This research evaluated a rotary kiln gasification system utilizing agricultural wastes to generate syn gas. The goal of the project was to develop an efficient methodology for harnessing energy from agricultural waste. Objectives included: installation and cold testing of the gasification system; hot testing the gasification system with two agricultural wastes; development of an operations plan, including a data procurement and analysis plan; development of a predictive model and validation of the model; developing process improvement recommendations; and construction of two deployment pathway models (e.g., institutional and farm).

This research evaluated a rotary kiln gasification system utilizing agricultural wastes to generate syn gas. The goal of the project was to develop an efficient methodology for harnessing energy from agricultural waste. Objectives included: installation and cold testing of the gasification system; hot testing the gasification system with two agricultural wastes; development of an operations plan, including a data procurement and analysis plan; development of a predictive model and validation of the model; developing process improvement recommendations; and construction of two deployment pathway models (e.g., institutional and farm).

This research evaluated a rotary kiln gasification system utilizing agricultural wastes to generate syn gas. The goal of the project was to develop an efficient methodology for harnessing energy from agricultural waste. Objectives included: installation and cold testing of the gasification system; hot testing the gasification system with two agricultural wastes; development of an operations plan, including a data procurement and analysis plan; development of a predictive model and validation of the model; developing process improvement recommendations; and construction of two deployment pathway models (e.g., institutional and farm).

This research evaluated a rotary kiln gasification system utilizing agricultural wastes to generate syn gas. The goal of the project was to develop an efficient methodology for harnessing energy from agricultural waste. Objectives included: installation and cold testing of the gasification system; hot testing the gasification system with two agricultural wastes; development of an operations plan, including a data procurement and analysis plan; development of a predictive model and validation of the model; developing process improvement recommendations; and construction of two deployment pathway models (e.g., institutional and farm).

This research evaluated a rotary kiln gasification system utilizing agricultural wastes to generate syn gas. The goal of the project was to develop an efficient methodology for harnessing energy from agricultural waste. Objectives included: installation and cold testing of the gasification system; hot testing the gasification system with two agricultural wastes; development of an operations plan, including a data procurement and analysis plan; development of a predictive model and validation of the model; developing process improvement recommendations; and construction of two deployment pathway models (e.g., institutional and farm).

In this fuel flexible turbine system (FFTS) program, the Parker gasification system was further optimized, fuel composition of biomass gasification process was characterized and the feasibility of running Capstone MicroTurbine(TM) systems with gasification syngas fuels was evaluated. With high hydrogen content, the gaseous fuel from a gasification process of various feed stocks such as switchgrass and corn stover has high reactivity and high flashback propensity when running in the current lean premixed injectors. The research concluded that the existing C65 microturbine combustion system, which is designed for natural gas, is not able to burn the high hydrogen content syngas due to insufficient resistance to flashback (undesired flame propagation to upstream within the fuel injector). A comprehensive literature review was conducted on high-hydrogen fuel combustion and its main issues. For Capstone?s lean premixed injector, the main mechanisms of flashback were identified to be boundary layer flashback and bulk flow flashback. Since the existing microturbine combustion system is not able to operate on high-hydrogen syngas fuels, new hardware needed to be developed. The new hardware developed and tested included (1) a series of injectors with a reduced propensity for boundary layer flashback and (2) two new combustion liner designs (Combustion Liner Design …

The Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF) is a state-of-the-art test center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and dedicated to the advancement of clean coal technology. In addition to the development of high efficiency coal gasification processes, the PSDF features the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) to promote new technologies for CO{sub 2} capture from coal-derived syngas and flue gas. The NCCC includes multiple, adaptable test skids that allow technology development of CO{sub 2} capture concepts using coal-derived syngas and flue gas in industrial settings. Because of the ability to operate under a wide range of flow rates and process conditions, research at the NCCC can effectively evaluate technologies at various levels of maturity and accelerate their development path to commercialization. During the calendar year 2012 portion of the Budget Period Four reporting period, efforts at the NCCC focused on testing of pre- and post-combustion CO{sub 2} capture processes and gasification support technologies. Preparations for future testing were on-going as well, and involved facility upgrades and collaboration with numerous technology developers. In the area of pre-combustion, testing was conducted on a new water-gas shift catalyst, a CO{sub 2} solvent, and gas separation membranes from four different technology developers, including …

Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) has successfully completed a 10 year DOE sponsored heavy-duty truck engine program, hereafter referred to as the NZ-50 program. This program was split into two major phases. The first phase was called “Near-Zero Emission at 50 Percent Thermal Efficiency,” and was completed in 2007. The second phase was initiated in 2006, and this phase was named “Advancements in Engine Combustion Systems to Enable High-Efficiency Clean Combustion for Heavy-Duty Engines.” This phase was completed in September, 2010. The key objectives of the NZ-50 program for this first phase were to: • Quantify thermal efficiency degradation associated with reduction of engine-out NOx emissions to the 2007 regulated level of ~1.1 g/hp-hr. • Implement an integrated analytical/experimental development plan for improving subsystem and component capabilities in support of emerging engine technologies for emissions and thermal efficiency goals of the program. • Test prototype subsystem hardware featuring technology enhancements and demonstrate effective application on a multi-cylinder, production feasible heavy-duty engine test-bed. • Optimize subsystem components and engine controls (calibration) to demonstrate thermal efficiency that is in compliance with the DOE 2005 Joule milestone, meaning greater than 45% thermal efficiency at 2007 emission levels. • Develop technology roadmap for meeting emission …

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The state-of-the-art hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) require the inverter cooling system to have a separate loop to avoid power semiconductor junction over temperatures because the engine coolant temperature of 105�C does not allow for much temperature rise in silicon devices. The proposed work is to develop an advanced soft-switching inverter that will eliminate the device switching loss and cut down the power loss so that the inverter can operate at high-temperature conditions while operating at high switching frequencies with small current ripple in low inductance based permanent magnet motors. The proposed tasks also include high-temperature packaging and thermal modeling and simulation to ensure the packaged module can operate at the desired temperature. The developed module will be integrated with the motor and vehicle controller for dynamometer and in-vehicle testing to prove its superiority. This report will describe the detailed technical design of the soft-switching inverters and their test results. The experiments were conducted both in module level for the module conduction and switching characteristics and in inverter level for its efficiency under inductive and dynamometer load conditions. The performance will be compared with the DOE original specification.

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The thermoelectric generator shorting system provides the capability to monitor and short-out individual thermoelectric couples in the event of failure. This makes the series configured thermoelectric generator robust to individual thermoelectric couple failure. Open circuit detection of the thermoelectric couples and the associated short control is a key technique to ensure normal functionality of the TE generator under failure of individual TE couples. This report describes a five-year effort whose goal was the understanding the issues related to the development of a thermoelectric energy recovery device for a Class-8 truck. Likely materials and important issues related to the utility of this generator were identified. Several prototype generators were constructed and demonstrated. The generators developed demonstrated several new concepts including advanced insulation, couple bypass technology and the first implementation of skutterudite thermoelectric material in a generator design. Additional work will be required to bring this system to fruition. However, such generators offer the possibility of converting energy that is otherwise wasted to useful electric power. Uur studies indicate that this can be accomplished in a cost-effective manner for this application.