Alternative Transportation Energy

Transportation energy issues are moving to the forefront of the public consciousness in the U.S. and particularly California, and gaining increasing attention from legislators and regulators. The three principal concerns motivating interest in transportation energy are urban air quality, oil dependence, and the threat of global warming. Transportation fuels are a principal contributor to each of these. The transportation sector, mostly motor vehicles, contributes roughly half the urban air pollutants, almost one-third of the carbon dioxide, and consumes over 60% of all petroleum

Deep heavy oil recovery by steam injection using twin horizontal drainholes

We propose a novel method for improving the efficiency of recovery of heavy oil. Two horizontal drainholes are made at the bottom of a vertical well so that one may be steamed while the other is in production. Downgoing steam and rising produced fluids are carried in the same vertical casing so that heat from the produced fluids reduces heat losses from the steam. This arrangement requires a downhole valve that will switch steam and produced fluids between the boreholes. We discuss the design of a suitable well and of the valves, and report results of tests to select suitable materials to function in the high temperature downhole environment

Mechanisms governing fine particulate emissions from coal flames

Efforts in this period focused on refining the plans for engineering analysis and fundamental experiments based on the results of a literature review, and modifying the Malvern laser diffraction particle sizer to operate at particle sizes down to 0.5 microns. The engineering analysis plan is to concentrate on development of new models and adaptation of existing models for fine particulate formation by three categories of mechanisms: particle breakup/ash coalescence; direct passage, fragmentation, or agglomeration of extraneous mineral matter; and bubble formation/breakup. The plan for fundamental experiments is to develop a fast, online, optical particle sizing technique which will span the 0.5 to 10 micron size range of interest; to perform global experiments to identify the important parameters affecting fine particle formation; and to perform mechanistic experiments to test specific hypotheses about the mechanisms which control fine particle formation in coal combustion

Magnetic fusion with high energy self-colliding ion beams

Field-reversed configurations of energetic large orbit ions with neutralizing electrons have been proposed as the basis of a fusion reactor. Vlasov equilibria consisting of a ring or an annulus have been investigated. A stability analysis has been carried out for a long thin layer of energetic ions in a low density background plasma. There is a growing body of experimental evidence from tokamaks that energetic ions slow down and diffuse in accordance with classical theory in the presence of large non-thermal fluctuations and anomalous transport of low energy (10 keV) ions. Provided that major instabilities are under control, it seems likely that the design of a reactor featuring energetic self-colliding ion beams can be based on classical theory. In this case a confinement system that is much better than a tokamak is possible. Several methods are described for creating field reversed configurations with intense neutralized ion beams

Fundamental investigation of duct/ESP phenomena

Radian Corporation was contracted to investigate duct injection and ESP phenomena in a 1.7 MW pilot plant constructed for this test program. This study was an attempt to resolve problems found in previous studies and answer remaining questions for the technology using an approach which concentrates on the fundamental mechanisms of the process. The goal of the study was to obtain a better understanding of the basic physical and chemical phenomena that control: (1) the desulfurization of flue gas by calcium-based reagent, and (2) the coupling of an existing ESP particulate collection device to the duct injection process. Process economics are being studied by others. (VC

Superconducting Energy Gap and Normal State Conductivity of a Single Domain Y sub 1 Ba sub 2 Cu sub 3 O sub 7 crystal

Using polarized reflectivity measurements of single domain crystals, we are able to distinguish chain and plane contributions to the infrared conductivity of Y{sub 1}Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7}. A substantial chain contribution to {sigma}({omega}) persisting to low frequency and temperature is observed. For the intrinsic conductivity of the CuO{sub 2} planes a superconducting energy gap of 500 cm{sup {minus}1} (2{Delta}/k{Tc} {approx equal} 8) is evident in the infrared data, while the normal state conductivity drops much more slowly with {omega} than the ordinary Drude form, and can be described in terms of a scattering rate {Dirac h}/{tau}* {approximately} kT + {Dirac h}{omega} at low frequency. The former result (2{Delta}/k{Tc} {approx equal} 8) suggests substantial suppression of {Tc}; the latter, that Y{sub 1}Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7} is not ordinary Fermi liquid. 26 refs., 4 figs