. In 2006 the Laboratory reduced its generator status from a Large Quantity Generator (LQG) to a Small Quantity Generator (SQG). EPA Region VII was notified of this change. The Laboratory's RCRA hazardous waste management program was inspected by EPA Region VII in April 2006. There were no notices of violations. The inspector was impressed with the improvements of the Laboratory's waste management program over the past ten years. The Laboratory was in compliance with …

The objective of the proposed project was to confirm the feasibility of using blends of hydrogen and natural gas to improve the performance, efficiency, controllability and emissions of a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. The project team utilized both engine simulation and laboratory testing to evaluate and optimize how blends of hydrogen and natural gas fuel might improve control of HCCI combustion. GTI utilized a state-of-the art single-cylinder engine test platform for the experimental work in the project. The testing was designed to evaluate the feasibility of extending the limits of HCCI engine performance (i.e., stable combustion, high efficiency and low emissions) on natural gas by using blends of natural gas and hydrogen. Early in the project Ricardo provided technical support to GTI as we applied their engine performance simulation program, WAVE, to our HCCI research engine. Modeling support was later provided by Digital Engines, LLC to use their proprietary model to predict peak pressures and temperatures for varying operating parameters included in the Design of Experiments test plan. Digital Engines also provided testing support for the hydrogen and natural gas blends. Prof. David Foster of University of Wisconsin-Madison participated early in the project by providing technical guidance on …

Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) is evaluating the plutonium speciation in caustic solutions that reasonably represent the process streams from the oxidative-leaching demonstration test. Battelle—Pacific Northwest Division (PNWD) was contracted to develop a spectrophotometric method to measure plutonium speciation at submicromolar (< 10-6 M) concentrations in alkaline solutions in the presence of chromate and carbonate. Data obtained from the testing will be used to identify the oxidation state of Pu(IV), Pu(V), and Pu(VI) species, which potentially could exist in caustic leachates. Work was initially conducted under contract number 24590-101-TSA-W000-00004 satisfying the needs defined in Appendix C of the Research and Technology Plan TSS A-219 to evaluate the speciation of chromium, plutonium, and manganese before and after oxidative leaching. In February 2007, the contract mechanism was switched to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Operating Contract MOA: 24590-QL-HC9-WA49-00001.

The overall objective of this effort is to develop, build and test a high-speed drilling motor that can meet the performance guidelines of the announcement, namely: 'The motors are expected to rotate at a minimum of 10,000 rpm, have an OD no larger than 7 inches and work downhole continuously for at least 100 hours. The motor must have common oilfield thread connections capable of making up to a drill bit and bottomhole assembly. The motor must be capable of transmitting drilling fluid through the motor'. To these goals, APS would add that the motor must be economically viable, in terms of both its manufacturing and maintenance costs, and be applicable to as broad a range of markets as possible. APS has taken the approach of using a system using planetary gears to increase the speed of a conventional mud motor to 10,000 rpm. The mud flow is directed around the outside of the gear train, and a unique flow diversion system has been employed. A prototype of the motor was built and tested in APS's high-pressure flow loop. The motor operated per the model up to {approx}4200 rpm. At that point a bearing seized and the performance was severely …

This is the final technical report for the project titled 'Mathematically Reduced Chemical Reaction Mechanism Using Neural Networks'. The aim of the project was to develop an efficient chemistry model for combustion simulations. The reduced chemistry model was developed mathematically without the need of having extensive knowledge of the chemistry involved. To aid in the development of the model, Neural Networks (NN) was used via a new network topology known as Non-linear Principal Components Analysis (NPCA). A commonly used Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP-NN) was modified to implement NPCA-NN. The training rate of NPCA-NN was improved with the GEneralized Regression Neural Network (GRNN) based on kernel smoothing techniques. Kernel smoothing provides a simple way of finding structure in data set without the imposition of a parametric model. The trajectory data of the reaction mechanism was generated based on the optimization techniques of genetic algorithm (GA). The NPCA-NN algorithm was then used for the reduction of Dimethyl Ether (DME) mechanism. DME is a recently discovered fuel made from natural gas, (and other feedstock such as coal, biomass, and urban wastes) which can be used in compression ignition engines as a substitute for diesel. An in-house two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code …

This report describes results toward developing a process to sequester CO{sub 2} centered on the enzymes PEP carboxylase and pyruvate carboxylase. The process involves the use of bacteria to convert CO{sub 2} and glucose as a co-substrate and generates succinic acid as a commodity chemical product. The study reports on strain development and process development. In the area of strain development, knockouts in genes which divert carbon from the enzymatic steps involved in CO{sub 2} consumption were completed, and were shown not to affect significantly the rate of CO{sub 2} sequestration and succinic acid generation. Furthermore, the pyc gene encoding for pyruvate carboxylase proved to be unstable when integrated onto the chromosome. In the area of process development, an optimal medium, pH and base counterion were obtained, leading to a sequestration rate as great as 800 mg/Lh. Detailed studies of gas phase composition demonstrated that CO{sub 2} composition has a significant affect on CO{sub 2} sequestration, while the presence of 'toxic' compounds in the gas, including NO{sub 2}, CO and SO{sub 2} did not have a detrimental effect on sequestration. Some results on prolonging the rate of sequestration indicate that enzyme activities decrease with time, suggesting methods to prolong enzyme …

Recent initiatives for fuel flexibility, increased efficiency and decreased emissions in power generating industrial gas turbines (IGT's), have highlighted the need for the development of techniques to produce large single crystal or columnar grained, directionally solidified Ni-base superalloy turbine blades and vanes. In order to address the technical difficulties of producing large single crystal components, a program has been initiated to, using computational materials science, better understand how alloy composition in potential IGT alloys and solidification conditions during processing, effect castability, defect formation and environmental resistance. This program will help to identify potential routes for the development of high strength, corrosion resistant airfoil/vane alloys, which would be a benefit to all IGT's, including small IGT's and even aerospace gas turbines. During the first year, collaboration with Siemens Power Corporation (SPC), Rolls-Royce, Howmet and Solar Turbines has identified and evaluated about 50 alloy compositions that are of interest for this potential application. In addition, alloy modifications to an existing alloy (CMSX-4) were also evaluated. Collaborating with SPC and using computational software at SPC to evaluate about 50 alloy compositions identified 5 candidate alloys for experimental evaluation. The results obtained from the experimentally determined phase transformation temperatures did not compare well to …

This research project was aimed at assessing the soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential of reclaimed minesoils (RMS). The experimental sites were characterized by distinct age chronosequences of RMS and were located in Guernsey, Morgan, Noble, and Muskingum Counties of Ohio. Restoration of disturbed land is followed by the application of nutrients to the soil to promote the vegetation development. Reclamation is important both for preserving the environmental quality and increasing agronomic yields. Since reclamation treatments have significant influence on the rate of soil development, a study on subplots was designed with the objectives of assessing the potential of different biosolids on soil organic C (SOC) sequestration rate, soil development, and changes in soil physical and water transmission properties. All sites are owned and maintained by American Electric Power (AEP). These sites were reclaimed by two techniques: (1) with topsoil application, and (2) without topsoil application, and were under continuous grass or forest cover.

The Advanced Electric Systems and Aerodynamics for Efficiency Improvements in Heavy Duty Trucks program (DE-FC26-04NT42189), commonly referred to as the AES program, focused on areas that will primarily benefit fuel economy and improve heat rejection while driving over the road. The AES program objectives were to: (1) Analyze, design, build, and test a cooling system that provided a minimum of 10 percent greater heat rejection in the same frontal area with no increase in parasitic fan load. (2) Realize fuel savings with advanced power management and acceleration assist by utilizing an integrated starter/generator (ISG) and energy storage devices. (3) Quantify the effect of aerodynamic drag due to the frontal shape mandated by the area required for the cooling system. The program effort consisted of modeling and designing components for optimum fuel efficiency, completing fabrication of necessary components, integrating these components into the chassis test bed, completing controls programming, and performance testing the system both on a chassis dynamometer and on the road. Emission control measures for heavy-duty engines have resulted in increased engine heat loads, thus introducing added parasitic engine cooling loads. Truck electrification, in the form of thermal management, offers technological solutions to mitigate or even neutralize the effects …

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a multidisciplinary laboratory that carries out basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, and in selected energy technologies. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, (BSA) under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). BNL's Fiscal Year 2007 spending was $515 million. There are approximately 2,600 employees, and another 4,500 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) annually in March, as required by DOE Order 413.2B, 'Laboratory Directed Research and Development', April 19, 2006, and the Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines for Laboratory Directed Research and Development at the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories dated June 13, 2006. The goals and objectives of BNL's LDRD Program can be inferred from the Program's stated purposes. These are to (1) encourage and support the development of new ideas and technology, (2) promote the early exploration and exploitation of creative and innovative concepts, and (3) develop new 'fundable' R&amp;D projects and programs. The emphasis is clearly articulated by BNL to …

This report describes Cesium and Isopar L Concentrations in Samples Collected During Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (Mcu) Simulant Testing.

This Hazardous Waste Management Act/Resource Conservation and Recovery Act closure plan was developed for portions of the Test Reactor Area/Materials Test Reactor Warm Waste System located in the Materials Test Reactor Building (TRA-603) at the Reactor Technology Complex, Idaho National Laboratory Site, to meet a further milestone established under Voluntary Consent Order Action Plan SITE-TANK-005 for Tank System TRA-007. The reactor drain tank and canal sump to be closed are included in the Test Reactor Area/Materials Test Reactor Warm Waste System. The reactor drain tank and the canal sump were characterized as having managed hazardous waste. The reactor drain tank and canal sump will be closed in accordance with the interim status requirements of the Hazardous Waste Management Act/Resource Conservation and Recovery Act as implemented by the Idaho Administrative Procedures Act 58.01.05.009 and 40 Code of Federal Regulations 265. This closure plan presents the closure performance standards and methods for achieving those standards.

This project involves implementing a new technology, microforming, in a headbox to produce an isotropic sheet with significant reductions in the MD/CD stiffness ratio (increasing CD specific STFI) and improved sheet uniformity. Microforming involves generating axial vorticity (i.e., swirl) prior to the converging nozzle of the headbox by retrofitting an existing tube block with swirl generation devices referred to as Vortigen system. The Vortigen system developed in this project is a retrofit technology to a hydraulic headbox tube block. The tubes in the tube block are re-designed to generate axial vorticity (or swirl) in the tubes. This type of flow results in higher intensity small-scale turbulence in the forming jet at the slice. The net effect, as demonstrated in pilot and commercial trials, is improvement in formation and surface smoothness, lower MD/CD tensile ratio, and consequently, higher CD strength properties such as CD STFI, Ring Crush and tensile or breaking length. The objective of this project is to implement microforming by developing the retrofit technology for generation and on-line control of axial vorticity in the tubes to optimize turbulent scale and intensity, and consequently, fiber network structure properties in the sheet. This technology results in significant improvements in the performance …

A background to Coiled Tubing Bottom Hole Assemblies (CT-BHA) is given, and the development of a bi-directional communications and power module (BCPM)component is described. The successful operation of this component in both the laboratory and field environment is described. The primary conclusion of this development is that the BCPM component operates as anticipated within the CT-BHA, and significantly extends the possibility of drilling with coiled tubing in the microhole environment.

This TLR provides the results of all PNNL managed activities on this project, and contains a description of the data acquisition configuration and testing protocols, results and conclusions from this work. This TLR is part of the final deliverables package submitted to the client during the Phase 1 Go/No-Go meeting in Richland, Washington, on July 31, 2007.

General discussion of effluents from nuclear material reprocessing operations and the opportunity to detect important effluents in the near-field domain.

The overall goal of this project has been to develop desktop capability for 3-D EM inversion as a complement or alternative to existing massively parallel platforms. We have been fortunate in having a uniquely productive cooperative relationship with Kyushu University (Y. Sasaki, P.I.) who supplied a base-level 3-D inversion source code for MT data over a half-space based on staggered grid finite differences. Storage efficiency was greatly increased in this algorithm by implementing a symmetric L-U parameter step solver, and by loading the parameter step matrix one frequency at a time. Rules were established for achieving sufficient jacobian accuracy versus mesh discretization, and regularization was much improved by scaling the damping terms according to influence of parameters upon the measured response. The modified program was applied to 101 five-channel MT stations taken over the Coso East Flank area supported by the DOE and the Navy. Inversion of these data on a 2 Gb desktop PC using a half-space starting model recovered the main features of the subsurface resistivity structure seen in a massively parallel inversion which used a series of stitched 2-D inversions as a starting model. In particular, a steeply west-dipping, N-S trending conductor was resolved under the central-west …

This document summarizes the performance of the groundwater and surface water restoration systems installed by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) at the former CCC/USDA grain storage facility in Murdock, Nebraska, during the initial period of systems operation, from June 2005 through December 2006. In the Murdock project, several innovative technologies are being used to remove carbon tetrachloride contamination from a shallow aquifer underlying the town, as well as from water naturally discharged to the surface at the headwaters of a small creek (a tributary to Pawnee Creek) north of the town (Figure 1.1). The restoration activities at Murdock are being conducted by the CCC/USDA as a non-time-critical removal action under the regulatory authority and supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region VII. Argonne National Laboratory assisted the CCC/USDA by providing technical oversight for the restoration effort and facilities during this review period. Included in this report are the results of all sampling and monitoring activities performed in accord with the EPA-approved Monitoring Plan for this site (Argonne 2006), as well as additional investigative activities conducted during the review period. This document presents overviews of the treatment facilities (Section 2) and site operations …

An optimized small turbine blade (7.5m radius) was designed and a partial section molded with the RIM (reaction-injection molded polymer) process for mass production. The intended market is for generic three-bladed wind turbines, 100 kilowatts or less, for grid-assist end users with rural and semi-rural sites, such as the farm/ranch market, having low to moderate IEC Class 3-4 wind regimes. This blade will have substantial performance improvements over, and be cheaper than, present-day 7.5m blades. This is made possible by the injection-molding process, which yields high repeatability, accurate geometry and weights, and low cost in production quantities. No wind turbine blade in the 7.5m or greater size has used this process. The blade design chosen uses a RIM skin bonded to a braided infused carbon fiber/epoxy spar. This approach is attractive to present users of wind turbine blades in the 5-10m sizes. These include rebladeing California wind farms, refurbishing used turbines for the Midwest farm market, and other manufacturers introducing new turbines in this size range.

As the flood of data associated with leading edge computational science continues to escalate, the challenge of supporting the distributed collaborations that are now characteristic of it becomes increasingly daunting. The chief obstacles to progress on this front lie less in the synchronous elements of collaboration, which have been reasonably well addressed by new global high performance networks, than in the asynchronous elements, where appropriate shared storage infrastructure seems to be lacking. The recent report from the Department of Energy on the emerging 'data management challenge' captures the multidimensional nature of this problem succinctly: Data inevitably needs to be buffered, for periods ranging from seconds to weeks, in order to be controlled as it moves through the distributed and collaborative research process. To meet the diverse and changing set of application needs that different research communities have, large amounts of non-archival storage are required for transitory buffering, and it needs to be widely dispersed, easily available, and configured to maximize flexibility of use. In today's grid fabric, however, massive storage is mostly concentrated in data centers, available only to those with user accounts and membership in the appropriate virtual organizations, allocated as if its usage were non-transitory, and encapsulated behind …

The Oilfield Flare Gas Electricity Systems (OFFGASES) project was developed in response to a cooperative agreement offering by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) under Preferred Upstream Management Projects (PUMP III). Project partners included the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) as lead agency working with the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Oil Producers Electric Cooperative (COPE). The project was designed to demonstrate that the entire range of oilfield 'stranded gases' (gas production that can not be delivered to a commercial market because it is poor quality, or the quantity is too small to be economically sold, or there are no pipeline facilities to transport it to market) can be cost-effectively harnessed to make electricity. The utilization of existing, proven distribution generation (DG) technologies to generate electricity was field-tested successfully at four marginal well sites, selected to cover a variety of potential scenarios: high Btu, medium Btu, ultra-low Btu gas, as well as a 'harsh', or high contaminant, gas. Two of the four sites for the OFFGASES project were idle wells that were shut in because of a lack of viable solutions for the stranded noncommercial gas that they produced. …