Today, approximately 300 million standard cubic ft/day (mmscfd) of natural gas and 1600 MW of electricity are produced from the decomposition of organic waste at 519 U.S. landfills (EPA 2010a). Since landfill gas (LFG) is a renewable resource, this energy is considered renewable. When used as a vehicle fuel, compressed natural gas (CNG) produced from LFG consumes up to 185,000 Btu of fossil fuel and generates from 1.5 to 18.4 kg of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO{sub 2}e) emissions per million Btu of fuel on a 'well-to-wheel' (WTW) basis. This compares with approximately 1.1 million Btu and 78.2 kg of CO{sub 2}e per million Btu for CNG from fossil natural gas and 1.2 million Btu and 97.5 kg of CO{sub 2}e per million Btu for petroleum gasoline. Because of the additional energy required for liquefaction, LFG-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) requires more fossil fuel (222,000-227,000 Btu/million Btu WTW) and generates more GHG emissions (approximately 22 kg CO{sub 2}e /MM Btu WTW) if grid electricity is used for the liquefaction process. However, if some of the LFG is used to generate electricity for gas cleanup and liquefaction (or compression, in the case of CNG), vehicle fuel produced from LFG can have no fossil …

This report summarizes SRI's accomplishments on the project, 'Spin Properties of Transition-Metallorganic Self-Assembled Molecules' funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy. We have successfully carried out all tasks identified in our proposal and gained significant knowledge and understanding of spin-polarized electronic structure, spin relaxation, and spin-dependent transport in transition-metallorganic molecules and enhohedral fullerenes. These molecules contain integrated spin and charge components and will enable us to achieve sophisticated functions in spintronics and quantum computing at molecular level with simple circuitry and easy fabrication. We have developed microscopic theories that describe the underlying mechanisms of spin-dependent porcesses and constructed quantitative modeling tools that compute several important spin properties. These results represent the basic principles governing the spin-dependent behaviors in nanostructures containing such molecules. Based on these results we have shown that novel device functions, such as electrically controlled g-factor and noninvasive electrical detection of spin dynamics, can be achieved in these nanostructures. Some of our results have been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at professional conferences. In addition, we have established a close collaboration with experimentalists at Oxford University, UK (Dr. J. Morton and Prof. G. Briggs), Princeton University (Dr. A. Tyryshkin and Prof. S. …

Final information about the MIT Clean Energy Competition Submissions

This report addresses observations of agglomerate formation, conditions that the data shows lead to agglomeration, the frequency of agglomerate formation and postulated physiochemical mechanisms that may lead to agglomeration.

Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) and ORNL established this CRADA to improve heavy-duty engine efficiency with reduced emissions at relatively extreme operating regimes such has high EGR, low-load, and cold-start, with an emphasis on the application of advanced control strategies. The approach used in this collaborative effort was to include the application of novel analysis and modeling techniques devel-oped from the application of nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory. More specifically, analytical tech-niques derived from these theories were to used to detect, characterize, and control the combustion insta-bilities that are responsible for poor combustion performance and corresponding high emissions. The foundation of this CRADA was established based on ORNL expertise on the fundamentals of ad-vanced combustion operation and experience with nonlinear dynamics and controls in combustion sys-tems. The initial plan was all data generation would be performed at DDC with an agreed upon experi-mental plan formed by both organizations. While numerous experiments were performed at DDC and the data was exchanged with ORNL researchers, the team decided to transfer an engine to ORNL to allow more flexibility and data generation opportunities. A prototype DDC Series 60 with a common rail fuel system was selected and installed at ORNL. DDC and ORNL maintained …

The inability to remove heat efficiently is currently one of the stumbling blocks toward further miniaturization and advancement of electronic, optoelectronic, and micro-electro-mechanical devices. In order to formulate better heat removal strategies and designs, it is first necessary to understand the fundamental mechanisms of heat transport in semiconductor thin films. Modeling techniques, based on first principles, can play the crucial role of filling gaps in our understanding by revealing information that experiments are incapable of. Heat conduction in crystalline semiconductor films occurs by lattice vibrations that result in the propagation of quanta of energy called phonons. If the mean free path of the traveling phonons is larger than the film thickness, thermodynamic equilibrium ceases to exist, and thus, the Fourier law of heat conduction is invalid. In this scenario, bulk thermal conductivity values, which are experimentally determined by inversion of the Fourier law itself, cannot be used for analysis. The Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) is a powerful tool to treat non-equilibrium heat transport in thin films. The BTE describes the evolution of the number density (or energy) distribution for phonons as a result of transport (or drift) and inter-phonon collisions. Drift causes the phonon energy distribution to deviate from equilibrium, …

A relativistic, warm fluid model of a nonequilibrium, collisionless plasma is developed and applied to examine nonlinear Langmuir waves excited by relativistically-intense, short-pulse lasers. Closure of the covariant fluid theory is obtained via an asymptotic expansion assuming a non-relativistic plasma temperature. The momentum spread is calculated in the presence of an intense laser field and shown to be intrinsically anisotropic. Coupling between the transverse and longitudinal momentum variances is enabled by the laser field. A generalized dispersion relation is derived for langmuir waves in a thermal plasma in the presence of an intense laser field. Including thermal fluctuations in three velocity-space dimensions, the properties of the nonlinear electron plasma wave, such as the plasma temperature evolution and nonlinear wavelength, are examined, and the maximum amplitude of the nonlinear oscillation is derived. The presence of a relativistically intense laser pulse is shown to strongly influence the maximum plasma wave amplitude for non-relativistic phase velocities owing to the coupling between the longitudinal and transverse momentum variances.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Redhorse Corporation (Redhorse) conducted an energy audit on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) control tower and base building in Reno, Nevada. This report presents the findings of the energy audit team that evaluated construction documents and operating specifications (at the 100% level) and completed a site visit. The focus of the review was to identify measures that could be incorporated into the final design and operating specifications that would result in additional energy savings for the FAA that would not have otherwise occurred.

Semiconducting CdZnTe or 'CZT' crystals are very suitable for use as a room temperature-based gamma radiation spectrometer. During the last decade, modifications in growth methods for CZT have significantly improved the quality of the produced crystals however there are material features that can influence the performance of these materials as radiation detectors. For example, various structural heterogeneities within the CZT crystals, such as, pipes, voids, polycrystallinity, and secondary phases (SP) can have a negative impact on the detector performance. In this study, a CZT material was grown by the modified vertical Bridgman growth (MVB) method with zone leveled growth in the absence of excess Te in the melt. Numerous SP were imaged using transmission IR at a volume % of 0.002. Samples from this material were analyzed using various analytical techniques to evaluate its electrical properties, purity and detector performance as radiation spectrometers and to determine the morphology, dimension and elemental /structural composition of one of the SP in this material. This material was found to have a high resistivity and good radiation spectrometer performance. It had SPs that were rich in calcium (Ca), carbon (C) and oxygen (O) (possibly CaCO{sub 3}) or only C and O that were 5 …

The Hanford Seismic Assessment Program (HSAP) provides an uninterrupted collection of high-quality raw and processed seismic data from the Hanford Seismic Network for the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. The HSAP is responsible for locating and identifying sources of seismic activity and monitoring changes in the historical pattern of seismic activity at the Hanford Site. The data are compiled, archived, and published for use by the Hanford Site for waste management, natural phenomena hazards assessments, and engineering design and construction. In addition, the HSAP works with the Hanford Site Emergency Services Organization to provide assistance in the event of a significant earthquake on the Hanford Site. The Hanford Seismic Network and the Eastern Washington Regional Network consist of 44 individual sensor sites and 15 radio relay sites maintained by the Hanford Seismic Assessment Team. The Hanford Seismic Network recorded 90 local earthquakes during the second quarter of FY 2010. Eighty-one of these earthquakes were detected in the vicinity of Wooded Island, located about eight miles north of Richland just west of the Columbia River. The Wooded Island events recorded this quarter were a continuation of the swarm events observed during the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years and reported …

This document reports the results of testing of the Hanford Personnel Nuclear Accident Dosimeter (PNAD) during a criticality accident dosimeter intercomparison exercise at the CEA Valduc Center on October 13, 14, and 15, 2009.

This document describes a roadmap to assist users in using the monitoring data collected during the WSCC breakup of August 10, 1996.

The electronic band structure of as-grown and doped graphene grown on the carbon face of SiC is studied by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, where we observe both rotations between adjacent layers and AB-stacking. The band structure of quasi-freestanding AB-bilayers is directly compared with bilayer graphene grown on the Si-face of SiC to study the impact of the substrate on the electronic properties of epitaxial graphene. Our results show that the C-face films are nearly freestanding from an electronic point of view, due to the rotations between graphene layers.

The purpose of this Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) project is to provide the critical test data needed to qualify CF8C-Plus cast stainless steel for commercial production and use for turbocharger housings with upgraded performance and durability relative to standard commercial cast irons or stainless steels. The turbocharger technologies include, but are not limited to, heavy-duty highway diesel engines, and passenger vehicle diesel and gasoline engines. This CRADA provides additional critical high-temperature mechanical properties testing and data analysis needed to quality the new CF8C-Plus steels for turbocharger housing applications.

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The Lake Charles CCS Project is a large-scale industrial carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project which will demonstrate advanced technologies that capture and sequester carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions from industrial sources into underground formations. Specifically the Lake Charles CCS Project will accelerate commercialization of large-scale CO{sub 2} storage from industrial sources by leveraging synergy between a proposed petroleum coke to chemicals plant (the LCC Gasification Project) and the largest integrated anthropogenic CO{sub 2} capture, transport, and monitored sequestration program in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region. The Lake Charles CCS Project will promote the expansion of EOR in Texas and Louisiana and supply greater energy security by expanding domestic energy supplies. The capture, compression, pipeline, injection, and monitoring infrastructure will continue to sequester CO{sub 2} for many years after the completion of the term of the DOE agreement. The objectives of this project are expected to be fulfilled by working through two distinct phases. The overall objective of Phase 1 was to develop a fully definitive project basis for a competitive Renewal Application process to proceed into Phase 2 - Design, Construction and Operations. Phase 1 includes the studies attached hereto that will establish: the engineering design basis for the …

This document presents and discusses results from Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-06NT42778, 'Full-scale Testing of a Mercury Oxidation Catalyst Upstream of a Wet FGD System,' which was conducted over the time-period July 24, 2006 through June 30, 2010. The objective of the project was to demonstrate at full scale the use of solid honeycomb catalysts to promote the oxidation of elemental mercury in pulverized-coal-fired flue gas. Oxidized mercury is removed downstream in wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) absorbers and collected with the byproducts from the FGD system. The project was co-funded by EPRI, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), who also provided the host site, Great River Energy, Johnson Matthey, Southern Company, Salt River Project (SRP), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), NRG Energy, Ontario Power and Westar. URS Group was the prime contractor and also provided cofunding. The scope of this project included installing and testing a gold-based catalyst upstream of one full-scale wet FGD absorber module (about 200-MW scale) at LCRA's Fayette Power Project (FPP) Unit 3, which fires Powder River Basin coal. Installation of the catalyst involved modifying the ductwork upstream of one of three wet FGD absorbers on Unit 3, Absorber C. The FGD system uses limestone reagent, operates …

UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company, in collaboration with Professor Douglas LeVan at Vanderbilt University (VU), Professor Adam Matzger at the University of Michigan (UM), Professor Randall Snurr at Northwestern University (NU), and Professor Stefano Brandani at the University of Edinburgh (UE), supported by Honeywell's Specialty Materials business unit and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), have completed a three-year project to develop novel microporous metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and an associated vacuum-pressure swing adsorption (vPSA) process for the removal of CO{sub 2} from coal-fired power plant flue gas. The project leveraged the team's complementary capabilities: UOP's experience in materials development and manufacturing, adsorption process design and process commercialization; LeVan and Brandani's expertise in high-quality adsorption measurements; Matzger's experience in syntheis of MOFs and the organic components associated with MOFs; Snurr's expertise in molecular and other modeling; Honeywell's expertise in the manufacture of organic chemicals; and, EPRI's knowledge of power-generation technology and markets. The project was successful in that a selective CO{sub 2} adsorbent with good thermal stability and reasonable contaminant tolerance was discovered, and a low cost process for flue gas CO{sub 2} capture process ready to be evaluated further at the pilot scale was proposed. The team made significant …

Calera's innovative Mineralization via Aqueous Precipitation (MAP) technology for the capture and conversion of CO{sub 2} to useful materials for use in the built environment was further developed and proven in the Phase 1 Department of Energy Grant. The process was scaled to 300 gallon batch reactors and subsequently to Pilot Plant scale for the continuous production of product with the production of reactive calcium carbonate material that was evaluated as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM). The Calera SCM{trademark} was evaluated as a 20% replacement for ordinary portland cement and demonstrated to meet the industry specification ASTM 1157 which is a standard performance specification for hydraulic cement. The performance of the 20% replacement material was comparable to the 100% ordinary portland cement control in terms of compressive strength and workability as measured by a variety of ASTM standard tests. In addition to the performance metrics, detailed characterization of the Calera SCM was performed using advanced analytical techniques to better understand the material interaction with the phases of ordinary portland cement. X-ray synchrotron diffraction studies at the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Lab confirmed the presence of an amorphous phase(s) in addition to the crystalline calcium carbonate phases in the …

This document provides an overview of renewable resource potential at Yuma Proving Ground, based primarily upon analysis of secondary data sources supplemented with limited on-site evaluations.

The Magellan Project was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to investigate the applicability of cloud computing for the Department of Energy's Office of Science (DOE-SC). This report covers the progress for the Magellan Project at NERSC since it began in September 2009and focuses on the research aspects of the project.

The focus of this project was to develop the next generation of fuel injection technologies for environmentally friendly, hydrogen syngas combustion in gas turbine engines that satisfy DOE's objectives of reducing NOx emissions to 3 ppm. Building on Parker Hannifin's proven Macrolamination technology for liquid fuels, Parker developed a scalable high-performing multi-point injector that utilizes multiple, small mixing cups in place of a single conventional large-scale premixer. Due to the small size, fuel and air mix rapidly within the cups, providing a well-premixed fuel-air mixture at the cup exit in a short time. Detailed studies and experimentation with single-cup micro-mixing injectors were conducted to elucidate the effects of various injector design attributes and operating conditions on combustion efficiency, lean stability and emissions and strategies were developed to mitigate the impact of flashback. In the final phase of the program, a full-scale 1.3-MWth multi-cup injector was built and tested at pressures from 6.9bar (100psi) to 12.4bar (180psi) and flame temperatures up to 2000K (3150 F) using mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas as fuel with nitrogen and carbon dioxide as diluents. The injector operated without flash back on fuel mixtures ranging from 100% natural gas to 100% hydrogen and emissions were …

The objectives identified in requesting and utilizing this funding has been met. The goal was to establish a formal, multi-jurisdictional organization to: (1) ensure the policy objectives of the participating jurisdictions are addressed through increased tradability of the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from M-RETS and to eliminate the possibility that a single jurisdiction will be the sole arbiter of the operation of the system; (2) facilitate the establishment of REC standards including the attributes related to, the creation, trading, and interaction with other trading and tracking systems; and (3) have a centralized and established organization that will be responsible for the contracting and governance responsibilities of a multi-jurisdictional tracking system. The M-RETS Inc. Board ensures that the system remains policy neutral; that the attributes of generation are tracked in a way that allows the system users to easily identify and trade relevant RECs; that the system can add jurisdictions as needed or desired; and that the tracking system operate in such a way to allow for the greatest access possible for those participating in other tracking or trading systems by allowing those systems to negotiate with a single M-RETS entity for the import and export of RECs. M-RETS as an …