WASHINGTON, DC - Seventeen universities in
14 states will receive $2.8 million in fossil energy
research grants through a Department of Energy (DOE)
program that brings science, university students and
their professors together to advance the study of new
clean and efficient coal-use technologies and concepts.
"This is just one of the many steps the Department of
Energy has taken to ensure that clean coal technology
remains an effective element in President Bush?s Clear
Skies Initiative," Secretary Spencer Abraham said.
"We?ve already achieved many successes in the clean coal
program, and I expect the 2003 University Coal Research
projects will take us even further towards reducing air
pollution and improving air quality throughout the
nation."
The projects selected under DOE?s 2003 University
Coal Research (UCR) Program, now in its 24th year, cover
a wide range of research areas. Fabricating new
materials that would lower the cost of fuel cells,
producing hydrogen from coal, reducing carbon dioxide
and mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, and
utilization of coal systems by-products are just a few
topics that will be supported.
Since UCR?s inception in 1979, the program has funded
about 657 research projects having a combined value of
almost $107 million, while giving over 1600 students
throughout the U.S. first-hand experience in combining
science and engineering advances to help solve issues
facing the coal industry today. Nine innovative concepts
are entering their first phase of research, while four
concepts are continuing research from last year. Several
focus on removing mercury, carbon dioxide (CO2) and
other pollutants by reburning coal or improving barrier
filters, and some outline how to sequester carbon using
magnesium or mineral silicates.
Universities are encouraged to contribute toward
their student?s projects and to secure additional
funding from outside institutions. This year, DOE?s
total research investment of $2.8 million is being
augmented by university contributions amounting to
$421,882.
Brief profiles of each winning project are listed
below:
CORE PROGRAM
Advanced Coal Systems By-Product
Utilization
- Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.,
will address the issues of mercury (Hg) on Activated
Carbon and on combustion-created fly ash from a
materials re-use point of view. It also addresses the
possible connection between selective catalytic
reduction reactors, fly ash properties and Hg capture.
Proposed project cost: $213,970; proposed project
duration: 30 months.
- University of Kentucky Research
Foundation, Lexington, Ky., will study the
applications and market options for the solid wastes
generated from using Integrated Gasification Combined
Cycle (IGCC) technology to generate electricity. These
by-product materials can be considered as a new class
of material resources from coal. An ash beneficiation
processing technology, previously developed at the
University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy
Research, will be applied to recover and separate
marketable carbon and ash products. Proposed project
cost: $538,945, proposed project duration: 36 months.
Materials and Components for Vision 21 Systems
- Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo.,
has determined that for economical production of
hydrogen through coal gasification, approaches that
produce a high purity gas must be developed. This
proposal supports the further development and study of
materials that can facilitate such processes. The
objective of this proposed research plan is to
optimize the fabrication of permeable palladium/copper
composite membranes that can be used to separate
hydrogen from other gases in coal combustion product
streams. Proposed project cost: $200,000; proposed
project duration: 36 months. Business contact: Mary
Mittag-Miller 303-273-3405.
- University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati,
Ohio, will perform systematic and fundamental
research to develop a solid understanding of the
effects of processing and microstructure on the creep
behavior of refractory intermetallic alloys. Creep
behavior is a slow and continuous deformation of
material subjected to stress at elevated temperatures.
Proposed project cost: $200,000; proposed project
duration: 36 months.
Partitioning and Mechanism Studies for Hg & Trace Metals
with Coal-Fired Processes
- University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah,
will develop the knowledge and models needed by
utility operators to meet the expected EPA mercury
regulations. To accomplish this, the project will
focus on understanding the importance and contribution
of gas-phase and solid-phase constituents to mercury
oxidation reaction chemistry. Included in the
investigation are the effects of chlorine, nitrogen
oxide, sulfur dioxide, and ash particle reactions.
Understanding the effects of these compounds on
mercury oxidation is particularly important in
coal-fired systems. Proposed project cost: $539,401;
proposed project duration: 36 months.
Sensors and Controls
- University of California, Santa Barbara,
Calif., will develop novel optical sensors
embedded in the crystal structure of thermal barrier
coatings (TBC) to detect TBC wear and degradation.
Thermal barrier coatings are routinely used to coat
the hot sections of systems such as combustors and
leading blades and vanes of turbines to enable them to
operate at higher temperatures. Proposed project cost:
$200,000; proposed project duration: 36 months.
INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS - PHASE I
CO2 Separation from Coal Gasification
Process
- Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago,
Ill., will develop a magnesium-based dry,
regenerative sorbent to remove CO2 from coal
gasification fuel gas. Existing technologies can be
used to capture CO2; however, such applications
require expensive solvents and operate at less than 40
degrees centigrade (imposing a severe energy penalty
on the power generation system). Advanced processes
based on dry regenerable sorbents offer attractive
advantages over the existing low temperature
processes. Proposed project cost: $68,275; proposed
project duration: 12 months.
- University of South Carolina Research
Foundation, Columbia, S.C., will develop
rigorous mathematical models to predict the
performance of the two radically new pressure swing
adsorption (PSA) systems that will efficiently and
significantly concentrate CO2 from high temperature
coal gasification "off gas" streams. It is believed
that these new proprietary PSA cycles will be more
efficient than conventional PSA cycles. Proposed
project cost: $50,000; proposed project duration: 12
months.
Direct Utilization of Carbon in Fuel Cells
- Brown University, Providence, R.I.,
will establish a proof-of-concept for a process based
on the use of spouted bed electrodes for the direct
conversion of carbon to electricity in a carbon-oxygen
fuel cell. Proposed project cost: $55,000; proposed
project duration: 12 months.
- Duke University, Durham, N.C.,
will study the development of a superionic conductor
for ionic carbon that would enable the development of
an entirely new class of fuel cells for the direct
conversion of coal into electricity via its oxidation
after ionic transport. A carbon-ion superionic
conductor would be an enormous step forward because it
would allow the combustionless conversion of coal to
electricity without the formation of any of the
pollutants associated with the burning of coal.
Proposed project cost: $50,000; proposed project
duration: 12 months.
- University of Akron, Akron, OH,
will study the direct use of carbon from coal as a
fuel to generate electricity for the solid oxide fuel
cell. The results of this study will provide data to
evaluate the limitations and potential of the
carbon-based fuel cell for practical applications.
Proposed project cost: $62,755; proposed project
duration: 12 months.
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
Blacksburg, Va., will study a method to
address the problem of anode fouling that is
associated with porous electrode fuel cells, while
allowing for economies of scale. Typical porous
electrode fuel cells are not suitable for coal-based
power plants because the anode becomes fouled with
non-combustible contaminants in the coal and they do
not exhibit good economies of scale, requiring
thousands of cells for a utility sized plant. Proposed
project cost: $61,825; proposed project duration: 12
months.
Electrical Interconnections for Coal-Based Solid Oxide
Fuel Cells
- Boston University, Boston, Mass.,
been selected to investigate perovskite-based (a
ceramic material) bi-layer structures as
interconnections for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs)
operating on coal-gas at lower temperatures.
Interconnections are the materials that promote
efficient current transfer between fuel cell layers.
Proposed project cost: $49,999; proposed project
duration: 12 months.
Simulation of CO2 Brine-Mineral Interactions
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
will explore a unique approach to develop a simulation
and/or modeling of thermodynamic properties for
extremely complex chemical systems associated with the
application of carbon sequestration strategies.
Proposed project cost: $50,000; proposed project
duration: 12 months.
Water Impacts from Coal-Burning Power Plants
- Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.,
will develop a novel remediation treatment for acid
mine drainage utilizing reclaimed limestone residual (RLR).
RLR is a co-product of the steel making process and
has been shown to have oxidation reduction
capabilities, and also has significant acid
neutralizing potential. Proposed project cost:
$49,947; proposed project duration: 12 months.
INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS PHASE II
Advanced Sensors for Vision 21 Systems
- University of Alabama, Birmingham, Ala.,
will develop a high temperature corrosion sensor and
subsequent measurement system for Vision 21 systems,
resulting in a new technology for on-line corrosion
monitoring. The focus of the study is the design,
fabrication, and testing of innovative sensors based
on the new approach. Proposed project cost: $230,000;
proposed project duration: 36 months.
Carbon Sequestration
- Pennsylvania State University, University
Park, Pa., will optimize its active
carbonation process developed in Phase I to design an
integrated CO2 sequestration module for Vision 21
plants. Mineral carbonation is a promising concept for
permanent CO2 sequestration due to the vast natural
abundance of the raw minerals, the permanent storage
of CO2 in solid form as carbonates, and the overall
reaction being exothermic. Proposed project cost:
$200,000; proposed project duration: 36 months.
- University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati,
Ohio, will develop an integrated research
plan that focuses on developing, characterizing and
evaluating novel sorbents for the removal of CO2 from
multicomponent gaseous streams related with coal
combustion, coal gasification, energy production, and
in general, Vision 21 activities. Proposed project
cost: $267,283; proposed project duration: 36 months.
Mercury & Other Emissions in Advanced Power Systems
- University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.,
will expand the base knowledge, obtained during its
phase I study of methods for removing mercury from
coal at a reasonable cost so that it is not released
into the atmosphere during combustion. Proposed
project cost: $200,000: Proposed project duration: 36
months.
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