As
part of its efforts to encourage more participation by minority college students and
teachers in its national energy program, the Department of Energy (DOE) has selected four
coal and petroleum research projects to be carried out by student-teacher teams at
historically black and minority universities in Virginia, Georgia, Maryland and New
Mexico. The 1997 winning schools are:
- Hampton University, Hampton, VA, for research into
chemical compounds that can clean sulfur pollutants from hot coal gases;
- Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA, for a project
to study novel chemicals that can aid in oil production;
- University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD,
for studies of the spontaneous combustion of certain types of coals;
- New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM, for
the development of an optical method to measure steam injected into oil fields to boost
production.
Each school will receive a Federal research grant of about
$200,000 for use over the next three years in carrying out the research projects. They
were selected from 34 proposals submitted to the Energy Department's Office of Fossil
Energy as part of its Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority
Institutions research program.
In announcing the winning projects, Secretary of Energy
Federico Peña said that the Office of Fossil Energy program is a key part of the
Department's efforts to make full use of the Nation's academic talents in its energy
programs.
"This program reaches out to young people and helps
ensure that we bring the full spectrum of our best minds and freshest ideas into our
energy program. These grants benefit the educational progress of minority students while,
at the same time, supporting solid research that can contribute to a cleaner, more secure
energy future," Peña said.
Now in its sixth year, the Department's Fossil Energy
Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Program teams faculty and students
to conduct the research, some in conjunction with private-sector companies. "Such an
arrangement benefits the country by ensuring that the United States has a future supply of
scientists who have benefitted from real life' research experience. In turn, historically
black and minority institutions are able to maintain and upgrade their education,
training, and research capabilities," said Patricia Fry Godley, DOE's Assistant
Secretary for Fossil Energy.
This year DOE's Office of Fossil Energy expanded the
program to include other minority institutions.
More details on the winning projects follow:
- Hampton University,Hampton, Virginia, will receive a
$199,972 grant for a 3-year project that will assist the Energy Department in developing
the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle-Hot Gas Desulfurization technology, an advanced
method for generating electricity cleanly from coal. The project will develop low-cost
sorbents that resist breakage and particle degradation -- known as attrition resistance --
and can be reused to produce marketable sulfur directly with minimal use of coal gas. The
univesity will team with Research Triangle Institute, located in Research Triangle Park,
NC, in carrying out the project. Dr. K. Jothimurugesan will be the lead researcher.
- Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, will
receive a $200,000 grant for a 3-year project to study novel, hybrid, alcohol
ethoxycarboxylate (AEC) surfactants for enhanced oil recovery. Surfactant flooding is a
technique to recover oil remaining in a reservoir after conventional production processes
are no longer effective. The detergent-like surfactant is injected into the well to mix
with the remaining oil to form a more easily extractable emulsion. Tests will be performed
with a crude oil, refined hydrocarbon and varying concentrations of brine and surfactant
to determine the optimal salinity and temperature in which all three phases exist.
Following these experiments, laboratory-scale core flooding will be conducted with
chemical solutions to correlate surfactant adsorption and oil recovery efficiency with the
phase behavior data. This knowledge is essential for progress in effective surfactant
flooding for commercially viable enhanced oil recovery. The university will collaborate
with the SURTEK company of Golden, CO, in carrying out the research project. Dr. Lebone
Moeti will lead the research team.
- University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne,
Maryland, will receive a $199,949 grant for a 3-year project to study the spontaneous
combustion of low-rank coals and lignites. Spontaneous combustion has been a problem in
the storage and transportation of these types of coal. The culprit is usually coal's
tendency to reabsorb moisture which leads to spontaneous combustion. Information on
moisture absorption will be of great benefit to the future use of low-rank coals. The
university will collaborate with the Institute of Environmental Science, Austin, TX, in
the research project. Dr. Joseph M. Okoh and Dr. Joseph N.D. Dodoo will lead the research
team.
- New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New
Mexico, will receive a $199,945 grant for a 3-year project to develop an optical method to
measure the quality and total energy of a high pressure flow of steam in an oil recovery
operation. Steam is generated and injected through tubing inside the oil well casing to
thin heavy oil that otherwise would not flow to production wells. However, since the depth
of the well can be great, there are heat losses from the tubing. These heat losses have
only been estimated based on computer models. The proposed research method will measure
the quality and total energy in the steam when it reaches the underground well formation.
The method will be demonstrated under three successively more challenging applications and
ultimately in an oil field situation. These adaption efforts will be made in cooperation
with end users of the technology, including the University heating plant system and an oil
company currently utilizing thermal enhanced oil recovery. Dr. A.B. Donaldson will be the
lead researcher.
-End of TechLine-
For more information:
Hattie Wolfe, Office of Fossil Energy Communications,
202-586-6503, e-mail: hattie.wolfe@hq.doe.gov
Patrice Leister, DOE Federal Energy Technology Center, 412/386-6126; e-mail: leister@fetc.doe.gov |