Onsite Research
Significant Contributions
Coal gasification. NETL’s laboratories have made significant contributions to coal gasification and related gas cleanup technologies. NETL’s early research on entrained gasification provided basic data for later development. NETL also conducted testing and development of severe service valves that contributed to the Texaco gasification process. NETL conducted research on hot and warm gas cleanup that contributed to increased efficiency for coal gasification. One of these concepts received an R&D 100 Award. NETL simulations have assisted Southern Company in developing transport gasification—a promising advancement in gasification technology. NETL developed an alkali monitor for high temperature gas streams that was later made commercially available.
Clean liquid fuels from coal and oil shale. NETL conducted pioneering research in direct and indirect liquefaction of coal and production of oil from shales and helped improve currently available technologies. NETL participated in developing improved direct coal liquefaction processes, including donor solvents and shape selective catalysts, some of which are now being applied commercially in China. NETL developed innovations for indirect coal liquefaction processes, including slurry phase and iron-based catalysts now being used by industry.
Gas turbine technology. NETL conducted studies that improved industry’s ability to use gas turbines that produce very low nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions while at the same time operating stably and reliably. NETL also developed techniques to allow low-NOx engines to operate on variable fuels and instrumentation to operate coal syngas or natural gas turbines at peak environmental performance and efficiency that is licensed by industry.
Innovations for existing electric power plants. Researchers at NETL made significant contributions to the President’s Clear Skies Initiative by improving technologies to capture mercury and prevent its emission; to improve treatment and utilization of byproducts, such as ash; and to help address legacy issues, such as the impact that coal mining has on the water quality of streams. NETL laboratory data showed that ash materials can be safely treated as non-hazardous wastes. Mine water treatment technologies developed by NETL have been placed into commercial use. NETL develop two coal-cleaning processes, Micromag and Granuflow, now commercially available.
Unconventional natural gas production. NETL conducted pioneering laboratory and mathematical simulation research that led to increased reserves and deliverable rates of natural gas from tight gas and coalbed methane reservoirs. This improved prediction of production from tight gas reservoirs and directional drilling.
Carbon capture and sequestration. NETL developed concepts to reduce cost and improve efficiency of carbon capture; one of these is the subject of a CRADA with an industrial partner. NETL developed innovative mathematical simulation methods to estimate capacities and injectivities to use fractured reservoirs, such as coal seams and saline aquifers, as potential carbon dioxide sequestration reservoirs. NETL developed and field tested innovative tracer and soil gas sampling methods to measure potential carbon dioxide leaks from geological sequestration tests. NETL investigated remote sensing methods that may assist in locating abandoned wells that provide leakage paths for sequestered carbon dioxide.
Computational science and simulation. NETL developed a unique capability for applying mathematical simulation methods to reduce the time and cost of experimental R&D in fossil energy technologies. NETL partnered with MIT in its development of the ASPEN process simulation software. NETL developed a computer code to simulate solids and gas flows in process streams that have high loadings of solid particles and made the code available as open source. NETL, with several partners, developed a methodology to couple computational fluid dynamics with process flow sheet simulation and received an R&D 100 Award for this work.
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About NETL
E&P Technologies
