Office of Fossil Energy

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have the potential to be one of the cleanest and most efficient energy technologies for direct conversion of chemical fuels to electricity. Economically competitive SOFC systems appear poised for commercialization, but widespread market penetration will require continuous innovation of materials and fabrication processes to enhance system lifetime and reduce cost. One early technical opportunity is minimization of resistance to the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode, which contributes the most to performance degradation and efficiency loss in the existing SOFCs, especially at temperatures <700 °C. Detailed study over the past 15 years has revealed the positive impact of catalyst infiltration on SOFC cathode performance, both in power density and durability metrics. However, realizable performance improvements rely upon strongly-coupled relationships in materials and morphology between the infiltrate and the backbone, and therefore efficacious systems cannot be simply generated with a set of simple heuristics. This article reviews recent progress in enhancing SOFC cathode performance by surface modification through a solution-based infiltration process, focusing on two backbone architectures – inherently functional and skeletal – infiltrated using wet-chemistry processes. An efficient cathode consists of a porous mixed-conducting backbone and an active coating catalyst; the porous backbone provides excellent ionic and electronic conductivity, while the infiltrated surface coating possesses high catalytic activity and stability. As available, performance comparisons are emphasized and reaction schematics for specific infiltrate/backbone systems are summarized. While significant progress has been achieved in enhancing surface catalytic activity and durability, the detailed mechanisms of performance enhancement are insufficiently understood to obtain critical insights and a scientific basis for rational design of more efficient catalysts and novel electrode architectures. Recent progress in characterization of surfaces and interfaces is briefly discussed with challenges and perspectives in surface modification of SOFC electrodes. Surface modification through infiltration is expected to play an increasingly important role in current and next-generation commercial SOFC development, and this review illustrates the sophisticated technical considerations required to inform judicious selection of an infiltrate for a given SOFC system.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVReviewNEXTAdvances in Coal Gasification, Hydrogenation, and Gas Treating for the Production of Chemicals and FuelsChristopher Higman*† and Samuel Tam‡View Author Information† Higman Consulting GmbH, 65824 Schwalbach, Germany‡ Advanced Energy Systems Division, Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585, United States*E-mail: [email protected]Cite this: Chem. Rev. 2014, 114, 3, 1673–1708Publication Date (Web):October 21, 2013Publication History Received6 April 2013Published online21 October 2013Published inissue 12 February 2014https://doi.org/10.1021/cr400202mCopyright © 2013 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views6176Altmetric-Citations230LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit Read OnlinePDF (4 MB) Get e-AlertscloseSUBJECTS:Animal feed,Coal,Gasification,Reaction products,Syngas Get e-Alerts

Metallurgy and material design have thousands of years' history and have played a critical role in the civilization process of humankind. The traditional trial-and-error method has been unprecedentedly challenged in the modern era when the number of components and phases in novel alloys keeps increasing, with high-entropy alloys as the representative. New opportunities emerge for alloy design in the artificial intelligence era. Here, a successful machine-learning (ML) method has been developed to identify the microstructure images with eye-challenging morphology for a number of martensitic and ferritic steels. Assisted by it, a new neural-network method is proposed for the inverse design of alloys with 20 components, which can accelerate the design process based on microstructure. The method is also readily applied to other material systems given sufficient microstructure images. This work lays the foundation for inverse alloy design based on microstructure images with extremely similar features.

altered in solution can offer new reactive pathways to produce products that cannot be made today. We discuss how solvents are the key to integration, and how solvents can adapt to differing needs for capture, conversion and mineralisation in the near, intermediate and long term. We close with a brief outlook of this emerging field of study, and identify critical needs to achieve success, including establishing a green-premium for fuels, chemicals, and materials produced in this manner.

The DOE Hydrogen Program Plan provides a strategic view of how the Department conducts and coordinates hydrogen research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities under the DOE Hydrogen Program. With participation from the Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy, Nuclear Energy, Electricity, Science, and ARPA-E, the DOE Hydrogen Program is a coordinated Departmental effort to advance the affordable production, transport, storage, and use of carbon-neutral hydrogen across different sectors of the economy. This version of the Plan updates and expands upon previous versions, including the Hydrogen Posture Plan and the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Plan, and provides a coordinated high-level summary of hydrogen-related activities across DOE.

Since the industrial revolution, fossil energy has promoted economic growth leading to widespread prosperity.

The applicability of sequential extraction as a means to determine species of heavy-metals was examined by a study on soil samples from two Superfund sites: the National Lead Company site in Pedricktown, NJ, and the Roebling Steel, Inc., site in Florence, NJ. Data from a standard sequential extraction procedure were compared to those from a comprehensive study that combined optical- and scanning-electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and chemical analyses. The study shows that larger particles of contaminants, encapsulated contaminants, and/or man-made materials such as slags, coke, metals, and plastics are subject to incasement, non-selectivity, and redistribution in the sequential extraction process. The results indicate that standard sequential extraction procedures that were developed for characterizing species of contaminants in river sediments may be unsuitable for stand-alone determinative evaluations of contaminant species in industrial-site materials. However, if employed as part of a comprehensive, site-specific characterization study, sequential extraction could be a very useful tool.

Abstract The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Carbon Storage Program helps develop technologies that safely and permanently store carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) without adversely impacting natural resources or hindering economic growth. Since 1997, the program has significantly advanced carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) science and technology, with more than 10.5 million metric tons (MMT) of CO 2 safely stored. However, key gaps in experience and knowledge remain (e.g., the technology, expertise, and processes needed to safely characterize and monitor 50+ MMT‐scale geologic CO 2 storage sites). DOE's Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative (launched in FY16) is beginning to address this gap. The CarbonSAFE Initiative currently consists of 13 projects in Phase I: Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Pre‐Feasibility and six projects in Phase II: Storage Complex Feasibility. This article includes the latest updates from the CarbonSAFE Initiative.

An aqueous route for producing nanopowders of intermetallic compounds is presented. The method was developed to produce powders of and for use as anode electrocatalysts in porous direct ethanol polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell anodes. Powders that are relatively pure with average particle diameters of ca. and specific surface areas of ca. were produced. X-ray powder diffraction patterns were utilized to verify the structure of the product and conduct rudimentary unit cell refinement. Nitrogen adsorption measurements confirmed the specific surface area that was determined from the X-ray diffraction results.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23) is an assessment of renewable carbon resources potentially available in the United States. This report explores these resources in terms of quantity, price, geographical density and distribution, and market maturity. The BT23 also considers economic conditions, environmental constraints, market pull, and food supply and demand. The BT23 Report finds that the nation can sustainably produce from 1.1 to 1.5 billion tons per year of biomass, tripling current U.S. bioenergy production while still meeting projected demand for food, feed, fiber, conventional forest products, and exports. The BT23 Report quantifies national biomass production capacity from 60 resources, including wastes, forestry, agriculture, and algae. Each resource has different attributes and opportunities and can play a unique role in a national decarbonization strategy.

Abstract Metal-matrix composites (MMCs) are used in structural applications, and in applications requiring wear resistance, thermal management, and weight savings. This article summarizes the mechanical and thermal properties of discontinuously reinforced aluminum MMCs, laminated metallic composites, and continuously aligned fiber reinforced MMCs.

Research was conducted to determine the effect of electrochemical aging on large-area arc-sprayed Zn anodes for cathodic protection (CP) of bridges and other reinforced concrete structures. The study focused on the influences of total charge passed and concrete surface preparation on bonding of Zn to the concrete. Half the samples were preheated prior to being arc-sprayed with Zn. The preheated samples had initial bond strengths 80% higher than the unheated samples. This difference became insignificant after ≈ 200 kcoul/m2 (5.2 A-h/ft2). Bond strengths for all samples started to decrease after ≈ 600 kcoul/m2 (15.5 A-h/ft2). Changes in bond strength were correlated with observed changes in permeability of the Zn coating to water, electrical behavior of the Zn-concrete interface, charge-transfer resistance, and chemical composition at the Zn- concrete interface.

The electrochemical stability and electrocatalytic performance in ethanol oxidation of a new class of anode electrocatalysts is presented. Nanopowders of the Laves-phase intermetallic compounds were utilized to exploit the strong oxidizing power of tetravalent lanthanides in an anode electrocatalyst. These nanopowders are stable in the environment of the anode of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Steady-state polarization curves in an operating PEM fuel cell demonstrate that the new electrocatalysts are active toward the electro-oxidation of ethanol. The new electrocatalysts exhibited ca. more overpotential than PtRu at a given current density based on the total electrocatalyst surface area in the anode, but this may be due to issues with particle size and electrode structure. Analysis of the anode effluent with on-line gas chromatography showed that two-electron electro-oxidation to acetaldehyde was the main reaction pathway at potentials of interest and implied that ethanol adsorbs without C–C bond cleavage through the oxygen in the hydroxyl group.

This work elucidates the fundamental concepts that are essential to understand fluidized bed agglomeration and reviews the development of tools used to predict it. The process of agglomeration in fluidized bed combustion and gasification systems has been explained, along with the associated mechanisms. The ash chemistry and particle physics that influence the agglomeration process have been reviewed to help choose the type of fuel and reactor configurations that can minimize the problem. The parameters that affect agglomeration and their interdependence have been reviewed in detail in order to understand the demands placed on detection, modeling, and prediction tools. Further, the current status of various prediction methods, their challenges, and avenues for further development have been identified. Insights into the development of comprehensive mathematical models to predict agglomerate growth kinetics have also been provided.

Abstract The estuarine‐dependent brown shrimp, Farfantepenaeus aztecus , is a significant commercial fishery and important species in the Gulf of Mexico ( GOM ) ecosystem as well as being a key component in energy transfer between benthic and pelagic food web systems. Because of the economical and ecological importance of brown shrimp, we developed a spatial population model to identify places of high shrimp density under a set of spatial, environmental and temporal variables in the Northern Gulf of Mexico ( NGOM ). We used fisheries‐independent data collected by the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program ( SEAMAP ) from 1992 to 2007 (summer and fall seasons). The relationship between the predictor variables and shrimp density was modeled using Boosted Regression Trees ( BRT ). Within the environmental variables included in the model, bottom type and depth of the water column were the most important predictors of shrimp density in the NGOM . Spatial predictions performed using the trained BRT model for summer and fall seasons showed a spatial segregation of shrimp density. During the summer, higher densities were predicted near the Texas and Louisiana coast and during the fall, higher densities were predicted further offshore. The model performed well and allowed successful prediction of brown shrimp hot spots in the NGOM . Model results allow fisheries managers to evaluate the potential impact from fisheries on the resource and to develop future fisheries management strategies, understand the biology of brown shrimp as well as assess the potential impacts of oil spills or climate change.

Several factors have led to the decline of electricity generation from coal over the past decade, and projections forecast high rates of growth for wind and solar technologies in coming years. This analysis uses hourly generation data from large coal-fired power stations to determine how operations have been modified in recent years and describes the implications of these changes for plant equipment and unit reliability. The data shows increasing variability in intraday generation output that affects nearly all of the units in the sample, but the magnitude of increase varies widely among plants. Outage patterns were examined as was the relationship between renewable energy growth in a region and the changes in coal plant operations. Aggregate direct and indirect costs associated with running coal plants as load-following units have not yet been quantified in large-scale studies on a sector-wide basis, largely due to differences in how specific equipment responds to output fluctuations. Due to findings from the hourly generation data analysis and the high degree of potential impact on coal plant equipment, the study suggests the development of a new modeling tool that will represent the costs of running coal-fired power plants at lower capacity factors.

Ash agglomeration issues that arise due to the sticking of slag-wetted, colliding particles have been creating operational difficulties and monetary losses for the fluidized bed combustion (FBC) industry. Difficulties have been experienced in the detection of slag-liquid at the low operating temperatures in fluidized bed combustors (FBCs) and predicting the agglomeration behavior of fuel. This study aims to study the effect of heterogeneity in ash composition on the detection of slag-liquid in FBCs. It quantifies the slag-liquid amounts at the particle-level, under oxidizing environments, by dividing the bulk fuel into density classes. FactSage™ thermodynamic simulations of each of the particle classes, along with experimental validation of the trends with thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA) and high temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD) were performed. The results obtained can be used to estimate the stickiness of particles in the development of ash agglomeration models based on particle collisions. The study of these particle classes shows that particle classes with specific minerals can form low temperature eutectics and lead to onset of slag-liquid formation at temperatures below those predicted by bulk analysis alone. Comparison of the differences in slag-liquid formation tendencies under reducing and oxidizing environments is also presented.

The presence of a heavy truck on the road can impose an externality if accidents occur that would not have otherwise. We find each additional truck on the road increases the risk of a truck accident-but also, at an even higher rate, the risk of a car-on-car collision. Our estimates imply two percent of all car-on-car collisions can be attributed to trucks on the road. This negative externality falls on all road users through higher car insurance premiums: one truck, driving for a year in the same zip code, increases the insurance premium of each new enrollee by $0.48/year.

Geological factors controlling the formation, stability, and distribution of gas hydrates of the Beaufort Sea region were investigated by basin analysis. Geological, geophysical, and geochemical data from the region were assembled and evaluated to determine the relationships of geological environments and gas hydrates. The Beaufort Sea is the southern part of the Arctic Ocean offshore of the North Slope of Alaska and the Yukon and Mackenzie districts of Canada. The Beaufort Sea study region extends northward from the Arctic coasts of Alaska and Canada between Point Barrow on the west to Cape Beaufort on the east. The northern boundary of the Beaufort Sea study region is 72.5{degrees}N. The study region comprises broad continental shelves, slopes, rises, and the Arctic abyssal plain. 84 refs., 76 figs., 9 tabs.

Since its inception in 1997, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Carbon Storage Program, managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), has significantly advanced geologic storage science and technology through a diverse portfolio of applied research projects. The Program is focused on developing and advancing technologies that address the overarching technical challenges of geologic storage, with the goal to achieve technology readiness for widespread commercial deployment in the 2025–2035 timeframe. The Program approaches these challenges through integration of the technologies developed in the “Advanced Storage” component of the Program and field tested in the “Storage Infrastructure” component. The Carbon Storage Program is now well positioned to begin feasibility projects on commercial-scale saline storage complexes, building upon almost two decades of knowledge and experience gained from Storage Infrastructure field projects. An early key milestone was the implementation of the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) Initiative. Experience and knowledge gained from these field projects provide a firm foundation for future larger-scale field projects, either onshore or offshore. Perhaps most importantly, it is only by performing these field projects that the knowledge needed to identify additional subsurface reservoir and operational issues still requiring further research can be acquired.