AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Concrete decontamination by Electro-Hydraulic Scabbling (EHS). Topical report

Electro-Hydraulic Scabbling (EHS) technology and equipment for decontaminating concrete structures from radionuclides, organic substances, and hazardous metals is being developed by Textron Systems Division (TSD). This wet scabbling technique involves the generation of powerful shock waves and intense cavitation by a strong pulsed electric discharge in a water layer at the concrete surface. The high pressure impulse results in stresses which crack and peel off a concrete layer of a controllable thickness. Scabbling produces contaminated debris of relatively small volume which can be easily removed, leaving clean bulk concrete. This new technology is being developed under Contract No. DE-AC21-93MC30164. The project objective is to develop and demonstrate a cost-efficient, rapid, controllable process to remove the surface layer of contaminated concrete while generating minimal secondary waste. The primary target of this program is uranium-contaminated concrete floors which constitute a substantial part of the contaminated area at DOE weapon facilities.

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Task 12: Laser cleaning of contaminated painted surfaces. Semi-annual report, April 1, 1996--September 30, 1996

Paint contaminated with radionuclides and other hazardous materials is common in Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. Facility decommissioning and decontamination requires the removal of contaminated paint. Paint removal technologies include laser- and abrasive-based systems. F2 Associates are utilizing a pulsed-repetition CO{sub 2} laser that produces a 2.5-cm x 2.5-cm beam which can be scanned across a 30- x 100-cm raster and, when placed on a robot, can be designed to clean any surface that the robot can be programmed to follow. Causing little or no damage to the substrate (concrete, steel, etc.), the laser ablates the material to be removed from a given surface. Ablated material is then pulled into a filtration and collection (VAC-PAC) system to prevent the hazardous substances from entering into the atmosphere. The VAC-PAC system deposits the ablated material into waste drums which may be removed from the system without compromising the integrity of the seal, allowing a new drum to be set up for collection without leakage of the ablated material into the atmosphere.

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Molten carbonate fuel cell product design & improvement - 2nd quarter, 1995. Quarterly report, April 1--June 30, 1996

The primary objective of this project is to establish, by 1998, the commercial readiness of MW-class molten carbonate fuel cell power plants for distributed power generation, cogeneration, and compressor station applications. Tasks include system design and analysis, manufacturing, packaging and assembly, test facility development, and technology development, improvement, and verification.

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Task 2: Extraction and analysis of pollutant organics from contaminated solids using off-line Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) and on-line SFE-infrared spectroscopy. Semi-annual report, April 1, 1996--September 30, 1996

This activity will result in a commercialized version of a field-portable instrument for performing supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with on-line Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) detection. The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has developed an SFE field-portable method for quantitatively extracting organic pollutants (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs], polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs], total petroleum hydrocarbons [TPHs]) from soils and sludges under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding. FT-IR is a detector that can yield quantitative and compound-class information for organic pollutants and is excellent for survey uses, since virtually all organic compound classes can be monitored. A laboratory prototype SFE-FT-IR instrument has been developed at the EERC and the University of North Dakota (UND) Department of Chemistry. The commercial instrument will be field-portable (requiring only generator electricity) and able to extract and measure organic pollutants from soils and sludges, identify the compound classes present, and provide quantitative or semiquantitative results at detection limits relevant to regulatory needs (e.g., parts per million). The SFE-FT-IR approach is particularly advantageous for very hazardous samples (e.g., determination of organics in solids contaminated with radioactive components), since SFE-FT-IR analysis generates no waste solvents. The instrument will also be configured to allow collection of {open_quotes}positive{close_quotes} extracts for analysis by other confirmatory (e.g., gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy [GC-MS]) methods.

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Shale oil value enhancement research. Quarterly report, October 1, 1993--December 31, 1993

A major push was made to identify the hydrocarbon and heteroatom types present in raw shale oil. A comprehensive, qualitative picture of the <400{degrees}C material has been obtained. In addition to the expected types, e.g., pyridines, pyrroles, indoles and phenols, the presence of aliphatic carboxylic acids, ketones and nitrites was confirmed. Most importantly, heteroatom types are able to be concentrated nearly quantitatively by liquid-liquid extraction with polar solvents. Compound types characterization of the >400{degrees}C material, as well as rapid, routine analysis of separations fractions, requires new methodologies founded in the Z-BASIC concept. Advances were made in establishing the interface protocol needed to utilize Z-BASIC methodologies for interpretation of gc-ms output data. It is anticipated that all interface protocols will be completed and a computerized reporting system will be in place by the end of the next quarter. Progress reports were made at the Contractor`s Review Meeting (METC), November 16th and at the Eastern Oil Shale Symposium (Lexington), November 17th. Research results continue to be well-received. The concept of a thermodynamically logical map of potential products from shale oil is a sound approach to value-enhancement research. From a commercial perspective, the concept of establishing a demand for raw shale oil at a reasonable purchase price of, say $30/bbl, is increasingly being recognized as the best means of pulling shale oil into the marketplace.

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Task 11: Technology development integration. Semi-annual report, April 1, 1996--September 30, 1996

A review was conducted of three systems analysis (SA) studies performed by Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company (LITCO) on integrated thermal treatment systems (ITTSs) and integrated nonthermal treatment systems (INTSs) for the remediation of mixed low-level waste (MLLW) stored throughout the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) weapons complex. The review was performed by an independent team led by the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), including Science Applications International Corporation, the Waste Policy Institute (WPI), and Virginia Tech. The three studies reviewed were as follows: (1) Integrated Thermal Treatment System Study, Phase 1 - issued July 1994, (2) Integrated Thermal Treatment System Study, Phase 2 - issued February 1996, and (3) Integrated Nonthermal Treatment System Study - drafted March 1996. The three studies were commissioned by DOE to be SA studies of environmental management (EM) systems. The purpose of LITCO`s engineering evaluation of the MLLW treatment system alternatives was to help DOE in the prioritization of research, development, and demonstration activities for remediation technologies. The review of these three studies was structured to further aid DOE in its current and future decision-making processes. The methodology in the studies was compared to a sound systems engineering (SE) approach to help DOE determine which tasks still need to be accomplished to complete a thorough design/review.

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Investigation on durability and reactivity of promising metal oxide sorbents during sulfidation and regeneration. Quarterly report, July 1 - September 30, 1995

Hot-gas desulfurization for the integrated gasification combined cycle process has been investigated by many to remove effectively hydrogen sulfide with various metal oxide sorbents at high pressures and high temperatures. Metal oxides such as zinc titanate oxides, zinc ferrite oxide, copper oxide, manganese oxide and calcium oxide, were found to be promising sorbents in comparison with other removal methods such as membrane separations and reactive membrane separations. Some metal oxide sorbents exhibited the quite favorable performance in terms of attrition resistance and sulfur capacity. Removal reaction of H{sub 2}S from coal gas mixtures with ZT-4 or other promising sorbents of fine solid particles, and regeneration reaction of sulfur-loaded sorbents will be carried on in a batch reactor or a continuous differential reactor. The objectives of this project are to find intrinsic initial reaction kinetics for the metal oxide-hydrogen sulfide heterogeneous reaction system, to obtain effects of concentrations of coal gas components such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and moisture on equilibrium reaction rate constants of the reaction system at various reaction temperatures and pressures, to identify regeneration kinetics of sulfur-loaded metal oxide sorbents, and to formulate promising metal oxide sorbents for the removal of sulfur from coal gas mixtures. Promising durable metal oxide sorbents of high-sulfur- absorbing capacity will be formulated by mixing active metal oxide powders with inert metal oxide powders and calcining these powder mixtures, or impregnating active metal oxide sorbents on supporting metal oxide matrixes. The Research Triangle Institute will also prepare promising metal oxide sorbents for this research project, plan experiments on removal of sulfur compounds from coal gases with metal oxide sorbents as well as regeneration of sulfur-loaded metal oxide sorbents, and review experimental results. 1 ref., 10 figs., 11 tabs.

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Investigation on durability and reactivity of promising metal oxide sorbents during sulfidation and regeneration. Quarterly report, January 1 - March 31, 1996

Research activities and efforts of this research project were concentrated on conducting experiments on initial reaction rates of hydrogen sulfide with the formulated sorbents, and developing a reaction rate equation containing a reaction rate constant in terms of disappearance of H{sub 2}S, a reaction order with respect to hydrogen sulfide, and a reaction order with respect to the TU-24 metal oxide sorbent.

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Selective methane oxidation over promoted oxide catalysts. Quarterly report, March 1 - May 31, 1996

Series of catalysts consisting of MoO{sub 3}, V{sub 2}O{sub 5}, TiO{sub 2}, and SnO{sub 2} impregnated onto oxide supports consisting of SiO{sub 2} (Cab-O-Sil), TiO{sub 2} or SnO{sub 2} were previously prepared and tested for the selective oxidation of methane to oxygenates, and it was found that the V{sub 2}O{sub 5}/SiO{sub 2} catalyst was the most active and most selective toward the formation of formaldehyde. These catalysts have been characterized by laser Raman spectroscopy after dehydration and during the methane oxidation reaction with a CH{sub 4}/02 = 10/1 reaction mixture at 500{degrees}C in a continuous flow in situ reaction cell. With the V{sub 2}O{sub 5}/SiO{sub 2} catalyst (the most active catalyst among those studied), no significant structural changes were revealed by in situ Raman analyses, indicating that the fully oxidized surface sites were related to the high formaldehyde selectivivity. Over the V{sub 2}O{sub 5}/TiO{sub 2} and V{sub 2}O{sub 5}/SnO{sub 2} catalysts, CO and CO{sub 2} were the principal products produced by oxidation of methane. For the first time, in situ Raman analysis clearly showed that for these latter catalysts, the surface vanadium(V) oxide species were partially reduced under the steady-state reaction conditions. The performance of the V{sub 2}O{sub 5}/TiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} catalyst was similar to that of the V{sub 2}O{sub 5}TiO{sub 2} catalyst, consistent with the earlier observation that vanadia was largely bound to the titania overlayer. It appears that formaldehyde selectivity decreased with increasing catalyst reducibility, but no direct correlation of catalyst activity with reductibility was observed.

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Fractal interrelationships in field and seismic data. Quarterly report, September 21 - December 31, 1995

Under task 1 contour irregularities traced over both study areas in the previous quarter were scanned into the computer and digitized at a 30 meter interval. Patters mapped in both the Granny Creek and Middle Mountain field areas are presented in Figures 1 and 2 respectively. One of the hypotheses of this research project is that contour irregularities must be controlled by a combination of sedimentation features, lithologic variation, and local structure and fracture distribution. The most promising result obtained thus far in this study are those reported under Tasks 4 and 5, seismic analysis. If further tests continue to support the observation that increased fractal dimension reflects the presence of detached structure, the analytical techniques employed here may be of use in the routine evaluation of seismic data to locate subtle traps. The observations may allow one to predict the variation of fractal dimension within a subsurface fracture network based on seismic observation of resolvable structural parameters. Such predictions would provide a working hypothesis, which could be modified within the context of available subsurface data.

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Shale oil value enhancement research. Quarterly report, January 1, 1996--March 31, 1996

Activities during this quarter focused on (a) compound type analysis of shale oil and its extraction products, (b) thermal hydrodealkylation of the > 290{degrees}C polar fraction, and (c) economic analysis of the SPX project. At the end of this quarter, Mr. Jerry Wiser - the chief process engineer of JWBA, took a job with an equipment and engineering firm in the Salt Lake City. Jerry still maintains his contact with us as an Associate of the company. With regard to the SPX project, Jerry`s contribution included the process control and automation of various process units including the 15-stage distillation column and the continuous liquid-liquid extraction column. He also participated in data processing of the microanalysis of the complex hydrocarbon mixtures. All of the works he was involved in are fully functional and well-documented. At this transition stage, his previous duty is fulfilled by other JWBA staff. The current SPX team is well-suited for the upcoming tasks of running the PDU`s and preparing samples for introduction to potential partners and buyers. The dialog with potential industrial partners is continuing. We keep receiving inquires about our pyridine technology, including companies outside of United States. We are also preparing for presentation of a business plan before the Dawnbreaker commercialization assistance program. At the present time, although we can put together a {open_quotes}presentable{close_quotes} package, the lack of manufacturing plan and proof of market assurance (the originally proposed Phase-III work which has yet to be funded) may turn out to be critical for making this project commercial attractive.

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Shale oil value enhancement research. Quarterly report, July 1, 1994--September 30, 1994

Activities during this quarter focused on using the phase-I results to define process sequence alternatives for phase-II. Two process alternatives have been devised while obtaining the desired marketable product slate. The status of required process units has been evaluated. While there are some units that need to be designed and fabricated, the upstream process units are in place to proceed with the process plan. Separations have been completed and analyzed on three of the four shale oil fractions. The extraction work on the heaviest fraction has run into difficulties due to equipment design limitations. Modifications are in progress to rectify this problem and to complete the planned work. The separations and analytical work on the middle distillate fraction (275-400 C) have been completed. The solvent system has performed as expected and will be used in the pilot system in phase-II. The work on conversions task has steered in the direction of using thermal hydrodealkylation (THD) process to dealkylate polar fractions. The THD process is expected to yield low molecular weight polar compounds/concentrates that are suitable for market needs. The design and fabrication will be initiated in the next quarter. The analytical procedures and characterization task is in the final stages of refinement to complete the software as expected. The Z-BASIC software, eventually, will be used to monitor separations by tracking compound types or z-types. Present modifications are expected to provide z-type distributions. The decision-making routines need further refinement. The progress of the development work slowed a little during this quarter due to work load demand from other projects. However, serious efforts will be made to meet the original project schedule.

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Utilization of lightweight materials made from coal gasification slags. Quarterly report, September 1, 1996--November 30, 1996

Integrated-gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) technology is an emerging technology that utilizes coal for power generation and production of chemical feedstocks. However, the process generates large amounts of solid waste, consisting of vitrified ash (slag) and some unconverted carbon. In previous projects, Praxis investigated the utilization of {open_quotes}as-generated{close_quotes} slags for a wide variety of applications in road construction, cement and concrete production, agricultural applications, and as a landfill material. From these studies, we found that it would be extremely difficult for {open_quotes}as-generated{close_quotes} slag to find large-scale acceptance in the marketplace even at no cost because the materials it could replace were abundantly available at very low cost. It was further determined that the unconverted carbon, or char, in the slag is detrimental to its utilization as sand or fine aggregate. It became apparent that a more promising approach would be to develop a variety of value-added products from slag that meet specific industry requirements. This approach was made feasible by the discovery that slag undergoes expansion and forms a lightweight material when subjected to controlled heating in a kiln at temperatures between 1400 and 1700{degrees}F. These results confirmed the potential for using expanded slag as a substitute for conventional lightweight aggregates (LWA). The major objectives of the subject project are to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of commercial production of LWA and ULWA from slag and to test the suitability of these aggregates for various applications.

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Coolside waste management research. Quarterly report, January 1, 1996--March 30, 1996

Activities during the quarter centered around preparations to complete the study. Geotechnical work focused on coring and other tests on the field lysimeters. Work on materials characterization focused on the characteristics of pellets made from dry FGD materials. The data obtained during this reporting period support the conjecture that detrimental swell associated with continued pellet aging upon exposure to humidified air or upon exposure to water is principally a function of calcium sulfate hydration reactions. The main difference between the earlier studied FBC pellets and the spray dryer pellets produced by CONSOL, and used in this investigation, can be summarized as follows: Spray Dryer material has minimal amounts of anhydride crystals present while anhydride is a major component in the FBC ash. The differences in mineral components which undergo hydration reactions can be attributed to more or less detrimental swell and pellet decay upon aging. Ten trips to the field site were made during the quarter for sampling purposes. Sampling was completed on March 29, 1996. The laboratory leaching study was also completed during the quarter on twenty-two columns which were set up for the study.

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Base program on energy related research. Quarterly report, August 1, 1996--October 31, 1996

Conventional petroleum resources in the United States continue to diminish, resulting in our continued dependence on foreign sources. The development and application of methods to increase and support production from domestic resources is important to the nation`s independence and well-being. A related area of environmental concern is the cleanup of oil waste materials. Numerous sites exist throughout the country where oily materials have been deposited and pose the threat of contamination to the environment. Effective methods for cleanup of these materials need to be developed for remediation of such sites. Projects are described in the following areas: oil and gas, remediation, hydrocarbon conversion using hydrogen rich plasmas, remediation of acid mine drainage.

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Direct-hydrogen-fueled proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell system for transportation applications: Conceptual vehicle design report pure fuel cell powertrain vehicle

In partial fulfillment of the Department of Energy (DOE) Contract No. DE-AC02-94CE50389, {open_quotes}Direct-Hydrogen-Fueled Proton-Exchange-Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell for Transportation Applications{close_quotes}, this preliminary report addresses the conceptual design and packaging of a fuel cell-only powered vehicle. Three classes of vehicles are considered in this design and packaging exercise, the Aspire representing the small vehicle class, the Taurus or Aluminum Intensive Vehicle (AIV) Sable representing the mid-size vehicle and the E-150 Econoline representing the van-size class. A fuel cell system spreadsheet model and Ford`s Corporate Vehicle Simulation Program (CVSP) were utilized to determine the size and the weight of the fuel cell required to power a particular size vehicle. The fuel cell power system must meet the required performance criteria for each vehicle. In this vehicle design and packaging exercise, the following assumptions were made: fuel cell power system density of 0.33 kW/kg and 0.33 kg/liter, platinum catalyst loading less than or equal to 0.25 mg/cm{sup 2} total and hydrogen tanks containing gaseous hydrogen under 340 atm (5000 psia) pressure. The fuel cell power system includes gas conditioning, thermal management, humidity control, and blowers or compressors, where appropriate. This conceptual design of a fuel cell-only powered vehicle will help in the determination of the propulsion system requirements for a vehicle powered by a PEMFC engine in lieu of the internal combustion (IC) engine. Only basic performance level requirements are considered for the three classes of vehicles in this report. Each vehicle will contain one or more hydrogen storage tanks and hydrogen fuel for 560 km (350 mi) driving range. Under these circumstances, the packaging of a fuel cell-only powered vehicle is increasingly difficult as the vehicle size diminishes.

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