A large-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology made possible through support from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory has captured and transported its 4-millionth metric ton of CO2. Air Products and Chemicals designed, built, and is operating the state-of-the-art CO2-capture and storage system at their hydrogen-production facility located at the Valero Port Arthur Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.

The National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) Toolset has been selected as a finalist for a prestigious R&D 100 Award. NRAP is an NETL-led multi-lab partnership that also includes Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, and Pacific Northwest National Lab. The Toolset is a software package that includes 10 science-based computational tools that predict environmental risk performance of geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage sites.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected nine projects to support the development of advanced technologies that will foster early adoption of small-scale modular coal-gasification. Used for power and other applications, these technologies may open new market opportunities for domestic coal. The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage these nine projects.

One of my great privileges as director of a national laboratory is to celebrate with our researchers as they receive much-deserved accolades from outside organizations. This year our researchers garnered numerous awards and recognition:  

The Department of Energy today announced nine projects to receive approximately $4 million in cost-shared federal funding to improve the technical, environmental, and economic performance of new and existing technologies that extract, separate, and recover rare earth elements (REEs) from domestic U.S. coal and coal by-products.

Market demand for low-carbon energy is growing, and geologic carbon storage (GCS) is a technology that can enable continued and sustainable use of abundant fossil energy resources. Ensuring that GCS can safely and effectively store large volumes of anthropogenic CO2 away from the atmosphere for thousands of years requires a solid understanding of the subsurface and a thorough understanding of potential environmental risks and how those risks can be mitigated and avoided.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry has announced approximately $36 million in federally-funded financial assistance to advance carbon capture technologies. Under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office Of Fossil Energy (FE), the Design and Testing of Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will support cost-shared research and development projects that will continue the development of carbon capture technologies to either the engineering scale or to a commercial design.

The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) officially opened their Illinois Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage (ICCS) project during a ceremony today at the National Sequestration Education Center at Richland Community College in Decatur, Illinois.

Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (DOE) announced a new high-performance computing (HPC) initiative that will help U.S. industry accelerate the development of new or improved materials for use in severe environments. 

In a cross-disciplined approach, NETL researchers explore biogeochemistry and chemical reactions to help develop more effective ways to store carbon dioxide (CO2) underground and enhance production of oil and natural gas, all while protecting the environment for future generations.