NETL Researchers Complete Testing of 48th External Membrane

	Paul Dieter prepares to test a metal-based hydrogen membrane in the testing facility at NETL.

NETL’s has completed permeability testing of the 48th composite metal membrane foil for hydrogen separation.

This is a collaborative project with REB Research, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Iowa State University and Johnson-Matthey Inc. The focus of the project is to develop membranes with high hydrogen flux and selectivity, and improved mechanical durability for implementation to the gasification process.

NETL has developed and operates unique facilities for testing the performance of membranes at temperatures (up to 1000 C) and pressures (up to 1000 psi) not available at other laboratories. Membranes are evaluated by testing attributes such as permeability, sealing, contaminate exposure, multi-constituent separation and durability.

The focus of the NETL’s Reaction Chemistry and Engineering Group’s research is to develop hydrogen and carbon dioxide separation technologies for the gasification process.

In addition to internal membrane development using fundamental and applied techniques, NETL also supports membrane work being conducted by other research groups funded by NETL such as Eltron Research Inc. Current collaborators of the NETL research group include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ames Laboratory, Gas Technology Institute, Wah Chang, Arizona State University and Shott North America.

NETL Has New Measurement Capability for Analysis of Coal Syngas Contaminants

	NETL researcher Kirk Gerdes injects a sample into NETL’s new gas chromatograph-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer, an analytical instrument that will play an important role in studying the effect of coal contaminants on solid oxide fuel cells.

NETL researchers have installed and tested an analytical instrument that will play an important role in studying the effect of coal contaminants on solid oxide fuel cells. The gas chromatograph-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer offers part-per-billion sensitivity to compounds typically found in trace amounts in coal syngas, including arsenic, phosphorus, selenium, and mercury.

The instrument supports fuel cell research at NETL to evaluate the impact on fuel cell performance and degradation of trace species found in coal syngas.

The spectrometer will be mounted into a specially designed mobile test cell and taken to the Wilsonville Power Systems Development Facility to support fuel cell performance testing on coal syngas scheduled for January 2008.

NETL’s research directly addresses high priority goals of the NETL solid oxide fuel cell program, which include evaluating the impact of trace coal syngas species on fuel cell performance and determining efficient methods for mitigation of undesirable effects.

The mobile test unit has been designed so that it can support testing at other coal gasification sites, including FutureGen.

NETL Launches High Resolution Simulation of Commercial Scale Transport Reactor

	Chris Guenther, left, and Madhava Syamlal discuss the results of a transport gasifier simulation produced by MFIX software.

NETL’s Computational Science Division’s Multiphase Flow Research Group is taking advantage of supercomputer time allocated by the DOE Undersecretary for Science, using MFIX (Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges) code to investigate the performance of a transport gasifier at Orlando, Florida.

The gasifier is part of a Clean Coal Power Initiative project managed by NETL. Results from these high resolution simulations will be used to verify earlier simulation results and will be shared with industrial stakeholders using this information in the design of their commercial-scale transport gasifiers.

Undersecretary Dr. Ray Orbach allocated 500,000 hours of computer time on the CRAY XT4 system at the National Center for Computational Science to NETL to increase the speed of MFIX using massively parallel computations and to enable high resolution gasifier simulations.

Previous simulations found that the coal injection velocity and syngas recycle rate has a significant effect on the peak temperature and that these temperatures can exceed the recommended maximum operating temperature of the refactory-lined walls.

The previous simulations were conducted on computer clusters at NETL and at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. Typical simulations required approximately 2 million computational cells and were run in parallel using 20 to 40 processors.

The more recent work resulted in a factor of 3 improvements in parallel efficiency of MFIX and allowed gasifier simulations to be conducted using 10 million computational cells running on 2,048 processors. This is a 50-fold increase in the number of processors used over previous simulations.

NETL, Indiana University to Study Sequestration Reservoir Characterization in the Midwestern Region

	Sheila Hedges, a research chemist in the Geosciences Division of the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s Office of Research and Development, prepares a dilution of a natural brine sample for analysis after an experiment into the interactions between carbon dioxide, water and rock. Deep brine formations are being investigated for storage of greenhouse gases in field and laboratory studies funded by the Department of Energy.

NETL brings unique facilities and skills of its researchers. Indiana University researchers provide expertise and experience.

The two research institutions will be working together under provisions of a cooperative research and development agreement on to support studies being conducted under the CO₂ Sequestration Regional Partnerships program.

The brine chemistry studies in this joint research effort will address knowledge gaps that exist in understanding the dynamics of changes in carbon dioxide reservoir interactions in coals and saline aquifers.

Researchers at NETL will work in collaboration with Indiana University and the Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) in support of demonstration projects being conducted by the Midwestern Geological Sequestration Consortium and the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership.

Specifically, the following aspects will be addressed: changes in sorptive capacity of coals, CO₂-reservoir interactions in saline aquifers, the solubility of CO₂ in saline aquifer brines, and mineral reaction mechanisms, kinetics in CO₂ – brine systems.

The research will assess the impact that these dynamics may have on reservoir properties, seal integrity, and sequestration capacity. The complex solution chemistry of CO₂ in brines is of specific interest to the two Sequestration Regional Partnerships of which the IGS is a member.

Researchers Complete Tests of Lubricating Oil Formulation on Emissions From Hydrogen-Fueled Reciprocating Engines

	Researchers prepare NETL’s Ricardo Proteus engine for hydrogen-fueled test operation. Shown from left to right are NETL Reciprocating Engine Group Leader John Ontko, and West Virginia University PhD candidates Jacinto Solano and Sam George. The research project is part of an initiative in which NETL strengthens its research capability by teaming with researchers from regional universities.

Researchers from NETL and West Virginia University have completed experiments designed to investigate the effects of different lubricating oil formulations on the oil consumption and mutagenicity of particulate emissions from hydrogen-fueled reciprocating engines this week.

This work is part of NETL’s University Research Initiative and involves collaboration between NETL, West Virginia University and the NIOSH laboratory located in Morgantown, WV. The collected data will be useful in improving and assessing improved lubricating oil formulations for hydrogen fueled reciprocating engines.

Earlier work at NETL and by other investigators suggests that a significant portion of the mutagenic particulate emissions from reciprocating engines arises from the lubricating oil. These findings are confounded, however, because it is difficult to separate emissions originating from the fuel from those originating from the lube oil.

The recently completed engine tests were conducted using hydrogen as the fuel so that all particulate emissions could be ascribed to the lube oil. Particulate samples collected during the recent engines tests have been delivered to NIOSH for mutagenicity testing, which is expected to take several weeks.

Early results have shown accelerated lubricating oil deterioration in hydrogen-fueled engines compared to other fuels. Data collected on engine performance, emissions and oil consumption are now being analyzed. When data analysis is complete, the effects of lubricating oil formulation and engine operating parameters on emissions will be quantified and submitted to a peer reviewed journal for publication.