Hydroxymethyl Furfural Oxidation Methods
This inventionreport is prepared prior to a meeting with ADM staff to occur on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 in order to capture ideas that may be discussed in that discussion. The primary subject of this inventionreport is results and ideas regarding the conversation of HMF to oxidized derivatives.
ZINC-IODINE SECONDARY ENERGY STORAGE METHODS, DEVICES, AND ELECTRLYTES
Disclosed are cathodes having electron-conductive high-surface-area materials, aqueous non-halide-containing electrolytes, secondary zinc-iodine energy storage devices using the same, and methods for assembling the same. The disclosed high-surface-area materials and the aqueous non-halide-containing electrolyte solutions can contribute together to the confinement of the active iodine species in the cathode and to the minimization of shuttle effects and self-discharging. The non-halide-containing electrolyte salts can facilitate preferential adsorption of the iodine species to the cathode material rather than dissolution in the aqueous electrolyte solution, thereby contributing to the confinement of the active iodine species.
Nested, Hierarchical Resource Allocation Schema for Management and Control of An Electric Power Grid
The invention is a method of providing globally optimal control by means of a distributed control algorithm having a single common control variable as the basis for evaluating different figures of merit with respect to each other and requiring little or no central command, control, and communications function. Large scale systems, such 89 a electric power grid are controlled using a central or area control facilities from which all the major components of a system are monitored and controlled. The deployment of such large scale system requires a vast and highly reliable communications infrastructure to maintain a high system-wide performance and reliability. Small local failures or trivial topological changes in the system sometimes bring about a cascading system failure, possibly leading to widespread service outages. In addition, failure mitigation strategies in this kind of system are often designed more to protect equipment and permit rapid restoration of service rather than to assure maintenance of service. For example, centrally commanded rolling blackouts are used to prevent loads from too closely approaching the system capacity limits because volumary load curtailment strategies often fail to mitigate the problem. Distribute4 and automated load curtailment strategies to assist in reducing loads are not generally possible with the current control paradigm. Any control paradigm that does not depend so critically on the central command and control functions to maintain service has the potential to be more greatly scalable, possibly enabling distribution generation resources, and is more likely to provide enhanced global reliability, increased system efficiencies, greater flexibility and local autonomy, and reduced operational costs. Transactive control is designed to mitigate many of the shortcomings of central command and control systems and provide many of these additional benefits. most especially those which limit scalability of control scope and flexibility in system topology.
Suspended-Slurry Reactor
An apparatus for generating a large volume of gas from a liquid stream is disclosed. The apparatus includes a first channel through which the liquid stream passes. The apparatus also includes a layer of catalyst particles suspended in a solid slurry for generating gas from the liquid stream. The apparatus further includes a second channel through which a mixture of converted liquid and generated gas passes. A heat exchange channel heats the liquid stream. A wicking structure located in the second channel separates the gas generated from the converted liquid.
HARMONIC ADSORPTION RECUPERATIVE POWER SYSTEMS AND METHODS
A new power generation thermodynamic cycle is described that eliminates need for bulk liquid condensation and vaporization steps required in conventional ORC power systems. An exemplary harmonic adsorption recuperative power cycle system offers more efficient power generation as compared with conventional ORC systems. A multibed adsorption system is used to provide thermal compression for the cycle. An adsorption compressor contains a sorbent with strong adsorption affinity for the working fluid in the pores while well outside the P-T conditions needed to condense the liquid phase, allowing the adsorption compressor to reduce operating pressure exiting the expander.
DISTRIBUTED HIERARCHICAL CONTROL ARCHITECTURE FOR INTEGRATING SMART GRID ASSETS DURING NORMAL AND DISRUPTED OPERATIONS
Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for facilitating operation and control of a resource distribution system (such as a power grid). Among the disclosed embodiments is a distributed hierarchical control architecture (DHCA) that enables smart grid assets to effectively contribute to grid operations in a controllable manner, while helping to ensure system stability and equitably rewarding their contribution. Embodiments of the disclosed architecture can help unify the dispatch of these resources to provide both market-based and balancing services.
Optimized Cell Configurations for Stable LSCF-based Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
The purpose of this invention is to improve the stability of LSCF-based cathode used for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Lanthanum strontium cobalt iron oxides (La(1-x)SrxCoyFe1-yO3-ƒÔ; LSCF) are well-known cathode materials for SOFCs. Although these materials reveal high initial power, they often experience rapid degradation in power. New optimized cell configuration and metallization was designed to improve the stability of the LSCF-based materials. It was found that the full coverage of a metallization layer combined with a thicker and less porous cathode layer helped to improve the stability of high-power LSCF cathode.
Combined hydrothermal liquefaction and catalytic hydrothermal gasification system and process for conversion of biomass feedstocks
A combined hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) and catalytic hydrothermal gasification (CHG) system and process are described that convert various biomass-containing sources into separable bio-oils and aqueous effluents that contain residual organics. Bio-oils may be converted to useful bio-based fuels and other chemical feedstocks. Residual organics in HTL aqueous effluents may be gasified and converted into medium-BTU product gases and directly used for process heating or to provide energy.
SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES FOR CONVERSION OF ETHYLENE FEEDSTOCKS TO HYDROCARBON FUELS
Systems, processes, and catalysts are disclosed for obtaining fuels and fuel blends containing selected ratios of open-chain and closed-chain fuel-range hydrocarbons suitable for production of alternate fuels including gasolines, jet fuels, and diesel fuels. Fuel-range hydrocarbons may be derived from ethylene-containing feedstocks and ethanol-containing feedstocks.
EXTRACTING MAXIMAL FREQUENCY RESPONSE POTENTIAL IN CONTROLLABLE LOADS
The Grid FriendlyTM Appliance (GFA) controller, developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was originallydesigned to autonomously switch off appliances by detecting under-frequency events. In this paper, the feasibility of usingthe GFA controller to provide primary frequency response is investigated. In particular, the impacts of an important designparameter, i.e., curtailing frequency threshold, on the primary frequency response are carefully analyzed for different situations. In the normal situation, the current method of selecting curtailing frequency thresholds for GFAs is found to be insufficient to guarantee the desired performance especially when the frequency deviation is shallow. In the extreme situations, the power reduction of online GFAs could be so excessive that it can even impact the system frequency negatively. As the first step towards the efforts to make GFAs suitable for providing primary frequency response, the existing controller design is improved by modifying the strategy of selecting curtailing frequency thresholds to ensure the effectiveness of GFAs in the normal situation.