The objective of this project is to demonstrate an integrated system of industrial CO₂ capture and geological storage in a deep sandstone formation. The project uses CO₂ produced by ADM as a by-product of the production of fuel-grade ethanol. ADM has been capturing CO₂ using dehydration and compression and sequestering it in the Mt. Simon Sandstone formation (saline reservoir). The ethanol plant and the sequestration site are both located in Decatur, Illinois. The project team members include ADM, Illinois State Geological Survey, Schlumberger Carbon Services, and Richland Community College.

This is the first geologic storage project to operate with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Class VI injection well permit. This project is demonstrating cutting-edge technologies for intelligent monitoring in the deep verification well (i.e., Schlumberger's IntelliZone compact modular multi-zonal management system-first installation in North America), a downhole seismic monitoring system (i.e., Sercel SlimWave acquisition unit with WAVELAB surface control) in the geophysical well, and Schlumberger's WellWatcher monitoring system that integrates advanced downhole measurement technology with surface acquisition and data communication systems.

TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) has teamed with CDM Smith, Inc., Gas Technology Institute, the University of Alberta, the University of California Irvine, and Sinopec to advance their novel sorbent-based pre-combustion carbon capture technology through pilot-scale testing using a slipstream of synthesis gas (syngas) from an operating gasifier. TDA's high-temperature pressure swing adsorption (PSA)-based process uses an advanced physical adsorbent consisting of a mesoporous carbon grafted with surface functional groups that selectively removes carbon dioxide (CO₂) from syngas via physical adsorption at temperatures above the dew point of the gas. This low-cost, high-capacity regenerable sorbent was evaluated previously by TDA through bench-scale and slipstream testing and achieved a high CO₂ removal rate of greater than 95 percent for more than 10,000 adsorption/desorption cycles. In this project, research will include scaled-up production of the sorbent; improvement of the PSA cycle sequence using adsorption modeling and optimization of the sorbent reactor design through computational fluid dynamics analysis; long-term sorbent life evaluation in a bench-scale setup of up to 60,000 cycles; design and fabrication of a 0.1-MWe pilot-scale testing unit that contains eight sorbent reactors; design of a CO₂ purification sub-system; and two separate field tests on the fabricated pilot-scale unit to measure the sorbent's performance and process efficiency. The first pilot test will be conducted at the Power Systems Demonstration Facility at the National Carbon Capture Center, and the second test will be conducted at Sinopec's integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in China. These facilities use different types of gasifiers (air-blown transport gasifier vs. oxygen-blown gasifier) and feedstocks (low-rank coals vs. petcoke), which will allow researchers to assess process efficacy in very different gas streams. Based on the field test results and process model simulations, a techno-economic evaluation will be completed to calculate the impact of the CO₂ capture system on plant efficiency and the cost of electricity (COE).

The Gas Technology Institute (GTI), along with Air Liquide Advanced Separations, will continue development of a novel nanoporous, super-hydrophobic contactor process for solvent-based post-combustion CO₂ capture from coal-fired power plants. The polyether ether ketone (PEEK) hollow fiber contactor (HFC) will be advanced from bench-scale to pilot-scale testing. The PEEK HFC process takes advantage of both the compact nature of an HFC process and the high selectivity of an absorption process. In the process, CO₂-containing flue gas passes through one side of the PEEK HFC, while an advanced CO₂-selective solvent flows on the other side. The CO₂ permeates through the hollow fiber contactor pores and is chemically absorbed into the solvent. The CO₂ rich solvent is regenerated in a second PEEK HFC module. Pilot-scale testing will be conducted with commercial size 8-inch diameter modules on 0.5 megawatt electrical (MWe) equivalent of coal-derived flue gas at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC). Continuous steady-state operation will be conducted for a minimum of two months to collect data necessary for further process scale-up. A techno-economic analysis and an environmental, health, and safety assessment will be completed to validate the potential of the PEEK HFC process to achieve DOE’s performance goals of a 90 percent CO₂ capture rate with 95 percent CO₂ purity at a cost of no more than $40 per tonne of CO₂ captured by 2020.

TDA Research, Inc. is advancing their sorbent-based post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture process by designing and building a pilot-scale unit and testing it with a 0.5-MWe slipstream of flue gas at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC). TDA's process is based on an alkalized alumina adsorbent that uses low-pressure steam for desorption and operates at near atmospheric pressure, reducing the cost of CO₂ capture compared to commercially available amine-based and other solid sorbent-based systems. Previous bench-scale testing of the process using real coal-derived flue gas showed that TDA's sorbent can achieve greater than 90 percent CO₂ capture with stable CO₂ loading. In this project, TDA's sorbent-based process will be tested at NCCC under realistic conditions for continuous long-term operation to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of the technology for further scale up. Parametric testing will be conducted for 1.5 months to determine the optimum operating conditions and steady-state testing will be performed for a minimum of 2 months. Scale-up production of the sorbent will also be performed. A detailed techno-economic analysis based on integration with a nominal 550-MWe power plant will be completed based on pilot-scale test results.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is further developing their transformational solvent-based system for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture from power plant flue gas. The process couples a non-aqueous, switchable organic solvent (CO₂-binding organic liquids [CO₂BOLs]) platform with a unique polarity-swing-assisted regeneration (PSAR). PNNL tested the CO₂BOL/PSAR process at bench-scale in a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project (FE0007466) and found that the formulation of the CO₂BOL showed promising gains in net power, but also showed capital cost impracticality due to high viscosity. The focus of this project is to optimize, synthesize, and characterize CO₂BOL solvents to identify candidates with a CO₂-loaded viscosity below 50 centipoises and a material cost no greater than $10 per kilogram. Data from the new solvent variants will also be used to develop an understanding of how molecular structure impacts viscosity in transformational solvent systems. Phase I of the project focuses on designing and predicting physical and thermodynamic properties of solvents. Promising candidates will be synthesized and characterized, and solvent properties will be compared with predicted molecular simulations; liquid phase structure property correlations will be made. Candidates meeting desired synthetic costs and viscosity targets will be synthesized and studied further. In Phase II, the focus is on physical and thermodynamic property measurements to validate property predictions. The data will be added to thermodynamic and process models to project process performance, notably energetics and costing.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Southern Company Services, Inc. will continue the operation and maintenance of existing test facilities at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) to provide a platform for the evaluation of third-party technologies to reduce the cost of carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture from coal- and natural gas-fired power plants and to advance CO₂ utilization technologies and negative emissions technologies, such as direct air capture (DAC). The NCCC provides support in design, procurement, construction, installation, operation, data collection and analysis, and reporting in compliance with environmental and government regulations. The NCCC includes multiple, adaptable slipstream units that allow simultaneous testing of third-party laboratory-, bench-, and pilot-scale advanced CO₂ capture technologies from diverse fuel sources at commercially relevant process conditions.

More than 110,000 hours of technology testing has been completed on more than 60 membrane, solvent, and sorbent technologies and their associated systems at the NCCC test site in Wilsonville, Alabama. The evaluation of advanced technologies, both domestic and international, helps to identify and resolve environmental, health and safety, operational, component, and system development issues, as well as to achieve scale-up and process enhancements in collaboration with the technology developers.

General Electric Company (GE), in partnership with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), will develop expander shaft end seals for utility-scale supercritical CO₂ (SCO₂) power cycles. Phase I includes a conceptual design of a utility-scale end seal capable of meeting the component-level and system-level objectives. GE and SwRI will perform thermodynamic optimization and turbomachinery preliminary design to arrive at a conceptual layout for a utility-scale SCO₂ power plant. GE will then develop face seals as a solution to the end shaft sealing needed for SCO₂ turbo expanders. Finally, a conceptual design of a dedicated SCO₂ facility at SwRI will be developed with sufficient fidelity to enable generation of a detailed Phase II cost and schedule proposal.

The team of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), GE Global Research, American Air Liquide, Georgia Tech, University of Central Florida, and Spectral Energies will develop a high inlet temperature oxy-combustor suitable for integration into a direct-fired supercritical oxy-combustion power plant for fossil energy applications. Phase I efforts (which included another sub-award, Thar Energy) evaluated a direct-fired oxy-combustion system using system engineering design and thermodynamic analysis to assess plant efficiencies with ancillary loads, verify operating conditions for the supercritical oxy-combustor, and optimize the overall plant configuration. Phase I also included a technical gap analysis of the proposed plant to identify critical component and technology development needs and the initial design of a supercritical oxy-combustor suitable for direct-fired oxy-combustion using natural gas or syngas. The Phase II effort involves the design, hardware fabrication, process controls, and operations required for integrating the 1 MW_e SunShot sCO₂ Test Loop (developed under DE-EE0005804) with a ‘first-of-a-kind’ supercritical oxy-combustor along with consideration of thermal management, water separation, flue gas cleanup, materials, and corrosion. The 1 MWt sCO₂ oxy-combustor will provide a portion of the total SunShot test loop sCO₂ that is circulated.

The emphasis of the applied research to be performed is on enhancing the reliability, robustness, and endurance of SOFC stacks to commercially-viable levels. Ultimately this research will assist SOFC manufacturers in the commercialization of SOFC-based stationary power generation systems that will maintain U.S. leadership in this technology field.

There are two main thrusts to the PNNL FWP, materials development and modeling/simulation. Materials development tasks include evaluations of cathode materials, barrier layer densifiction, mitigation of chrome poisoning, contact material development, and interconnect development. Modeling/simulation tasks include the development of SOFC stack modeling tools such as stack degradation and reliability models to predict longer term performance of SOFCs and associated systems.

This Interagency Agreement supports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its research partners in understanding, predicting, and testing the recoverability and potential production characteristics of onshore natural gas hydrate in the Greater Prudhoe Bay area on the Alaska North Slope (ANS: Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk River, and Milne Point areas) or other areas deemed suitable by DOE and USGS for potential long-term production testing of gas hydrate. Researchers will accomplish these tasks by evaluating the occurrence and resource potential of the known gas hydrate accumulations in the Eileen trend. Geologic, geochemical, and geophysical (2-D and 3-D seismic surveys) data from northern Alaska and other data sources, including wireline and mud log surveys of wells of opportunity, will be used to assess the occurrence and nature of the known gas hydrate accumulations. The project involves two primary areas of effort: the geologic and engineering assessment of the Eileen gas-hydrate accumulation and support of DOE and its industry partners in evaluating, planning, and preparing for drilling and testing gas hydrate research wells in northern Alaska.

The primary project goal is to gain insight into the nature, formation, occurrence, and physical properties of methane hydrate-bearing sediments for methane hydrate resource appraisal through the planning and execution of drilling, coring, logging, testing, and analytical activities to assess the geologic occurrence, regional context, and characteristics of marine methane hydrate deposits in the Gulf of Mexico and/or other areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Previous drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has verified the presence of methane hydrate filled sand reservoirs and have shown that such reservoirs can be identified by seismic analysis. However, conventional and pressurized cores of these reservoirs have not been collected, a number of critical in-situ measurements have not been recorded, and pressure perturbation experiments have not been performed. The project team will attempt to address these issues by planning and executing state-of-the-art deepwater methane hydrate drilling programs targeting methane hydrate reservoirs on the U.S. continental margin. For the research field programs (in Phase 2 and Phase 5), initial scientific analysis will begin onboard the drillship. Following the field programs, careful, detailed evaluation of collected core and data will be continued by research groups within the project team as well as through collaborating researchers across the world. A full detailed account of shipboard drilling and sampling activities, follow-on core / data analyses, and full scientific results will be developed and made publicly available.

This project is to conduct a field-based hydraulic fracturing research program for horizontal shale wells with the objectives of reducing and minimizing potential environmental impacts, demonstrating safe and reliable operations, and improving the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing. The research will advance our understanding of the hydraulic fracturing process in shale reservoirs, and thus, enable the design and execution of effective fracture stages that significantly contribute to production. Improved design and execution of fracture stages will also reduce the number of future infill wells drilled, and reduce water volume and energy input. A smaller environment footprint associated with shale drilling will be the result of this work.

Phase 2: EOR was added to the project, where a series of cyclic gas injections will be performed to increase the oil recovery post initial hydraulic fracturing. The cyclic gas injection experiment will also be accompanied with state of the art diagnostics. Phase 2 will culminate with a core though well and production testing to quantify the production

increase of each gas injection.

Phase 3: Legacy Well Recompletion – Infill Stimulation was added to the project to determine the effectiveness of infill stimulation (fracturing in between existing perforations) for increasing production and recovery rates from existing horizontal wells. Activities will include provision of a field test site containing existing producing wells which will be candidates for in-fill recompletion; drilling of a slant observation well at the test site, including the collection of whole cores, open and cased hole logs, installation of permanent fiber optic cables and discrete pressure gages; monitoring pre-re-stimulation depletion patterns; re-completion of an existing horizontal well using an expandable liner to seal off existing perforations allowing in-fill stimulation, assessment of legacy and in-fill stimulation effectiveness, time-lapse interference testing, assessment of existing and newly created fracture geometry using microseismic and fiber optic data such as DTS, DAS, and DSS, time lapse oil fingerprinting, and public outreach including immediate data dissemination.

The objective of the proposed work is to develop both data and models to help better understand the linkage between thermoelectric power generation and water. This effort will involve two broad areas of research, one involving the development of a water atlas and the second assesses the water use requirement of fossil-fueled electric power plants. The water atlas task will compile estimates of water availability, cost and projected future demand at the watershed level (8-digit Hydraulic Unit Code [HUC],  which corresponds to roughly 2250 watersheds) for the lower 48 states of the U.S. Water availability and cost metrics will be developed for four sources of water including surface water, groundwater, municipal wastewater, and shallow brackish groundwater. The second task will enhance the analytical capabilities of the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) to assess water use requirements of fossil-fueled electric power plants to consider a variety of alternative water treatment and cooling technologies and processes for carbon capture and storage.

The Core Carbon Storage and Monitoring Research Program (CCSMR) aims to advance emergent monitoring technologies that can be used in commercial carbon storage projects. In FY17 our program is focused on highly leveraged international collaborations, where LBNL can apply emergent technologies in field monitoring to help accelerate the commercialization of carbon sequestration. The five scientific tasks include three international collaborations, the CO₂CRC Otway Project, the PTRC Aquistore Project, and the CMC FRS program, which are continuations of prior research efforts. A new collaboration under the US DOE-Japan CCS Collaborative Framework is being initiated with the Japanese Research Institute for Technologies of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE). LBNL and RITE will use the CMC FRS for testing distributed fiber-optic strain monitoring technologies to observe geomechanical changes induced by CO₂ sequestration. We will also be restarting the Mont Terri research that was previously funded in FY15 to investigate mechanisms governing induced seismicity. The primary technologies that we are focused on are those that can be transformative in continuous monitoring applications over long periods of time that can reduce monitoring costs and improve effectiveness. These include fiber-optic distributed acoustic, temperature, and strain sensing, along with well-based discrete sensing and sampling technologies.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Harvard University, and Carnegie Mellon University have teamed to develop processes that enhance and enable the use of advanced solvents to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from power plants using advanced manufacturing techniques. New solvents for the capture of CO₂ from coal-fired power plant flue gas pose challenges for conventional equipment due to slow kinetics, high viscosity, phase changes, corrosivity, or other issues. The team will develop processes to enhance and enable the use of these otherwise thermodynamically favorable solvents to capture CO₂ using advanced manufacturing techniques to encapsulate the solvents in a permeable membrane to overcome these challenges. Candidate solvents include CO₂-binding organic liquids developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, ionic liquids, and nano-metal-organic hybrids. Using a combination of first-principles calculations, computational fluid dynamics models, and bench-scale experiments, the team will identify and assess improvements to the design of industrial CO₂ absorbers made possible by advanced manufacturing. A range of novel concepts for improving the efficiency of gas-liquid exchange in industrial reactors will be explored. Process configurations for the microencapsulated CO₂ sorbents (MECS) will be identified by evaluating fluidized bed and fixed bed configurations using a combination of bench-scale experiments, analytical models, and numerical models. The most promising basic configuration (fluidized bed, fixed bed, or other) will be selected for further refinement. The properties of potential solvents will be measured using LLNL's microfluidic technique for rapid characterization of solvent properties. The custom apparatus, developed previously with National Energy Technology Laboratory support, will be used to measure the CO₂ absorption rate and capacity of candidate solvents. The apparatus will be extended with temperature controls to measure temperature-dependent capacity, allowing heats of reaction to be calculated, as well.

The USGS Interagency Agreement (IA) involves laboratory research and international field studies in which DOE/NETL has a significant interest. Geological and geophysical support for these efforts is critical to their success, and the USGS is uniquely qualified to provide this support. This IA is currently divided into six separate tasks. The primary objective of several tasks is to evaluate the production potential of the known gas hydrate accumulations on the North Slope of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico. To serve climate and energy resource goals of the Methane Hydrates R&D program on the U.S. Atlantic margin, the USGS will conduct an evaluation of upper slope, climate-susceptible gas hydrates and collaborate with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and other partners on determining potential sites for a future gas hydrates research drilling program. In order to develop a better understanding of gas hydrates, the USGS is conducting laboratory research to measure the properties of sediments containing synthetic hydrates using a range of experimental methods. The USGS supports cooperative projects between the U.S. and international partners. The USGS is also studying the links between Late Pleistocene to contemporary climate change and the state of the gas hydrate reservoir on global upper continental slopes and Arctic shelves. Research under this objective will enhance understanding of the susceptibility of marine gas hydrates and gas hydrates associated with subsea permafrost to warming climate as manifested by warming ocean waters. Key goals are to determine the rate of upper slope gas hydrate degradation, which includes not only studying the contemporary record and modeling the future, but also constraining the timing of onset of methane emissions on upper slopes.

The University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center (UNDEERC) will conduct complementary research and development (R&D) efforts under a Cooperative Agreement to advance and innovate science and energy technologies. Work will be performed in five topical areas of R&D: carbon storage; carbon capture; oil and gas; strategic studies; and support of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s (FECM) evolving mission. This program supports one of the three strategic goals to advance foundational science, innovate energy technologies, and inform data-driven policies that enhance U.S. economic growth and job creation, energy security, and environmental quality. The agreement builds on the proven approach and accomplishments of previous agreements between EERC and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) that have led to commercial demonstration and deployment of advanced technologies through jointly sponsored research on topics that would not be adequately addressed by the private sector alone.

This Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) project will establish a site to develop, test, and improve technologies and techniques for the creation of enhanced geothermal systems. In the first phase of the project, the University of Utah will develop a conceptual geologic model of the site and develop plans to carry out the full scope of the project. During the second phase of the project, permitting will be addressed and early field work will begin. The final phase of the project is dedicated to fully developing the field site, including the drilling and stimulation of multiple wells with the intent of creating a functioning geothermal system.

Management of fluid pressures is expected to be a key issue in the implementation of full-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage operations. Injection of CO₂ into the storage reservoir causes fluid pressures to rise in the reservoir, potentially resulting in high rock stresses that can cause reactivation of faults or fracturing of caprock, thus losing its ability to contain the CO₂. At some sites, extraction of saline groundwater from the storage reservoir may be required to maintain safe working pressures when CO₂ is injected into the subsurface and to enhance CO₂ storage capacity and injectivity. The brine from the formation will likely be produced in significant quantities and contain high concentrations of total dissolved solids. With treatment, this water could be desalinated and put to beneficial use at a power station for cooling or for other uses, thus reducing the risk associated with brine re-injection/disposal. The overall objective of this Brine Extraction Storage Test (BEST) project is to help develop cost-effective pressure control, plume management and produced water strategies that can be used to improve reservoir storage efficiency and capacity, and demonstrate safe, reliable containment of CO₂ in deep geologic formations with CO₂ permanence of 99% or better. In addition, operational experience gained from implementing the field demonstration at a power plant site will provide realistic and practical learnings that can be incorporated into future updates of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) best practice manuals related to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). In Phase I, the Recipient identified a preferred field site location, conducted life-cycle analyses for produced water extraction, treatment, transportation and residual waste disposal. Monitoring and injection/production strategies were developed for measuring and controlling the subsurface reservoir pressure and injection plume, and a series of work plans for field demonstrations of pressure management and treatment of extracted brines were prepared.

The University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) (Grand Forks, ND), GE Global Research, Computer Modeling Group, and Schlumberger Carbon Services worked together in Phase I of this project to create a technical design package for a brine extraction and storage test. The design focused on validating approaches for active reservoir management and extracted water treatment. Concurrent with site selection activities, viable pilot-ready water treatment technologies were screened for their potential to be deployed at the Phase II site. Surface facilities were designed for the selected site to be flexible and modular, able to accommodate most pilot-ready water treatment technologies.

This BEST (Brine Extraction Storage Test) project was one of two BEST projects selected (through a downselection process) to be continued into Phase II.

In Phase II, EERC is conducting a field validation test of the design developed in Phase I. The field validation effort be integrated with an operating commercial saltwater disposal facility located near Watford City, North Dakota. The objectives of the project are to confirm the efficacy of the active reservoir management (ARM) approaches developed during Phase I for managing formation pressure, predicting and monitoring differential pressure plume movement, and validating pressure and brine plume model predictions. The project will use engineered brine injection and extraction tests, monitoring and verification practices, and iterative simulation modeling to evaluate and understand the effect of various ARM strategies. The project will also implement and operate a test bed facility for the evaluation of selected brine treatment technologies for treating high total dissolved solids (TDS) extracted waters. Project activities will be conducted in three development stages over 48 months, including 1) site preparation and construction, 2) site operations including ARM and brine treatment technology testing and demonstration, and 3) project closeout/decommissioning and data processing/reporting.

The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), in conjunction with its industry partner, Pratt & Whitney (P&W), will test new cooling improvements for the turbine rotating blade platform in order to increase machine efficiency and reduce costs which will be referred as the Proprietary Cooled Blade Studies. The scope of the project includes: (1) the planning and execution of the Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine (START) facility and instrumentation upgrades to include a heated main gas path with full-span airfoils, long-wave infrared thermography, and unsteady pressures; (2) the design and manufacturing of a rainbow set of blades with baseline and advanced cooling configurations; (3) measurements of aerodynamics and heat transfer for baseline and advanced configurations over a range of cooling flows, Reynolds numbers, rotational Reynolds numbers, and flow angles; and (4) continual assessment of additive manufactured components to reduce costs and advance cooling designs. The project will focus on performing the first open-literature, consecutive comparisons of baseline and advanced cooling configurations in a test turbine with realistic engine hardware and flow conditions. The project will also allow direct comparisons of airfoil heat transfer measurements to be made in three relevant testing environments: low speed and temperature, high pressure temperature static conditions, and high velocity rotational conditions. This back-to-back comparison will provide data to guide the gas turbine industry in introducing these new cooling technologies into operating gas turbines. This work builds on previous NETL-Regional University Alliance (RUA) Contract FWP-2012.03.02.

Since the inception of the Proprietary Cooled Blade study and the desire to involve a larger community of turbine manufacturers, DOE-NETL initiated an annual meeting at Penn State to gather industry feedback on the integration of the cooling technologies into the proprietary blade design. Companies attending the meeting represented all of the US turbine manufacturers as well as a number of other federal agencies such as NASA, ONR, and the AF. While the companies were pleased to provide input, they also realized that the data produced would be limited given the blade geometry was proprietary and only scaled results would be shared. During these meetings, there was a strong push from the manufacturers to develop a turbine geometry that all could have access to rather than have a proprietary blade design. This push started the inception of discussions of a common turbine geometry.

Through further DOE-NETL and Penn State discussions with industry and other federal agencies, the National Experimental Turbine (NExT) Cooled Blade Studies was initiated. At the DOE Peer Review in April 2019, the reviewers emphasized the need for a common turbine geometry. NExT is proposed to be a turbine testing platform focused on US technology advancement, designed in collaboration with four turbine manufacturers –Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, Solar, and Siemens – in partnership with Agilis, a turbine design firm. The NExT vane and blade geometry as well as all of the baseline data will be shared with all of the turbine manufacturers, US federal agencies and US universities within the data management plan. While all turbine geometries are highly proprietary, the goal for NeXT is to provide a modern turbine design that can be used by several organizations, which is a distinctly different effort than the proprietary cooled blade studies, which uses a proprietary blade design thereby limiting the applicability for the turbine manufacturers. The NExT platform is essential to provide all the details needed to do accurate code development.

In this Phase 2 project, the team of Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), University of Kentucky/Center for Applied Energy Research, and Winner Water Services will develop and demonstrate a pilot scale plant to economically produce salable REE-rich concentrates including yttrium and scandium (REYSc) and commercially viable co-products from coal ash feedstock using environmentally safe and high-yield physical and chemical enrichment/recovery processes. The pilot plant will operate at the scale of approximately 0.4-1 tons per day (tpd) ash throughput for physical processing and about 0.5 tpd for chemical processing, producing at least 50 g of dry REYSc nitrates concentrate containing more than 10 percent by weight of REYSc, and targeting 500 g of dry REYSc nitrates concentrate containing more than 20 percent REYSc by weight. The ash feedstock will come from the Dale power plant in Ford, KY, with at least 300 ppm of REYSc content, though more than 500 ppm is anticipated. The data obtained from the pilot plant operations will be used to enhance and validate the techno-economic analysis that was completed for both the physical and chemical processing plants at a scale of 600 tpd in Phase 1, and use it to design a commercial scale plant (hundreds of tpd throughput) with return on investment in less than seven years.

Redox Power Systems, LLC (Redox) together with the University of Maryland Energy Research Center (UMERC) and the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) will develop a high power density solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack that is reduction-oxidation (red-ox) stable for robust, reliable, and lower cost distributed generation. The stacks will be built using an intermediate-temperature SOFC operating at 550-650 degrees Celsius based on an advanced, electrically conductive all-ceramic anode support. The objective of the overall project is to improve the red-ox stability of Redox stacks while reducing costs through the: (1) Scale-up and optimization of all-ceramic anode material processing and cell fabrication for lower cost manufacturing; (2) Determination of all-ceramic anode degradation mechanisms with an optimization of anode compositions and geometries for enhanced red-ox stability of the optimized, robust cells; (3) Demonstration of a 1-2 kW stack that is more robust for red-ox cycling with the use of accelerated, lifecycle, and failure testing; and (4) Demonstration of a 10 percent reduction in system cost and a 30 percent reduction in operation and maintenance (O&M) costs compared to a system without a red-ox stable stack.

Reaction Engineering International (REI) will team with experts from the University of Utah, Praxair, South East University, Nanjing, China, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and Corrosion Management, Ltd, UK to design and construct a dry pulverized coal feeding and firing system for an existing 32 bar (rated) 300kW entrained flow pressurized reactor. This project will determine how dry feed pressurized oxy-coal combustion will impact design of the burner and firing system, radiative heat transfer in the burner zone, slagging and fouling propensity of the ash and its deposition rates, and high temperature corrosion. Experiments will be tailored to provide a comprehensive data set including; measurements of heat flux profiles, investigation of flame shapes, sampling and analysis of ash aerosol, measurement of surface deposition rates, and sampling and analysis of slagging deposits. Resulting test data will be used to validate mechanisms describing heat transfer, ash deposition, and corrosion. An economic analysis will be performed showing the differences between dry fed and slurry fed systems. This project builds upon an existing DOE Cooperative Agreement DE-FE0025168.

Broadband, high-resolution strain is a new signal that has seen limited use in carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage or geothermal exploration, largely because of limitations in instrumentation and data analyses. This project is demonstrating a method for improving the ability to track pressure and strain changes in order to identify possible CO₂ release pathways. They will be evaluating multiple types of point and multi-component instruments using innovative optical fiber sensor fabrication techniques to measure multiple components of strain. Theoretical analyses using analytical and numerical solutions to fully coupled poroelastic models are also being integrated with an innovative hybrid inverse model to interpret strain measurement signals. The instrumentation and interpretation methods will be demonstrated at a CO₂ storage analog site in Oklahoma.

This project is designed to validate a technology to enhance the monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) of CO₂ injected underground for the purpose of long-term geologic storage and enhanced oil and gas recovery. Specifically, the effort is deploying, validating, and integrating an ultra-high-resolution 3D marine seismic (UHR3D) technology appropriate for large-demonstration and commercial-scale offshore CCS sites. Researchers are acquiring and validating at least one ultra-high-resolution 3D seismic dataset at an operational carbon capture and storage demonstration site. The study will use this data acquisition to validate the innovative, dynamic acoustic-positioning techniques. Subsequently, they will use this information to define the extent and boundaries of the CO₂ plume, and track and quantify the uncertainty of spatial and temporal movement of CO₂ through the reservoir.

The objectives of this project and for this facility are to demonstrate the operability of the supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) power cycle, verify the performance of components (turbomachinery, recuperators, and compressors, etc.), show the potential for producing a lower cost of electricity in relevant applications, and demonstrate the potential and pathway for a thermodynamic cycle efficiency greater than 50 percent. Ultimately, this project will demonstrate at least a 700°C turbine inlet temperature or higher design point, and produce a recompression closed Brayton cycle (RCBC) configuration that can be used to demonstrate and evaluate system and component design and performance capabilities (including turbomachinery and recuperators in steady state, transient, load following, and limited endurance operation). The facility will also be capable of being reconfigured to accommodate potential future testing of system/cycle upgrades, new cycle configurations, and new or upgraded components in addition to next-generation turbomachinery and heat exchanger technology. The project team is led by Gas Technology Institute (GTI) with two prime subrecipients (Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and General Electric Global Research) plus the University of Wisconsin and Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetEnergy. They will design, construct, commission, and operate a 10-MWe sCO₂ pilot plant test facility located at SwRI’s San Antonio, Texas campus.

The tasks proposed under this award will focus on improvements to the Risk Based Data Management Systems (RBDMS) in progressive budget periods. RBDM is a suite of tools for all aspects of managing regulatory data. The major objectives of this project include the upgrade the RBDMS to a web based application, making the RBDMS user interface more intuitive and easier to use in progressive budget periods; provide outreach to states and agencies through training programs, special meetings, and state by state outreach for all RBDMS products; update and install RBDMS modules in additional state programs; address information gaps for states on produced water and gas storage, and the creation of additional water management tools. The RBDMS website can be found at https://www.rbdms.org/

Additionally, the project maintains FracFocus which is a growing database of chemical disclosures providing the general public with access to information about chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. FracFocus was created in 2011 to provide the general public with access to information about chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and to provide factual information about hydraulic fracturing chemical use. The system allows state regulatory agencies to receive disclosure of chemicals and fluids used in the process of hydraulic fracturing from operators. Reports from more than 1,100 companies reporting chemicals for more than 138,000 hydraulic fracturing operations nationwide have been received. The FracFocus Website can be found at https://www.fracfocus.org/

In this Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project, Luna Innovations and its partners Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Nooter/Eriksen, and the University of Illinois at Chicago will address the materials optimization, design, and scale up of solid phase supports that have the potential to sustainably operate in dual phase membranes at high carbon dioxide (CO₂) separation rates and thermally favorable conditions. Dual phase membranes consist of a porous solid material supporting a non-volatile liquid electrolyte and enable passive CO₂ separation from flue gas, allowing for lower energy costs at large scale. Research studies by LLNL have led to using yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) – an inert, high-strength ceramic – as a highly promising support material in dual phase membranes for both pre-combustion and post-combustion CO₂ capture. Luna’s complimentary U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SBIR program (DE-SC0015123) is focused on optimizing the liquid phase portion of the technology for post-combustion CO₂ capture, while the feasibility, stability, and scalability of the solid phase support under relevant operational conditions have yet to be explored and will be the focus of this project. YSZ, along with its derivatives, will be evaluated as both a standalone solid phase support, and in conjunction with a single molten salt electrolyte. Through surface modification with metal oxide support materials and prototype modeling of scaled-up form factors, the developed solid phase supports will provide the performance and scalability necessary to separate CO₂ from flue gas in the 400-600°C temperature range that is typically found in fossil fuel power plant heat recovery steam generators (HRSG). In Phase I, the team developed high stability support materials with precision manufactured tubular membranes and achieved the highest separation rates recorded for a CO₂ membrane. Phase II efforts will focus on the design of a multi-tube membrane module, long-term stability testing, and materials evaluation, with the goal of commercializing dual phase CO₂ separation membranes as the program progresses into Phase III.

The Illinois State Geological Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, along with partners including Schlumberger Carbon Services, Indiana Geological Survey, Brigham Young University, and Richland Community College, will work to establish the feasibility of a commercial-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) geologic storage complex within the Mt. Simon sandstone formation located in Macon County, Illinois. The project is part of the Storage Complex Feasibility Phase of the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative, which aims to perform initial characterization of carbon capture and storage (CCS) complexes with potential for 50 million metric tons or more of industrial-sourced CO₂, and to establish feasibility of the complexes for commercial storage (Figure 1). The project team will conduct a commercial-scale initial characterization of a site within the Mt. Simon storage complex and develop datasets of formation parameters in order to evaluate the suitability of the site for CCS. A stratigraphic test well will be drilled in the Forsyth Oil Field to establish the potential capacity for this complex. Static and dynamic modeling will be used to examine the performance of the site and evaluate it for long-term security. The models will be used to identify improvements in storage capacity estimations. A detailed plan will be prepared for further characterization requirements to reduce subsurface uncertainty at this site and for continued work toward commercialization of storage complexes. Public outreach components and permitting requirements, legal issues, and contractual issues will be considered for the project. The project will work towards the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) objective of producing a feasible CCS stacked storage complex in the Illinois Basin region.

The primary objective of the proposed project is to provide the National Energy Technology Laboratory's Hybrid Performance (HYPER) Facility the needed numerical methods algorithm(s), software development and implementation support to enact real time cyber-physical systems that simulate process dynamics on the order of five milliseconds or smaller. The proposed paths forward comprise three distinct approaches to faster transient simulations. They fall under the numerical methods categories of: 1) optimizing key parameters within the facility's present real time processing scheme; 2) introducing an "informed" processing approach wherein a priori computations expedite real time attempts; and 3) implementing alternatives to the presently employed explicit-implicit blended finite difference (spatio-temporal) approach. Each of these three classes will be attempted independently as options for improvement, yet in some cases one may complement another.

Growing water and energy needs mandate implementation of technologies promoting water recovery and/or use of alternative water resources to provide clean water for power plant operations while reducing their reliance on fresh water. Water vapor capture from flue gas and non-conventional water resource utilization including extracted high-salinity brine treatment and use provide a path forward to meet the water needs of the power production industry. The focus of this effort is to develop a thermally robust membrane separation technology for use in challenging corrosive flue gas and high-salinity brine environments for clean water production. Polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based membranes are excellent candidates for these extreme environment water separations owing to their high water vapor transport characteristics and demonstrated thermo-chemical durability. Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a suite of PBI materials and membrane platforms that have proven exceptional for harsh environment elevated temperature separations, e.g., carbon dioxide capture in pre-combustion syngas environments. The focus of this effort is to gather PBI membrane performance data and demonstrate durability at process-relevant operating conditions for flue gas dehydration (65 degrees Celsius [°C] in presence of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides) and high-salinity extracted water treatment (50,000 to 300,000 mg/L total dissolved solids and up to 200 °C).

The primary goal of this research is to develop an innovative approach to provide an improved level of thermal protection for hot-section components, such as turbine airfoils, in modern and future gas turbines. The research efforts will primarily focus on the development of integrating transpiration cooling with lattice-structure enhanced internal cooling. The proposed work will be built on proven anti-oxidation material, i.e. oxide-dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy, and will utilize advanced additive manufacturing technologies. The utilization of ODS lattice structures near the outer surface of turbine airfoils could lay a foundation for further development of more advanced thermal protection innovation.

Research into axial staging has become increasingly important to enable power plant efficiency increase without increasing NOx emissions. Engine manufacturers have performed full-scale testing of axially staged combustor designs, but the costs and complexities limit the design space that can be evaluated through testing. The known small-scale tests to date have been performed at atmospheric conditions and not necessarily with geometry and operating conditions appropriate to real engines. Axial staging is an important topic that engine manufacturers need to understand better to meet future efficiency and emission requirements. This project will characterize flame extinction dynamics for fuel flexible low-emission combustion. The data obtained from this project will be correlated into a reacting jet in crossflow model to help in the design of engines. An improved understanding and prediction of flame extinction and dynamic flame stability will guide strategies to improve efficiency, reduce emissions, and improve performance of power generation combustion systems.

With engine temperatures exceeding the limits that metallic blades and vanes can endure, advanced monitoring techniques that ensure the integrity and durability of thermal barrier coatings are paramount to continuous and safe operation. The University of Central Florida will use key properties of optical radiation—including temporal, spectral and spectral intensity response modes, coupled with active sensing from coating properties—to gain diagnostic information on high temperature Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs). Materials design incorporating rare earth elements within TBCs to create the self-indicating property will be accompanied by research efforts to correlate optical measurements to TBC diagnostic parameters. The methods will be developed and demonstrated at the laboratory scale with the goal of future implementation for gas-turbine ready conditions.

The Georgia Tech Research Corporation will focus on experimentation and computational model development for large-diameter, multi-nozzle turbine combustors. The work includes a combination of detailed experiments with laser and optical diagnostics that provide high spatio-temporal resolution of the flow, flame heat release, and pressure in a turbine combustor; and reduced order modeling of the flame response coupling with the acoustic field. Reduced order modeling for the flame response using physics-based descriptions of the flame dynamics and a hydrodynamic stability analysis for acoustic-hydrodynamic coupling will enable model development for use in design tools, which will improve turbine operating performance when implemented.

Pennsylvania State University will deliver a computational 3-D model set that can be implemented within current turbine manufacturing design practices. To achieve this, they will first produce four engine-scale turbine cooling passage configurations and cooling hole geometry configurations using additive manufacturing techniques representative of current gas turbine practice. They will then advance, validate, and apply volumetric based Discrete Element Roughness Modeling (DERM) to engine-scale turbine blade cooling passages, and carry out validation quality local flow and heat transfer measurements using geometrically up-scaled hardware in facilities at Baylor University, and then develop optimized designs for cooling passage and cooling hole geometries that accommodate the critically important and mechanistically modeled effects of the complex roughness field that arises in Powder Bed Fusion manufacturing.

The objective of Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in this project is to evaluate novel complexation chemistries for the development of innovative sensing technologies for rare earth elements (REEs). Complexation of lanthanides by peptides, coupled with the unique spectroscopic properties of lanthanides, is the underpinning for luminescent applications of lanthanide binding tags (LBTs), originally invented as biochemical tools for the study of proteins. A peptide sequence specifically designed to bind lanthanides includes amino acids which have chromophore side-chains (tyrosine or tryptophan), and upon lanthanide binding the complex exhibits unique luminescence properties, enabling detection and visualization. In coal and coal by-products, although specific lanthanide enrichments may vary by provenance, generally the whole lanthanide series is present. A positive signal generated upon exposure of a sample to the specialized REE ligand would imply that the sample is enriched with REE and is worthy of further examination. Specifically, INL will evaluate whether the chemistry of LBTs or other novel chromophore ligands can serve as the foundation for tools enabling rapid screening of REE-containing materials in the field.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a collaborator on this project through award FWP-LLNL-17-FEW0231.

The Los Alamos effort comprises two complementary tasks. The first task will evaluate current and enhanced actinide/lanthanide separation processes relative to identifying potential processes and strategies for REE separation from coal and coal by-products. This effort will evaluate existing separation approaches developed for nuclear materials to determine their potential for application to REEs extraction, and will include consideration of the techno-economics of these processes and challenges related to their energy intensity, selectivity, and process complexity. The second task will evaluate the potential of developing new processing and separation schemes based on emerging technologies. The initial phase of the project will screen the following processing approaches: (1) Processing under hydrothermal conditions; this effort builds on previous work that suggests that better control of lanthanides speciation at elevated temperature can be exploited to perform efficient REEs separation. (2) REE-selective extraction using supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂) and soluble ligands; this effort builds on initial proof-of-concept studies on supercritical CO₂ that show great promise for simple and effective separation of REE from oxide materials. (3) Separation of REE using ionic liquids and other solvent-based systems.

West Virginia University Research Corporation will refine and validate the effectiveness of their previous electrochemical sensor for high temperature (HT) corrosion in coal-based power generation boilers; optimize the HT sensor; and develop a pathway toward commercialization. Sensors will be tested at two scales; 1) commercial-scale sensors will be optimized specifically for a net 700 MW Amec Foster Wheeler once-through, low-mass flux, vertical tube, Advanced Supercritical (A-USC) boiler and 2) bench-scale sensors will be tested under a range of operating conditions that would serve a variety of coal-fired combustion boilers. A software and a corrosion database will also be developed, enabling operators to interpret sensor data into actionable information.

The purpose of the project is to improve the performance and economics of coal-fired utilities and industrial scale boilers through the reduction of fouling and the promotion of dropwise condensation using advanced coating materials. HeatX is a composite coating material, developed by Oceanit Laboratories, Inc., that has demonstrated adhesion and abrasion resistance even at thin applied thicknesses, which may enable its use on heat conducting surfaces without impacting heat transfer. Additionally, HeatX can potentially be applied in-place to existing, in-service exchanger units that have been pre-fouled, allowing it to be deployed as part of a regular refurbishment and maintenance schedule. The HeatX material may also have potential for reducing biofouling on seawater-fed shell and tube heat exchangers, which could substantially increase their efficiency and reduce maintenance requirements.

The objective of this project is to establish a framework capable of efficiently predicting the properties of structural materials for service in harsh environments over a wide range of temperatures and over long periods of time. The approach will be to develop and integrate high-throughput first-principles calculations based on density functional theory in combination with machine learning methods, perform high throughput calculation of phase diagrams (CALPHAD) modeling, and carry out finite-element-method simulations. In regard to high-temperature service in fossil power systems, nickel-based superalloys Inconel 740 and Haynes 282 will be investigated.

The objective of this project is to develop a prototype multipoint ultrasound measurements of segmental temperature distribution (US-MSTD) method by refining the existing implementation and evolving its capabilities to include measurements at multiple locations across several zones and the characterization of soot and other deposits. The implementation of the US-MSTD method with metal waveguides is particularly appealing as a step towards the applications in measuring temperature distribution along steam tubes and other metal components of utility and industrial boilers. Refinements of the prototype US-MSTD system with its new features and capabilities will be validated through multiple tests in an iterative progression from laboratory experiments to testing at the pilot scale and large utility boilers at the Hunter Power Plant.

The University of South Carolina will develop a membrane stack and module for air separation and oxygen production by scaling up a innovative technology involving an intermediate-temperature ceramic hollow fiber membrane. The technology is then incorporated into a REMS­ gasification skid and supports the oxidant feed of an oxygen-blown REMS gasifier scaled to various ranges. Overall, successful development of this technology may improve performance, reliability, and scale-up flexibility, as well as reduce capital and operating costs. These improvements could have broader impacts on the development of high-performance and durable air-separation technologies for oxygen­ intensive industries.

The purpose of this project is to improve the performance and economics of existing coal-fired power plants by extending boiler operation to lower loads. The objective is to develop and validate sensor hardware and analytical algorithms to lower plant operating expenses for the pulverized coal utility boiler fleet. The focus is on relatively inexpensive new “Internet of Things” technologies to minimize capital investment. Three technologies will be explored for demonstration and full-scale testing in a coal-fired power plant. The first focuses on gas and steam temperature control issues at low load. The second uses sensors and analytic algorithms for monitoring coal pulverizer operation at lower loads to reduce the minimum firing capability of coal burners. The third investigates new sensors and advanced controls to better balance air and fuel at each burner enabling reduction in the minimum firing capability of coal burners. Enabling lower load boiler and plant operation may help coal fired power plants more effectively compete for electric grid dispatch in a grid increasingly driven by intermittent renewable energy sources.

The Southwest Research Institute plans to advance flameless pressurized oxy-combustion (FPO) technology, making it more efficient and commercially viable by developing, building, and testing a flue gas particle separator for the FPO cycle, which is a component critical to the advancement of solid coal power generation technology. The separator will potentially remove harmful particulates from the process flue gas, preventing erosion of downstream machinery while maintaining a low pressure drop, thereby ensuring that the cycle operates at maximum efficiency. It will be demonstrated to operate at high temperatures to ensure the maximum amount of power can be extracted from the turbo-expander. Many candidate separator designs will be considered—from centrifugal or curvature to more novel concepts, such as indexed surface impact adhesion. The design will go through a final design evaluation and fabrication, after which it will be shipped to a test location facility.

Microbeam Technologies Inc. (Microbeam) will demonstrate the ability to improve boiler performance and reliability through integrated use of condition-based monitoring (CBM) and predictions of the impacts of coal quality on boiler operations at an operating coal-fired power plant. Microbeam will develop a tool to train neural networks and create neural-network-augmented Combustion System Performance Indices (CSPI)-CoalTracker (CT) software to manage coal quality and boiler operations, and alert plant operators and engineers about poor boiler conditions. The goal is to integrate the operations of the CSPI-CT into plant control systems and plant operating parameters. To achieve this goal, Microbeam will install a beta version of CPSI-CT at an operating power plant, develop statistical correlations and neural networks to determine impact of fuel properties and plant parameters on plant performance, integrate the neural networks and statistical correlations in CSPI-CT software, conduct on-site field tests and perform advanced analysis on samples obtained, and validate performance improvements achieved by using closed-loop control of coal blending and boiler operations to optimize plant performance.

The University of Maine will develop, adapt, implement, test, and transition wireless harsh-environment surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor technology in coal-fired power plants. The technology offers several potential advantages for inline monitoring of coal-based power generation systems including accurate, battery-free, maintenance-free wireless operation. The small footprint will potentially allow flexible sensor placement and embedding of multiple sensor arrays into a variety of components that can be sampled with a near-by interrogating antenna and radio frequency signal processing unit. The temperature and/or strain measurements acquired from wireless SAW sensors represent critical data for actively monitoring the health condition and detecting failures in boiler tubes, headers, and piping at several key locations in coal-based power generation facilities. Expected outcomes include a matured technology; advancements in the packaging of SAW sensors and antennas to allow long-term robust operation; refined wireless communications protocols and signal processing; improved thin films and sensor packaging; and prototype static and dynamic strain SAW sensors. The University of Maine will install and test their resulting prototype wireless sensor systems at a solid-waste-to-energy plant and a coal-fired power plant.

The project goal is to demonstrate a transformational technology for chemical looping combustion (CLC) that overcomes two challenges to commercial CLC deployment: the high cost of oxygen carrier (OC) replacement/loss and incomplete fuel conversion. Specific technical objectives include demonstrating an OC composition and manufacturing platform at the cost of natural ore-derived OCs; fully elucidating the phase transformations, sulfur interactions, and coal ash interactions that may inhibit OC performance, cause agglomerations/sintering, or impact its recyclability; and testing a combination of CLC components from laboratory through to a 10 kWth scale in a fully integrated CLC system. A techno-economic analysis will be completed for the technology, based on these testing results, and will benchmark the technology to current state-of-the-art CLC processes.

This project is developing and validating an integrated package of joint seismic-pressure-petrophysics inversion of a continuous active-source seismic monitoring dataset capable of providing real-time monitoring of a carbon dioxide (CO₂) plume during geologic carbon storage. The resulting real-time map of CO₂ saturation obtained using this process will provide a deeper understanding of the complex, time-varying dynamics of the subsurface fluid flow migration path, as well as the rapid detection of potential CO₂ leakage.

The objective of this project is to determine the condenser efficiency improvements as well as the reduction of continuous feed water treatment coal-fired plants could realize by utilizing Interphase’s heat transfer enhancement technology (HTE system). Previous lab-scale work has demonstrated that the HTE system can inhibit biofouling, microbiologically induced corrosion, and scale build up as well as improve baseline heat transfer efficiency of cooling systems in laboratory scale testing. By applying the HTE system first to field test rigs at the Longview site, and subsequently the condenser at the Longview plant, Interphase and Longview will collect field data on the HTE system’s potential to increase heat transfer efficiency in the condenser cooling systems of coal-fired power plants.

This project is working to develop geophysical contrast agents for enhanced monitoring of injected carbon dioxide (CO₂) in sedimentary rocks and for mapping fracture networks in depleted shale gas formations. The focus of the project is characterizing coupled geochemical, pore network, and geomechanical responses to subsurface fluid-rock interactions that are associated with unconventional reservoirs. The effort is divided into three technical tasks.

The Field Laboratory for Emerging Stacked Unconventional Plays (ESUP) in Central Appalachia project will investigate and characterize the resource potential for multi-play production of emerging unconventional reservoirs in Central Appalachia.

The overall objective of this project is to carry out multiple experiments to evaluate well completion design optimization and environmental impact quantification using a Hydraulic Fracture Test Site (HFTS2) experiment well in the Delaware Basin portion of the Permian Basin of western Texas, targeting the Wolfcamp formation. This project will be modeled in part on the successful HFTS1 experiment located in the Midland Basin. The team will recover core and directly measure formation properties, record and study environmental impacts (air emissions and water impacts), determine optimum well spacing based on fracturing efficiency, evaluate inter-well interference between horizontal wells in order to assess well spacing effectiveness, identify and evaluate the distribution and effectiveness of geological fracture barriers, evaluate pressure front barriers created in the stimulation sequence, test alternative hydraulic fracture designs in different wells in a relatively consistent geological setting, measure production performance by stage/perf cluster, collect data for detailed 3-D earth models for reservoir simulation and fracture evaluation, enhance microseismic data acquisition and analysis techniques, evaluate microbial impacts on biological corrosion and reservoir quality deterioration, and characterize any changes in shallow aquifers, flow-back and formation water.

The goal of this project is to improve efficiency of oil and gas recovery from hydraulically fractured horizontal wells. This field-based research will be conducted in the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Shale Formations with the purpose of addressing fundamental questions such as the extent of the true stimulated reservoir volume and the complexity of the resulting fracture system. Utilizing newly-developed and comprehensive monitoring solutions, the team will deliver unprecedented and comprehensive high-quality field data to improve scientific knowledge of the hydraulic fracturing process when multiple wells are fractured from a single pad location. This knowledge will allow optimized production from less new wells with less material and energy use.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is also a recipient under this award, and their work is captured through a separate support FWP (FWP-FP00006273). The total award value of this support FWP is $2,000,000 (all DOE Share), bringing the total value of this project and all recipients to $20,450,502 (DOE Share: $9,778835; Performer Share: $10,671,667).

The overall goal of this project is to advance a membrane-based, post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture process to a large pilot stage. Membrane Technology and Research (MTR) will construct and operate a large pilot system of the MTR membrane post-combustion CO₂ capture technology. MTR will build this system at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center (WITC) at Basin Electric’s 422-megawatt (MW) Dry Fork Station located in Gillette, Wyoming. This station processes sub-bituminous coal from the Western Fuels’ Dry Fork Mine. Successful operation of the MTR large pilot membrane system will result in capturing 70% of the CO₂ from a 10-MWe equivalent slipstream, representing capture of approximately 150 metric tons of CO₂ per day at the station.

MTR subcontractor Sargent & Lundy (S&L) will perform the detailed design; Trimeric Corporation (another MTR subcontractor) will perform detailed design of CO₂ compression and purification, as well as conduct a techno-economic analysis; and Graycor (another MTR subcontractor) will provide construction services.

The overall project has five budget periods (BPs): Phase I/BP1—Feasibility (completed in 2019); Phase II/BP2—Front-End Engineering Design (FEED; completed in 2021); Phase III/BP3—Detailed Design and Construction (Initiated in 2021); Phase III/BP4—Operation; and Phase III/BP5—Decommissioning.

This project provides a system approach for developing the next generation of well cementing with multifunctional, high performance characteristics— including mechanical, thermal, rheological, and durability properties—to prevent offshore spill and leakage at extreme high temperature, high pressure, and corrosive conditions. A proof-of-concept hexagonal boron-nitride/cement composite will be developed and tuned to offer optimum slurry formulation and rheological properties, and the best hybrid nanostructure. The actual barrier efficiency and performance of this cement formulation will be tested against gas/liquid leakage inside a simulated environment. The well cement product is cost-effective, has no toxicity, and easily integrates to existing equipment and facilities.

Researchers at the University of Illinois, in partnership with the Linde Group, BASF Corporation, Affiliated Engineers, Inc., and Affiliated Construction Services, Inc., are designing an amine-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture pilot-scale (10 megawatt-electric [MWe]) system at an existing coal-fired power plant. The system is based on the Linde-BASF advanced CO₂ capture process incorporating BASF’s novel solvent with an advanced stripper inter-stage heater design to optimize heat recovery. In a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project, the Linde-BASF CO₂ capture technology showed the potential to be cost-effective and energy-efficient using actual flue gas during pilot-scale (1.5 MWe) testing at the National Carbon Capture Center. The aqueous amine-based solvent was optimized to exhibit long-term stability and a 20 percent reduction in regeneration energy requirements when compared to commercially available solvents; additional improvements in process design further reduce the cost of CO₂ capture.

Projects to design, construct, and operate large-scale pilots of transformational coal technologies are being conducted in three phases, with a down-select between phases. In Phase I of this project, the team completed preliminary design and engineering analyses for a 10 MWe capture facility installed at three potential host sites and selected the City, Water, Light and Power’s (CWLP) Dallman Power Plant as the host site based on the studies. The project team also completed an Environmental Information Volume (EIV) for the selected site, updated preliminary cost and schedule estimates, secured cost-share commitments for Phase II, and developed a plan for securing cost-share commitments for Phase III. The project was selected for Phase II (Design), in which the team will complete a front-end engineering design (FEED) study, including a detailed cost and schedule estimate for Phase III for the installation of the 10 MWe pilot at CWLP, complete the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and any required permitting processes at CWLP, secure Phase III (construction/operation) cost share funding, and complete an updated techno-economic analysis of the technology based on the most recent system design and cost information.

The Phase III objectives are to complete detailed engineering, procurement of equipment and modules, and build and operate a 10 MWe large pilot of the Linde/BASF post-combustion carbon capture technology at the CWLP Dallman Power Plant in Springfield, Illinois. The Phase III scope of work includes: (1) obtaining construction and operating permits for all regulated activities occurring during Phase III; (2) finalizing functional specifications and completing detailed engineering; (3) procuring equipment and materials for inside and outside the boundary limits (ISBL and OSBL); (4) constructing and installing the large pilot; (5) commissioning of the large pilot plant followed by parametric and steady-state operating test campaigns; (6) analyzing test campaign results; and (7) updating the techno-economic analysis (TEA) based on the design and cost information developed during the Phase III test campaign.

The approach used for design, construction, and commissioning is an important feature of the technology and will help enable the commercialization process. The regional economic benefit and the ability to repurpose some existing workforce at CWLP will also demonstrate how carbon capture can aid regional economies when it is deployed. If the technology performs as planned, there is a desire to have the capture plant remain in place and be utilized for future testing of capture and utilization technologies.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) will partner with Trimeric Corporation to advance the development of a transformational biphasic carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorption process (BiCAP) and validate its technical advantages by testing an integrated system at a 40-kilowatt-electric (kWe) bench scale with actual coal-derived flue gas. The BiCAP process utilizes biphasic solvents, which are water-lean solvent blends, that can form and develop dual liquid phases, with the absorbed CO₂ highly enriched in one of the phases. Key features of BiCAP include using only the CO₂-enriched liquid phase for CO₂ desorption, resulting in reduced mass of solvent required for regeneration, and directly feeding a portion of the CO₂-enriched solvent as a cold stream feed to the top of the stripper, which reduces the use of stripping heat and increases the energy efficiency for CO₂ stripping. In a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project, the BiCAP was tested at laboratory scale (10 kWe) and exhibited a 34 percent reduction in parasitic power requirements and twice the CO₂ working capacity for desorption when compared with a process using the most widely-used, commercially available amine-based solvent, monoethanolamine (MEA). After determining the optimal process configuration and operating conditions, the team will design and fabricate the 40-kWe integrated bench-scale capture unit. Parametric testing for two of the best performing biphasic solvents identified from previous research will be conducted with simulated flue gas at UIUC’s Applied Research Laboratory and one selected solvent will be evaluated with a slipstream of actual flue gas at the UIUC Abbott coal-fired power plant. The team will use the test results to prepare a techno-economic analysis, as well as an analysis of the technology gaps and potential environmental, health, and safety risks, to advance the technology toward further scale up and commercialization.

Southwest Research Institute will provide detailed design, specification, cost, and schedule metrics for a large-scale coal-combustion pilot plant. This plant will demonstrate the flameless pressurized oxy-combustion (FPO) technology, which will potentially reduce risk in the path to commercialization of this transformative 2nd-generation coal technology that is capable of reducing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) while capturing carbon dioxide, providing it ready for compression to pipe-line pressure, and meeting other emission requirements. The Phase I effort will address key systems, such as the flue gas turboexpander, that require additional development beyond what is commercially available to ensure the FPO technology will achieve maximum efficiency.

The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate the potential for small-scale, modular, coal gasification units to provide low-cost fuel for firing reciprocating engine generators with syngas and pyrolysis tars/oils. By coupling the gasifier with a reciprocating engine, the syngas/engine combination can be used in baseload and non-baseload applications and in distributed generation applications. Through modularization of the components of this system, the Recipient believes that manufacturing and construction costs could be lowered so that syngas/engine modular systems could become competitive with similarly sized power generating plants operating with conventional technology.

This project will expand membership of the Southern States Energy Board’s existing Gulf of Mexico (GOM) government-industry partnership to focus on assembling the knowledge base required for secure, long-term, large-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) subsea storage. The partnership’s evaluation will focus on active and depleted oil and gas fields and potentially associated CO₂-enhanced oil recovery, as well as deep saline storage resources in the eastern portion of the GOM’s federal and state waters. The partnership will integrate and assess characterization data and infrastructure delivery options and adapt and tailor monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) technology applications and geologic and dynamic flow models for offshore CO₂ storage projects. The project will facilitate the subsequent development of technology-focused permitting processes needed by industry and regulators for CO₂ storage in the GOM.

This project will develop an industry/academic/governmental partnership that will assemble the knowledge base required to support use of the geologic environments beneath the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) for secure, long-term, large-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage and enhanced hydrocarbon recovery. The knowledge base created by the Offshore Carbon Storage Partnership will facilitate subsequent development of technology-focused permitting processes needed by industry and regulators. This project will provide an offshore CO₂ resource characterization for the western portion of the GOM through the assessment and integration of geologic and engineering information. The partnership will focus on identifying and addressing knowledge gaps, regulatory issues, infrastructure requirements, and technical challenges associated with offshore CO₂ storage. This project will work to improve the confidence in containment of CO₂ in the subsea offshore environment in storage reservoirs over both short and long timeframes.

This project’s goal is to address gaps in our understanding of the clay-rich Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in order to make the development of this emerging oil-rich shale more cost-efficient and environmentally sound. Specific objectives for this project are to establish a virtual laboratory by utilizing core and log data from various industry partners and state agencies. The core data will use four or more wells as selected for best fit by ULL. The log data will include any available well log data from several industry partners as well as numerous, local state agencies. A catalog and a user-friendly website will be created for all project parties to have access to the available data and to request physical samples or digital data. Subsequently, the TMS virtual laboratory will conduct testing and analysis of various properties of rock and formation fluids from the TMS to determine sources of the wellbore instability issues, improve formation evaluation, the role of geologic discontinuities on fracture growth and shale creep. Additionally, ULL plans to investigate the application of stable CO₂ foam and super-hydrophobic proppants for improved reservoir stimulation, as well as to better understand the nature of water/hydrocarbon/CO₂ flow in a clay and organic-rich formation.

The primary goal of the project is to acquire scientific knowledge and gain polymer flood performance data, via the first ever advanced technology based field pilot to optimize the polymer flood design in the Milne Point Unit of the Schrader Bluff heavy oil pool on Alaska North Slope (ANS), with minimal disruption to ongoing field operations. Heavy oil is a vast energy resource that requires significant effort and expertise to produce economically. However, because conventional oil discoveries are not keeping up with overalloil demand, unconventional resources such as shale oil and heavy oil will be necessary to meet increasing world demand. Because American operators have never attempted polymer floods, this will be the first of its kind, unconventional resource application. The advanced technology will effectively integrate the advantages of polymer injection, low salinity water, conformance improvement and horizontal wells together to significantly enhance oil recovery for heavy oil reservoirs. The proposed research seeks answers to key unresolved questions, such as polymer injectivity for different viscosities/concentrations, timing of polymer breakthrough, polymer stability and retention in the formation, treatment of polymer water after breakthrough, and finally, incremental oil recovery as a function of polymer injected.

SRI International (SRI), in partnership with SINTEF, Technical University of Denmark, OLI Systems, Inc., and Trimeric Corporation, will develop a novel, water-lean, mixed-salt-based transformational solvent technology to provide a step-change reduction in the cost and energy penalties of post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture. In prior research, SRI designed a mixed-salt process (MSP) that uses a solvent formulation comprised of ammonium and potassium salt solutions. In the MSP chemistry, ammonia plays a dual role as a catalyst and absorbent due to its high mobility and reactivity with CO₂. Through a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project, the MSP process was tested in a large bench-scale integrated system consisting of two isothermal absorbers and a selective regenerator, achieving long-term, continuous operation with greater than 90 percent capture and regeneration of over 99 percent pure CO₂ at high pressure. In this project, methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) will be added to the MSP formulation to aid low-temperature regeneration and high CO₂ loading, resulting in an advanced mixed-salt process (A-MSP) with improved capture performance and process economics. The research activities include measurements of the solvent formulation’s physio-chemical properties, thermodynamic modeling and vapor-liquid-equilibrium (VLE) measurements of multicomponent systems, kinetic measurements under absorber and regeneration conditions, and solvent degradation and aerosol formation studies. A rate-based model and process flowsheet simulation will be developed as part of a techno-economic evaluation, and continuous operation of the A-MSP in SRI’s bench-scale integrated CO₂ absorber-regenerator system will be performed.

Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR), in partnership with the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo), will develop composite membranes with transformational performance to reduce the cost of post-combustion carbon capture. In previous work, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), MTR developed a membrane-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology that includes the high-performance MTR Polaris™ membrane, advanced low-pressure-drop modules, and a patented selective recycle membrane design. This project builds upon the previous work and consists of two parallel technology development efforts. The first effort replaces the conventional porous supports used in composite membranes with novel isoporous supports that have higher surface porosity and many small pores improving membrane permeance. The second effort aims to increase the mixed-gas selectivity of MTR’s Polaris membrane by utilizing recent materials work conducted at SUNY Buffalo. Laboratory-scale isoporous support-based composite membrane modules will be tested at MTR. A bench-scale skid will be constructed, and the modules will be tested at the National Carbon Capture Center with coal-fired flue gas.

Gas Technology Institute (GTI), in partnership with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Ohio State University, and Trimeric Corporation will develop a transformational graphene oxide (GO)-based membrane process for installation in new, or retrofit into existing, pulverized coal (PC) or natural gas power plants for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture with 95 percent CO₂ purity. The process (designated as GO²) integrates two types of ultrathin (~20 nm) GO-based membranes that have shown CO₂ capture performance superior to state-of-the-art membranes at laboratory scale and enables step-change reductions in CO₂ capture cost and energy penalties. High-selectivity membranes (designated as GO-1 membranes) that exhibit CO₂/nitrogen (N₂) selectivity as high as 680 with a CO₂ permeance of 1,020 GPU and high-flux membranes (designated as GO-2 membranes) that achieve CO₂ permeances as high as 2,500 GPU using GO quantum dots as a membrane building block have been developed in a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded program by GTI. In this project, GO-based membranes of flat sheet and hollow fiber geometries with an area in the range of 50 to 100 cm² will be fabricated on low-cost polyethersulfone substrates and optimized to achieve higher selectivities while maintaining high permeances. Dynamic and steady-state stability testing will be performed on scaled-up membranes of 1,000 cm², using simulated coal-fired flue gas with the GO-1 membranes and natural gas-fired flue gas with the GO-2 membranes. A bench-scale, two-stage GO² system will be constructed and will undergo testing using actual natural gas-fired flue gas at GTI, followed by long-term (>200 hours) stability testing at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) using actual coal-fired flue gas. A techno-economic analysis will also be completed for integration of the process in a coal-fired 550-MWe power plant.

SRI International, in partnership with OLI Systems, Inc., Trimeric Corporation, the National Carbon Capture Center, and Baker Hughes, will test their advanced mixed-salt post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorption technology at engineering scale (0.5 MWe) to address concerns related to scale-up and integration of the technology in fossil fuel-based power plants. The process uses a non-degradable solvent that combines readily-available, inexpensive potassium and ammonium salt solutions, operates without solvent chilling, and employs a novel flow configuration that has been optimized to improve absorption kinetics, minimize ammonia emissions, and reduce water use compared to state-of-the-art ammonia-based and amine technologies. The objectives of the research project are to: 1) perform integrated mixed-salt process (MSP) testing at engineering scale for long-term periods under dynamic and continuous steady-state conditions with a real flue gas stream to address concerns relating to scale-up and integration of the technology to coal-based power plants; 2) operate the MSP with advanced heat integration to demonstrate advantages in process efficiencies; 3) study the solvent and water management strategies; and 4) collect critically important data for a detailed techno-economic analysis.

In this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project, TDA Research, Inc. (TDA), in collaboration with Membrane Technology & Research, Inc., is developing a new class of sorbents to remove CO₂ selectively and with high capacity from flue gases generated from pulverized-coal combustion power plants. In Phase I, TDA prepared various sorbent formulations and screened them to determine their capacity to adsorb CO₂ under representative conditions. Based on the performance results, a preliminary design of the CO₂ capture system was completed as well as cost and size estimates. The team also completed an engineering assessment to compare the system to alternative processes. In Phase II, TDA will continue to optimize the sorbent to enhance its CO₂ capacity and further improve its resistance to flue gas impurities such as moisture, SOX and NOX. TDA will also scale-up the sorbent production and will work with MTR to prepare polymer films, which will be formed into spiral wound and planar modules. The team will assess the impact of critical process parameters at bench scale and carry out a minimum of 20,000 adsorption/desorption cycles. Finally, TDA will perform process simulation work and evaluate the techno-economic viability of the new CO₂ capture technology as a retrofit option for existing pulverized coal power plants.

General Electric (GE) Company will develop advanced turbine hot-gas-path inlet component technologies, enabled by additive advanced manufacturing, and resulting in efficiency improvements. Leveraging state-of-the-art additive manufacturing, novel and innovative component airfoil and end wall architectures will be developed that provide cooling flow savings while maintaining component durability. Several additive modalities and materials will be assessed analytically and concurrently. Through small-scale trials, a preferred method to manufacture the proposed design will be determined. It is expected that this project will result in advancement in component design enabled by additive manufacturing so that future gas turbine product designs could incorporate additively-produced components.

General Electric will evaluate a highly efficient heat engine for natural gas pipeline compression. The project is centered on the conceptual design of a novel, hermetically sealed oil-free super-critical carbon dioxide (SCO₂) bottoming cycle for a natural gas combustion turbine used for pipeline compression. The effort enables heat engine cycle efficiencies >50% by demonstrating the feasibility of a two-machine oil-free drivetrain consisting of a high-speed SCO₂ turbo-compressor with a direct drive starter-generator aerodynamically coupled to a 60hz 10MW SCO₂ turbo-generator. The primary deliverable of this project is the conceptual design of a 10MW SCO₂ bottoming cycle and associated turbomachinery. The conceptual design includes an integrated approach between different disciplines such as thermodynamic cycles, aero design, rotor dynamics, bearing design, and electric machine sizing. One project outcome will be the definition of a suitable SCO₂ bottoming cycle for highly-efficient heat engines that is deployable into remote locations with minimal to no operation oversight. Another outcome is the development of a process gas lubricated bearing system for MW-class turbomachinery for implementation in SCO₂.

The overall goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility and economic viability of producing high-value carbon-based products from coal feedstocks for the manufacturing of high-conductivity materials for electrochemical applications. The proposed technology builds upon pre-existing coal structures to create high-conductivity features under mild conditions. The innovation is a two-step process that generates carbonaceous materials with key structural attributes for high conductivity. The process provides for minimal reagent usage, efficient recycling (greater than 90 percent), and produces a carbon product for electrochemical applications with 20 to 30 times higher value than coal used as fuel. In addition, the process generates valuable byproducts such as minerals and low-emission gaseous fuels.

The research team will (a) screen and select coal sources suitable as feedstocks; (b) demonstrate scalable processes to produce the high-conductivity material; (c) demonstrate performance in battery electrode formulations and one potential electrochemical application; and (d) perform techno-economic analysis to outline pathways for scale-up and further development and optimization.

Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR), with its partners Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), Dresser-Rand, Trimeric Corporation, and WorleyParsons/Advisian, will scale up advanced Polaris^TM membranes and modules for commercial use and validate their potential for post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture in an engineering-scale field test at TCM in Norway. This project expands on work conducted with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop an efficient membrane CO₂ capture technology that includes the Polaris class of membranes (~20 times more permeable than prior commercial membranes) and a patented selective recycle process design that increases the concentration of CO₂ in flue gas, reducing the energy and capital cost required for capture. In prior bench-scale testing on a 1 tonne/day (TPD) system at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC), MTR’s second-generation Polaris membranes showed double the CO₂ removal capacity of the original membrane. In recent work, the Polaris capture process was scaled up to a small pilot unit (1 MWe or 20 TPD) and was successfully operated on a flue gas slipstream at NCCC and in integrated boiler testing at Babcock and Wilcox. The key tasks of this new project are to design, build, install, and operate an engineering-scale membrane capture system using advanced second-generation membranes and modules; conduct a minimum six-month field test at TCM, including parametric testing to verify system performance at partial capture rates and three months of steady-state operation; update a techno-economic assessment of the MTR membrane process; and investigate the integration of new membranes with advanced compression technology. The Polaris membranes will be packaged in compact, low-pressure-drop plate-and-frame modules optimized for flue gas treatment, and multiple modules will be contained inside a large vessel. This "containerized" form allows for large numbers of this modular repeat unit to be arranged in future commercial systems at low cost.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology will develop electrodes that are inherently more tolerant to Cr and Si impurities in the SOFC cathode operating environment. This work draws on the recent method to fully recover oxygen exchange kinetics following Si induced aging of ceria containing cathodes. These methods take advantage of elements, which over time during SOFC operation, are released by exsolution to actively trap (i.e., getter) Cr and Si impurities in a self-regulating chemical fashion. The objective is to evaluate impurity scavenging by added reactive elements that are intentionally exsolved from the SOFC cathode electrode during operation and by conductive second phases like LSM that help nucleate chromate species on their surfaces. Researchers will use these findings to develop optimized compositions and test them in lab-scale, long-term setups.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette will use conventional materials to develop SOFCs that have high performance and stability over the entire operational temperature range (550 to 900C). The concept originated from recent preliminary results showing that adding praseodymium (Pr) to the cathode/electrolyte interlayer resulted in a 48 percent increase in cathode performance and led to zero degradation over 500-hour measurements. Three types of cathodes will be examined: LSCF6428, doped (Pr 0.50Nd0.50) 2NiO4, and LSM20/YSZ to study the role of interlayer chemistry and microstructure on the improvement of performance stability and electrochemical activity; high-throughput setups for button cell measurements, focusing on investigating the role of Pr in and porosity of the interlayer on performance and performance stability will also be used. A low temperature sintering process at 1040C was developed to fabricate a dense screen-printed doped ceria interlayer.

Michigan State University will evaluate the benefit of using a new, dual atmosphere and rapid thermal-cycling-tolerant Ag-Ni metal system for circuit paste applications. The objectives are to obtain a baseline of commercial Ag circuit paste performance and durability, produce durable, high-performance Ag-Ni circuits on SOFC materials, and improve the performance and durability of Ag-Ni circuits by adding nickel getters. These objectives will be achieved by performing in-situ controlled atmosphere electrical conductivity and electrical contact resistance measurements; double shear lap tensile, rapid thermal cycling adhesion, and redox cycling adhesion tests; and density functional theory, molecular dynamics, and phase field modeling on commercial Ag circuit pastes, Ag-Ni circuit pastes, and Ni-gettered Ag-Ni circuit pastes atop various SOFC-relevant substrates in hydrogen and air. If successful, the proposed work would demonstrate a new category of Ag silver pastes that exhibit lower sheet resistance, lower contact resistance, better redox cycling stability, better rapid thermal cycling stability, and better adhesion to a variety of SOFC materials than today’s best commercially available contact pastes.

Redox Power Systems, LLC will demonstrate a 100 percent increase in power density in Redox SOFCs using sputtered electron blocking, buffer, and cathode functional layers as well as demonstrate that the sputtering process can be optimized to a high throughput, low cost per watt fabrication route. This work will take advantage of low cost, conventional ceramic processing to build large format (10 cm x 10 cm) half-cells upon which sputtered layers will be added to dramatically increase SOFC performance. Electron-blocking and GDC buffer layers deposited by sputtering will be developed in the first part of this project. Process parameters will be tuned to achieve the best film quality, which will be validated through SOFC testing. The GDC electrolyte layer on the half-cells will be optimized via conventional ceramics processing to provide the most suitable substrate for sputtering the additional layers. The second part of the project will involve developing a cathode functional layer via sputtering and validating it with SOFC testing. Finally, the researchers will take the initial sputter process parameters from the first two parts of the project and improve them for high throughput sputtering for demonstration of commercial-scale fabrication.

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, in conjunction with partners Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), SINTEF, and Electric Power Research Institute, will advance RTI’s transformational water-lean solvent-based post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology by performing engineering-scale testing using the existing large-scale pilot (~12 MWe) amine plant at TCM in Norway. RTI’s process was tested successfully at laboratory, bench, and small pilot scales, including long-term coal-derived flue gas exposure testing at SINTEF’s Tiller Plant, showing a 40 percent reduction in solvent regeneration energy requirements, as well as lower thermal and oxidative solvent degradation rates compared with the conventional monoethanolamine (MEA) process. The water-lean solvent process uses intercoolers to distribute cooling throughout the CO₂ absorber, which offsets the large temperature increases in the column due to the low specific heat of the solvent. The process also includes a solvent regenerator design specific for water-lean solvents that combines heat delivery and gas release in a single-step process unit to maintain lower regeneration temperatures. The project team will conduct engineering-scale testing of the process at TCM using the existing plant configuration designed for aqueous-amine solvents to evaluate the applicability of the water-lean solvent as a drop-in replacement solvent in conventional capture systems. TCM’s amine plant will then be modified for optimized operation with the water-lean solvent, and parametric and long-term testing will be performed to evaluate solvent degradation rate, emissions, solvent loss, and corrosion characteristics, the results of which will be used to complete a techno-economic analysis for a full-scale plant. The test results will also be used to address the scalability and commercial potential of RTI’s CO₂ capture process, aid in understanding operational efficiency, and evaluate the feasibility of optimizing an existing amine system for operation with RTI’s water-lean solvent.

Liquid Ion Solutions, along with Carnegie Mellon University and Carbon Capture Scientific, will develop and evaluate novel additives that lower the viscosity of water-lean amine solvents for post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture. The project will focus on developing a solvent additive that minimizes the formation of long-range hydrogen bonding (HB) networks, in turn decreasing the solvent viscosity and improving the process economics. The goal of the project is to evaluate, at lab scale, the effectiveness of ether and ester HB disruptor additives in lowering solvent viscosity without having an adverse impact on CO₂ capture capacity. Three model solvents will be prepared using amines that encompass the characteristics of most amines used in water-lean solvents, and the solvents will be studied computationally and experimentally to benchmark the behavior of the solvents’ viscosity in the presence of CO₂. The project team will then use simulation models to understand the molecular interactions in water-lean solvents and identify additives that disrupt HB networks effectively, measure solvent viscosity reduction with additives at lab scale, optimize the combination of additive/solvent and test the optimized system in synthetic flue gas, and perform a cost-benefit analysis to examine the advantage of using additives for solvent viscosity reduction.

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE) will advance the maturity of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) power systems towards commercial deployment in natural gas-fueled MWe-class distributed generation (DG) applications in the 2020s timeframe. The project objectives are to develop the conceptual design of a MWe-class SOFC power system, and to complete a techno-economic analysis (TEA) to demonstrate that the system can meet a cost target of less than or equal to $6,000/kWe at low-volume production levels. The nominal 1 MWe system will utilize FCE’s next-generation of reliable and low-cost SOFC cell and stack technology. Achievement of the project objectives will lead to deployment of a MW-class SOFC pilot system, facilitating technology readiness level progression at a quicker pace, leading to more rapid deployment of commercial DG systems in the 2020s timeframe, and will accelerate the technology development and cost reduction of utility-scale coal-based systems.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute will design, test, and validate cathode materials for SOFCs that maintain high performance and low degradation rates under simultaneously present, MULTIPLE impurities using a combined Integrated Computational Materials Engineering and lab-scale testing approach. The research team will comprehensively simulate the phase stabilities, equilibrium compositions, and point defect chemistry of cathode materials; experimentally validate phase stability and point defect chemistry through electrical conductivity measurements on the cathode materials identified by computational modeling; and recommend a series of potential cathode materials for cell testing. The team will then fabricate button cells using the optimized cathode, test selected cells, and recommend cathode candidates that can deliver power density higher than 1.5W/cm2 at 800C but exhibit degradation rate lower than 0.4%/1000 hours in the presence of simultaneously present, MULTIPLE impurities at the cell level, for testing in real cells/stacks at Atrex Energy.

University of Connecticut will identify, fabricate, test, and validate cost-effective getter formulations and designs to capture airborne Cr, Si, S and B gaseous species entering SOFC power generation systems operating from 600 to 900°C to mitigate electrochemical poisoning of the cathode. The research effort will focus on thermodynamic and kinetic interaction studies between multi-constituent airborne gaseous impurities (predominantly acidic) and alkaline earth-transition metal oxides (basic) along with the analysis of reaction kinetics and identification of rate limiting steps that can lead to continued surface reaction under materials limitation conditions. High surface area nano-rods and nano-particles will be synthesized and incorporated into the porous getter coating formed over ceramic substrates. Advanced characterization techniques will be used to identify surface and interfacial morphological changes and compound formation. Select getter configurations will be subsequently scaled up, integrated, and tested in a prototype SOFC system test bed to validate the technology readiness level.

TDA Research Inc. will work with Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR), Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), Gas Technology Institute, and the University of California Irvine to design, construct, and operate an engineering-scale (1 MWe) hybrid post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system, combining a polymeric membrane and a low-temperature physical absorbent. The polymer membrane removes the bulk of the CO₂ in the flue gas across a relatively low pressure gradient, reducing the power consumption and cost of capture. The membrane residue gas is further treated by the sorbent, ensuring greater than 90 percent CO₂ capture overall. The sorbent is regenerated using the coal boiler air intake, and the CO₂-laden air is fed to the boiler, generating a CO₂-rich flue gas that further increases the driving force across the membrane. In a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Small Business Innovative Research project, the sorbent formulation was optimized and operation of the hybrid process was evaluated at bench scale using a slipstream of actual coal-derived flue gas. A preliminary techno-economic analysis (TEA) showed a substantial improvement in net plant efficiency (~3.5 percent increase on higher heating value basis) compared with the state-of-the-art amine-based CO₂ capture system. For this project, the team will design a 1-MWe modular pilot unit with the support of computational fluid dynamic simulations. Based on the final design details, the membrane-sorbent hybrid test unit will be fabricated, following modifications to MTR’s existing 1-MWe two-stage membrane skid and the construction of TDA’s modular sorbent skid. A 9- to 12-month test campaign will be performed at TCM on the field unit using an industrial flue gas that closely resembles coal-fired flue gas to evaluate the system’s performance at different operating conditions and achieve a minimum of 6,000 hours of continuous operation. The test results will be used to update the membrane performance data and the TEA, as well as to provide an environmental health and safety assessment for the technology.

The goal of the project is to normalize various forms of machine data to enhance analytics and machine learning to more robustly detect cyber-attacks on generation, transmission and distribution systems. Captured data will provide a baseline of the environment that will be utilized to generate analytical trends, patterns, and discovered behavior of devices/processes.

FuelCell Energy (FCE) will advance the reliability of stack module building blocks that will be directly applicable and scalable to greater than or equal to 100 kW modular arrays and MW-class SOFC systems by developing and testing a greater than or equal to 40 kW modular SOFC building block utilizing a second-generation core stack technology implemented in an innovative array design. FCE has recently been successful in advancing a state-of-the-art next generation stack concept, the Compact SOFC Architecture (CSA) stack, to hardware and multi-cell validation. In this project, FCE will extend the general approach—demonstrated on the CSA stack—of very significantly reducing material content (and cost) through a strategy of designing ultra-compact, robust, simple to produce, and functionally efficient modules culminating in a stack module test for at least 5000 hours conducted on natural gas fuel under operating conditions that would be envisioned in a commercial system. A successful outcome should reduce cost of SOFC systems by a factor of two or more while offering greater operational robustness and reliability and degradation rates below 0.5 percent per hour demonstrated over 5000 hours.

This project will develop an Optical Based Single Well Seismic System (OSWS) for Improved Characterization and Monitoring of Fractures in UOG Systems. OSWS will be capable of being deployed with Paulsson's Fiber Optic Seismic Sensor (FOSS) system to provide the actuated seismic signal thus generating this signal in the same borehole as the fiber optic receiver or FOSS. The proposed system is not merely a logging tool – it is a borehole multi-component seismic system that will operate in the expanded seismic frequency band of 10 – 2,000 Hz. The three separate actuators will generate a point force in three different directions which in turn generates complimentary radiation of P, Sv and Sh waves respectively.

The primary goal of this research is to develop a lizard-inspired robot for in-service inspection of power plant components that contain rough surfaces and limited accessibilities. Several kinds of animals have evolved over millions of years to gain complex mobility based on friction in order to live in tight spaces with complex geometries and rough surfaces. Inspired by a lizard, the novelty of the current project is the integration of sensing, advanced ultrasound Lamb wave imaging, and friction-based mobility components in a single robot.

The first objective of the current project is to develop a robot with friction-based mobility capabilities to move on tubes with complex geometries, obstacles, and rough surfaces such as U-bend corroded tubular structures. The second objective is to integrate automation with couplant-free ultrasound transmission technology and develop an advanced Lamb wave-based imaging algorithm to detect and evaluate crack and corrosion defects in tubes/pipes using a network of couplant-free ultrasound sensors placed at the location of the robot’s grippers. This robot will be able to move on ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic materials and will not require smooth and prepared surfaces for mobility or to obtain ultrasound images of the entire cross section of the tube.

Arizona State University (ASU), in collaboration with the University of South Carolina (USC), will develop a high-temperature, high-pressure ceramic-carbonate dual-phase (CCDP) membrane reactor for water-gas-shift (WGS) reaction to produce a high concentration hydrogen (H₂) stream with carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture. The CCDP membrane is composed of a porous ceramic phase that serves as a support layer and a molten carbonate phase infiltrated into the support. The reactor is expected to produce separate CO₂- and H₂-rich streams with single-stage carbon monoxide conversion and CO₂ recovery of 90 percent. Previous research at ASU and USC has shown successful fabrication and unique CO₂ permeation/separation properties of CCDP membranes of different materials in disk and tubular geometries.During this project, the project team will design and fabricate CCDP membranes with improved CO₂ permeance and mechanical strength for testing in a lab-scale reactor with simulated coal-derived syngas. The membrane reactor will be designed to operate at high temperature (700-900^oC) and pressure (20-30 atm) and will be able to withstand impurities in the syngas, such as hydrogen sulfide. Experiments will be conducted to study high-pressure CO₂ permeation and WGS reaction with CO₂ capture and the results will be incorporated into a mathematical model. The experimental conditions of the system will then be optimized to produce high-purity CO₂ and H₂ streams with at least 99 percent and 90 percent purity, respectively. Process design and a techno-economic analysis will be completed for the CCDP membrane reactor incorporated in a full-scale integrated gasification combined cycle plant.

Colorado School of Mines researchers will collaborate with partners from Michigan State University to develop an integrated autonomous robotic platform that (1) is equipped with advanced sensors to perform live inspection, (2) operates innovative onboard devices to perform live repair, and (3) uses artificial intelligence (AI) for intelligent information fusion and live predictive analysis for smart automated spatiotemporal inspection, analysis, and repair of furnace walls in coal-fired boilers. The autonomous robotic platform will be capable of attaching to and navigating on vertical boiler furnace walls using magnetic drive tracks. Live non-destructive evaluation (NDE) sensors and repair devices will be developed and integrated to the robot. In addition, the robot will be powered by AI to automate data gathering (e.g., mapping and damage localization) and live predictive analysis will incorporate end user feedback to continuously improve performance and achieve smart autonomy. Performance will be verified on vertical steel test structures in the principal investigators’ laboratories and at facilities provided as in-kind support by Xcel Energy and EnergynTech.

Atrex Energy, Inc. will develop and optimize YSZ electrolyte-based cell technology for low cost, low temperature (550~650C), and high energy efficiency operation. The technology will be implemented and demonstrated in a high efficiency 2~3kW SOFC with applicability to sub-MW systems. The specific objective is to develop, build, and test a low degradation (<0.1%/1000 hours), high energy efficiency (>50%), low cost (<$1.0/watt) next generation tubular SOFC stack. The stack will serve as a significant precursor leading to the development of a module for megawatt power applications as well as be immediately, or with little iteration, deployable as an inexpensive commercial unit for critical applications. The work includes cell technology development tasks to develop and optimize a new ceramic interconnection to replace the current LaCrO3 interconnection; optimize the anode; improve the power density and durability of commercial cells through tailoring the nanostructure of the surface of cathodes that possess complex three-dimensional topographies using a simple one-step Atomic Layer Deposition coating; and create a thinner denser electrolyte to increase performance at low temperatures. The team will also update/modify manufacturing equipment, modify Balance-of-Plant system, and demonstrate the system at the 550~650C temperature range.

Ohio State University (OSU) will develop a cost-effective design and fabrication process for a novel amine-containing transformational membrane to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from coal-derived syngas. The membrane consists of a CO₂-selective and permeable layer on top of a nanoporous polymer support and exhibits chemical stability to hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) gas. The membrane operates based on the facilitated transport mechanism, in which CO₂ transfer through the membrane is enhanced via reaction with amino groups, while hydrogen (H₂) is rejected due to the absence of reaction. Hydrogen sulfide can permeate through the membrane significantly faster than CO₂ and can be removed in the front section of the membrane module, resulting in less than 10 ppm H₂S in the retentate. The membrane will be used in a single-stage membrane process utilizing modules in commercial spiral-wound configuration with a minimal pressure drop. OSU will synthesize and characterize transformational membranes, scale up the best performing membrane using a continuous roll-to-roll fabrication method, and fabricate at least nine prototype membrane modules with an approximate membrane area of 800 cm². Parametric testing of the membrane modules at 20-32 bar and 100-120°C will be performed to identify conditions for continuous steady-state operation, which will be conducted using simulated syngas at OSU for at least 200 hours. The membrane test data will be used to complete a high-level techno-economic analysis (TEA) and finalize the state point data table. American Electric Power will provide consulting support on the TEA and Microdyn-Nadir US Inc. will provide consultation on membrane scale-up and module fabrication.

The overall objective of this research effort is to gain knowledge that will be useful for efficient recovery of both hydraulic fracturing water and hydrocarbon fluids in stimulated unconventional reservoirs through an enhanced understanding of the influences of gravity and capillarity in fractures. A preliminary assessment indicates that water losses could be reduced by about 50% by stimulating fractures primarily above horizontal wells in order to facilitate drainage and recovery of the working fluid. Given the immiscibility of water with hydrocarbon fluids of interest (natural gas and light oil), improved water recovery through optimized gravity drainage is expected to improve reservoir productivity.

In order to advance our understanding of processes controlling water and gas recovery, this research will progress through three stages. First, the interactions between matrix permeability, fracturing fluid viscosity, shut-in time, and gas pressure will be experimentally explored to obtain practical scaling relations for describing gas counter-flow. Next, through laboratory experiments on gravity drainage of water from synthetic fractured rocks, empirical scaling relations for the dependence of water drainage on fracture aperture, fracture wettability, interfacial tension, and fluid viscosities and densities will be developed. In the third and final phase of work, scaling analyses will be completed for estimating water and hydrocarbon recovery under different directional fracturing and shut-in scenarios, thereby helping guide design of more efficient hydraulic fracturing. This project is builds on research conducted under a previously funded project (FWP-ESD14085).

This project aims to leverage advances in machine learning and predictive analytics software to advance the state of the art in pipeline infrastructure integrity management using forecasted pipeline condition. Large sets of pipeline integrity data and continuous operational data (e.g., sensor data used to monitor flow rate and temperature) generated by oil and natural gas transmission pipeline operators will be employed in the effort.

Stanford/Carnegie Mellon University researchers will sample pulverized-coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) owned and operated by Louisville Gas & Electricity–Kentucky Utilities (LGE-KU) to build a predictive model that will enable utility decision makers, academic researchers, and policymakers to simulate trace element emissions from CFPPs. Samples taken during baseload and cycling conditions will be used to develop and validate an open-source, easy-to-implement trace element partitioning model using publicly available datasets, literature studies of trace element partitioning, and sampling data from LGE-KU CFPPs to estimate trace element partitioning in air pollution control devices between the gas, liquid, and solid phases exiting boilers and flue gas treatment trains. The project team will use estimates of the liquid phase trace element concentration in flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater to estimate trace element behavior in water pollution control devices and evaluate treated wastewater effluent concentrations for compliance with the Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category (ELGs). The team will then develop cost estimates of established and emerging wastewater treatment trains to identify the most cost-effective approaches to comply with the ELGs.

This project is developing methodologies to measure the in-situ principal stress in the deep subsurface through use of multiple independent, but complementary seismic methods, laboratory verification, and development of theoretical frameworks. The project is leveraging existing regional and local datasets to develop, test, and refine a set of diagnostic tools for determining the in-situ stress state with reduced uncertainty at and below reservoir depths (1.5-6 kilometers). The goal is to develop a set of novel tools that are scale-independent, such that their utility is equivalent on regional, field scale, and near borehole monitoring of principal stresses in reservoir underburden for carbon storage projects. The research involves applying the virtual seismometer method (VSM) and shear wave splitting (SWS) methods to robust seismicity catalogs created with matched filter techniques near sites of active fluid disposal—a proxy for carbon storage sites where complete datasets are more limited. This is a non-invasive method to determine the orientation and magnitude of the in-situ stress principal stress field over large spatial scales and at depths >1500 meters. Stress estimation methods using seismic processing tools will be validated using controlled laboratory experiments conducted on rock samples from the region of interest. The project is developing theoretical models to provide a framework for understanding the links between local injection information (e.g. local pore-fluid pressure distribution and associated poroelastic stresses), observed changes in spatial and/or temporal principal stress orientations, the absolute magnitude of the stress field, and subsequently observed geophysical signals.

Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR) will work with its partners Susteon and the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) to develop a transformational membrane process for pre-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture in integrated gasification combined cycle power plants. Expanding on prior U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded work that produced a novel hydrogen-selective, multilayer composite polymer membrane called Proteus™, this project focuses on the scale up of a second-generation Proteus membrane. Previous testing of Gen-2 Proteus membrane stamps in MTR’s laboratory and at the National Carbon Capture Center using a slipstream of syngas resulted in an average H₂/CO₂ selectivity of 30 (approximately double that of the Gen-1 membrane) and stable operation up to 200°C, indicating the potential to reduce the cost of capture by more than 30 percent compared to a base-case Selexol™ separation process. The project team will fabricate high-temperature prototype modules using Gen-2 Proteus membranes and validate module performance in laboratory tests. A bench-scale module test system will be designed, built, and installed at EERC for parametric and lifetime testing of the modules with actual coal-derived syngas. The process will be optimized, and a techno-economic analysis will be updated based upon the results of testing.

SRI International will partner with PBI Performance Products, Inc., Enerfex, Inc., and the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER), to advance the development of a polybenzimidazole (PBI) polymer hollow-fiber membrane (HFM)-based pre-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology. The process utilizes compact, hollow, asymmetric PBI fibers to separate CO₂ from a syngas stream at high temperature (~225°C) and pressure (>20 atm) for increased net power plant efficiency and reduced cost of electricity. In a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project, the PBI-HFM gas separation technology was successfully tested at bench scale at the National Carbon Capture Center under air-blown gasifier conditions, revealing greater than 90 percent CO₂ capture at temperatures greater than 180°C, as well as higher H₂/CO₂ selectivity and H₂ permeance compared to commercially available low-temperature polymeric membranes. Further work led to the development of next-generation (GEN-2) fibers with far superior H₂/CO₂ selectivity, which will be fabricated and further evaluated in this project. SRI’s existing bench-scale test skid will be upgraded to accommodate large fiber modules (four and six inches) for field testing. The GEN-2 modules will be tested with actual coal-derived syngas under oxygen-blown gasifier conditions at UK CAER. A series of parametric and steady-state tests will be performed over a full range of operating conditions to assess optimal system operating parameters. The team will use the test results to prepare a techno-economic analysis and component and system modeling of the PBI-HFM capture system integrated into a 550-MWe power plant to advance the technology toward further scale up and commercialization.

The State University of New York (SUNY) – Buffalo, along with its partners Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Trimeric Corporation, will develop a highly efficient membrane-based process using carbon molecular sieve (CMS) hollow fiber membranes to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from coal-derived syngas. The CMS membranes will be derived from polybenzimidazole (PBI) doped with polyprotic acids and are expected to be chemically stable, able to operate in temperatures up to 300°C, easily scalable, and have high hydrogen (H₂) permeance and H₂/CO₂ selectivity. In previous work, LANL successfully fabricated nearly defect-free PBI hollow fiber membranes with a 0.2 µm selective layer and a defect minimizing PBI-based seal material and concluded that PBI doped with polyprotic acids enhances the size-sieving ability and thus H₂/CO₂ separation properties of the polymer. It was also determined that the carbonization of PBI combined with acid doping increases both permeability and selectivity into a range suitable for commercial deployment. In this project, the team will develop and optimize CMS hollow fiber membranes based on PBI doped with polyprotic acids to achieve high H₂ permeance (1,000 GPU) and H₂/CO₂ selectivity (40) at 200-300°C. Parametric testing of the membranes assembled into pencil modules will be performed at lab scale using simulated syngas containing hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and water vapor. Membrane reactors based on the H₂-selective membranes will also be designed for low-temperature water-gas shift (WGS) reaction and tested for efficiency. Using test data, a techno-economic analysis based on the newly developed membranes will be conducted.

The objective of this work is to analyze gas hydrate behavior by measuring physical, chemical, mechanical, and hydrologic property changes in sediments containing methane hydrate, water, and natural gas that have been subjected to varying stimuli and conditions which includes; the injection of non-methane gases, the effects of sedimentary layering, the effects of relevant gradients such as thermal, chemical (salinity or gas chemistry), and capillary pressure. These tests will enable the evaluation of the mechanical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments under controlled conditions to provide data sets for comparisons to numerical models. Measurements performed in this project are designed to supplement and support field and numerical simulation investigations to provide benchmark measurements and reality checks.

The overall objective of this effort is to further enhance and utilize previously-developed numerical simulators to perform studies on the characterization and analysis of recoverable resources from gas hydrate deposits, evaluate appropriate production strategies for both permafrost and marine environments, and analyze geomechanical behavior of hydrate-bearing sediments, in addition to providing support for DOE’s hydrate-related activities and collaborative projects. The research will support the hydrate scientific community by providing access to the most efficient and most advanced numerical simulation tools to assist in solving difficult problems such as stability, characterization, and gas recovery from gas hydrate deposits. Additionally, it will recommend production strategies and well designs to enable gas production from a wide variety of hydrate-bearing geologic settings, and methods to alleviate potential geomechanical problems related to gas production.

This project will investigate numerically and experimentally coupled hydrologic, thermodynamic, and geomechanical processes which dominate the production of natural gas hydrates from geologic accumulations. Production technologies will include both those considered to be more conventional, such as, depressurization, thermal stimulation, and inhibitor injection, and unconventional, such as swapping, nitrogen injection, and air injection. Production of natural gas hydrates from geologic reservoirs is controlled by coupled processes, each with inherent complexities.

The main goal of the proposed study is to predict the presence of faults that will be susceptible to movement in the presence of fluid injection. Additional goals include: 1) identify the presence of faults, 2) estimate changes to the in-situ stress field before and after fault slippage, and 3) explain pressure and stress perturbations between the storage unit and the crystalline basement (underburden). The project will test a series of integrated forward and physics-constrained, data-driven (inverse) models that includes the following: 1) use of a geologically well-characterized field site with microseismicity located within the basement rock, 2) predictions of temporal and spatial stress changes induced by injection, 3) methodology to better resolve basement faults including undetected faults, and 4) identification of mechanisms, which control and transmit pressure from the storage unit to the basement.

This project is using well-established existing technology to improve the standard methods of in-situ stress measurements by including thermally induced borehole breakout technology for measuring the most compressive principal in-situ stress. By running multiple heating tests in a borehole and correlating different applied temperatures (thermal stress) to breakout measurements, the understanding of local variability at the wellbore can be improved while reducing uncertainty.

The scope of this work is to demonstrate the thermal and corrosion performance of film-forming coatings, and the feasibility of using a loop thermosyphon to replace the pumped water loop that is currently used to remove heat from the steam surface condenser.

A bench-scale test loop will be built to measure the condensation heat transfer improvement and corrosion protection under different steam operation conditions. A comparison between loop thermosyphon and pumped water loop will be made to demonstrate the advantage of using a loop thermosyphon. A sub-scale prototype will be fabricated and tested to further demonstrate the feasibility.

The objective of this project is to implement a real-time, on-line preventative maintenance system aimed at extending operational lifespan of coal-fired plant operations. This will be accomplished by first modeling existing operational behavior based on historical instrumentation data utilizing advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques already proven for use on gas turbines. The value of this approach is it does not require a priori knowledge of operation or physics of the assets/system. The resultant models and associated user interfaces will be deployed into an on-line system for real-time monitoring of equipment health; again, this approach will utilize existing instrumentation and plant operational data.

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and Clean Carbon Solutions Ltd. (CCSL) will develop and validate a transformational carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology (ROTA-CAP) using novel rotating packed bed (RPB) absorbers and regenerators combined with an advanced solvent. The RPB contactor design comprises a rotating disk of packing material that generates a high gravity centrifugal force, which distributes solvent radially toward the outer edge of the disk, providing a high surface area for mass transfer to occur as countercurrent flue gas contacts the solvent droplets. An integrated absorber-regenerator bench-scale test skid for the ROTA-CAP system will be designed, constructed, and operated at GTI using simulated flue gas and natural gas burner flue gas to determine key operating parameters. CCSL will provide an advanced solvent for the test, such as its proprietary amine-promoted buffer salt (APBS) solvent. The test skid will also include a conventional tower absorber and regenerator to compare the performance of ROTA-CAP to the conventional process using commercial monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent. Long-term (1,000-hour) stability testing of the integrated ROTA-CAP CO₂ capture system will be conducted on a coal-fired flue gas slipstream at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) at a scale of 1 tonne CO₂ per day and the collected data will be used to determine solvent degradation and aerosol formation. A simulation process model will be developed for integrated RPB carbon capture systems and will be used to aid in larger-scale deployment of the ROTA-CAP technology, such as integration with coal-fired power plants. A high-level techno-economic analysis of the process will be performed based on experimental data and the capture process model verified with the long-term operation data.

The technical goal and objectives of this project will be achieved by designing and fabricating a miniaturized monitoring system, performing validation tests of the sensor system in a pilot-scale coal combustor, and then conducting a field test of the monitoring system in the high-temperature regions of a lignite-fired utility boiler for a sufficient duration to demonstrate the reliability and accuracy of the monitoring system. The design of the miniaturized monitoring system will build on technologies developed by the Recipient for larger, intrusive, probe-based systems. However, the probe-based systems were too large and expensive to be commercially viable for permanent, high-spatial-resolution installation inside in commercial-scale boiler.

The focus of this project will be (a) to miniaturize the sensor design so that it can be installed in a commercial scale lignite-fired boiler without the need for long shut-downs, and without the need to bend boiler tubes already installed in the boiler; (b) to re-design the signal conditioning unit to increased resolution allowing for determination of localized electrochemical phenomena; (c) to implement the signal acquisition, signal processing, and communication modules onto a single electronic board to reduce cost, power consumption, and required cooling of the sensor package; (d) to use data from previous work to develop quantitative correlations for heat flux and deposition rate on the sensor surface for a lignite-fired unit and validate in pilot-scale tests; (e) to validate the heat flux and ash deposition rate models in a pilot-scale coal combustor and demonstrate the effectiveness of the sensor system in a full-scale lignite-fired utility plant; and (f) to develop logic algorithms that can be implemented into a plant distributed control system (DCS) to improve boiler energy efficiency and reduce NO_X emissions while mitigating waterwall corrosion by automating control of boiler operations including soot-blowing and air flow control.

The main objective of the project is to design, prototype, and demonstrate a miniaturized implementation of a multi-process, high-spatial-resolution monitoring system for boiler condition management. This monitoring system includes an electrochemical sensor that can provide a real-time indication of tube surface conditions at key locations in the radiant or convective section of a coal-fired boiler. It is capable of providing metal loss rates, heat flux, metal surface temperature, and deposit thickness. This monitoring system will be developed and tested in the high temperature regions of a coal-fired utility boiler in this project, but can be applied in a variety of other industries and applications.

Research Triangle Institute (RTI), is developing a comprehensive solvent emission mitigation toolset for reducing the solvent and aerosol emissions from carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture systems using water-lean solvents (WLSs). Due to their low energy requirement for solvent regeneration, lower regeneration temperature, low corrosivity, and low vapor pressure, WLS systems are rapidly being developed for CO₂ capture. RTI’s toolset is specifically designed for WLS systems, implementing an advanced organic solvent wash system in conjunction with water wash, acid wash, and other commercially available, state-of-the-art emission reduction technologies. This integrated approach will minimize the amine losses and emissions through the suppression of three key emission mechanisms: vapor loss, liquid entrainment, and aerosol formation. The project objectives are to characterize the emissions produced by WLSs while capturing CO₂; develop a model that predicts the emissions based on the solvent’s physical and chemical properties and on critical operating parameters from the absorber and wash section; develop a process toolset for emission reduction over a range of solvent systems; evaluate the effectiveness of these emission mitigation devices in RTI’s Bench-scale Gas Absorption System (BsGAS) by testing with RTI’s current WLS formulation, NAS-5, and a second selected WLS under actual flue gas conditions; and complete a techno-economic analysis to determine the contribution of the emission control technologies to the overall CO₂ capture cost.

The objective of this project is to develop a framework to boost the reliability of characterization and prediction of the state of stress in the overburden and underburden (including the basement) in carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage reservoirs using machine learning and integrated geomechanics and geophysical methods. This project will use field data and models developed by the Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration (SWP) for the Farnsworth Unit, a CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project being conducted by Perdure in Ochiltree County, Texas, to verify the improved capabilities of the developed methods. The integration methodology is an adaptation of industry-accepted practices for calibration of flow simulation models to coupled geomechanical models for improved stress prediction. Computational challenges will be overcome through application of machine learning.

The project approach is to develop and demonstrate an integrated boiler management system that incorporates high temperature, distributed fiber optic sensors, existing plant instrumentation, and an Integrated Creep-Fatigue Management System to provide near-real-time determination of damage accumulation during flexible operation. This system enhances the capability of proven creep/fatigue analysis methods by integrating industrially implemented distributed fiber optic sensing technology specifically adapted to boiler applications. The technology developed will be transferrable to all boiler types and operating regimes. Data analysis will be used to inform operational approaches that minimize thermal stresses and transients and lead to improvements in boiler operational performance and reliability. Monitoring of thick-walled components in concert with boiler tubes will permit an accurate assessment, in near real time, of component damage and degradation through advanced data collection, expanded modeling, and use of validated assessment tools.

The goal of this project is to demonstrate an innovative, energy-efficient water treatment system for flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater treatment to meet the Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category (ELGs). The proposed treatment system uses hybrid biosorption, which is an adsorption process enhanced by biological activity to remove selenium, arsenic, nitrate, and potentially other contaminants from FGD wastewater.The objectives are to (1) evaluate a biosorption treatment system at the Water Research Center at Plant Bowen; (2) demonstrate both energy and water savings associated with the proposed innovative water treatment process; (3) using available published data, compare energy and water savings with alternative technologies that are typically used to remove the target contaminants, and (4) provide long-term management of the FGD wastewater challenge that plagues coal-fired power plants by offering a low-energy, high water-efficiency water treatment system that also significantly decreases waste byproducts by utilizing available waste heat.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will conduct research to mitigate common mechanisms of solvent and infrastructure loss across two of three known classes of water-lean solvents for post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture. PNNL will study amine and alkanol-guanidine chemistries in this effort, as those two chemistries have the most comprehensive data available for analysis and validation. The project objectives are to: (1) reduce solvent volatility while retaining desirable physical and thermodynamic properties; (2) study the molecular underpinnings of solvent degradation (e.g., hydrolysis, nitration, oxidation) and design new molecules that are resistant to these chemical degradations; and (3) decrease infrastructure capital costs while increasing longevity by replacing steel with inexpensive, more durable, plastics.

A water database, called the Water Atlas, has been previously developed by Sandia to support energy sector planning. The Water Atlas includes estimates of water availability at the watershed level (8-digit Hydraulic Unit Code [HUC], which corresponds to roughly 2250 watersheds) for the lower 48 states of the United States. These metrics have been developed for five sources of water including fresh surface water, groundwater, appropriated water, municipal wastewater, and shallow brackish groundwater. The compiled set of water availability data is unique in that it considers multiple sources of water; accommodates institutional controls placed on water use; is accompanied by cost estimates to access, treat, and convey each unique source of water; and is compared to projected future growth in consumptive water use to 2030.

This current scope of work addresses efforts to extend the Water Atlas in three important ways. First, the database will be extended to include water data for Alaska and Hawaii. Second, the Water Atlas will be extended to include data on power plant water ownership; particularly, details on where each power plant gets its water and any potential constraints on water deliveries in times of drought. Finally, the database will be extended by adding a metadata layer that contains specifics concerning the origins of the water availability, cost, and future use data (including past and present data entries).

The goal of this project is to determine the advantages of laser and friction stir processes when applied to the processing of nickel-based alloys used in extreme operating environments found in fossil energy power systems. This project will investigate and demonstrate an integrated approach using both laser processing (LP) and friction stir welding and processing (FSW/P) to join, repair, and return to service nickel alloy castings and wrought fabrications such as hot gas path components in gas turbine applications. The proposed integrated approach using laser cleaning followed by friction stir welding may be a low cost and robust way to increase the service life of these alloys and components used in fossil energy applications (e.g., gas and steam turbines; A-USC and sCO₂ heat exchangers).

Ohio University will develop a process that simultaneously converts CO₂ and natural gas liquids (NGLs), mainly ethane (C₂H₆), in wet natural gas (WNG) into valuable carbon monoxide (CO) and chemicals/fuels respectively, using electrical energy. The primary objective is to identify an intermediate temperature solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) process configuration that offers the technical feasibility of producing CO and removing C₂H₆ from WNG at costs equivalent to current commercial processes, with significant reduction in lifecycle CO₂ emissions over conventional processes. A secondary objective will be to evaluate the potential integration of the proposed process into a coal-fired power plant facility for direct utilization of CO₂ containing flue gas to match current commercial CO production and NGL separation costs. The process is based upon a SOEC stack design that synergistically combines electrochemical reduction of CO₂ with electrochemical-oxidative dehydrogenation (e-ODH) of ethane. The technical feasibility of the proposed process will be evaluated using laboratory-scale electrochemical button cell tests to investigate CO₂ reduction and e-ODH electrocatalyst activity and stability. Process simulation and modeling will evaluate different process configurations for optimizing CO₂ conversion and evaluating process economics. The ability to directly utilize flue gas as a CO₂ source will also be evaluated experimentally and through process simulation and modeling.

MicroBio Engineering, Inc., in collaboration with Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), California Polytechnic State University, University of Central Florida, and Global Thermostat, will continue the development of an integrated process to produce microalgal biomass for the conversion of coal-fired power plant flue gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) into valuable animal feeds. In a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project (FE0026490), filamentous species of microalgae were cultivated in 3.4-m² raceway ponds using flue gas CO₂ from a power plant unit at OUC’s Stanton Energy Center (SEC) in Orlando, Florida. The focus of this research will be on cultivating the filamentous species for high value animal feeds rich in carotenoids and essential fatty acids, while greatly reducing the cost of production. The filamentous nature of the algae species allows for easy harvesting by using a commercial, low-cost vibrating screen. This project will test at field scale the major unit processes required to produce animal feed with microalgae cultivated using flue gas CO₂ from a coal-fired power plant. The dried and milled biomass will be added to conventional poultry feed and feeding trials will be conducted to quantify the value of the feed in terms of a suite of poultry production metrics. The results from the cultivation and feeding trials will be used to update the current full-scale (1,000-acre) design and to develop a techno-economic assessment and life cycle assessment (LCA) for a larger facility (>10,000 acres). Two intertwined issues to be addressed are: (1) the supply of CO₂ beyond the range feasible for flue gas transport (<5 miles) and (2) scale up to 10,000 acres or larger production systems, supplied with concentrated flue gas CO₂ through a pipeline.

University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research is partnering with Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) to develop and test a novel electro-catalytic method to produce high-value formic acid from high-purity coal-derived carbon dioxide (CO₂), as a strategy to offset the cost of CO₂ capture. Formic acid is currently produced from the decomposition of higher-order carbon products such as methane and/or methanol. The proposed electro-catalytic CO₂ reduction process (Andora process) utilizes a highly selective catalyst in a flow-through reactor design to maximize the formic acid production rate. The specific objectives of this study are to: 1) screen and produce engineered CO₂-reducing catalysts capable of exclusively producing formic acid; 2) immobilize the catalyst within a flow process to continually produce formic acid and increase catalyst lifetime; and 3) assess the stability of the catalyst in the presence of trace contaminants in the CO₂ stream during longer-term operations.

TDA Research will develop a new sorbent-based process that can convert the carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured from power plants or other large emission sources by reducing it along with CH₄ (natural gas) and water into a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H₂) without generating additional CO₂ or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and to validate the assertions with a product life cycle analysis (LCA). TDA, and its project partner the University of California, Irvine, will optimize the catalyst and the process to reduce the CO₂ captured from power plants using a high temperature reactor system, and carry out the process design and modeling using software process simulations. The process modeling and analysis will be used to evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of the proposed carbon neutral process to convert CO₂ into fuel.Integration of the CO2 utilization system with both a Fischer-Tropsch plant and a methanol-to-gasolineplant will be considered to assess the relative merits of the two approaches.

The purpose of the proposed project is to scale up and field test a rationally-designed, catalyst-driven ethylene production process using ethane and actual coal-fired flue gas-derived carbon dioxide (CO2) (oxidative dehydrogenation [ODH] process). Southern Research Institute will first scale up catalyst synthesis and then validate performance levels using a laboratory-scale reactor. An existing test skid will be modified and installed at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama, for testing on coal-fired flue gas. Data produced during testing will be used to complete a life cycle analysis and technical and economic feasibility study.

University of Iowa, in collaboration with University of Michigan and University of California, Santa Barbara, will prepare and identify a matrix of platinum group metal (PGM)-free catalysts, electrolyte formulations, and membranes for carbon dioxide (CO₂) conversion with enhanced performance. The optimal materials will be tested in a biphasic electrolyzer designed to use a supercritical CO₂ phase for reduction and a liquid water phase for oxidation, with the two phases separated by a membrane, for conversion of CO₂ to formic acid. The overall project goal is to achieve selective and efficient electrochemical production of neat formic acid from CO₂ using novel PGM-free catalysts.

The overall objective of this research is to identify economic strategies to co-optimize carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) and associated storage in stacked, primarily siliciclastic, reservoirs and residual oil zones (ROZs) in the Illinois Basin (ILB). Achieving this objective will entail (1) verifying the presence of ROZs within the Illinois Basin; (2) developing methods to identify and characterize siliciclastic ROZs; (3) conducting simulation, laboratory, and field-laboratory studies at greenfield and brownfield ROZ field laboratory sites; (4) assessing the economics and performing lifecycle analyses of injection-production scenarios; and (5) conducting a ROZ CO₂-EOR and associated storage resource assessment for the ILB.

This study will address challenges related to co-optimizing CO₂- EOR and associated storage in integrated stacked ROZ storage complexes through computational, bench-scale, and field-laboratory research. Detailed studies will be conducted at two field laboratory sites, one with stacked greenfield ROZs and the other with a stacked complex that includes a brownfield ROZ and depleted conventional reservoirs. The field laboratory sites will be used to collect data and conduct tests to validate ROZ detection methodologies and identify economic, field-deployable strategies to optimize oil production, optimize CO₂ storage, and co-optimize CO₂-EOR and associated storage in stacked ROZs. Findings from these field sites will be extrapolated to characterize the basin wide stacked ROZ fairway CO₂-EOR oil resource and CO₂ storage potential.

North Carolina State University, in partnership with Susteon Inc., will develop comprehensive proof-of-concept data for sustainable and cost-effective production of acetic acid from carbon dioxide (CO2) and domestic shale gas. In order to achieve this objective, the project will address redox-material synthesis, characterization, and optimization as well as long-term stability testing and scalability investigations. Kinetic parameters of the optimized redox materials will also be determined. Reactor and process designs for pilot- and commercial-scale hybrid redox process (HRP) systems with techno-economic and life-cycle analyses will be developed using the experimental results.

Carbon Fuels, LLC will operate the integrated 18 ton-per-day pilot plant using two coal ranks. Other objectives of this work include demonstrating process flexibility by producing different products (gas, liquid, and char), as well as determining operating parameters for identifying scale-up criteria for the two coal ranks; generating engineering and design information for use in designing a commercial scale plant; determining the environmental issues surrounding the process and the products by analysis of effluent streams; producing sufficient quantities of product to allow reliable commercial economic evaluation of both the refined coal product and the co-products; and assessing longer-term reliability of unit operations. To achieve these objectives, Carbon Fuels, LLC will reconfigure, as well as add specific utilities to, the current process to accommodate a large amount of coal and corresponding product storage in order to meet the technical and economic performance targets required to commercialize the technology; perform computer analysis of the critical process parameters against produced products to optimize a particular slate of products produced from a specific rank of coal; analyze the data generated from the pilot plant for each rank of coal to assess economic feasibility and viability; conduct a market penetration analysis of the upgraded coal product and all coproducts for each coal rank; and conduct a complete environmental assessment of a commercial facility for each rank of coal, including pollutants reporting to the upgraded coal product, as well as external process water consumption and the environmental emissions impact of the process associated with each coal rank.

The goal of the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) project is to advance associated geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Williston Basin by establishing the Williston Basin Associated CO2 Storage Field Laboratory. This goal will be accomplished through efforts conducted in collaboration with the project partner and current host site operator, SOG Resources, in both field and traditional laboratory settings. The field-based portion of the project will take place in an oil field in the Williston Basin and will involve the injection of CO2 into a stacked storage complex that includes a residual oil zone (ROZ) and a conventional reservoir by the operator. Gas measurements and/or log/core acquisition will be done in the field by the operator, who will provide EERC with core and fluid samples (as well as data and site access) to conduct laboratory efforts at EERC. The project will: (1) generate field-based data on CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) associated storage in stacked reservoirs; (2) characterize ROZ for associated storage; and (3) evaluate a monitoring, verification, and accounting technique for its applicability to associated storage in stacked complexes.

Mined coal is cleaned of its impurities such as mineral matter and sulfur before utilization. In general, the cost of cleaning increases with decreasing particle size. At present, the industry is discarding coal fines below approximately 44 µm due to the high costs associated with the recovery and dewatering. The amount of the fine coal discarded to impoundments in the United States is estimated to be approximately 6 billion tons. Minerals Refining Company and Virginia Tech have jointly developed a new separation process known as hydrophobic-hydrophilic separation (HHS) that will be tested at pilot scale to collect appropriate scale-up and cost information toward commercial deployment. The basic principles involved in the newly patented process are distinctly different and more efficient than the flotation process, which was patented in 1905 but still is regarded as the best available separation technology for cleaning fine coal. Furthermore, the HHS process is capable of producing dry products without thermal drying, regardless of particle size. The new process has been tested successfully at laboratory, proof-of-concept, and pilot scales on different types of fine coal samples taken from operating coal cleaning plants. The results show that the process can produce high-quality products with high efficiencies. In general, the ash contents of the products decrease with decreasing particle size due to improved liberation of inorganic mineral matter from organic coal matrix, which opens the possibility of producing ultraclean coal with less than 1% ash and with very low moisture. The high-quality coal produced in this manner may create new markets for coal such as activated carbon, carbon black, carbon foams, carbon electrodes, graphene, oil additives, etc. If successful, these new markets will help maintain and create high-paying jobs in the Appalachian coal field. The work proposed herewith include pilot-scale tests to produce low-ash, low-moisture coals that can burn more cleanly and hence generate less CO₂ emissions. The tests will be conducted on a bituminous and anthracite coal wastes that have been discarded due to the lack of appropriate separation and dewatering technologies. The pilot-scale tests will also be conducted on a micronized coal sample to produce an ultraclean coal that can create new markets for U.S. coals.

The overall goal of this project is to develop and evaluate methods for the production of precipitated calcium carbonate while simultaneously utilizing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and industrial solid and liquid wastes. In the proposed process, waste brines are either used as a medium to carbonate coal combustion ashes (e.g., fly ash, bottom ash), or carbonated directly, i.e., CO₂ mineralization is enabled by the calcium ions present in the liquid (brine) stream. University of Wisconsin, partnered with University of California, Los Angeles, will investigate the physical and chemical processes involved in the two proposed carbonation pathways and optimize process parameters for the production of high purity calcite through each of the mineralization routes. A laboratory-scale system will also be constructed to demonstrate the process.

The objective of this project is to develop critical technologies that will support the industry’s development of aluminum risers for ultra-deepwater drilling. The primary technical objective to support this project is the development of high strength, corrosion resistant weldments that connect 7XXX series aluminum riser flanges and pipes. A secondary technical objective with this project is the development of technologies that will mitigate the corrosion of 7XXX series alloys. Theses technical objectives will be accomplished by:

1. Development of a friction stir welding process to join forged 7XXX aluminum flanges with extruded 7XXX pipes.
2. Establishing a post weld heat treatment schedule for 7XXX aluminum joints to improve corrosion resistance and weld strength.
3. Exploring cold spray applications as a corrosion mitigation strategy.

The project will culminate in the fabrication of a sub-scale 7XXX riser assembly for performance evaluation by the project partners.

PNNL PIs:

Glenn Grant is the technical lead on the project.

Scott Whalen is the management lead on the project.

Casie Davidson is financial lead on the project.

This project will establish the feasibility of developing a commercial-scale (~50 million metric tons) geological carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage complex at the Wabash Valley Resources facility near Terre Haute, Indiana. The former Wabash integrated gasification combined cycle plant at this location has been repurposed as an ammonia production facility and will serve as the primary source of CO₂ for the storage complex. The Mt. Simon sandstone is expected to be the primary storage reservoir; this and other potential storage reservoir(s) and sealing units at the prospective site will be characterized by a two-year data acquisition program that includes drilling and testing a new stratigraphic test well, core and fluid sample collection/analysis, and a two-dimensional seismic survey over the area. The resulting datasets will be analyzed and the storage complex will be modeled to determine the site’s storage capacity, long-term storage security, and ability to receive CO₂ at the required rate. The project team will prepare a detailed plan for future commercialization of the storage complex and evaluate options for utilization of CO₂ from the Wabash facility for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the Illinois East Basin.

Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) is developing a dry methane reforming process that uses non-thermal plasma to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane into syngas, which can be used to produce liquid fuels and other chemicals. ACT’s innovative approach combines plasma and catalytic dry reforming, which has the potential to dramatically increase CO₂ conversion (by a factor of 5). The use of CO₂ plasma inhibits coke formation and enables production of syngas at low temperature with an ideal hydrogen (H₂)-to-carbon monoxide (CO) ratio for producing higher value chemicals (e.g., methanol, acetic acid, formaldehyde). In Phase I, the project team developed a dielectric barrier discharge reactor, evaluated different catalysts, and performed experiments for different inlet compositions, flow conditions, and plasma powers with promising catalysts. The main focus of Phase II is to evaluate options for increasing energy efficiency and scale-up the reactor with support from industry partners. ACT has established partnerships with Lehigh University and a global syngas manufacturer (Linde) to support the work and aid in technology commercialization.

The proposed objectives are to: (1) fabricate, integrate, and research a compact absorber with internal fog and froth formation on the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research’s (UKy-CAER) bench post-combustion CO₂ capture facilities with both simulated and real coal-derived flue gas; (2) develop and finalize the atomizing nozzle and gas/liquid contractor and operating conditions for the fog and froth formation and destruction; (3) determine preferable location(s) for the in-situ heat rejection and aerosol reduction heat exchanger configuration inside the absorber; (4) conduct a long-term campaign to investigate the effects of solvent degradation on fog and froth formation; (5) assess issues of environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) relating to the solvent, and its degradation during long-term operation, and extrapolate to commercial-scale application; (6) conduct a techno-economic analysis to document the benefits of the proposed technology and identify technology gaps for next step development; and (7) prepare and submit State Point Data Table and Technology Maturation Plan (TMP). UKy-CAER’s transformational compact CO₂ absorber with internal fog and froth formation is intended to surmount the limitations of packed-bed CO₂ absorption columns and make progress towards achievement of DOE’s Transformational CO₂ Capture goals of 95% CO₂ purity and a cost of electricity at least 30% lower than a supercritical pulverized-coal (PC) power plant with CO₂ capture, or approximately $30 per tonne of CO₂ captured ready for demonstration by 2030.

The goal of the proposed project is to develop an efficient process to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) to algae biomass and value-added nutraceuticals. The technology comprises three key technologies: algae cultivation using algae with high productivity and robust performance in the flue gas environment, energy-efficient algae dewatering (DeAqua), and production of nutraceuticals. Helios-NRG, LLC is partnering with State University of New York at Buffalo, Northwestern University, Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., and Linde, to advance the technology to achieve high CO₂ capture efficiency and high algae productivity. The project technical activities include designing, building, and operating the multi-stage, continuous flow (MSC) system; optimizing nutraceuticals production; advancing DeAqua gravity table performance; advancing the DeAqua anti-fouling membrane; performing DeAqua module performance tests; conducting a field test of the MSC process; and performing a life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis. State University of New York at Buffalo will develop specialized membranes for dewatering algae in the DeAqua process. Northwestern University will perform the LCA. Linde will assess the potential for use of SolvoCarb technology for gas injection into the algae culture to improve performance/cost. The outdoor MSC system will be tested with actual flue gas at the National Carbon Capture Center.

TDA Research is partnering with University of Alberta, University of California Irvine, and the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, to develop a transformational sorbent for post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture capable of capturing more than 90% of the CO₂ emissions from a coal-fired power plant and recovering CO₂ at 95% purity with a cost of electricity 30% lower than an amine-based system. TDA's system uses a novel, stable, high-capacity CO₂ sorbent in a vacuum/concentration swing adsorption (VCSA) process that uses a single-stage vacuum pump with low auxiliary load. The sorbent regeneration uses a combination of two steps: 1) vacuum to recover the CO₂, and 2) purge using boiler air intake, subsequently feeding the CO₂-laden air to the boiler.

The overarching objective of this bench-scale study is to scale-up and field-validate the technical feasibility of the University of Southern California's membrane- and adsorption-enhanced water gas shift (WGS) process that employs a carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane reactor (MR) followed by an adsorption reactor (AR) for pre-combustion CO₂ capture while demonstrating progress towards achievement of the performance goals of CO₂ capture with 95% CO₂ purity at a cost of electricity of 30% less than the baseline capture approaches. The project begins at TRL 4, as the system prototype has already been validated in the laboratory on simulated syngas (DE-FE0026423). The project aims to end at TRL 5, via scaling-up of the prototype system and its testing on actual syngas at the University of Kentucky (UK). During Budget Period 1, the team will design, construct, and assemble a bench-scale experimental MR-AR system; prepare sufficient quantity of membranes, adsorbents and catalysts with desired features and characterize their properties; and conduct a preliminary in-house test of the bench-scale unit with simulated syngas to validate its functionality. During Budget Period 2, the team will install the unit at UK and conduct testing of the novel MR-AR process in the bench-scale apparatus using real syngas.

The primary purpose of this project is to establish a field laboratory to assess the technical and economic viability of enhanced oil recovery and associated carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage in the greenfield (“fairway”) residual oil zones (ROZs) of the Powder River Basin. This is being accomplished through four objectives: 1) Characterizing the ROZ fairway resource adjacent to the Salt Creek Oil Field, Powder River Basin; 2) undertaking detailed review of mechanisms influencing the efficiency and permanence of ROZ-associated CO₂ storage; 3) examining alternative CO₂ injection and storage strategies for optimizing both oil recovery and CO₂ storage 4) establishing the commercial viability of enhanced oil recovery and associated CO₂ storage for the ROZ fairway at Salt Creek.

The project will develop a transformational molecular layer deposition (MLD) tailor-made, size-sieving sorbent/pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process (MLD-T-S/PSA) that can be installed in new or retrofitted into pulverized coal (PC) power plants for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture. The work will be performed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, located in Troy, New York. The project technical activities include mathematical modeling, development of MLD tailor-made sorbents, MLD sorbent design, construction of an MLD-T-S/PSA system, and techno-economic analysis. The two sub-recipients in this project are University of South Carolina (USC) and Gas Technology Institute (GTI). USC will conduct sorbent performance testing, PSA process optimization, and system design and construction. GTI will evaluate the influence of impurities on sorbent performance and construct a testing skid at USC and transport it to the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama for field testing.

The objective of this project is to evaluate the Svante's transformational VeloxoTherm™ Technology via the development and bench-scale testing of an advanced structured adsorbent, including novel Bi-layer, laminated adsorbent structures and segmented beds. The Electricore team will select, synthesize, and characterize tailored solid adsorbents for computational modeling, advanced structured adsorbent development, process simulations, and dynamic bench-scale (~1-10 kg/day CO₂ captured) testing using an existing single-bed Variable Test Station (VTS) coupled with a natural gas-fired boiler. Segmented beds will use the in-house, multi-bed Process Demonstration Unit (PDU) to demonstrate key performance indicators (KPIs), such as recovery, product purity, regeneration energy, and the integrated system's productivity in lifetime analysis. Segmented beds will be used at a 1 tonne per day (TPD) unit at an industrial site to provide bench-scale validation of performance in an industrial setting.

Ohio State University (OSU) will develop a cost-effective design and fabrication process for a novel transformational membrane and its membrane modules that capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from flue gas. The membranes exhibit very high CO₂ permeance of about 3,300 gas permeation units (GPU) and a very high CO₂/nitrogen (N₂) selectivity of greater than 140. OSU will optimize the membrane design, scale-up the membrane to a prototype size of 21 inches wide, and construct and test a bench-scale skid containing at least six membrane modules with simulated flue gas at OSU and with actual flue gas at the National Carbon Capture Center. The goal of this project is to achieve 60 to 90% capture of the CO₂ with greater than 95% CO₂ purity ready for compression to 152 bar (2,200 pounds per square inch [psi]) for storage or enhanced oil recovery.

ION Engineering LLC, in partnership with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), will conduct a comprehensive test campaign utilizing U.S. coal-fired flue gas to evaluate key performance indicators of the novel ION capture solvent, “ICE-31.” The project, designated by ION as Apollo, aims to scale up a novel amine-based solvent technology with transformational stability and excellent CO2 capture performance from bench-scale to pilot-scale (0.6 MWe) using real coal-fired flue gas at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama. Additionally, data from the test campaign will be utilized to validate a new solvent-specific module in ProTreat® process simulation software that is critical for further scale-up and economic evaluations. A successful test campaign at NCCC’s Pilot Solvent Test Unit (PSTU) will validate the transformational performance of the technology, facilitating progression to large-scale pilot testing (>10 MWe). For a comprehensive evaluation of the novel solvent technology, the test plan includes: parametric testing to determine optimal operating conditions; evaluation of system response and operation during process dynamics that occur naturally at power stations including variations in flue gas flow rates and/or CO2 inlet concentrations; emissions studies under steady-state and dynamic conditions; and long-term steady-state testing.

State University of New York (SUNY), in collaboration with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, California Institute of Technology, and Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR), will develop transformative solubility-selective mixed matrix membranes containing metal-organic polyhedra and rubbery polar polymers to achieve high carbon dioxide (CO₂) permeance (3,000 gas permeation units [GPU]), high CO₂/nitrogen (N₂) selectivity (50), and high CO₂/oxygen (O₂) selectivity (20) . The approach builds on an innovative membrane process design using CO₂-selective membranes developed by MTR.

This project encompasses four complementary objectives that will employ a high degree of coordination and communication to realize a final, rigorously sound, and validated computational capability for identifying plant inefficiencies upon completion that will subsequently be communicated and validated with industrial partners for technology transfer. Objective 1 will utilize massively-parallelized graphics processing units (GPUs) in the laboratories of both the recipient and partners to efficiently execute the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) ANSYS Fluent code used in this project. A sizeable portion of operational damage in fossil fuel power plants occurs in the boiler’s superheater/reheater headers; therefore, Objective 2 will be to make use of these GPU-parallelized simulations to understand the durability of and damage mechanisms to these header structures under various cycling and operational modes. Objective 3 will be to assess subsequent damage mechanisms by quantifying and calculating the effects of particulates within “steam in” boilers as a function of both boiler geometry and operating conditions. Objective 4 will combine the results of the previous three objectives to create a holistic, comprehensive, and systems-level assessment of damage rates under different cycling modes.

This research will systematically characterize arsenic (As) and selenium (Se) speciation within a representative matrix of coal fly ashes using state-of-the-art synchrotron X-ray spectroscopic and microscopic techniques in order to develop a comprehensive correlation and searchable database for coal source/type, generation condition, As/Se speciation, and As/Se mobility. A detailed survey will be performed to document current knowledge of fossil power operating units as a function of coal type and source, operating conditions, environmental control systems, additive use, and fly ash handling methods, as well as common techniques for analyzing As and Se concentration. A matrix of fly ash samples will be collected and subjected to (1) traditional characterization techniques to provide bulk characteristics such as elemental composition, microstructure, chemical and mineralogical composition, surface area, and particle size distribution; (2) synchrotron X-ray microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to reveal molecular-scale speciation information regarding As and Se, such as oxidation state, association with other elements and minerals, embedded mineral phase, and complexation states; and (3) mobility of As and Se in samples, using various leaching methods. The resulting database will detail correlations among coal type and source, utility operating conditions, and As/Se speciation and mobility.

Technology Holding LLC proposes to demonstrate a cost-effective modular reactor to convert natural gas to benzene at smaller scales operated in fuel cell mode. The objective of the proposed project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a combined catalyst-membrane scheme to yield high single-pass conversion and significantly reduce coking. The proposed innovation does not require oxygen or air as reactants thereby enabling smaller-scale economies of operation. Prior work by the proposing team has identified a resilient catalyst and a thermochemically stable, inexpensive, high flux, high selectivity hydrogen transport ceramic membrane. The initial laboratory-scale technical feasibility of a combined catalyst-membrane reactor to yield supra-equilibrium conversion has been demonstrated. The proposed innovation will develop a scalable catalyst- membrane reactor to address conversion and coking technical challenges thereby dramatically improving the commercialization potential.

In this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project, MAAT Energy Company is developing a microwave plasma technology for efficient utilization of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to produce jet fuel. In the system, a seeded non-thermal hybrid microwave plasma catalysis reactor reforms CO₂ and methane to carbon-neutral synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) processes can then be used to convert the syngas into jet fuel or other chemical products. In the Phase I project, MAAT Energy achieved an energy efficiency of 60% and a conversion fraction of methane to syngas of 99% with a laboratory-scale (1 kilowatt [kW]) plasma catalytic reformer (PCR) unit. The team established techno-economic and carbon life cycle analyses as a basis for a commercialization case for alternative jet fuel production using the novel plasma catalysis reforming/F-T process. In Phase II, MAAT Energy will further develop and scale-up the technology and test a pilot-scale (100 kW) system to evaluate the long-term stability of the process.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL's) Offshore Research Portfolio is a suite of projects supporting the Department of Energy (DOE) Fossil Energy's (FE's) primary mission to ensure the nation can continue to rely on traditional resources for clean, secure, and affordable energy while mitigating risks and enhancing environmental stewardship. For offshore oil and gas spill prevention, NETL's Offshore Research Portfolio is focused on innovating solutions to challenges associated with geohazard prediction, subsurface uncertainty reduction, addressing oil and gas infrastructure integrity, and optimization for new and existing infrastructure systems. This suite of projects is focused on improving the ability to predict geologic hazards by identifying subsurface issues early with greater accuracy and faster response times; preventing offshore incidents by managing and minimizing risks associated with drilling and production operations, aging infrastructure, and infrastructure reuse; and minimizing drilling risks to prevent catastrophic offshore incidents and loss of life. These projects are employing experimental and modeling approaches, including machine learning and data analytical solutions, to mitigate current knowledge gaps and develop new methods and technologies. This work is producing models, analyses, and resources that can be used to assess and mitigate risks and costs associated with offshore oil spills prior to and during drilling and production operations. The technologies and advances made are preventing and reducing the impacts from deleterious events associated with offshore hydrocarbon drilling and production, while optimizing and improving the economic potential of domestic offshore hydrocarbon resources. Please click here to find more information about completed and ongoing projects from this portfolio.

This project will investigate the functionality and performance of a blockchain/peer-to-peer (P2P)-enhanced, software-defined networking (SDN)-enabled cybersecurity protection system. This cybersecurity system will operate on a group of controllers which form the control plane of an SDN system. The group of SDN controllers determine how traffic flows passing through switches in the SDN forwarding plane are handled. The forwarding switches relay the communication traffic flows among the cyber-capable devices (e.g., monitors and actuators) deployed in the industrial control system (ICS) for managing and controlling the power plant, transformer yard and power bus functions, transmission system, and distribution substations. The actions of handling traffic flows reflect the desire for an ICS to allow legitimate flows and block suspicious traffic flows pertaining to possible network intrusions or denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. The actions are expressed in the form of rules which can be programmed onto the forwarding switches by the SDN controllers. Cybersecurity protection based on the present SDN technology is susceptible to attacks targeting the control plane or targeting the communications between the forwarding and the control planes. However, the PIs believe that blockchain/P2P technology can be incorporated into an SDN-based cybersecurity protection system to mitigate the security risks. The prototype of a blockchain/P2P-enhanced cybersecurity protection system can be used to demonstrate a cost-effective reinforcement of the security protection safeguarding the operations of fossil fuel power generation systems. A testbed needs to be developed to examine the technical feasibility of incorporating blockchain/P2P technology into an SDN-enabled cybersecurity protection system, from both inter-operability and performance perspectives.

Fossil fuel power plants are complex systems containing multiple components that create extreme environments for the purpose of extracting usable energy. The extreme environments include elevated temperatures of flue gases (~700–3400 ºF) that can reduce the usable life of the components that make up the system. Failures in the system can lead to increased downtime for the plant, reduction of power, and significant cost for repairs. This project aims to develop a novel platform for secure data logging and processing in fossil fuel power generation systems. The platform integrates two emerging technologies, blockchain and machine learning, and incorporates several innovative mechanisms to ensure the integrity, reliability, and resiliency of power systems even when the systems are under various cyberattacks such as false data injection and denial of service. The proposed novel platform is enabled by the following components and will provide benefit in a secure mechanism to collect sensor data, aggregate the data using a machine learning platform, and store them in the blockchain. A set of mechanisms ensures that only data sent by legitimate sensors are accepted and stored in the data repository. The design of the mechanisms will be informed by a thorough threat analysis on the sensor networks used in power generation systems. Node authentication/identification will be facilitated by public-key cryptography. The distribution of public keys is protected by a novel relay mechanism that leaves no room for man-in-the-middle attacks. A suite of data aggregation methodologies uses machine learning/deep learning algorithms to minimize the noise and faulty data. The project will involve interface development to communicate with the sensor network to collect real-time data, store raw data for machine learning model development, and predict anomalous data using edge runtime and deployment functions. Traditional machine learning algorithms such as support vector machine (SVM) and K–means clustering, and deep learning algorithms such as recurrent neural networks, long short-term memory (LSTM), autoencoders, and generative adversarial networks (GAN) will be used for model building and prediction of anomalous data. Two-level secure logging is protected by the blockchain. The raw data are stored locally at data aggregators after filtering using machine learning algorithms to be developed as part of the platform. The summative data are placed on the secure ledger protected by the blockchain. The hashgraph blockchain will be used to facilitate high-throughput logging and to ensure minimal energy consumption. Furthermore, a novel mechanism is employed to establish a strong link between the raw data and the summative data, which is essential to ensure the integrity of the logged data.

Current estimates indicate the volume of methane trapped in resource-grade offshore marine deposits and onshore permafrost-associated deposits may dwarf what exists in conventional gas reserves worldwide. Methane hydrate deposits in the U.S. represent a potentially significant source of energy for the nation that, once more fully explored, could open up a significant source of natural gas key to meeting the Nation’s future energy needs. Based on current data estimates, the program’s objective is to reduce uncertainties within the data and focus research and development efforts in exploring the feasibility of this energy resource.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Natural Gas Hydrates research project supports recent field efforts by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program to accelerate the determination and realization of methane hydrates’ resource potential, and to enhance the current understanding of the role gas hydrates have in the natural environment. This research focuses on providing pertinent, high-quality information that will benefit the development of geological and numerical models, as well as sophisticated methods for predicting the behavior of gas hydrates at various production scenarios and under natural conditions.

The goal of this project is to demonstrate a secure private blockchain protocol designed for fossil power generation systems. The specific objectives include (i) design and implementation of a secure private blockchain architecture that can secure process signal data and other information flows within distributed sensor networks for fossil-based power generation systems, (ii) a simulated power plant environment that uses sensor data with cryptographic digital signatures and integrate the secure blockchain developed by the project team with this system, (iii) demonstration of the effectiveness of the developed blockchain technology by simulating a cyber-attack on the sensor infrastructure.

West Virginia University Research Corporation will develop and test an innovative treatment process that utilizes produced water (PW) to create chemical and energy synergisms in blowdown (BD) water treatment. The project goal is to maximize generation of a product stream low in fouling potential for reuse and a concentrated stream of commercial value (i.e., 10-lb brine) while reducing chemical and energy costs for the treatment. This treatment process consists of mature treatment technology and innovative use of mature technology (i.e., brine electrolysis) to enable step improvement in cost and energy requirements for BD water treatment over the baseline process. Specifically, the proposed treatment process consists of softening, organics and suspended solids removal, reverse osmosis, brine electrolysis, and thermal desalination. These treatment units are integrated to sequentially treat the PW and BD water from their raw water conditions to those of a product stream suitable for reuse and 10-lb brine as a saleable product.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will employ advanced computational techniques to address the challenge of higher material deterioration facing the existing coal-fired power plants due to a shift in their operational mode from baseline steady state to cycling. The cycling operation of coal-fired power plants enhances the thermo-mechanical fatigue damage in boiler headers. As a result, materials deteriorate at a higher rate and ligament cracking occurs in headers in a shorter time. The main objective of this project is to employ computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) to conduct a comprehensive and advanced study of the applicability of Inconel (IN) 740H superalloy in steam headers to improve the operating flexibility of power plants. The project team will use the results of the analysis to optimize the geometry of headers to minimize the quantity of material used.

The goal of this project is to develop and validate with field data an improved software tool for plant engineers to predict ash deposition and heat transfer in coal fired boilers. Enhanced computational flow dynamics (CFD) simulations and field data from a power plant cyclone-fired boiler burning North Dakota (ND) lignite coal will be used to develop functional relationships for predicting ash deposition, heat transfer rates and NOx formation in the boiler over a wide range of operating conditions. These functional relationships will be integrated into an existing boiler performance tool, Combustion Systems Performance Indices-Coal Tracker (CSPI-CT). The enhanced version of CSPI-CT will be installed in the same ND lignite coal fired power plant and validated by comparing predictions of ash deposition rate, NOx formation and heat transfer rate with actual boiler operating data over a minimum three (3) day duration of plant operation.

Georgia Tech will develop a validated large eddy simulation (LES) model framework that supports oxy-combustion experiments relevant to direct cycles; establish a synergistic combination of computational and experimental research that will make a substantive impact on the practical design and implementation of supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles; and incorporate research results into the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) internal technology development process with the goal of advancing the technology readiness level (TRL) to 3 or 4. Multiphysics model development and LES will be performed using the in-house RAPTOR code framework, which is a massively parallel solver that is well suited for treating the high-pressure, high-temperature processes associated with oxy-fueled CO₂ combustion in complex geometries. Concurrently, a combination of laser and optical measurement techniques will be applied in two complementary sCO₂ configurations. The first set of experiments will provide quantitative density distributions in the sCO₂ loop. This system produces a steady flow of sCO2 with known boundary conditions that can be controlled with a high level of precision, which is ideal for model validation. Measurements in the sCO₂ loop will be made using 2D burstmode Raman scattering. The second set of experiments will provide quantitative data from the 1 MW sCO₂ combustor operated by SwRI. Chemiluminescence imaging will be performed that extend into the IR spectral range to measure H₂O and hot postflame CO₂. These species are key indicators of the flame shape and anchoring position, which are critical parameters that simulations need to predict accurately. By directly coupling advanced LES capabilities with validated first principles models and advanced experiments, this project enables a more detailed quantitative analysis of direct sCO₂ power cycles than have been possible.

The project will focus on developing a physics-based concurrent multiscale framework, comprising advanced material characterization, uncertainty quantification, multiphysics constitutive models, and multiscale algorithms, to model the highly nonlinear temperature and time dependent damage mechanisms and material degradation in ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) operating in turbine service environments. The goal is to enhance the fidelity and reduce empiricism in the ability to predict CMC component life through in-depth understanding of progressive damage, oxidative degradation, and time dependent inelastic deformation, while accounting for uncertainties, both aleatoric and epistemic. The multiscale methodology will integrate microscale constituent behaviors to model structural scale response, while accounting for scale dependent variability, which will be identified through sensitivity analysis. This will allow evaluation of the weak links in the microstructure as potential sites for damage nucleation. Methodological developments will be steered by a closed-loop testing and validation plan that incorporates both simulation and experimental test data.

University of Texas, Austin (UTA), in conjunction with its partner, the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), will use AM (additive manufacturing) to manufacture turbine components with complex features that cannot be manufactured with conventional techniques, and will use AM for rapid prototyping and testing of turbine components that will ultimately be manufactured using conventional techniques. This project will have experimental and computational components with the common focus on developing integrated internal cooling, film cooling, and TBC configurations which maximize overall cooling effectiveness and hence reduce needed coolant mass flows. Adjoint-based sensitivity calculations for RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) models will be used to establish the sensitivity of cooling performance to both shape and roughness in order to develop optimized configurations. The performance of the optimum cooling configurations will be evaluated using engine scale and large scale coupons incorporating internal cooling channels feeding film cooling holes. These optimum designs will be incorporated in full vane configurations which will be tested at large scale to provide details of operational performance, and at engine scale to validate using AM to rapid prototype and test new vane/blade designs.

The project aims to improve efficiency, flexibility, and reliability of the coal-fired power plant (CFPP) fleet by: (a) estimating then optimizing heat rate in for improved efficiency at part load, base load, and during transients; (b) increasing the ramp rates from part load to base load for supporting the power grid against ever-increasing intermittent energy sources; and (c) determining the health of the major components of CFPPs for improved reliability.

The project technology relies on an embeddable real-time CFPP model library that will include right-sized transient component models that are easy to requisition for different CFPPs. The library will be designed in such a way as to allow for continuous addition of new component models and continuous modification of existing models. The component model library has the capability to be configured, which is achieved through parameterization of the component models. A model-based estimator (MBE) will exercise this model in an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to match the model outputs to the site outputs in real time. The UKF-based MBE module will estimate all the states of the dynamic plant model together with the component health parameters to reflect the current stats of the CFPP. The adapted parameters and the current state of the CFPP are then used by a model-predictive controller (MPC) to case an optimization problem into the future to decide on optimal future inputs. MPC allows a user-defined objective function that can be tuned based on site needs (e.g., faster ramps, better efficiency, reliability) and explicitly handles site-specific operational constraints.

Over the next decade, hundreds of billions of dollars will be invested in new 21^st century energy systems and processes that are more dynamic and interconnected than ever before. The Institute for Design of Advanced Energy Systems Integrated Platform (IDAES) helps companies, technology developers, and researchers to model, design, and optimize these complex systems, potentially resulting in tens of billions of dollars in savings. As an optimization-based, integrated process modeling platform, IDAES enables rigorous analysis of multi-scale, dynamic processes and operating scenarios to improve efficiency of existing systems and develop next-generation energy systems.

The IDAES Integrated Platform addresses the capability gap between state-of-the-art simulation packages and general algebraic modeling languages (AMLs) by integrating an extensible, equation-oriented process model library within the open-source, Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Pyomo AML, which addresses challenges in formulating, manipulating, and solving large and structured optimization problems. IDAES includes tools for (1) process synthesis and conceptual design, including process intensification; (2) process design, optimization, and integration; (3) process control and dynamic optimization; (4) use of advanced solvers and computer architectures; (5) automated development of thermodynamic, physical property, and kinetic submodels from experimental data; (6) integration of multi-scale models; (7) comprehensive, end-to-end uncertainty quantification, including stochastic optimization; (8) maintenance of complete provenance information; and (9) the ability to support multiple scales, from materials to process to market.

IDAES has an active and growing user community from multiple industries — including power generation and distribution, petrochemical manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products — that will increasingly benefit from the capabilities of IDAES. Additional details can be found at https://idaes.org/

Pennsylvania State University will mature additive manufacturing (AM) of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) airfoils with complex internal cooling features using a polymer precursor matrix pre-impregnated with ceramic fiber filaments. The project will demonstrate the ability to 3D print relevant turbine features in SiOC, develop and characterize new silicon carbide (SiC) precursor materials for AM, and develop design tools that can enable a complex cooled CMC vane capable of operation at firing temperatures of 3100°F. The goal is to develop new insight into how AM can enable transformative levels of performance in CMC airfoils. The project interlinks research tasks that converge to a CMC vane with optimal material properties and complex cooling design features that are not currently possible through other manufacturing methods. It will be enabled by AM, novel materials processing, computational optimization, and iterative design and experimental feedback. Expected project outcomes include the development and evaluation of a CMC AM process for gas turbine components that enables cooled gas turbine component shapes while retaining many benefits of CMCs, including temperature tolerance and toughness.

The project objectives are to develop methodologies and algorithms to yield (1) a hybrid first-principles artificial intelligence (AI) model of a PC boiler, (2) a physics-based approach to material damage informed by ex-service component evaluation, and (3) an online health-monitoring framework that synergistically leverages the hybrid models and plant measurements to provide the spatial and temporal profile of key transport variables and characteristic measures for plant health.

University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research will develop a self-cleaning, ash fouling free air preheater to increase the capacity of a coal-fired power plant for load following. Increased use of alternative energy sources presents a challenge to controlling thermal efficiency. The proposed unit offers a solution to this challenge, especially during deep cyclic operation, and is transformative from the state-of-art regenerative heater with either hot-air recycling or a hot water recirculation system. The research team will accomplish this goal by installing four sets of auto-controlled blind valves at the air inlet of the air preheater. Whenever the load is below 70 percent, the inlet blind valve will be rotationally closed to block the air flow and provide an annular hot-temperature zone inside the air preheater to decompose condensate ammonia bisulfate, transforming the sticky fouling ash to loose dry ash, followed by cleaning with high-temperature flue gas when the valve rotates to the flue gas side. The objective is to design, build and test a 0.25 MWth regenerative air heater at a coal-fired power plant (Louisville Gas and Electric E.W. Brown Station Unit 3, a wall-fired pulverized coal unit). The effectiveness of auto-control blind valves will be investigated in terms of flue gas pressure drop across the air heater and the flue gas exhaust temperature as a function of time.

The objective of this project is to test, validate, and advance the technology readiness level (fromTRL5 to TRL7) of a novel low-cost distributed stainless-steel/ceramic coaxial cable sensing (SSC-CCS) technology for in situ monitoring of the boiler tube temperature in existing coal-fired power plants.

InnoSepra, LLC, in collaboration with Main Line Engineering, Plant Process Equipment, and Arizona State University, will evaluate a transformational post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology based on novel microporous materials to make progress toward DOE’s transformational CO₂ capture goals of 95% CO₂ purity and a cost of electricity at least 30% lower than a supercritical pulverized coal (PC) power plant with CO₂ capture, or approximately $30 per tonne of CO₂ captured by 2030. The process is based on a breakthrough sorbent regeneration method and sorbent combination that leads to a significantly lower capital cost and parasitic requirement compared to most known CO₂ capture technologies. The objectives of this project are to perform sorbent material identification and process development, lab-scale testing with simulated flue gas, bench-scale field testing with actual flue gas at Technology Center Mongstad (TCM), and engineering design and techno-economic analysis (TEA) to enable estimation of the CO₂ capture cost at commercial-scale.

The objective of the three-year effort is to develop a fiber-optic sensing system capable of real-time simultaneous distributed measurement of multiple subsurface, drilling, and production parameters. A novel multi-material, measurand-specific, optical fiber will be fabricated and integrated with the sensing system to enable the distributed and real-time measurement of multiple parameters simultaneously with ultrahigh sensitivity, high frequency, and reliability at depths and temperatures beyond that of current related monitoring technologies.

The goal of the project is to develop a blockchain-empowered provenance platform for identity management and process integrity for sensors in fossil-based power plants. To accomplish this goal, the following objectives will be completed:

1. Develop a blockchain-based provenance platform that can track data flow traffic from sensors deployed in fossil-based power plants and detect identity violations, unauthorized communication, and process integrity violations.
2. Design the proposed platform to be scalable across a geographically distributed footprint.
3. Develop a prototype to evaluate the effectiveness of the platform and provide performance metrics.

GE Steam Power, Inc. will demonstrate improved reliability, flexibility, and economics of an existing coal-fired power plant by applying a plasma-assisted pulverized fuel firing system at a full-scale implementation at Rocky Mountain Power to validate achievement of lower load, improve flame stabilization, and reduce operating costs. The research will advance the plasma ignition technology to a fully integrated and field-proven system to make it commercially available for other coal-fired power plants. The effort will consist of detailed engineering, installation, commissioning, and testing on additional sensors and control analytics for the coal-fired combustion system to address the objective described above. The research team will operate the plasma assisted system in a long-term field test (five-to-seven months) that will begin when full implementation of the system on the host unit is achieved to capture operational experience through all seasons and conditions, record and analyze operational improvements, and optimize the system. Inspection and reporting work will be conducted upon completion of the field test. This new technology could save customers millions of dollars by eliminating the need for oil/gas for start-up or to support low load, increasing reliability by providing a stable low load flame, and significantly reducing OPEX costs over alternatives.

This project builds upon the Performer's recently reported conversion of a variety of biomass materials and lignite coal to graphite. The aforementioned materials are all known as “non-graphitizable carbons”, that is, carbonaceous materials that do not graphitize even when heated to 3000 ˚C, thus, the graphitization of “non-graphitizable” carbons is remarkable. However, perhaps even more remarkable is that these materials are transformed at very high yield (>95% of carbon present graphitized) into highly crystalline graphite of high-purity (>99%), with properties that are nearly identical to that of high-grade Li-ion battery graphite. The objectives of this project are to elucidate the mechanism of the graphitization of lignite by examination of the reaction intermediates and products and determine the factors that govern the size, quality, and yield of the lignite derived graphite. Furthermore, efforts will be made to transition the process from batch to continuous processing.

Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI) will test a pilot-scale concrete thermal energy storage (CTES) system to demonstrate the energy storage potential of the technology when applied to coal-fired power units. The technology consists of a steam-in, steam-out CTES system that can be integrated with existing coal-fired units to enable them to become flexible energy storage assets. CTES utilizes tube-in-concrete heat-exchange modules that are charged with steam condensed at high pressure, thereby maintaining the high-temperature conditions of the latent heat portion of the cooling curve. The key innovation of the TIC is the high-conductivity, high-temperature, low-cost concrete and innovative proprietary novel arrangements of small diameter steam tubes, which enables cost-effective scale up to longer duration storage. In addition, the system has few moving parts as the storage assembly is passive (potentially significantly limiting maintenance costs) and is a system that power plant owners will be familiar with (basically a steam-driven heat exchanger) which will make acceptance more likely and reduce training needs. In addition, utilizing concrete as the storage medium has the potential to be a preferred energy storage technology, as the material is inexpensive, stable at higher temperatures, readily available, and presents few environmental concerns. The project scope will comprise a Front-End Engineering Design; more detailed engineering design and procurement of equipment and supplies; pilot plant construction, commissioning, and testing at a 10 MWh-e CTES pilot plant located at Alabama Power’s E.C. Gaston Steam Plant’s Unit 5, in conjunction with Southern Company; and a full-scale economic analysis to evaluate the costs and benefits of a full-scale application of CTES technology to coal power units with comparisons to other energy storage systems at comparable scales.

The University of Pittsburgh will develop a cost-effective quality assurance (QA) method that can rapidly qualify laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)-processed hot gas path turbine components (HGPTCs) through a machine learning framework that assimilates in-situ monitoring and measurement, ex-situ characterization, and simulation data. The project deliverable will be a rapid QA tool capable of building a metadata package of process-structure-property data and models intended for LPBF-processed HGPTCs. The target application of this QA tool is an advanced HGPTC produced by LPBF in Inconel 718. Project objectives include: designing an in-situ monitoring and measurement system on the existing LPBF metal additive manufacturing machine (EOS M290 DMLS) to measure thermal profile and temperature history via a high-speed multi-wavelength imaging pyrometry and to inspect online the potential defects via camera imaging; developing a fast, part-scale, detailed process simulation model to generate thermal histories for every in-situ measurement point; conducting ex-situ porosity characterization on coupon samples via micro-CT and multi-level fatigue testing; establishing a QA metadata package with process-structure-property data and models by machine learning of the simulation and in-situ/ex-situ characterization data; and conducting online/offline QA with process simulation and the metadata package to predict porosity and fatigue of HGPTC. This framework will reduce cost and enhance confidence in adopting the LPBF process to fabricate re-designed, higher performing HGPTCs. Qualification of LBPF-processed HGPTCs will significantly contribute to the advancement of hot-section technology and improvement of the overall turbine efficiency by providing components which could sustain under a turbine inlet temperature of over 3100°F. The developed tool—including the measurement methods, simulation models, machine learning algorithms, and test data collected—will be readily available for turbine original equipment manufacturers to implement as part of their qualification protocol. By collaborating with ANSYS and turbine manufacturers, project results can be transferred to relevant industry to provide the largest impact.

This research effort will develop and demonstrate a new technology for large-volume, targeted comminution of rock in low permeability formations to enhance recovery of unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) resources. This increased stimulated rock volume stimulation is expected to result in significant increases

in permeability leading to increased recovery factors for sub-surface fluids. The proposed technology is especially applicable for enhanced recovery in emerging UOG plays, such as ductile shales that are resistant to opening-mode fracturing by conventional hydraulic fracturing processes.

The main goal of this project is to produce high-value carbon nanomaterials and carbon sorbents from domestic coal resources in a cost-effective manner. Specific objectives of this project include 1) converting domestic coal samples to graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, and activated carbon products at a laboratory scale by using an integrated approach with oxidation, reduction, and activation stages; and 2) performing a technoeconomic analysis, market evaluation, and technology gap assessment for the proposed technology.

The University of North Dakota (UND) Institute for Energy Studies (IES) is teaming with Microbeam Technologies Incorporated (MTI), Barr Engineering Co., Rare Earth Salts (RES), and MLJ Consulting to demonstrate at a pilot-scale its novel technology for rare earth element (REE) recovery from North Dakota lignite coal and related feedstocks. The project will be conducted with cost share support from the Lignite Research Program of the North Dakota Industrial Commission, North American Coal Corporation, Great River Energy, Minnkota Power Cooperative, BNI Energy, MTI and UND. Technical advisory support will also be provided by the Critical Materials Institute and the North Dakota Geological Survey. Valley City State University has expressed interest in hosting the first commercial demonstration. North Dakota lignite coal has been discovered with REE levels as high as anything ever reported previously for U.S. coals. In lignite coal, the REE are weakly bound as organic complexes, rather than in mineral forms that are typical of higher-rank coals. These organic associations permit simple dilute acid leaching directly from the lignite. The technology is much less complex than most REE mineral processing methods, potentially offering significant cost savings. Finally, the leaching process is also a coal beneficiation process, offering value-added opportunities for the upgraded lignite byproduct. During Phase II, REE oxide concentrates of over 85% were produced from lignites with over 650 ppm REE with favorable economic projections. The overall objective of this proposed project is to demonstrate at the pilot scale a high performance, economically viable and environmentally benign technology to recover rare earth elements (REE) from North Dakota (ND) lignite coal feedstocks. To meet the project objectives, a two-phase approach is proposed. The technology’s profitability and viability will be verified during the first phase through completion of preliminary economic, feasibility, and commercialization studies. Additionally, gathering, preparation, and verification of sufficient REE concentrations in the chosen coal feedstock(s) will be conducted, along with a conceptual design study of the pilot plant, including engineering drawings, to enable rapid construction and develop quotes for all equipment required for continuous operation. During the second phase of the project, pilot plant procurement and construction will begin in tandem to bench-scale parametric testing and evaluation of the feedstock chosen. REE concentrates from this bench-scale testing will be delivered to project partner RES, for preliminary lab-work to evaluate viability and optimal process conditions and pathways for rapid refining of the UND REE concentrate into individual rare earth oxides. Upon completion of the construction of the pilot plant and suitable commissioning, pilot plant testing of at least 100 tons of the feedstock will be conducted. Finally, updates will be made to economic, feasibility, and commercialization studies in the form of a pre-Front End Engineering Design (pre-FEED) study to evaluate in detail the performance and economics of a potential commercial plant. The ultimate significance of this pilot-scale demonstration is the development of a high performance, environmentally benign and economically viable technology for REE production from lignite coal resources that will limit dependence on foreign supplies and strengthen the economic and national security of the U.S. This project will enable migration of the technology from its current TRL of 5 to the next scale, TRL 7, and will be a foundation for subsequent full commercial deployment.

The University of Michigan will develop low-loss rotating detonation engine (RDE) designs for use in power generation using natural gas/syngas mixtures. Project objectives include: developing and demonstrating a low-loss fully axial injection concept that takes advantage of stratification effects to alter the detonation structure and position the wave favorably within the combustor; obtaining stability and operability characteristics of an RDE at fixed and transient operating conditions, and determining performance rules for full-scale operations; and developing quantitative metrics for performance gain, as well as quantitative description of the loss mechanisms through a combination of diagnostics development, reduced-order modeling, and detailed simulations. The project will use methane/syngas mixtures at engine-relevant conditions (up to 10 bar pressure, 700 K inlet temperature) as the basis for the designs. Using an array of existing (6-inch and race-track configurations) and planned (12-in configuration) RDEs, the project will demonstrate the design process to minimize spurious losses. Novel computational tools that can simulate canonical to full-scale systems will be used. An artificial intelligence-based model formulation will enable full-scale RDE calculations over 100-1000 detonation cycles. The main outcomes of the project are a fully axial low-loss inlet concept with fuel injection optimization through mixing-based stabilization; stability and operability characteristics, and sensitivity to operational changes for low-loss designs; and a suite of diagnostic and computational tools specifically oriented towards quantitative performance metrics, design, and optimization of full-scale RDEs.

Increasingly, coal-fired power plants are required to balance power grids by compensating for the variable electricity supply from renewable energy sources. Fossil-fueled power plants, originally designed to be base loaded, will increasingly need to operate on a load following or cyclic basis. This demanding requirement for operational flexibility will need to be evaluated for resilience to frequent start-ups, meeting major and rapid load changes, and providing frequency control duties. The project objective is to evaluate flexibility of existing power plants by improving and redesigning components and designing new operational strategies, with acceptable impacts on component life, efficiency and emissions. The three key areas of materials (riffled/internally ribbed/optimized redesign tubes to address creep/fatigue/oxidation damage mechanisms), operational (impact of load changes, low load and/or cycling conditions on heat exchanger cost/life) and efficiency (integration with thermal energy storage systems) impacts will be tested in a small-scale (~100 kWth) pilot plant at the subrecipient site. This multidisciplinary approach will address the performance-degrading influences resulting from fatigue, creep and corrosion mechanisms along with performance and efficiency gains for timely deployment of redesigned components to market and accelerates technology download for existing power plants. The research activities targeting three key areas of materials, operations and efficiency gains is proposed to optimize operations and determine the true cost of each operation.

Research Triangle Institute and industrial partners will design and engineer novel surface treatments and secondarily applied remediation components to mitigate biofilm growth on condenser tube surfaces in coal-fueled power plants with the goal of developing a strategy to mitigate biofilm growth by at least 50 percent, with an expected improvement in average electricity generation efficiency of more than one-percent. Such modified surfaces can potentially disrupt the landscape for emerging anti-biofouling technologies through the creation of surface environments that interfere with ability of bacteria to sense and respond to their environment, thereby inhibiting biofilm production and surface attachment. Additives will be assessed for their ability to disrupt biofilm as a function of concentration and benchmarked against commercial alternatives. The research team will use microbial test solutions cultured from an actual power plant cooling water source to validate broad spectrum efficacy on the complex array of microbial consortium that constitute biofilms. In the final phase of the project, the research team will use the results to guide the development of surface treatment of an integrated bench-scale test unit for operation using actual cooling water to demonstrate biofilm inhibition. The viability of the proposed system will also be assessed via techno-economic and life-cycle analysis to determine any residual impact on receiving ecosystems based on experimental bench data using real cooling source water.

Lehigh University will develop an optimized prototype of a solid media thermal energy storage concept for thermal management applications in coal-fired power plants. The system is based on thermosiphon technology embedded into an optimized cementitious matrix for combined sensible/latent heat thermal energy storage (TCM-TES) to address an urgent need to develop reliable energy storage capabilities to improve efficiency and flexibility of coal-fired power plants and reduce CO₂ emissions. The proposed TCM-TES is a novel design that incorporates elements from previous studies into an enhanced concept that overcomes the limiting characteristics of solid-state TES systems via enhancement of heat transfer rate, maximum heat utilization and equalization; optimized cementitious matrix for compactness, long term energy in/out cycling capability without material deterioration, low environmental losses and cost, and design for direct interaction with low pressure turbine steam and the feed water stream. The project team will design, engineer, optimize, and test the concept at laboratory- and prototype-scale at test facilities at Lehigh University, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc., and Dominion Energy Power Generation with the goal of developing a thermal energy storage prototype designed and built for up to 400°C operation, 100 kWhth, 90 percent round-trip efficiency, and cost of no more than $25/kWhth.

Ash and slag deposits that foul the steam-generation surfaces of a boiler are the primary cause for boiler outages. These deposits result from the presence of volatile species in the coal ash that act as a glue for ash deposition and growth. Barr Engineering Co. (Barr) has teamed with the University of North Dakota (UND), Microbeam Technologies Inc. (MTI), Envergex, LLC, and MLJ Consulting to develop a transformational technology that controls the formation of alkali aerosols. This project will mitigate ash deposition by capturing the volatile species in the boiler through the injection of sorbents in the boiler. The impact of mitigating slagging and fouling is significant and is expected to: 1) increased plant revenues due to a reduction in outage time; 2) reduce boiler temperatures due to better heat rate efficiency; 3) reduce NO_x emissions from lower furnace temperatures and deeper staging; 4) reduce fuel consumption from improved heat rate; 5) decrease parasitic power from less fan power (lower pressure drop through convective pass); and 6) improve fuel flexibility/tolerance for low-quality fuels.

Project Goals: 1) Demonstrate effectiveness of tailored clay sorbents in mitigating fouling and slagging; 2) Develop a benchmark/screening tool for identifying low cost clay sorbents; and 3) Develop a techno-economic assessment of the sorbent technology including a pathway to commercialization.

GE Research (GER) plans to develop additive manufacturing-enabled repair solutions for last stage bucket (LSB) and additive-manufacturing-enabled packing rings (PRs) for coal-fired steam turbines with the goal of reducing routine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) cost and improving the operating efficiency of steam turbines (Figure 1). GE Steam Power (GESP) and GE Gas Power (GEGP) will provide technical and commercial consulting to GER with insights on steam turbine MRO design requirements, MRO duration and costs, and an overall commercialization strategy for the developed additive manufacturing (AM) technologies.

Microbeam Technologies Incorporated will team with Energy Technologies Incorporated, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Otter Tail Power Company to demonstrate an advanced multigamma attenuation (MGA) sensor capable of accurately and precisely measuring coal properties at the point of injection into burners with the goal of optimizing performance. The technology involves measuring the attenuation of multiple energy gamma rays passing through coal in a burner feed pipe. MGA attenuation signals have been shown to be capable of fingerprinting coal characteristics and provide, at a minimum, the heating value, ash content, and selected ash constituents. Coal property information at the burner will assist in managing slag flow behavior, fireside ash related deposition, and corrosion and erosion issues with the objective of adjusting burner parameters to better follow changing load conditions, optimize flame stability, and decrease nitrogen oxide formation at each burner. The project involves the following tasks: (1) installation and factory testing of the MGA sensors in a coal feeder pipe at the Coyote Station power plant, (2) operating the MGA and compilation of databases for neural network-developed fingerprinting of coal properties at the power plant, and (3) field testing, MGA integration with the CSPI-CT (Combustion Systems Performance Indices – CoalTracker) tool, and validation testing.

The main objective is to develop and validate (through field tests) a new low-cost all-digital pressure sensing technology for in situ distributed downhole pressure monitoring in UOG fields. The goal is to advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of the distributed all-digital pressure sensors and instrumentation from the current TRL 3-4 to TRL 7 at the completion of this project. The goal will be achieved through the planned works in three phases. In Phase I (12 months), the project team will design, fabricate, package and validate of the all-digital pressure through extensive laboratory tests under stimulated downhole conditions. Completion of Phase I will advance the technology to TRL 5. In Phase II (12 months), the project team will develop and test the TDR-based sensor multiplexing technique, fabricate and validate the prototype sensors and instrumentation through pilot tests in research wells. Completion of Phase III will advance the technology to TRL 6. In Phase III (12 months), the project team will conduct a field test in a production well to demonstrate and confirm the performance of the proposed new distributed downhole pressure monitoring technology. Completion of Phase III will advance the technology to TRL 7.

The overall objective of this project is to increase recovery and sustain production from existing Bakken wells by implementing a novel Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technology that has the potential to resolve some of the pivotal issues associated with gas containment in the Bakken complex. More specifically, this project seeks to optimize the performance of foam-assisted hydrocarbon gas injection in Middle Bakken/Three Forks by improving the current scientific understanding of the fundamental mechanisms involved in this process and demonstrating its potential through a field pilot test.

To assess the technical and economic potential of extracting rare earth elements (REE) from coal waste, a ¼-ton/hr mobile pilot plant was designed, constructed, and tested as part of an ongoing project funded by U.S. DOE. Although the pilot plant was successful in recovering REE and producing rare earth oxide (REO) mixes having a purity level greater than 90%, several economic barriers were realized that require more detailed evaluations and a modification of the process circuitry. Most importantly, a reduction in the chemical costs per kilogram of REO recovered is needed for the process to be economically viable for a typical coal source. It is, therefore, proposed to extend the activities of the existing REE pilot plant to integrate and test new technologies and circuits that will significantly reduce the cost of producing REO mixes, cobalt, and manganese at purity levels significantly greater than 2% by weight. Concentrate production will be increased from a current rate of 10 – 100 grams/day to around 200 grams/day. To significantly reduce the primary cost of producing the concentrates, naturally occurring coal pyrite will be recovered and used in bioreactors to produce the acid needed for leaching. Optimization of the conditions will be conducted in laboratory and pilot plant test programs. High-temperature pretreatment of the feed to the leach reactor will be optimized with chemical additives to significantly improve REE recovery and, in the case of magnetite addition, provide the potential for acid generation to aid in acid cost reduction efforts. Selective precipitation will be added and optimized as a means of elevating the REE concentration in the pregnant liquid solution (PLS) prior to the final concentration steps. Calcite will be recovered from coal to be used for increasing solution pH values. The research program will be managed and conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Kentucky, University of Utah and Virginia Tech. Alliance Coal will host and provide operational support for the pilot plant as well as the necessary amount of a qualified feedstock. Kentucky River Properties will be a team partner and will work with the project team to collect and transport several tons of the second qualified feedstock to the pilot plant location. Mineral Separation Technologies will provide a dual X-ray transmission sorter to provide the initial concentration of REE and critical materials.

The University of Texas at Austin (UT) will team with AECOM Technical Services and Trimeric Corporation to prepare a front-end engineering design (FEED) of the PiperaZine Advanced Stripper (PZAS) process for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture at the Mustang Station of Golden Spread Electric Cooperative (GSEC) in Denver City, Texas. The project team will develop a proposal for CO₂ capture from two General Electric gas turbines with two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) and a steam turbine that are rated at 464 megawatt-electric (MWe). The PZAS process is designed to use 30 wt% piperazine to absorb CO₂ from the flue gas of the natural gas combined cycle (NGCC). The technology offers many advantages over competing amine-based carbon capture processes, including: a more efficient and stable solvent; a smaller, more inexpensive absorber; a novel, efficient stripper; compressor and environmental benefits; and more inexpensive materials of construction. The overall objective of this project is to execute the engineering necessary to define the specific requirements of UT’s CO₂ capture system for installation at Mustang Station, culminating in a 30 to 60% complete design package, and the development of a capital cost estimate with an accuracy of +/-15%.

The University of Kentucky (UK) Center for Applied Energy Research will develop and demonstrate the technologies, from precursor to continuous spinning and processing, to produce carbon fiber with an estimated value-add of up to 55 times the value of the coal tar pitch.

UK will partner with Koppers Inc., which buys tens of kilotons per year (kt/yr) of recovered domestic coal tar, to generate isotropic coal-tar pitch (CTP) that has ultra-low levels of quinoline insolubles (QI) and a high softening point for carbon fiber precursor. Koppers and UK will convert the CTP to mesophase pitch. UK will develop the processing of continuous multifilament fiber to generate high-quality carbon fiber from this new mesophase precursor. Collaborating with Materials Sciences LLC, UK will develop subsequent thermal processing for high-volume efficient throughput of coal-derived carbon-fiber preforms. In the end, the project aims to develop novel low-QI CTP and subsequent mesophase pitch in a process easily scaled to tens of kt/yr, ready for scale-up, and to demonstrate end composites that will lead to new markets.

The overall objective of this project is to produce a cost-effective and reliable narrow diameter optical seismic sensor system for fracture diagnostics and reservoir monitoring. The narrow-diameter sensor components have already been prototyped and tested in the laboratory and will form the basis for the development of a 10-20 level array for this project. The project seeks to demonstrate full operation of the system in an environment where conventional sensors are difficult and expensive to deploy due to high temperatures, relatively extreme depths, and complicated drilling, completion, and stimulation programs. The system will be used to perform a suite of data acquisition activities in an unconventional oil and natural gas well, which will be analyzed to provide information on the reservoir and well operations including active surveys, passive seismic, and microseismic monitoring. This will demonstrate the ability of the sensor system to provide useful data with a zero maintenance, fully passive downhole design that will be widely applicable in unconventional reservoirs.

The project's focus is on improving ultimate recovery from Unconventional Oil and Gas (UOG) resources specifically within the oil window of the Utica/Point Pleasant (UPP) shale through the use of natural gas liquids (NGLs) as a treatment for reservoir sections showing limited production efficiency using more traditional approaches. This is to be accomplished through the development and testing of a well treatment method designed to simultaneously improve the effectiveness of well completions, optimize oil and gas recovery over the life of the well and reduce the impact of fresh water consumption and produced water disposal.

The goal of this project is to develop accurate models of the physical and mechanical behavior and degradation of nickel-based superalloys during cyclic operations in fossil energy (FE) power plants where thermo-mechanical fatigue and creep damage are occurring at the same time. The project focus will be on a nickel-based alloy, Haynes H282, that is likely to be used in current and next generation boiler and piping components of FE power plants. The proposed work will provide physically informed models, capturing the microstructural changes taking place in the industrial components under cyclic loading and exposure to high stress and temperature for long operating life – up to 300,000 hours.

Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI) will evaluate the application of various surface modification technologies on coal-fired power plant condenser tubes to enhance their heat transfer properties and increase overall plant performance. EPRI will identify surface modification technologies (i.e., coatings, etching) and apply them to tubing components to study the potential for improved heat transfer by either reducing surface fouling or by altering the physical steam condensation process. The coatings and/or etching techniques may be applied to internal or external surfaces of components (e.g., tubes). Suppliers will apply selected coatings to tubes and tubing material provided by EPRI, and the modified components will be evaluated independently by EPRI. In addition, the research team will test the heat transfer characteristics of full-scale modified tubular components in a facility co-located with an operating power plant and will employ pilot-scale test equipment that has been carefully designed to simulate the environmental conditions in an operating coal-fired power plant condenser. Where feasible, actual waters for steam generation and recirculating cooling will be the same as those used in the co-located power plant. Other component modification characteristics critical to successful field utilization include durability, suitability under a range of conditions, and compatibility with maintenance activities; these characteristics will be measured and determined by pre- and post-testing laboratory analyses, as applicable. These surface modification technologies (modifications to condenser tube surfaces) are expected to be applicable to retrofit or field application in existing coal-fired power plants.

Pennsylvania State University will provide new design methodologies to address the critical operational issues in low-emissions, fuel-flexible, high efficiency gas turbine combustors by developing a design optimization tool that simultaneously optimizes fuel injector hardware and the combustor flow field with optimization functions and constraints that considers both combustor performance and manufacturability using advanced additive manufacturing (AM) methods. This tool will use large-eddy simulation, hydrodynamic stability analysis, and constraints based on both flow/flame stability, as well as AM limitations, to optimize both the flow and the shape of the fuel injector simultaneously using a constrained optimization framework. The resulting designs will be additively manufactured and post-processed using state-of-the-art technologies with a focus on post-processing methods that allow for optimal flow over aerodynamic components. The fuel injectors will be tested at a range of operating conditions in a model gas turbine combustor facility to characterize the performance of the new injector designs. This project will be conducted with Solar Turbines in the areas of manufacturing methods, combustion simulation, and overall combustion design. The results of this partnership will be a design tool that can be integrated into current standard design practices in industry and reshape the design space for this critical hot-section component. These methods could be also be extended to other hot-section components where multi-disciplinary optimization is required, including combustor transition pieces, turbine nozzle vanes, and turbine blades.

The objective of this project is to develop coal plastic composite (CPC) decking boards at lower manufacturing costs than current commercial wood plastic composite (WPC) decking boards, meeting all applicable ASTM and International Building Code (IBC) performance specifications. Bench-scale screening trials will be performed to assess coal/polymer interface chemistry and impacts of formulation additives on composite properties. Commercial continuous-manufacturing equipment will be used to produce CPC decking boards, which will undergo ASTM testing to determine important application properties before being installed in outdoor applications. Process simulations will be developed and validated using continuous-manufacturing information to support techno-economic studies. Further, CPC marketing studies will be completed along with the identification of additional promising applications for CPC materials.

The goal of this two-year research project is to delineate the distribution of fractures by characterizing the hydrological response of fractures to simulated production conditions in real-time, and providing robust methods to remotely monitor changes in pressure and/or fluid chemistry. Keys to achieving the global objective are:

• Unique access to the ongoing Advanced Energy Consortium’s (AEC’s) field pilot studies at the University of Texas (UT) Devine Field Pilot Site (DFPS), which has established a well- characterized hydraulically fractured (HF) anomaly using a novel Electrically Active Proppant (EAP)
• The intrinsic responses of the EAP to pressure and salinity changes.

This project will assess the application of EAP and ERT and/or EM methods in remote sensing of in situ alterations of physical and chemical properties of fractured networks with much higher resolution than current wellbore technologies. The unique and comprehensive data set(s) collected in this project will be disseminated to the public and will lay the foundation for the advancement of various geophysical fracture mapping, and modeling techniques for HF completion and production strategies beyond Technology Readiness Level 5. It is anticipated this research will lead to significant enhancements to ultimate recoveries from Unconventional Oil and Gas (UOG) reservoirs.

The overarching goals of the project are to 1) implement controllable completions through a rigorously monitored field test in a reservoir that has undergone primary and secondary recovery but has yet to pursue tertiary recovery, 2) apply advanced data analytics and machine learning to evaluate the test performance in tandem with a semiautonomous active control system, and 3) assess various business case scenarios to accelerate the development and application of this system for commercial enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

The project team will achieve these goals through the following project activities: 1) identify a CO2-EOR pilot test well pattern in the Cedar Hills South Field; 2) install a set of up to ten interval control valves (ICVs) into the CO2 injection well within the identified test pattern; 3) execute a tracer study using ICV interval-specific tracers to quantify connectivity within the reservoir and inform the subsequent operational designs; 4) operate the ICVs during the project period of performance and quantitatively show that the deployment of the ICVs can improve conformance, increase CO2 sweep efficiency, and improve incremental production; 5) collect downhole measurements which, when combined with analytical and numerical simulation models, can provide the empirical data necessary for developing a machine learning approach to a semiautonomous control system; 6) collect baseline and repeat three-dimensional (3D) seismic surveys of the test pattern to characterize the reservoir and track subsurface fluid migration in response to CO2 injection and ICV system operation; and 7) evaluate various business case scenarios using simulation models to quantify key EOR performance metrics and the effect of ICVs on these metrics.

Battelle Memorial Institute combined two Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs)—the Midwest RCSP led by Battelle and the Midwest Geologic Sequestration Consortium led by the Illinois State Geological Survey— to form the Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative (MRCI) comprising midwestern and northeastern states. The initiative is supporting key activities, including: (1) expanding regional stress/risk assessment to an additional level of detail in new areas; (2) expanding the acquisition of legacy seismic/well data from small oil/gas producers; (3) evaluating conceptual project definition for Atlantic offshore areas and east coast sources; (4) expanding industrial collaboration efforts to new sites/partners and collecting data from brine injection wells for use in storage assessment; (5) incorporating energy transition issues (e.g., hydrogen, direct air capture, bio-enhanced carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), cybersecurity, environmental justice, and job creation/workforce development) into infrastructure assessments; and (6) expanding outreach efforts to regional intergovernmental groups and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Lab and field studies show that over time the injection of CO₂ into an oil reservoir will selectively mobilize lower-molecular-weight hydrocarbons, leaving higher-molecular-weight (HMW) hydrocarbons behind. The goal of the project is to determine the effect of injecting blended CO₂ and rich gas into an active CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) field to improve production performance.

This project aims to inject a blend of rich hydrocarbon gas and CO₂ into an oil reservoir to reduce molecular weight selectivity, lower minimum miscibility pressure and the viscosity of the oil and improve gas solubility. This would result in an overall improvement in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) performance. The EOR performance will be tested by conducting a field validation test of blended CO₂–rich gas injection and tracking changes to molecular weight selectivity and oil viscosity before, during, and after the test injection. The success criteria are a measured increase in High Molecular Weight (HMW) hydrocarbons produced from the reservoir and increased oil production during the field validation test period.

The location of the injection test will be in the Bell Creek oil field in Montana. Laboratory and simulation experiments, based on the composition of available rich gas supply, will be used to determine the quantity and blend(s) of rich gas components that will be used in the field validation test. An injection scheme will be designed incorporating preexisting wellbores installed in the field for the currently operated CO₂ EOR flood. A field validation test will be conducted to inject blended CO₂ and rich gas into a single injection well and produce oil from four nearby wells.

Battelle plans to perform a research effort to test and validate their technology for making high-value polyurethane (PU) foam from bituminous and sub-bituminous coal, along with some low-sulfur fuel oil byproduct. The heart of the process, for which a patent application has been filed, is ozonation of liquefied coal from pyrolysis or direct solvent-based liquefaction to produce polyols, the essential feedstock for PU foams, then making foams from these polyols. Detailed characterization of the PU foam will lead to refined conceptual plant design, economic assessment, and a technology scale-up and commercialization plan.

The objective of this project is to complete a front-end engineering & design (FEED) study on the addition of a post-combustion carbon capture system based on Fluor’s Econamine FG Plus™ solvent technology onto an existing power plant fueled by North Dakota lignite that will demonstrate next-generation carbon capture system feasibility and economics. Building on the findings of a pre-FEED study for Milton R. Young Station Unit 2 (MRY2), the key deliverables of this FEED study will be: 1) design, costing, and performance data needed to commence project financing activities; 2) engineering and material balances required to file for all project permits; and 3) a final project schedule. Advances included in the project to take carbon capture technology beyond the current state-of-the-art include steam cycle integration with advanced heat recovery to improve energy efficiency, a solution for aerosol emissions and solvent degradation to improve the environmental and cost profile, design of the world’s largest capture facility (3.6 million tonnes/year) by two-fold to capture greater economies of scale, optimization for cold climate performance, and establishment of the lowest levelized cost of capture attempted at world scale.

The Caney shale is an emerging unconventional resource play in the southern mid-continent Anadarko, Ardmore, and Arkoma basins. The Caney reservoir is approximately 60–300 m thick, rich in total organic carbon, contains a large oil resource platform, and has a strong natural gas drive. However, development has been hampered by high clay content and reactivity of the formation with water. The main goal of the project is to establish the Caney Shale Field Laboratory in southwestern Oklahoma to conduct a comprehensive field characterization and to validate cost effective technologies that will lead to a comprehensive development plan for the Caney shale, characterized by high clay content and ductile behavior. The first phase of the project (years 1 and 2) will focus on studying the Caney shale. The project’s first objective is development of an integrated program to comprehensively characterize the geological, petrophysical, and geochemical properties of the Caney Shale and its reservoir fluids. The geomechanical properties of clay-rich, ductile shale are not well known and further characterization can improve hydraulic fracturing operations in these formations. Secondly, the project aims to gain a fundamental understanding of hydraulic fracture initiation/propagation, fracture and proppant permeability, proppant embedment, and fluid-rock interaction in the Caney Shale using laboratory data, field observations, and modelling. The second phase of the project (years 3 and 4) will focus on field development, starting with a horizontal well being drilled in Caney shale. The project will validate the findings and recommendations from the first phase of the project by drilling, stimulating, and testing a horizontal well.

The overall objective of the project is to significantly improve the reliability and efficiency of existing coal-fired power plants under flexible operating conditions by deploying a technology to modify the surface chemistry of creep-strength-enhanced steel tubing to substantially improve its steam-side oxidation resistance at a cost and scale that enables its ready acceptance for use by the power generation industry. This will be pursued through efforts targeted at two supporting objectives: (1) demonstration of the use of an existing chromizing technology to process power-boiler-component lengths of appropriately sized creep-strength-enhanced Fe-9Cr-1Mo (Grade 91) steel tubing to assure improved steam-side scaling resistance and the retention of mechanical properties in manner that minimizes cost, and (2) insertion of test articles of the Cr-surface-enriched Grade 91 tubing into a component(s) of an operating coal-fired power plant and evaluation of their performance following a suitable period of elevated-temperature service.

One of the most important components of a hydraulic fracturing fluid is the viscosity modifying agent, which prevents settling and non-uniform distribution of proppant, and provides a strong driving force on proppant to follow the fluid into cracks, fractures, and fissures. Without viscosifying agents, it is impossible to adequately transport proppant from the surface to the fissures. Currently, one line of thinking is that the lack of effective, reliable viscosifiers is a critical limiting factor causing sub-optimal permeability and relatively low productivity index in shale reservoirs even when other steps of hydraulic fracturing are successfully executed. This project is aimed at addressing this limitation and focuses on the development of novel, dynamic binary complexes (DBCs) to achieve reversible super-adjustable viscosities and to implement these novel additives in fracturing fluids.

This R&D effort is designed to inject water with a composition engineered to improve oil recovery from the carbonate matrix in fractured reservoirs. Carbonate reservoirs tend to be oil-wet/mixed-wet due to positively charged carbonate mineral surfaces and negatively charged acidic/asphaltic components in oil. Many carbonate reservoirs are also highly fractured. Water injection is generally not effective in fractured oil-wet reservoirs because water does not imbibe into the matrix. The water composition can be engineered with ionic modification, surfactants, and nanoparticles which can change the wettability of carbonate rocks towards more water-wet conditions under which water can imbibe into the matrix and displace oil into the fractures. The engineered water can also lower interfacial tension and minimize capillary forces so that gravitation forces influence oil recovery from the matrix. Specifically, this effort aims to develop brine compositions that would increase oil recovery in the Goldsmith-Landreth San Andres Unit (GLSAU) [West Texas] and to conduct several single-well pilots and one multi-well pilot to test the technology.

The research concept involves integration of multiple data types to evaluate fields in the study area that have the lowest technical and environmental risk and optimal setting for Enhance Oil Recovery (EOR). Laboratory experiments will be used to optimize a CO2 flood composition specific to Hydrothermally Altered Dolomite (HTD) rock properties, and subsequently design and simulate injection scenarios that offer wettability alteration, foaming, and reduced surface tension. This research is expected to improve oil recovery from matrix porosity and mitigate the impact of fracture zones. The optimized design will be implemented and tested in a Trenton/Black River field. The results will provide strategies to improve oil recovery in complex carbonate formations in the Michigan Basin as well as in other carbonate plays. The key risks include: data vintages; data availability; assessment of complex HTD systems, including thief zones and conformance issues; wellbore integrity of old wells; and cost and sourcing of CO2 for field tests. These risks will be mitigated through the developed methodologies based in laboratory experimentation, rock/fluid characterization, and machine learning tasks, and by field test planning.

The overall goal of this project is to demonstrate Wave Liquefaction™ (WL) coal conversion technology for the conversion of coal into solid and liquid precursors for graphitic material, activated carbon and carbon-polymer composites. Specific technical objectives include producing sufficient quantities of solid and liquid precursors from domestic coals using WL technology, conversion of those precursors into carbonized and graphitized solid forms; activated carbon,and carbon-polymer composites, characterization of those products; process modeling and optimization of the WL product recovery system flowsheet; and development of a techno-economic assessment.

The Carbon Utilization and Storage Partnership of the Western United States (CUSP) was formed as an outgrowth of three former Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships: The Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration; the WestCarb Partnership; and the Big Sky Partnership. The primary objective of the CUSP is to catalog, analyze, and rank carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) options for parts or all of 13 states comprising the contiguous western United States (U.S.). The project team is comprised of academic institutions, government agencies, national laboratories, and industry partners throughout the western U.S. The CUSP coordinates the diverse capabilities and experience of these organizations to accelerate CCUS deployment through the performance of four key activities: 1) addressing key technical challenges; 2) facilitating data collection, sharing, and analysis; 3) evaluating regional infrastructure; and 4) promoting regional technology transfer.

The Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota leads the PCOR Partnership Initiative, with support from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the University of Wyoming, and over 200 cumulative industrial, organizational, and governmental partners, in fostering the development of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in the northern Great Plains states, adjacent Canadian provinces, and Alaska. Areas included in this region are dominated by fossil energy production and coincide with abundant opportunities for geologic storage in sedimentary basins. The PCOR Partnership is catalyzing CCUS projects in its region by 1) strengthening the technical foundation for geologic CO₂ storage and enhanced oil recovery; 2) advancing capture technology; 3) improving application of monitoring technologies to commercial CCUS projects in the region; 4) promoting integration between capture, transportation, use, and storage industries; 5) facilitating regulatory frameworks; and 6) providing scientific support to policy makers.

ION Clean Energy, Inc. (ION) and Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) are leveraging the work performed during the previously awarded Commercial Carbon Capture Design and Costing project (DE-FE0031595) to complete a front-end engineering and design (FEED) for a carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system retrofit onto Unit 2 of NPPD’s Gerald Gentleman Station (GGS). Through previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded projects, ION has successfully tested their CO₂ capture technology based on the low-aqueous ICE-21 solvent in bench-, small pilot- and large pilot-scale systems, validating a reduction in energy requirements, less solvent degradation, and lower emissions compared to systems using baseline commercial solvents. In this project, the team will conduct a FEED for a 700-megawatt electric (MWe) (2 parallel 350-MWe capture units) commercial-scale CO₂ capture plant retrofit to GGS. With this approach, the team aims to decarbonize as much of Unit 2 as possible and maximize operational flexibility with the power station.

The objective of this work is to calibrate an existing damage accumulation and component life model to a high-pressure turbine disk/rotor alloy (used in a steam-cycle turbine of a coal-fueled plant) and a steam cycle Y-block alloy. The component life model accounts for coupled thermomechanical damage accumulation, material microstructural evolution, and material/component erosion/corrosion damage to determine component life predictions. The damage accumulation model, complete with lifetime prediction capabilities, will be implemented in Microsoft Excel or MATLAB format, and will only require input data (inelastic strain, hydrostatic stress, temperature-time waveforms, initial microstructure, etc.) from a component-specific finite element analysis to predict component lifetime. The modelling tool will then enable lifetime prediction as a function of historical plant steam cycle operational data as well as any potential proposed future operational cycling. Activities proposed as part of this work include material testing and characterization, damage accumulation and component model calibration and verification, and component life model implementation within a user-friendly format (Microsoft Excel orMATLAB).

The main objective of this project is to design, develop, additively manufacture, test, and validate three types (temperature, pressure, and blade tip timing/clearance) of optical sensor modules for in situ monitoring of the critical operation parameters in coal-fueled steam turbines. These sensor modules will be embedded into the Smart Ring (recently invented and patented by GE) and installed circumferentially and flush into the inner wall of the turbine casing for condition-based monitoring, control and maintenance scheduling. The optical sensor modules will be optimally designed based on simulations, and additively manufactured using the novel Integrated Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing (IASM) method developed at Clemson University. The sensor-embedded Smart Ring will be tested and validated under laboratory-simulated conditions as well as demonstrated in industrial-scale turbine testing rigs at GE’s turbine testing facilities.

The primary objective of this project is to design, construct, and test—in conjunction with their partners West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and Rockwell Automation, Inc.—a pilot-scale continuous, integrated process for simultaneously and efficiently treating up to 1,000 gpm of acid mine drainage (AMD) while producing an enriched REE/CM (Rare Earth Elements/Critical Minerals) concentrate. WVURC will carry out the objectives in two phases. The first phase will focus on the engineering design, construction, and assembly of the pilot-scale process equipment to be used in the project. To support these development efforts, WVURC will construct and test a small-scale, fully-continuous test unit to emulate the performance of the upstream concentrator. This test unit will allow rapid optimization of various operational variables and limit the need for extensive testing at the larger scale. During the second phase of work, the integrated pilot plant will be operated on a continuous basis to validate process performance and refine process cost estimates. During both phases, other efforts will focus on critical support tasks including technical and environmental systems analysis.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in collaboration with Great River Energy, Purdue University, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have undertaken a project to develop resources and tools that will allow utilities to determine the costs of operating their large coal boilers at reduced capacity. The resource will allow large coal boilers to cycle safely to provide enhanced resiliency and reliability while utility systems accommodate increased penetration of renewable resources such as wind, solar photovoltaics, or other small generators.

Operational flexibility is desired in today’s coal-fired power plants to balance power grids by compensating for the variable electricity supply from renewable energy sources and distributed gensets. This demanding requirement accelerates materials degradation and makes in-situ health monitoring essential. Life monitoring of components and subsystems is thus seen as essential in assessing material and mechanical behavior so as to estimate system reliability, move to a condition-based maintenance strategy and determine time to failure of the units in their actual operating conditions. Vibration monitoring, in particular, can be exploited for blade tip timing to measure blade vibration amplitude and tip clearance to detect any deterioration taking place in the condition of blades. While the feasibility of this inspection technique has been amply demonstrated, there is a need to install induction probes to magnetize the blade for signal output.

Siemens, in partnership with Raytheon Technologies Research Corporation, proposes a holistic approach to develop embedded sensors to utilize radio frequency for not only coupling to sensors, but as the sensing modality. The goal of this project is to embed the novel sensing approach by using either additively manufactured or extruded waveguides that integrate the communication/sensing network on rotating blades for recording, evaluation, and monitoring of blade vibrations in low-pressure turbines, with applications extending to aeronautical engines.

West Virginia University Research Corporation will develop advanced manufacturing methods to fabricate and test ceramic anchors with embedded sensor technology for monitoring the health and processing conditions within pulverized coal and fluidized-bed combustion boiler systems. The goal is to place ceramic anchors within the boiler system (such as within the primary furnace and ash hopper), to continuously monitor the temperature, strain, and local crack population. The project will include the development of advanced manufacturing technologies and processes for 3D printing embedded electroceramic (conductive ceramic) sensor designs within the ceramic anchor microstructure during the manufacturing process.

Specifically, the project team will (1) define the chemical and microstructural stability, in addition to the electrical properties, of oxide and non-oxide ceramic composites to be embedded within the Al₂O₃-Cr₂O₃ ceramic anchor compositions capable of operation at temperatures up to 1400 degrees Celsius, (2) develop and implement the 3D printing technology to pattern and control the microstructure of the ceramic anchor and embedded sensor circuits, (3) develop an interconnect technology which will permit easy installation of the ceramic anchors and signal collection at the boiler shell, (4) develop low-power analog electronics and wireless communications hardware to efficiently collect the sensor signal at each processing unit and transmit data to a central hub for data analysis, and (5) demonstrate the smart ceramic anchor system for monitoring of temperature and liner fracture within a high-temperature processing unit such as a boiler furnace or glass melting furnace floor/wall liner.

This project consists of the study of plume formation and collection on mechanical (induced) draft cooling towers, partly in a high-fidelity controlled environment and partly on a full-scale industrial cooling tower. It will start by building the needed laboratory setup and installing various sensors on the lab cooling tower. At the same time a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model will be implemented to get precise full-scale plume models. Using the insights into power-plant plume characteristics, Infinite Cooling, Inc. will iterate on and experimentally test electrodes and collectors, which make up modular panels, on the lab cooling tower. What has been learned from the full-scale plume modeling and sensor data analysis will then be applied to develop a design model to build the optimal collection apparatus for given working conditions of the industrial cooling tower.

The SECARB-USA Initiative is identifying and addressing regional onshore storage and transport challenges facing commercial deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies. SECARB-USA encompasses Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and portions of Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia. The Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) is coordinating the capabilities of a diverse project team to accelerate CCUS deployment by achieving four primary research objectives: 1) addressing key technical challenges; 2) facilitating data collection, sharing and analysis; 3) assessing transportation and distribution infrastructure; and 4) promoting regional technology transfer and dissemination of knowledge.

The primary objective of this project is to assess and evaluate optimum strategies to develop this structurally complex, but highly prospective, emerging unconventional Paradox oil play, in particular the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation’s Cane Creek shale and adjacent clastic zones. A key component of this project is to fully characterize, quantify, and interpret the geological, structural, and geomechanical settings of the Paradox oil play to elucidate the relative factors that promote effective production. This strategy will include detailed facies analysis of core material, core-to-log petrophysical integration, advanced fracture analysis, innovative 3D seismic interpretation, and detailed basin modeling. The results of these analyses will inform a Development Strategy Plan that will include tailored drilling designs and/or stimulation strategies focused to maximize production from this play and other similar resources. In addition, the new strategic drilling and/or tactical stimulation approach(es) will be tested in at least one horizontal well in the Paradox Basin as part of this project.

Southern Company Services is collaborating with Linde Gas North America LLC to conduct a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for the installation of a commercial-scale carbon capture system based on the Linde-BASF advanced aqueous amine solvent-based carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology at an existing natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant of at least 375 megawatt-electric (MWe). The specific goals of the project are to select the best host site based on a set of defined criteria, produce a set of project requirements, including the design basis and environmental permitting needs, and complete the process design optimization for the proposed site, the engineering design packages, and the project cost and schedule estimate within 15% accuracy. The two host sites that will be evaluated are Alabama Power Company’s Plant Barry (Units 6 and 7) and Mississippi Power Company’s Plant Daniel (Units 3 and 4). The project team will leverage work from prior feasibility studies at other locations as well as testing at the chosen host site to accomplish the FEED.

The project will focus on improved cost/performance benefits of steam turbine components utilizing multiple AM processes. The scope of the work includes downselection of materials and components followed by topology optimization of downselected steam turbine parts that are amenable to additive and hybrid manufacturing for cost/performance improvement. The project team will establish process-structure-property relationships for five AM processes for steam turbine materials of interest to compare with conventional materials. The buildup of field-trial ready components will be carried out followed by quality inspection of the built components for insight into qualification for production scale-up. Finally, the printed components will be tested on a steam turbine rig under targeted, well monitored and characterized environmental conditions for performance comparison of baseline and redesigned components.

This field-based research project will establish a Field Laboratory in the Powder River Basin (PRB) focusing on well completions and fracture stimulations in several tight oil formations. The Field Laboratory will be used to characterize and overcome the technical challenges of developing the Mowry Shale and optimize field development of the Turner and Niobrara formations. To meet these objectives, The Project Team has partnered with Oxy, a leading operator in the PRB.

The objective of the project is to develop a technology that enhances flexibility and improves the efficiency of existing recirculating cooling towers by precooling and dehumidifying air prior to entering the cooling tower fill while controlling parameters of the air under cyclic and part-load operation. It is proposed to demonstrate and model a sub-dew-point cooling tower technology (patent pending) that increases coal-fueled power plant efficiency under cyclic and part-load operation. The technology employs an innovative flow arrangement called a pressure dehumidifying system (PDHS) coupled with effective heat and mass transfer so air is cooled and dehumidified prior to entering the cooling tower fill. The air cooling and dehumidification is accomplished by a near-atmospheric pressure regeneration technique and efficient heat exchange components with ultra-low energy requirements. The main components of the PDHS are an air heat exchanger, blower, heat-mass exchanger and expander. The blower in the system slightly pressurizes the incoming air and increases the air dew point, thus making it easier to remove moisture from the air using the heat-mass exchanger. The expander is used to offset the power consumed by the blower, thus making this an ultra-low energy system. Preheating the ambient air in the heat exchanger by using waste heat from the coal-fired boiler or other heat sources would allow deeper cooling of air and water in the cooling tower.

The Project titled A NOVEL “SMART MICROCHIP PROPPANTS” TECHNOLOGY FOR PRECISION DIAGNOSTICS OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURE NETWORKS was selected under the “FY2019 Advanced Technologies for Recovery of Unconventional Oil & Gas Resources” FOA Number DE-FOA-0001990 area of interest 1B titled “Improving Ultimate Recovery from Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources”. The proposed research in this project is divided into three phases / budget periods (BP), each spanning 12 months.

The principal objective of this study is to develop a closed-loop fracture diagnostic and modeling based on novel Smart MicroChip Sensor technology to better characterize propped fracture geometry. The project will be accomplished by satisfying several tasks under the following four major categories:

1. Detail micro-scale rock/fluid and geomechanical studies.

2. Precise near-wellbore hydraulic fracture diagnosis.

3. Integration of near Smart MicroChip Sensor data with other fracture diagnostic tools.

4. Development of state-of-the-art predictive fracture and flow simulation models and performing the history matching.

Bechtel National, Inc., along with project partner Electric Power Research Institute, will conduct a comprehensive front-end engineering design (FEED) study for retrofitting an existing natural gas-fired gas turbine combined cycle power plant with a post-combustion carbon capture facility. Bechtel will apply an “open access” and “open technology” approach to the process technology and the physical design of the plant. The design includes the use of an amine-based conventional absorber-stripper scrubbing system with a non-proprietary solvent, e.g. monoethanolamine (MEA). The host site is Panda Power Funds’ duct-fired 758-megawatt-electric (MWe) combined-cycle generating facility with F class gas turbines, located in Sherman, Texas. The prospective end use for the captured carbon dioxide is enhanced oil recovery.

The objective of this project is to develop and demonstrate at the lab-scale the additively manufactured graded composite transition joints (AM-GCTJ) for dissimilar metal weldments (DMW) in next generation advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) coal-fired power plants, that can significantly improve the microstructural stability, creep and thermal-mechanical fatigue resistance, as compared with their conventional counterparts.

The objective of the project is to assess the technical feasibility for generation of quality carbon fiber precursor materials using a supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) solvation process. This includes the generation and recovery of coal tar pitches from Powder River Basin (PRB) coal, removal of low-molecular-weight (MW) compounds from pyrolysis coal tar, evaluation of the efficacy of sCO₂ systems for increasing coal tar average MW, and carbon fiber creation from high-MW coal tar pitch fractions. PRB coal-derived pitch needed for sCO₂ solvation testing will be generated using an sCO₂ pyrolysis test loop. Pyrolysis tar will be tested with sCO₂ and co-solvents to solvate light-MW compounds and increase the average MW of the resulting pitch.

This project aims to develop technology that converts domestic United States (US) raw coal to high quality, high-value and marketable carbon fiber. More specifically, the project aims to significantly improve the selectivity and yield of carbon fiber produced per ton of coal over conventional coal pitch-based production by using low-severity direct coal conversion technology to maximize the yield of pitch from coal, suitable for production of carbon fiber. The proposed scope of work involves testing of a low-severity direct coal liquefaction (LSDCL) process approach and includes the following sequential activities:

• Coal/Conversion Screening
• Feedstock Production
• Carbon Fiber Production
• Commercialization Plan

Project personnel will develop a process of creating high-quality carbon fiber precursor material from U.S. domestic coal, using low severity direct coal liquefaction (LSDCL) techniques in the synthesis of coal tar pitch. These techniques can dramatically increase coal tar pitch yields, especially from low-cost western U.S. coals which have not historically yielded high amounts of suitable coal tar pitch by other conventional means. The objective of the project is the development of a high-quality carbon fiber precursor material from U.S. domestic coal, accomplished through pilot-scale processing and characterization to develop a scheme(s) that can be evaluated for technical and economic feasibility prior to future scale-up. To achieve this goal, the project aims to: 1) Investigate the effectiveness of using a low-severity direct coal liquefaction technique as a continuous process to synthesize coal-tar-derived pitch; 2) Qualitatively evaluate the use of this mesophase pitch to produce carbon fibers; 3) Determine any modifications to the coal-to-tar processes that aid in the production of mesophase pitch optimized for carbon fiber production and further reduce the overall cost of such; and 4) Assess the engineering and economic impact of using LSDCL and associated processes to produce carbon fibers from coal.

This complex project culminates with a full-scale test of a proposed control system, dynamic neural network optimization (D-NNO). First two new flue gas sampling grids will be installed in PacifiCorp’s boiler, one in the horizontal primary superheater in the convective section of the boiler and another downstream of the air heater to correct for leakage in the ductwork. A new Adaptive Predictive Control (APC) will be installed to better control set points during ramping. This will interact with the plant Distributed Control System (DCS). This work will be done by ADEX. After these changes have been made, the dynamic combustion model will be developed using artificial intelligence (AI) to develop the D-NNO algorithms that will be the output of this work. This will be done by University of Utah, Chalmers University, and Brigham Young University as well as Griffin Open Systems. Finally, data from Hunter Units 1 and 2 will be compared, one with dynamic NNO and the other with static NNO to show the benefit of the new control method.

This project seeks to reduce the time it takes to weld thick sections of Alloy 740H by at least a factor of two. Additionally, weld quality will be improved to increase the weld strength reduction factor from its current value of 0.7 to 0.8 or better. The proposed approach will employ high-powered laser welding techniques to initially weld thick weld groove land areas (~0.5” thick) using deep laser penetration tactics that, among other features, incorporate a laser wobble head to stabilize the “keyhole” region of the laser weld. Subsequently, the remaining weld groove will be rapidly filled with filler metal using hybrid laser arc welding at travel speeds that are up to ~3x faster than conventional gas metal arc welding (GMAW). The laser wobble head will also be used in this step to improve sidewall tie in and reduce welding defects, resulting in an overall improvement to the weld strength reduction factor. The final experiment will make a complete weld in 3” thick plate of Alloy 740H. Total welding time will be compared with conventional welding practices for Alloy 740H. Welds will be characterized for microstructure and mechanical properties, including long-term (~10,000 hr) creep testing.

The objective of this project is to evaluate the behavior of high-temperature materials to qualify lower-cost alloys for advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) power plants with steam conditions of 760 °C and 345 bar (1400 °F and 5000 psig), and ensure that any limitations of current materials are overcome. This project is particularly focused on the ASME code case qualification for the CF8C-Plus alloy.

This project will study the effect of impurities (e.g., O₂, H₂O) on compatibility of structural materials in supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) Brayton cycle systems, particularly for direct-fired systems. For economically scaling up to commercial power production, the increased use of Fe-based alloys is needed and impurity studies at (450-650 °C) will determine operating limitations for 9-12% Cr and austenitic steels. In addition to measuring reaction rates and characterizing reaction products, post-exposure room-temperature tensile properties will be used to quantify compatibility as a function of temperature, time, and impurity level. After establishing baseline behavior, coatings and shot peening will be evaluated to increase the maximum temperature capability of Fe-based structural alloys. This information will be used to continue the development of a lifetime model for various classes of structural alloys with and without surface modifications. Previously, high O₂ impurity levels (0.25-1%) have been found to increase reaction rates of both Fe- and Ni-based alloys at 750 °C/300 bar (30 MPa). Further work is needed to isolate O₂ and H₂O effects including the use of isotopic tracers. An additional project goal is to understand creep behavior of thin-walled sections for Fe- and Ni-based alloy heat exchangers.

To assist with understanding corrosion issues in current coal-fired boilers, this project is addressing steamside corrosion issues in membrane panels and superheater and reheater tubes. Initial tasks focus on the influence of water chemistry and pressure on steamside oxidation of structural alloys with and without surface modifications. A mechanistic understanding of the influence of water chemistry in terms of oxygen content and the presence of film-forming products on corrosion processes would significantly contribute to develop accurate lifetime prediction models for current and potentially higher-performance alloys for use in coal-fired power systems. These goals will be accomplished by evaluating the performance of commercial alloys in controlled laboratory experiments to simulate advanced fossil boiler conditions to provide parameters for a comprehensive lifetime model.

The primary factors affecting the service life of dissimilar metal welds, in particular those between ferritic and austenitic steels, include a sharp difference in thermal expansion behavior and carbon migration across the weld. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures, either during post-weld heat treatment or during service, causes carbon diffusion driven by the chemical potential gradient between the BCC and FCC phases, which leads to the formation of a carbon-depleted zone near the fusion zone. This project will develop dissimilar metal welds using functionally graded transition joints via additive manufacturing that will exhibit high resistance to creep and fatigue as well as high microstructural stability. The primary focus of the project will be on joining ferritic steels to austenitic steels, in particular alloys that are relevant in coal-fired power plants. A key aspect of the proposed R&D activities will be determining optimum compositional profiles of the transition joint, which will be achieved using computational materials science and engineering, with additional focus on avoiding sharp changes in chemical potential across the joint region.

The objective of this project is to evaluate advanced nickel (Ni)-based alloys to support the manufacturing and use of components under advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) steam conditions, which range up to 760 °C (1400 °F) and 35 MPa (5000 psig). In particular, this project focuses on evaluating materials from near-to-full-scale components, such as Haynes 282 large rotor forging, half-valve body casting, and steam turbine nozzle carrier casting, to provide insights into potential manufacturability issues related to large-scale components made from Ni-based alloys and engineering data and support for actual A-USC plant design. In addition, this project contains substantial efforts in weld characterization and long-term creep testing of Ni-based alloy weldment, which should provide useful data for filler metal selection and future ASME code qualification efforts for cast Haynes 282 weldment.

The objective of this project is to address bandwidth and parallelism deficiencies in currently available undersea wireless optical communications technologies. These goals will be achieved using tight beam focused free space optical networks of 450nm light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER) nodes distributed along the sea floor, allowing for a highly scalable network backbone connecting a wide array of residency sensors as well as command and control devices.

This innovation is based on advanced multi-dimensional extensions of Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT) sensors that involve ECVT, Displacement Current Phase Tomography (DCPT), Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars polarization effect (MWS), and velocimetry which exploit the variation of electric properties between the oil, water, and gas coming out of the well. Capacitance sensors are embedded on the inside of a pipe spool and placed in line with the subsea oil line piping on the extraction end of the well. The difference in dielectric, dielectric loss, surface polarization, and velocity of each phase are used in the multi-dimensional algorithm to measure the volume fraction, distribution, velocity, mass flow rate, and flow regime of the mixture moving through the pipe.

The goal of the project is to advance the development of a novel membrane technology based on zwitterionic copolymers that can provide cost-effective pretreatment for produced water and maintain immunity to detrimental and irreversible membrane fouling.

This project is developing a wireless downhole sensor system to monitor parameters for carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage. The sensor system will be field tested in two legacy oil & gas wells to validate the technology and demonstrate its applicability to monitor CO₂ in the subsurface. The project is designed to leverage the latest in microsensor development and customize wellbore telemetry needs, deployment, and analysis methods to develop a transformative technology directly pertinent to CO₂ storage in the subsurface. Key advancements in knowledge and technology generated through this research include a distributed wireless microsensor system, telemetry system to transmit data to surface without cables, customized deployment options, and a customized approach to processing and integrating sensor data to understand CO₂ distribution and track CO₂ plume movement in the subsurface. Altogether, the project will produce an effective and practical sensor system for CO₂ storage applications.

The overarching objective of this project is to use plasma stimulation of a light hydrocarbon resource to synthesize value-added liquid chemicals. This work will evaluate the hypothesis that the plasma will serve multiple roles in this transformative chemistry including: (1) activation of Carbon - Hydrogen (C-H) bonds at low bulk gas temperature and pressure, (2) providing a fast response for immediate startup and shutdown, (3) enhancing the lifetime of the catalyst through plasma-assisted removal of surface impurities, and (4) providing a means to activate Nitrogen (N₂) to allow for the direct formation of chemicals containing Nitrogen – Carbon (N-C) bonds. In addition, the project will explore the potential for exploiting these processes more broadly, by building on recent discoveries using plasma-assisted methods to convert hydrogen and N₂ feeds.

The University of Texas at Austin will develop technologies to safeguard amine-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture processes from solvent loss by oxidation. The project team will evaluate strategies to minimize amine oxidation in advanced 2nd- and 3rd-generation solvents caused by two of the most significant impurities: oxygen and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). These effective technologies will reduce the cost and environmental risk of solvent-based carbon capture systems by addressing the effects of flue gas impurities on solvent loss.

The objective of this project is the development and demonstration of the Methane Mitigator (M²) system, which aims to economically reduce methane and other emissions across the natural gas supply chain while reducing fuel consumption. To achieve this goal, research will focus on four major objectives over three budget periods (BPs). These objectives include: 1.) complete a thorough review of recent studies and previous collaborations to identify where there are data gaps and subsequently collect additional methane measurements and activity data from in-use well sites to enable system design; 2.) develop and demonstrate within a certification-grade laboratory an optimized M² system that is capable of consuming emissions from engine crankcase vents, reciprocating compressor seal vents, pneumatic controller vent manifolds, and tank battery vent manifolds to offset fuel consumption in excess of 50%; 3.) complete in-field demonstrations (active duty cycle >90%) with industry partners to highlight the benefits of the system while disseminating technical and economic data; and 4.) develop a full system model capable of addressing varying engine types and power ratings for use as a design tool for industry to enable widespread technology adoption.

The objective of the project is to combine active self-healing and self-repair functionality in gas transmission equipment with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)-based leak detection to reduce unintended methane release. Specifically, the project will focus on engineering a self-healing diaphragm material for the in-situ repair of diaphragms of pneumatic controllers. This self-healing approach will be initiated using a SCADA-based system that will both detect the leakage and confirm repair of the system. After demonstrating this capability in a lab setting, the effectiveness of the approach will be demonstrated by performing testing and system characterization in a simulated pilot plant.

The overall objective of this project is to develop a new membrane-based filtration system for removing organic compounds from produced water (PW). The proposed membrane treatment process integrates the new filter with a series of well-established water treatment technologies, such as mechanical filtration and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes to remove all suspended and dissolved solids, organic molecules, bacteria and radioactive particles from the PW generated in oil and natural gas production. The proposed research will focus on the development and demonstration of a unique zeolite coated ceramic nanofiltration membrane that can selectively remove the organic compounds to protect a downstream (final-stage) desalination system. The state-of-the-art RO membranes currently used to remove dissolved solids are severely fouled by the organic compounds in the PW, and the proposed ceramic nanofiltration membrane will extend the life of the RO units by removing these impurities prior to desalination. This project will develop and demonstrate a prototype system capable of processing 10 kg/day of PW. A detailed design of the full-scale system, including the design of all auxiliary units supporting operations will also be developed. Finally, a technoeconomic analysis will be completed to addresses any regulatory issues related to the use of the reclaimed water and the disposal of waste byproducts.

The goal of this project is to develop and test a new method for delivering a Fe³⁺ coagulant and disinfectant for treating flowback and produced water (FPW) so that it can be reused for fracking and water-flooding at a cost savings of at least 50% compared to current practices. The treatment system will remove suspended solids, dispersed oil, H₂S, microorganisms and scale-forming cations from FPW. The goal will be accomplished by completing several research objectives that include:

1. Determine the water supply and demand centers for the Basin to inform the engineering design and techno-economic justification report.
2. Design, construct, and test an automated treatment system for use in pilot demonstrations with flow rates of 25 gallons per minute.
3. Perform laboratory testing to determine potential system outcomes from simulated FPW.
4. Test the treatment system at three oil and gas production locations in Colorado, Texas, and/or New Mexico.
5. Develop an Engineering design and specifications manual for scale-up of the technology.

The objectives for BP1 are to build the treatment system and test it in the laboratory using simulated FPW. The objectives for BP2 are to validate the system for treating real FPW, and to determine the costs and effectiveness of the treatment system for removing different contaminants from FPW. Successful completion of BP1 and BP2 will take the proposed treatment scheme from a technology readiness level (TRL) of 4 to a TRL of 6.

The objective of the project is to develop and validate a novel, low-cost (< $75-100/BHP), field-installable (installation time < 3 hours), remotely controlled, retrofit kit with integrated sensors for Integral Reciprocating Compressors (IRCs) used in production, gathering, transmission, and processing sections of the natural gas industry. The proposed technology helps to reduce emissions and improves operating efficiencies, combustion stability, and operational envelope of IRCs. The retrofit kit consists of 1) an air management system; 2) integrated sensors to collect data from the IRC; and 3) a cloud-connected control unit plus a graphical user-interface (GUI) or human-machine interface (HMI). Because the parameters measured to control the air management system (AMS) constitute true evidence of the IRC’s healthy operation, the cloud-connected feature facilitates remote monitoring of the IRC for preventative and predictive maintenance as an additional benefit to operators.

The objectives of the project are to design, build, and test a high-pressure linear motor leak recovery compressor for cost effective recovery of methane leaks within the transmission, storage, gathering, and processing sectors of the natural gas value chain.

The objective of this research is to design, synthesize, and evaluate highly selective, active, and stable multifunctional catalysts for the low temperature (< 500 Kelvin (K)) partial oxidation of methane to methanol (MTM) with molecular oxygen. The project will investigate single atom catalysts embedded and stabilized in two-dimensional materials such as graphene (GR) and "supported" on Group VIII and IB transition metals such as nickel.

This research aims to create novel, resilient, inexpensive, active, and selective catalyst materials to concurrently conquer current constraints and achieve an efficient, scalable, and intensified non-oxidative methane conversion (NMC). The catalysts are made of isolated single metal atoms supported in a silica matrix and operated at medium-high temperatures (900-1100 °C). The isolation of metal atoms achieves methane activation by heterogeneous surface dehydrogenation to generate a hydrocarbon pool and hydrogen species, followed by C-C coupling on the active sites, and limits coke formation due to the absence of metal atom ensembles. The high reaction temperature induces homogeneous gas-phase reactions to form dehydrogenated and cyclized C₂₊ products. The integration of novel single atom catalysts for NMC initiation with homogeneous reactions in a microreactor (e.g., a catalytic wall reactor) will enable unprecedented NMC performance. The objectives of this project are to: 1) synthesize isolated single atoms of various metals in a silica matrix to prove universality of these catalysts in CH₄ activation; 2) utilize a wide range of experimental and computational techniques to probe in situ and operando the surface and bulk structure/property of the NMC catalysts; 3) mechanistically understand the reaction network by an integrated experimental and computational effort to identify rigorously species, temperature, and kinetics; and 4) validate and scale-up synthesis of robust catalysts and reactors for efficient NMC of natural gas guided by validated process modeling. The proposed system is designed to run at single-pass CH₄ conversion and C₂₊ yields of >25%, with > 90% C₂₊ selectivity, and a lifetime of >1000h.

The objective of this project is to develop a cost effective, process intensified modular technology for the conversion of flare gas (methane, ethane, and C3+ alkanes) to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon fibers (CNFs). This will be accomplished through the exploitation of microwave-specific effects on the catalytic pyrolysis of natural gas. The use of microwaves to drive this reaction has been clearly demonstrated to make the conversion of natural gas by this process both kinetically and energetically favorable at lower temperatures. The technology development is focused on single-step conversion of methane to crystalline CNTs and fibers to demonstrate great scalability of production and recovery of the valuable solid carbon. Specifically, this approach integrates microwave reaction chemistry into the modular reactor design with the goal of achieving energy and capital efficiency comparable to or better than large commercial unit operation. Major focus will be on the application of process intensification at modular component scales with the objective of deployment at flare gas locations, particularly, at a pilot demonstration unit. A modular component having a large turndown ratio which can operate under varying feed rate and composition will be demonstrated. It is anticipated that the technology readiness level (TRL) will be advanced from TRL 4 to 5.

The main goal of the study is to design and test a monitoring system that will deploy sensors within the casing annulus without the need to perforate casing or run wires/cables in the annulus for sensor installation, power supply, or data transmission. This monitoring system will improve reservoir and above zone monitoring for the expected life of the wellbore. The project utilizes millimeter-scale sensors on a chip to enable transformational, autonomous, near-wellbore reservoir monitoring in the casing annular space. The recipient will optimize a wireless solid-state potentiometric sensor system for the purpose of continuously measuring carbon dioxide (CO₂), pH, temperature, and methane (CH₄) within the high pressure and temperature environments in the casing annulus. The sensors consist of autonomous microelectronic radio frequency tag circuits; with memory and antenna; micro-fabricated on 1mmx1mm sensor chips that can be wirelessly addressed and inductively powered wirelessly by a smart casing collar. Sensor chips will be designed and coated with specialized polymer coatings, enabling sensor survival in the sequestration environment along with preferentially self-locating at the reservoir cement interface or in the cement. Surface chemistries and surface textures will be specially designed to demonstrate self-location in the lab, simulating injecting sensors with drilling mud (circulated after drilling is complete), and the segregation of sensors at the formation surface. Part of the work will also focus on improving, integrating and testing smart casing collars acting as real-time communications routers to complete a real-time integrated intelligent monitoring system.

The objective of this project is to develop low cost sensing systems based on mixed-potential electrochemical devices to sense and quantify the presence of natural gas as an early warning system for pipeline leakage which contributes to loss of product and air pollution. The miniature solid state sensors are ideally suited to remote operation and widescale deployment on drones and autonomous vehicles. The project will include the development of sensing elements specifically suited for detection of natural gas components and contaminants. The performer will employ machine learning techniques to train sensing systems to quantify the concentration of natural gas species, distinguish between natural gas at different parts of the processing pipeline, and distinguish natural gas from natural and man-made interfering sources such as wetlands and agriculture. In collaboration with their Subcontractor (SensorComm Technologies, Inc. (SCT)), the research team will develop portable computing hardware to develop systems that can be deployed in the field with intent to perform a field test at a local industrially relevant location in New Mexico. The performer will work with the industrial partners of the NSF-ERC CISTAR program to field test the devices at natural gas processing facilities.

The overarching goal of this project is to develop a significantly process-intensified technology for methane dehydrogenation to aromatic (i.e., benzene) (MDA) in highly compacted microchannel protonic ceramic membrane reactors (HCM-PCMRs) by integrating multiple functions of single-atom catalysis, electrocatalysis, membrane catalysis, membrane separation, and advanced manufacturing.

The objective of this project is to engineer, build, permit and deploy a deepwater chemical container for storage of exploration and production liquids in the offshore environment. This shuttle is intended be a safe, effective, low-cost solution to assist with the monetization of economically stranded resources via subsea wells tied back to existing host facilities. Offshore, "enhanced" oil recovery can be the difference between economically drilling a subsea well and achieving primary and many times secondary (usually water injection) recoveries (50/60%) versus leaving the resources in the ground (0% recovery) due to the high cost of subsea tiebacks. This two-phase project will construct and qualify a full scale (200 BBL) prototype subsea chemical storage and injection system for production chemicals, enabling longer tie-backs and significantly lowering costs on shorter distances. Phase 1 will include detailed design; engineering; analysis, including FMECA, HAZOP and HAZID work; and fabrication and testing of major subassembly/components. Phase 2 will integrate these components into a complete prototype unit and conduct functional qualification tests (also known as a System Integration Test – SIT). Following the SIT, an offshore demonstration will be performed, thereby maturing the system from a current TRL 5 to a TRL 8 status. This project also includes marine operational analysis and an Operational Readiness Review prior to the offshore deployment.

The primary objective of this project is to develop and test a novel process for production of high-value carbon from the pyrolysis of uneconomical wellhead natural gas through graphitization of virgin pyrolysis carbon, or the precipitation of graphite from a carbon-saturated molten metal solution.

The carbons will be analyzed for their application to specific end-use markets. This will be followed by demonstrating a bench-scale (10 g of carbon per batch) carbon-upgrading reactor that can produce carbon at the specified market properties. In the final phase, the project will develop a laboratory-scale prototype capable of producing up to 1 kg/day of upgraded carbon.

This project aims to design and demonstrate a core-shell structured multifunctional catalyst for single step conversion of the light components of shale gas into liquid aromatic compounds. Operated in a modular oxidative aromatization system (OAS) under a cyclic redox scheme, the novel catalyst and process can significantly improve the value and transportability of stranded natural gas.

The project will implement a comprehensive process of protocol development and testing to accelerate the adoption of natural gas leak detection and quantification (LDAQ) solutions by natural gas operators, and their approval by cognizant regulatory authorities. Since new LDAQ solutions operate differently than current regulatory-approved solutions, there is a need to evaluate solutions against a common set of standards to reliably assess their effectiveness and accuracy. Trusted assessments will streamline the adoption of more accurate and cost-effective technologies, improving both the efficiency and safety of the natural gas transportation infrastructure and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This project will (1) develop test protocols for LDAQ methods and perform controlled testing at CSU’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center (METEC); (2) develop protocols for a field testing of solutions and conduct comprehensive field trials of multiple LDAQ solutions on a variety of oil and natural gas facilities; and (3) demonstrate methods to evaluate the control efficacy of LDAQ solutions using simulation software developed in parallel projects.

Semplastics will complete development and begin commercialization of a novel composite material specifically targeted for use in lithium ion (Li-ion) battery anodes. The goal is to find the best formulation for technical performance and economic viability, thereby preparing this material for insertion into the coal value chain. Specifically, this project will (1) produce several new battery anode materials comprised of filled, conductive silicon oxide carbide or silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) ceramics based on Semplastics’ X-MAT technology, targeting a specific capacity at least three times that of current graphite anodes as well as improved specific power; (2) provide the best six formulations (highest specific capacity and/or highest specific power) to a commercial Li-ion battery manufacturer as fine powders or of the form they request; and (3) fund the battery manufacturer to produce prototype single-cell industrial batteries and test the batteries under standard test conditions.

University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center (UNDEERC) will demonstrate a laboratory scale coal-derived graphene process to produce graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, and graphene quantum dots starting from domestic U.S. coals. The steps to meet the proposed objective include (1) coal pretreatment with EERC-developed methods, (2) graphitization of treated coal products, (3) exfoliation of graphite to graphene, (4) an economic feasibility analysis, and (5) analysis of product target markets and technology gaps. These processes will be applied to anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite coals to advance the current state of technology as well as maximize the coal value chain. EERC-developed techniques will be employed to pretreat the coal, which will then be further improved via chemical hydrogenation and reduction reactions. The resultant residue will be carbonized at 1000 °C and graphitized at 2800 °C. The modified Hummer’s method will be used to exfoliate graphite to graphene oxide, which will then be chemically reduced to graphene derivatives.

Domestically produced carbon nanoproducts from natural gas (NG) is an attractive solution to our nation’s economic, environmental, and energy concerns. This research project focuses on NG decarbonization for flare gas reduction through conversion to carbon nanoproducts. This work aims to investigate a one-step Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process to grow carbon nanoparticles and nanofibers (CNFs) during natural gas (NG) decarbonization. The synthesis and the impacts of these fibers on the durability of the concrete will be studied. The process is conceptualized to be modular/mobile with easy turndown for manufacture on a skid to be easily transported between gas wells as production rates change. The project will be accomplished in four phases.

In Phase 1, an existing Particle ALD fluidized bed reactor system will be modified for in-situ operation to produce catalysts with subsequent synthesis of carbon nanoparticles and nanofibers by CVD. Research will include adjusting operating temperature, catalyst metal, and CH4 gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) to measure reaction and CNF growth rate for different conditions. Work will then focus on the synthesis of carbon product using sacrificial catalyst to produce sufficient quantities of carbon particles and fibers for testing. To scale-up the process and to carry out the techno-economic analysis, there is a need to develop a fundamental understanding of the carbon product synthesis reaction and growth kinetics for CVD over M-adatom catalyst. In Phase 2, a skid mounted bench scale process will be designed and constructed at CU for carrying out CVD growth of CNFs. Carbon nanoproduct will be collected and agglomerated downstream in order to improve product handling. In Phase 3, cement mix design with the carbon product will be conducted. The impact of the carbon nanoproducts and any needed admixtures on the governing durability material design relationships must be established to optimize performance of the resulting mix. The objective of this task is to experimentally establish the cement design relationships to hydration, cracking, and ductility to meet ultra-high-performance concrete metrics. In Phase 4, the modular skid constructed in the shop at CU will be moved to the ALD NanoSolutions, Inc. industrial site and operated to produce larger quantities of carbon nanoproducts for cement mixing formulations. The process will be optimized to produce a product the provides for improved crack resistance in cement formulations. Work will also be carried out regarding technology to market with a focus on business strategies for a path forward.

For 2021: A laboratory CVD reactor will be constructed and started-up for the synthesis of carbon nano-products. The design will be completed for a skid pilot system and procurement of components and construction of the skid will be initiated.

The USGS Interagency Agreement (IA) involves laboratory research and international field studies in which DOE/NETL has a significant interest. Geological and geophysical support for these efforts is critical to their success, and the USGS is uniquely qualified to provide this support. This IA is currently divided into six separate tasks. The primary objective of several tasks is to evaluate the production potential of the known gas hydrate accumulations on the North Slope of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico. To serve energy resource goals of the Methane Hydrates R&D program on the U.S. Atlantic margin, the USGS will evaluate the need to conduct additional seismic evaluation of upper slope, gas hydrates in the northern Atlantic Margin and collaborate with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and other partners on determining potential sites for a future gas hydrates research drilling program. In order to develop a better understanding of gas hydrates, the USGS is conducting laboratory research to measure the properties of sediments containing synthetic hydrates using a range of experimental methods. The USGS also actively supports cooperative projects between the U.S. and international partners.

In this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project, Susteon Inc. is teaming with Columbia University, Applied Catalysts, and Kiewit Engineering to advance the development of a “reactive” direct air capture (DAC) process that is capable of capturing and converting carbon dioxide (CO₂) from air into valuable products. In Phase I, the project team optimized existing dual function materials (DFMs), originally developed for treating flue gas from large point sources, to DAC applications. The DFM porous solid material, consisting of a novel combination of an adsorbent and a catalyst, has shown high CO₂ capacity under DAC conditions, and even greater capacity in the presence of atmospheric moisture, in laboratory experiments. The reactive DAC process involves selective chemisorption of CO₂, followed by sorbent regeneration through reversible desorption or, optionally, catalytic conversion of adsorbed CO₂ into methane (CH₄; also referred to as renewable natural gas [RNG]), using waste or renewable hydrogen (H₂). Both chemisorption and sorbent regeneration operate at the same temperature, eliminating the need for heating and cooling of the reactor beds, which are typically needed in most adsorption-based processes.

Phase II will focus on further development and bench-scale testing (1 kg/day) of DFMs for DAC at room temperature and subsequent catalytic conversion of adsorbed CO₂ into CH₄ using waste or renewable H₂ at about 300°C. DFM optimization will focus on the formulation and dispersion of DFM on the commercially available structured supports to achieve maximum DFM stability, CO₂ adsorption capacity, and rapid kinetics of CO₂ adsorption and methanation reactions. Testing will aim to determine DFM process conditions that yield the fastest CO₂ adsorption rate, highest CO₂ capacity, maximum CH₄ production, and lowest energy consumption for reactive DAC. The process model will be validated using lab- and bench-scale data and employed to develop a high-level process design for a 50-kg/day engineering-scale reactive DAC system, as well as techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis studies on a commercial-scale system.

This project will provide sub-pilot-scale verification of lab-scale developments on the production of isotropic and mesophase coal-tar pitch (CTP) for carbon fiber production, using coals from several U.S. coal-producing regions. The project will also investigate the production of a high-value beta-Silicon Carbide (b-SiC) byproduct using residual coal char from the tar production process. An extensive database and suite of tools for data analysis and economic modeling, with an associated web-based community portal, will be developed to relate process conditions to product quality, and to assess the economic viability of coals from different regions for producing specific high-value products.

Through the DOE-NARUC Natural Gas Partnership, the following types of educational activities will take place:

• Conducting Natural Gas Partnership dialogues at DOE or National Lab facilities, natural gas electric generation facilities, or advanced natural gas research or demonstration sites.
• Creating educational programming and resources to effectively share relevant information with state-level utility regulators through webinars, peer sharing calls, briefing papers, and related materials as appropriate.
• Supporting Commission participation in NARUC, DOE, national laboratory, or related natural gas forums, workshops, and research and development (R&D) collaboratives addressing key policy issues around natural gas use and advanced technologies, featuring researchers as participants where appropriate.

The proposed air pre-cooling system is focused on the air side of a mechanical draft dry cooling tower/air-cooled condenser (ACC). The system is based on "cold energy" storage, which involves storing low-temperature heat ("cold" thermal energy) during the night when the temperature of the ambient air is low and using it to pre-cool the air entering a dry cooling tower/ACC during the hot period of the day. A pervious concrete (PC) material with embedded, encapsulated phase-change material (PCM) will be fabricated. It will be tested with air flow by an induced draft (ID) or forced draft (FD) fan and integrated into a direct contact heat exchanger. The combined system is referred to as the Cold Thermal Energy Storage System (CTESS).

The CTESS heat storage modules will be designed by considering trade-offs between air pressure drop and heat storage capacity. PC mix designs without PCM will be developed to optimize porosity, thermal conductivity, and specific heat while meeting mechanical requirements of compressive and tensile strength and stiffness. The PC mixes will be fabricated and examined at the Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems (ATLSS) Research Center at Lehigh University. After the baseline PC characterization, PCM will be characterized and three techniques will be examined for integrating this material into the PC matrix: micro-encapsulation, macro-encapsulation, and containment in embedded pipes.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is collaborating with industry partner Redox Power Systems (Redox) to integrate ORNL's expertise in materials processing and manufacturing science and Redox's expertise in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) manufacturing to commercialize the SOFC roll-to-roll manufacturing processes. Four approaches will be taken to meet the project objective: (1) optimize the lamination process and correlate the electrode electrolyte assembly (EEA) properties and performance with the lamination conditions, (2) scale up the lamination process and demonstrate >10 ft of EEA, (3) further increase the throughput of EEA via slot-die coating and demonstrate > 5 m/min in coating the thick anode support layer, and (4) minimize the anode support layer thickness to reduce material cost.

The objective of this project is to develop, test, and validate a general drag model for multiphase flows in assemblies of non-spherical particles by a physics-informed deep machine learning approach using an artificial neural network (ANN). Once implemented in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, the model aims to accurately predict a particle’s drag coefficient and flow fields in the simulation of gas-particle flows, with a wide range of parameters including Reynolds number, Stokes number, solid volume fractions, particle densities, particle orientations, and particle aspect ratios. The project will involve the following research and development activities: 1) data collection and generation of drag coefficients for non-spherical particles; 2) ANN-based drag model development through deep learning neural networks (DNN), algorithm identification and evaluation, and model tests using different data sets; 3) integration of the best DNN model into an open source CFD software, MFiX-DEM; and 4) validation of selected multiphase flows using the new drag model.

The objective of this project is to develop a neural network-based interaction (drag and lifting) force model. The project seeks to firstly construct a database of the interaction force between the non-spherical particles and the fluid phase based on the particle-resolved direct numerical simulation (PR-DNS) with immersed boundary-based lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM). An unsupervised learning method, i.e., variational auto-encoder (VAE), will be used to improve the diversity of the non-spherical particle library and to extract the primitive shape factors determining the drag and lifting forces.

The interaction force model will be trained and validated with a simple but effective multi-layer feed-forward neural network: multi-layer perceptron (MLP), which will be concatenated after the encoder of the previously trained VAE for geometry feature extraction. The interaction force model obtained by the accurate DNS-based database will be supplied as a more general and robust gas-solid coupling correlation than the currently used empirical and semi-empirical correlations in computational fluid dynamics coupled with discrete element method CFD-DEM simulations.

This project aims to develop field applied alloy coatings, referred to as Field Protective coatings (FPC), to steel natural gas pipelines to mitigate corrosion from pipeline repair, poor initial construction, and pipeline burial conditions. The project focuses on girth welds that are generated during initial pipeline construction as the pipeline sections are welded together in addition to areas of pipeline repair or pipeline section replacement. The field applied coatings at girth welds and other repair areas do not perform as well as the factory-applied coatings on the rest of the pipeline, contributing to increased failures and maintenance. The metallic alloy coatings developed by this project aim to greatly augment the polymeric factory-applied coating that surrounds the length of each section of the pipe before being welded together, as well as the field-applied polymeric coating that is typically applied after the weld is completed. Specific objectives include:

1. Reduce methane emissions due to external corrosion pipelines at field repair welds through a multi-layered metallic plus polymeric coating concept.
2. Demonstrate the applicability of such a coating system in the field.
3. Develop suitable procedures for application and transfer the technology to industry.

The objectives for BP1 will be to optimize the Field Protective Coating (FPC) composition through modeling and preliminary laboratory testing. In BP2, DNV GL will conduct more extensive laboratory testing as well as testing in field-simulated conditions. Field testing and reporting are the main objectives of BP3.

In this Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, Helios-NRG and its partners, the University of Buffalo and TechOpp Consulting, will work to develop CO₂-philic block copolymers with intrinsic microporosity (BCPIMs) for post-combustion CO₂ capture. The BCPIMs consisting of rubbery polyethylene oxide (PEO) and polymerizable metal-organic frameworks (polyMOFs) will be designed, synthesized, and characterized for carbon capture and have superior CO₂/N₂ separation properties. In Phase I, the team’s preliminary results found that the optimized materials achieved CO₂ permeability of at least 2,000 Barrer and CO₂/N₂ selectivity of at least 40 and also showed good stability in the presence of water vapor, SOx, and NOx. Initial techno-economic analysis (TEA) work confirmed the potential of the advanced membranes to achieve the project objective of $30/ton CO₂ or lower. Phase II efforts will focus on optimizing and scaling up of the fabrication of thin-film composite (TFC) membranes for CO₂/N₂ separation. These membranes will be tested for long-term membrane resistance to contaminants while using real flue gas. This will be followed by bench-scale module fabrication and performance measurements over a range of operating conditions.

Researchers will develop novel, durable, low cost, ceramic-based super high-temperature thermocouples (up to 2000 °C) for use in high-temperature (750–1800 °C) and 1000 PSI and above coal-based energy systems under high corrosion and erosion conditions. The materials, Zirconium diboride (ZrB₂) and samarium hexaboride (SmB₆) thermoelectric refractory materials will be employed as n- and p-type thermocouple legs. The materials will be compacted into isotropic thermoelectric nanocomposites as thermocouple legs with excellent Seebeck coefficient. The legs will be fabricated into ceramic-based thermocouples with p-n junctions. The thermocouples will also have good oxidization and sulfidization resistance, no protective outer layer, and cost less than acoustic and optical devices. Thermocouple performance will be evaluated in oxygen, carbon oxide, and sulfide atmospheres at high pressure and temperature. In addition, the effects of heat flow, flow rate, and mass flux found in coal power generation on the performance of the thermocouples will be investigated. Physical behaviors and long-term stability will be evaluated.

The objective of this project is to develop a revolutionary gas-based fiber-optic temperature sensor technology with the required accuracy and long-term stability for temperature control and condition monitoring of the next generation of coal-fired power systems.

The temperature sensor technology is based on a Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity filled with a gas (e.g., air) the pressure of which can be changed. An FP cavity is formed by a silica tube that is filled with air and sandwiched between a side-hole fiber and a capping fiber. The holey fiber has air channels in its cladding running along the length of the fiber through which the air pressure in the FP cavity can be tuned. The light coming from the holey fiber is partially reflected at the two fiber/tube interfaces and coupled back into the holey fiber. The system then measures the reflection spectrum which contains the interference fringes of the FP cavity by a white-light source, a fiber-optic coupler, and a spectrometer.

The University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) will accelerate and enhance carbon dioxide (CO₂) utilization in their CO₂Concrete^™ process to maximize CO₂ valorization and process economics for a suite of CO₂Concrete^™ products that are compliant with best-in-class industry standards. Detailed studies of carbonation reactions will be used to develop process models that inform the scale-out of the process to produce diverse precast concrete components. This will involve elaboration of material formulations, reactor designs, process parameters and control systems to manufacture three different product designs (e.g., hollow core slabs, wall panels, and beams). The performance of the CO₂ mineralization system will be field-tested using actual flue gas at the National Carbon Capture Center in operational trials, and the resulting products will be shown to meet/exceed industry standards. Techno-economic and lifecycle analyses will rigorously quantify the market viability and lifecycle impact of the CO₂Concrete^™ technology and identify optimal routes for further development and scale-up leading to practical commercialization.

The project plans to utilize real-time quantum dynamics simulations and quantum optimal control algorithms to (1) harness near-surface nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers to detect chemical analytes in harsh fossil energy environments and (2) design optimally constructed electromagnetic fields for initializing these near-surface NV center spins for efficient sensor performance and detection. Together, these objectives will leverage quantum information science to enable new sensing modalities for the extremely sensitive monitoring (i.e., below classical measurement limits) of critical operating parameters of fossil energy infrastructures in harsh environments.

The overarching goal of this project is to produce comprehensive experimental and numerical datasets for gas-solid flows in well-controlled settings to understand the aerodynamic drag of non-spherical particles in the dense regime. The datasets and the gained knowledge will be utilized to train deep neural networks in TensorFlow to formulate a general drag model for use directly in NETL MFiX-DEM module. This will help to advance the accuracy and prediction fidelity of the computational tools that will be used in designing and optimizing fluidized beds and chemical looping reactors.

This project will develop an inexpensive wireless, high-temperature sensor for real-time monitoring of the temperature and corrosion of metal components that are commonly used in coal-fired boilers. This work will focus on the fabrication and testing of harsh-environment, chipless radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors that will function between 25 °C and 1300 °C in high steam and/or combustion gas environments. Sensor arrays will also be evaluated where each RFID sensor will be designed with a specified frequency band to spatially differentiate the testing site on the metal specimen. Specifically, this project will: (1) design passive wireless RFID patch and interrogator antennas for high-temperature sensing of temperature and corrosion/crack propagation at temperatures up to 1300 °C; (2) develop materials and methods to fabricate a microstrip patch antenna sensor composed of a robust conductive electroceramic pattern and interlayer ceramic coating, and then incorporate this sensor into “peel-and-stick” preforms that will efficiently transfer and bond to the metal specimens of interest; (3) investigate the wireless RFID sensor response in accelerated high-temperature and high steam environments, and correlate corrosion and cracking mechanisms (and kinetics) with the response of the sensors; (4) investigate the wireless signal acquisition and processing of data transferred in various configurations by multiple sensors within the same environment and through-wall transmission of the signal by a singular RFID sensor; and (5) investigate the passive wireless sensor system developed (and method of transferring the sensor system) for monitoring the temperature and health of metal components in service within a coal-fired power plant.

The specific research objectives of the project will be to: (i) define graphene quantum dots (GQDs) on graphene nanoribbon (GNR) with ultralow local defects and characterize the edge roughness and local disorder by diverse microscopic and spectroscopic techniques; (ii) conduct low-temperature characterization of quantum transport and spin relaxation times in GQDs to evaluate the effect of lower local disorder; and (iii) develop a multi-GQD-based qubit platform and analyze coupling effects and performance improvements achieved through the new synthetic protocols for quantum communication applications. To achieve the objectives, the team will first leverage the nanotomy technique to prepare GNRs of various widths and characterize its superiority by comparing their structural and disorder status with lithographically prepared GNRs (which will function as the baseline in the project). Subsequently, scanning probe microscopy-based oxidation lithography (SPM-OL) will be used to fabricate geometrically confined GQDs with tunnel barriers on the GNRs. Then the team will fabricate electrode patterns that connect the quantum dots to source and drain electrodes. An in-depth study will be conducted characterizing the local density of states and conductance of the GQDs with variable widths. Cumulatively, these studies will help developing an optimized GQD qubit system fabricated using nanotomy and SPM-OL. Quantum transport and spin relaxation measurements conducted at mK temperatures will reveal the superiority of the present GQDs with ultralow defects. Further, the optimized GQD fabrication process will be extended to develop an array of GQDs integrated with local gate electrodes and quantum point contact to study the inter-dot coupling effects in the GQD arrays.

The Recipient will undertake a three-year, $6.25 million project to improve the durability of dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) for boiler and heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) applications with reduced maintenance costs and enhanced capability of plant cycling operations. The Recipient will develop a durable friction-welded dissimilar-metal spool utilizing the higher capability transition material of nanostructured ferritic alloy (NFA) and an oxidation protective coating across the joint retrofitta­ble in the existing fleet. These proposed spools will be friction-welded in the shop, allowing for controlled friction welding procedures, post-weld heat treatment, and non-destructive evaluation (NDE). These spools can then be welded with same-metal fusion welds as replacements or upgrades in the field. Improved joint durability will enable at least a fivefold increase in the number of cold starts and reduce unplanned outages from DMW failures.

North Carolina State University, along with project partners West Virginia University and Susteon Inc., will develop a comprehensive proof-of-concept scheme for the sustainable and cost-effective production of propionic acid from carbon dioxide (CO₂) derived from power plant flue gas and light alkanes derived from domestic shale gas. This objective will be realized via a molten salt mediated oxidative dehydrogenation (MM-ODH) process that performs reactive CO₂ capture (from power plant flue gas) and CO₂-assisted alkane ODH in a two-step, thermochemical scheme. The resulting carbon monoxide (CO) and light olefin (e.g. ethylene from ethane ODH) are subsequently converted into propionic acid via the industrially proven hydrocarboxylation process. The project will address redox catalyst synthesis, characterization, and optimization as well as long-term testing and scalability investigations. Kinetic parameters of the optimized redox catalysts will also be determined. Reactor and process designs for pilot- and commercial-scale MM-ODH systems will be developed using the kinetic results. Detailed techno-economic and life cycle analyses will also be performed.

The project plans to develop a more accurate artificial neural network (ANN)-based method for modeling the momentum exchange in fluid-solid multiphase mixtures to significantly improve the accuracy and reduce the uncertainty of multiphase numerical codes and, in particular, of MFiX, by developing and providing a general and accurate method for determining the drag coefficients of assemblies of non-spherical particles for wide ranges of Reynolds numbers, Stokes numbers, and fluid-solid properties and characteristics. The research team will achieve this goal by conducting numerical computations with a validated in-house CFD code and using artificial intelligence methods to develop an ANN that will be implemented in TensorFlow and linked with the MFiX code.

This project addresses two principal factors that drive outages in the fossil power plant fleet: corrosion at the outer diameter of boiler tubing and solid particle erosion in high pressure (HP) steam turbine blades. The overarching objective is to produce coatings that mitigate these damage mechanisms and provide a comprehensive solution to improve fleet reliability and operational flexibility. GE Research will lead a team of researchers to leverage a century of fleet experience and exciting new results obtained from DOE-funded nuclear materials research to develop cost-effective weld overlay compositions for boiler tubing and multi-layered ion plasma deposition coatings that deliver improvements in both erosion and oxidation resistance in high temperature steam for HP turbine blades. Deep technical expertise and world class characterization capability will be provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee. The team will work collaboratively through a robust, logical project map to achieve the objectives listed below, identified based on the funding announcement and direct input from GE:

• Enable a 25%-50% increase in time between outages for both boilers and HP turbines.

• Eliminate or significantly reduce the Ni content in weld overlay to mitigate cost.

• Provide adequate oxidation resistance for HP turbine inlet steam at >620°C and >220 bar.

• Apply coatings to actual components, using today's production-scale methods.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati, will develop novel cost-effective tandem electrodes and combine them with pulsed electrolysis technology for the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to value-added ethylene (C₂H₄) with a selectivity of 90% and an energy efficiency of 50% under a partial current density of 1,000 mA cm^-2. During pulsed electrolysis, the diffusion layer at the electrode surface is characterized with a pulsed concentration of active ions. A short pulse can create an extremely high local current, allowing the electrolysis to produce multi-carbon products involved with multiple electrons. The main project tasks include: (1) design and fabrication of tandem electrodes, incorporating two types of complementary and distinct catalyst layers to direct the cascade reaction of CO₂ to carbon monoxide (CO) to C₂H₄; (2) development of a functionally graded catalyst layer in the tandem electrodes to balance the transport of electrons, ions, and reactants; (3) development of a pulse electrolysis protocol to boost the production yield of C₂H₄ and lower the overpotential; and (4) testing of a membrane electrode assembly-type cell integrating the tandem electrodes for CO₂ pulse electrolysis at the cathode coupled with biomass derivatives upgrading at the anode.

The overall objective of this project is to perform a comprehensive commercial-scale site characterization of a storage complex located in northwest New Mexico to accelerate the deployment of integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The data collected by the characterization and environmental analysis will be used to prepare, submit and attain an Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class VI permit (for construction) to inject and store at minimum 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) at the site. The project team will acquire new field data and integrate new and legacy information to develop comprehensive site-specific data sets that will be used as inputs for the preparation process of a UIC Class VI permit that will be submitted for approval. Data will be incorporated into simulation models to assess storage potential, CO₂ behavior, seal integrity and risk of induced seismicity. An Environmental Information Volume (EIV) will be completed to assess any National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)-related issues for the chosen capture, transport and storage site. The project team will continue existing outreach programs to educate the public on the usefulness of the integrated CCS project within the region.

This project aims to develop a new wireless high-temperature sensor network for real-time continuous boiler condition monitoring in harsh environments. The wireless high-temperature sensor network consists of wireless radio frequency (RF) high-temperature sensors with integrated attached antennas for wireless internet-based continuous remote monitoring. Each of the new RF high-temperature sensors is based on a high quality factor RF filter fabricated on 4H silicon carbide semiconductor material capable of measuring high temperatures over 1,800 °C. The integrated antennas are broadband bow-tie RF antennas that can provide efficient signal transmission and reception. The wireless sensor network enables real-time and continuous monitoring of boiler conditions to achieve smart boiler system management.

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) will partner with University at Buffalo (UB) and Missouri University of Science & Technology (MS&T) to develop a revolutionary process and unique catalytic membrane reactor for producing liquid dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydrogen. Coated and uncoated catalysts will be prepared and systematically characterized by MS&T. UB will conduct sequential membrane reactor testing with the uncoated catalysts to provide critical baseline data, as well as bifunctional membrane reactor testing using the coated catalysts, from which the results will provide feedback for the optimization of the bifunctional catalyst and reactor conditions. GTI will perform parametric and deactivation tests using the optimized design and operation conditions, and will determine the effect of flue gas contaminants on the catalyst and membrane. The catalytic membrane reactor is designed to achieve greater than 50% CO₂ conversion, greater than 60% DMC selectivity, and greater than 20% DMC yield, which could lead to a cost of $570/ton of DMC produced (~32% of the market price of DMC), if implemented at commercial scale.

The project team will characterize a commercial-scale regional geologic storage complex for carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured from three Southern Company facilities; Plant Ratcliffe (the Kemper County Energy Facility), Plant Daniel, and Plant Miller. The project team will complete detailed characterization work essential for acquiring Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class VI Permit(s) to construct the wells at the Kemper Regional CO₂ Storage Complex, including drilling three additional site characterization wells, conducting a substantial 3D seismic acquisition, and undertaking risk assessment, public outreach, and other tasks. In addition a CO₂ capture assessment will be performed for Plant Ratcliffe and Plant Miller.

The University of Louisville Research Foundation, in partnership with the University of North Dakota, will establish an economically viable pathway to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from coal-derived flue gas to valuable multicarbon products, including four-carbon (C4) species, through a novel electrolysis process using a molecular catalyst and a heterogeneous metal alloy electrode in a methanol catholyte. Research will focus on expanded understanding of the electrochemical process, the specific role of the molecular catalyst, and optimization of the faradaic efficiency for tetrahydrofuran (C4 product), while working in parallel to build an electrolyzer to increase the CO₂ reduction current density. The reactor development effort will also engineer a dual-electrolyte feed strategy to promote water oxidation at the anode for overall sustainability. In addition, strategies will be pursued to operate directly from coal-derived flue gas without separate capture and purification.

Researchers will develop robust heat flux sensor elements, based on the wire-wound Schmidt Boelter gauge architecture and the transverse Seebeck effect, capable of operating in the challenging high-temperature, corrosive environments within the boilers of coal-fired power plants. The heat-flux sensors will utilize thermoelectric effects to directly transduce the heat-flux input to analog electrical voltage signals and will be constructed from dedicated materials that can withstand oxidative atmospheres at temperatures from 700 to 1200°C and maintain adequate performance under these conditions for prolonged periods. Rigorous testing and calibration protocols in furnaces and medium-scale fire research facilities will be employed to understand the significance and reliability of the output signal under a range of dynamic environmental conditions. These conditions will include a range of heat-flux values, temperatures, surface emissivity, cooling rates, flow rates, and concentrations of carbon particulates.

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science will create a carbon-negative system that utilizes carbon dioxide (CO₂) from power plant flue gases for algae biomass production. The system harnesses the power of photosynthetic microalgae to maintain a high-pH, high-alkalinity culture for permanent removal of CO₂ from flue gas. The specific objectives are bench-scale development of saltwater and freshwater algal cultivation systems, slipstream testing of the CO₂ capture/algae production process using 500 L and 6,800 L bioreactors at HY-TEK Bio’s power plant facility, and development of techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis models to evaluate and guide research and testing activities. The outcome of this project is a scalable and deployable carbon-negative bioreactor system for CO₂ capture from flue gases combined with recovery of biomass co-products.

In this Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project, InnoSepra LLC will continue to develop an adsorption-based direct air capture (DAC) process. In the process, the carbon dioxide (CO₂) in ambient air is first enriched using physical sorbents in structured form. The enriched CO₂ stream is then further concentrated to the levels needed for pipeline transport by conventional post-combustion CO₂ capture technologies. The overall goals of the project are to generate data to confirm that the process can provide significant cost and parasitic power savings compared to state-of-the-art DAC processes and to utilize process models to produce a conceptual design of a large-scale DAC system. In Phase I, the technical and economic feasibility of the technology was demonstrated through laboratory testing, process modeling, and a preliminary techno-economic analysis (TEA). In Phase II, InnoSepra will scale-up and test the process with optimized materials in a semi-bench unit in the laboratory; design, construct, and test a bench-scale unit at the National Carbon Capture Center; and update the process model, process simulation, and TEA to predict performance and cost of commercial-scale systems.

The University of Delaware is partnering with the University of Colorado to develop a novel tandem two-step electrochemical process that can utilize carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas emitted from coal-fired power plants to simultaneously produce ethylene and acetate with high carbon selectivity. The objectives are to: (1) design a novel, high-performance carbon monoxide (CO) electrolysis reactor that produces two concentrated product streams, an ethylene gas stream on the cathode and an acetate liquid stream on the anode; (2) construct and assess a CO electrolysis multi-cell stack reactor prototype with a 90% carbon selectivity and a total power of 0.9 kilowatts (kW); and (3) perform a full techno-economic analysis and a life-cycle assessment of the two-step CO₂ electrolysis technology for CO₂ utilization.

Susteon Inc., in partnership with North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Newcastle University (NU), will develop a catalytic non-thermal plasma (CNTP) technology utilizing carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a soft-oxidant and novel metallic/bi-metallic catalysts to produce ethylene and propylene from ethane and propane, respectively. The key step in this conversion process is the plasma-assisted catalytic conversion of CO₂ to carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen radicals at very mild operating conditions. The oxygen radicals subsequently react with ethane and propane and break the C-H bonds in alkanes to selectively form ethylene and propylene, respectively, through well-known oxydehydrogenation (ODH) chemistry. The project is aimed at adapting a commercial ozone reactor design to produce commercial quantities of ethylene/propylene in a modular configuration at competitive costs with negative CO₂ footprint. The project activities include: (1) catalyst preparation, characterization, and testing to achieve maximum alkene yield and catalyst stability; (2) plasma reactor design and setup; (3) experimental testing of the plasma-assisted catalytic CO₂-ODH process under parametric conditions with and without catalyst; (4) process modeling; (5) long-term testing to assess the stability of dielectric barrier discharge plasma and catalyst performance and; (6) techno-economic and life cycle analyses. NCSU will perform catalyst synthesis, testing, and optimization. NU will lead the plasma reactor and test system design, modification and construction, and CO₂-ODH reaction testing and optimization.

This project aims to develop a liquid phase photocatalytic process for direct conversion of methane into methanol so, when applied to flared gas at a well site, the process can generate methanol using a direct photocatalytic route. The goal will be accomplished by completing several research objectives that include:

1. Develop a bifunctional catalyst using a semiconductor photocatalyst architecture to facilitate methane activation to directly convert methane into methanol.
2. Develop a scalable reactor design to maximize mass transfer and methanol selectivity using an optimized photocatalyst.
3. Develop a conceptual process design for a modular system for flare gas utilization.
4. Conduct comprehensive techno-economic and commercial market assessments to position the technology for commercialization.

Initially, the project intends to develop and optimize the semiconductor catalyst for the effective conversion of photons into hydroxyl (•OH) radicals which support methane activation and a co-catalyst that selectively and with high yield converts the methyl radicals generated from methane activation into methanol and integrate these into a single bifunctional catalyst. If that is successful, the project will shift to process development focusing on testing to identify optimal operating conditions, completing long-term testing at realistic commercial conditions, testing with simulated natural gas compositions and intermittent operation involving on/off and varying flow conditions.

SkyNano, LLC will partner with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to advance an electrochemical-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) conversion technology for the production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at pilot scale. SkyNano’s novel electrochemical process involves the decomposition of dissolved CO₂ between two biased electrodes immersed in a molten carbonate electrolyte, followed by elemental carbon being captured at the cathode. The resulting nanostructures of the deposited carbons are largely dependent on process parameters including electrolyte, current density, and electrode materials. SkyNano will first design and assemble a benchtop electrochemical cell and conduct CNT growth electrolysis experiments using synthetic coal-fired flue gas, synthetic natural gas-fired flue gas, and a sample of actual flue gas provided by TVA. SkyNano will then design and assemble a pilot cell prototype and conduct electrolysis experiments using industrial flue gas-sourced CO₂ with the objective of producing CNTs at pilot scale (0.2 kg/hr) with material properties comparable to commercially available CNTs at a selling price that is approximately 80 to 90% less than current market prices. Finally, NREL will complete a techno-economic analysis and a life-cycle analysis to ensure that the process is sustainable and economically viable.

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) will develop an enhanced bimetallic oxide carbon utilization process (EBOCU) that uses an engineered catalyst to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) to formic acid via an electrochemical reaction. The overall goals of the project are to develop and test a novel electro-catalyst for the selective production of formic acid from coal-derived CO₂ feedstocks (as an alternative to the current practice of production from methanol), enhance the stability of the electrochemical reactor using robust electrodes, and intensify the productivity of the electrochemical reactor using pressurized operation. The project team will develop a lab-scale proof-of-concept pressurized electrochemical reactor (up to 3 bar), combined with a platinum-iridium anode and a novel copper-based cathode that are immobilized on the surface of a corrosion-stable carbon xerogel, for selective formic acid production at high rates. The electro-catalytic apparatus will be operated with simulated flue gas to evaluate the impact of contaminants and optimize performance. The stability of the electro-catalyst, membranes, electrodes, and other system components will be evaluated during long-term operation. UK CAER will complete techno-economic and life-cycle analyses of the EBOCU process and will assess the cost of constructing a commercial-scale electrochemical cell.

GE Research (Niskayuna, NY) will develop high-temperature 650°C-capable Dry Gas Seals (DGS) component technology for application in a 100 MWe supercritical carbon-dioxide (sCO2) Coal FIRST turbine. This component-technology-development effort intends to extend DGS temperature capability from the present-day 200°C operation to high-temperature 650°C operation. The system-level objective is to enable a 0.85 percentage point cycle efficiency increase and enable high operational flexibility for a 100 MWe Coal FIRST sCO₂ power cycle. Additionally, design insights and high-temperature component test data from this effort are expected to improve DGS reliability for state-of-the-art 10 MWe-scale sCO₂ turbine development programs.

Dastur International Inc., in coordination with Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., is conducting an initial engineering design of a carbon capture system to capture 50–70% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the available blast furnace (BF) gas at Cleveland-Cliff’s 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) integrated steel plant in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The system will integrate a BF gas flow distribution system, a unique BF gas conditioning process, and ION Clean Energy, Inc.’s solvent-based state-of-the-art carbon capture technologies with proven capture efficiencies from 90–98%. In the base case, up to 50% of CO₂ can be captured from the available BF gas; to facilitate greater CO₂ capture, a compositional shift of BF gas is carried out using a combination of water-gas shift reactors. Dastur International, Inc. will undertake the overall design and engineering of the project, including integrating the carbon capture island with the existing plant, and conducting various studies and investigations related to the project. ION will design and engineer the carbon capture island for this study. Dastur Energy, Inc., affiliate of Dastur International, Inc., will contribute to the design optimization and energy engineering aspects of the project.

The University of Kentucky Research Foundation, in collaboration with Vanderbilt University and Colorado State University, will construct and test an integrated carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture and utilization technology for algae production using an ammonia (NH₃) solution with chemical additives as both a capture reagent and algae nutrient. The system includes a membrane absorber coupled with distributed, solar-energy powered strippers located near algae bioreactor modules for solvent regeneration and continuous delivery of CO₂ and NH₃ to algae for productivity enhancement. The process will involve minimal NH₃ emissions in the treated flue gas. Project objectives include integrating a commercial membrane CO₂ absorber into an existing 0.1-megawatt-thermal (MWth) CO₂ capture process, developing advanced membrane materials to minimize NH₃ slip, developing a solar-powered solvent regenerator and integrating with modular bioreactors for evaluation of algae production, conducting parametric and long-term testing campaigns on the integrated system, and performing techno-economic and life cycle analyses.

Georgia Tech Research Corporation will investigate the use of hybrid sorbents based on metal-organic framework (MOF) materials functionalized with amine groups for the direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) at sub-ambient conditions. The primary goal of the project is to tailor MIL-101(Cr)-based sorbents to overcome technical barriers associated with their application at sub-ambient temperatures/conditions and validate their amenability to practical DAC application. In this direction, the stability of the powder sorbents against adsorption-desorption cycles and oxidative degradation will be determined. MIL-101(Cr) MOFs will be studied alone and in the presence of amines that range in size from small molecules to oligomers. The synthesis and characterization of sorbent materials as powder, fiber, and monolith samples will be conducted. These materials will be tested for CO₂ adsorption performance with air feeds containing 400 parts per million (ppm) CO₂ at sub-ambient conditions between -20°C and 20°C and varied humidity levels. Preliminary models of adsorption and desorption behavior will be developed and used to predict DAC process parameters. Furthermore, the possibility of the deployment of powder sorbents as practical structures for gas-solid contacting (i.e., monoliths and fibers) will be evaluated.

This CarbonSAFE Phase III effort aims to build upon the progress of previous phases and advance towards the full commercial deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (PRB). Previous Wyoming CarbonSAFE project phases have demonstrated the feasibility of injecting commercial volumes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) at the proposed storage complex on the property of Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s (BEPC) Dry Fork Station (DFS). DFS is coal-based electric generation power plant that has been proposed as the project’s CO₂ source. Collocated at DFS is the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, a research facility dedicated to CCUS advancement.

The intent of this project phase is to finalize surface and subsurface site characterization and certify the safety and security of eventual commercial CCUS operations at DFS. Applications for underground injection control (UIC) Class VI permits to construct will be submitted and project personnel will work with regulatory authorities until the appropriate permitting is acquired. The team will prepare an Environmental Information Volume (EIV) to inform the project’s final National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) class of action; this will result in a final NEPA document containing either a Record of Decision or Finding of No Significant Impact. This project will incorporate Membrane Technology and Research’s (MTR) DFS CO₂ front end engineering and design (FEED) and CO₂ capture analysis into the project’s commercialization assessments. This analysis will detail the operational performance of a commercial-scale CO₂ capture plant at DFS.

Washington University will advance the development of the two critical components of a modular Staged, Pressurized Oxy-Combustion (SPOC) power plant that are not commercially available: an integrated SPOC system and direct-contact cooler (DCC). WUSTL has designed and constructed a laboratory-scale prototype for each. These components have been developed with the support of multiple DOE projects and this project aims to further advance them to enable subsequent incorporation into a pilot plant. Objectives include integrating WUSTL’s existing 100 kW_th single-stage, pressurized oxy-combustor with a convective heat transfer boiler test section and the existing DCC to evaluate the operation and performance of the integrated system; demonstrating the integrated SPOC with two-stage combustors created by updating the existing single-stage 100 kW_th unit; computational fluid dynamics modeling and validation for the integrated pressurized combustor and boiler; and characterizing ash formation and deposition in the integrated SPOC system, and development and validation of ash behavior models for incorporating into the model of the pressurized combustor and boiler.

Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio, TX) propose to develop a detailed design for a supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂), coal syngas, or natural gas-fired, oxy-fuel turbine in the 150-300 MWe size range capable of 1,150^oC turbine inlet temperature at 300 bar and exhaust temperatures in the 725–775^oC range for use in a Direct-fired sCO₂ Power Plant System. This power plant will be capable of burning coal through gasification and cleanup of the synthesis gas (syngas). The turbine will require cooled turbine nozzles and blades as well as advanced thermal management systems to accommodate these high temperatures. The project team will execute test plans for the main components and test turbine blade materials in a high-temperature, high-pressure sCO₂ environment, test thermal barrier coatings in the same sCO₂ environment, validate heat transfer coefficients (HTC) high Reynold’s number cooling flow, and validate the cooled turbine blade thermal model based on the HTC studies and detailed design of the first stage turbine nozzle and blade. In addition, the team will complete a preliminary design of a combustor as it affects the overall design and layout of the turbine. This testing will advance the key risk components of the coal syngas combustion turbine from Technology Readiness Level 4 to 5.

The main goal of this project is to increase the beneficial use of fly ash as a supplementary cementitious material for precast concrete applications. The major focus of this project is to develop balanced concrete mix design strategies which collectively satisfy the following objectives: (1) increase fly ash beneficial use by at least 15% in the precast concrete industry, (2) maintain or exceed stringent structural property requirements (e.g., compressive strength at initial prestress, modulus of rupture, etc.), (3) exhibit little or no additional cost relative to conventional mixtures, and (4) mitigate detrimental environmental consequences inadvertently caused by increased beneficial use.

The objective of this effort is to establish an industry-acceptable standard heat rate test method and annual/long-term heat rate calculation protocol for coal-fired electricity generating units. This study will cover two areas of primary concern related to the development of methodologies to publish The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Standards to provide regulators and industry with procedure(s) to report annual heat rates.

The first area is to survey government agencies, utilities, and non-government organizations who have primary interest in regulating or producing electric power from coal-fired plants. This will include their concerns regarding reporting of heat rate data and issues of data accuracy.

The second major area will be to use the existing ASME Codes and Standards procedures to provide a consensus methodology to report annual/long-term heat rates for coal-fired power plants. ASME Performance Test Codes provide procedures that yield results of the highest level of accuracy consistent with the best engineering knowledge and practice currently available. The ASME Code will be developed by balanced committees representing all concerned interests and will specify procedures, instrumentation, equipment-operating requirements, calculation methods, and uncertainty analysis.

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) (La Jolla, CA) will develop and demonstrate an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC) technology for production of hydrogen from steam and electricity from natural gas. This novel RSOC technology is based on a compact, versatile, and low-cost stack architecture that incorporates high-performance and fuel-flexible reversible cells for efficient operation in both fuel cell (power generation) and electrolysis (hydrogen production) modes. The main objectives of the proposed project are (i) to validate the design, materials, and manufacturing processes of the proposed technology for both hydrogen and electricity production, (ii) to demonstrate operation of the technology at relevant conditions with improved performance, reliability, and endurance compared to the current state-of-the-art, and (iii) to confirm the cost effectiveness of the proposed technology via a comprehensive techno-economic analysis of a selected application. The project will culminate in the demonstration of an RSOC stack having the design features with required performance and reliability along with projected cost suitable for further development for commercialization.

Chevron is partnering with Svante, Inc., Electricore, Inc., Kiewit Engineering Group Inc., Kiewit Power Constructors, and Offshore Technical Services to validate the transformational VeloxoTherm™ solid sorbent carbon capture technology at engineering scale under indicative natural gas flue gas conditions and continuous long-term operation at Chevron’s Kern River oil field. The VeloxoTherm™ technology uses proprietary CALgary Framework-20 (CALF-20) metal-organic framework (MOF) sorbent materials and is comprised of a rotary adsorption machine for rapid-cycle thermal swing adsorption (RC-TSA) using structured adsorbent beds. The team will design, construct, and test an engineering-scale plant of approximately 30 tonnes per day (TPD) under steady-state conditions at varying flue gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations (~4–14%). Chevron will also conduct a techno-economic analysis on the VeloxoTherm™ technology integrated into a full-scale natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant as well as a comprehensive gap analysis.

InnoSepra LLC will collaborate with Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), Arizona State University, and Adroitech Enterprise to evaluate transformational materials (i.e., structured sorbents) for the direct capture of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from air and to confirm a reduction in energy requirements compared to state-of-the-art technologies for direct air capture (DAC). The project activities include performing computational simulations, materials characterization, and lab-scale testing to optimize the performance of materials under DAC conditions; developing a high-level process design to provide an estimate of electrical and thermal energy requirements and sizing of equipment; and utilizing the test results to assess the energy requirements, cost of equipment, and carbon footprint. Finally, an assessment of the proposed materials will also be made to evaluate production of large-scale quantities for future commercial implementation.

IWVC LLC is developing a transformational hybrid direct air capture (HDAC) technology that simultaneously captures carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water from the air using an amine-functionalized solid sorbent developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In HDAC, a combination of high-performance desiccant and CO₂-selective sorbents are used to remove both the water vapor and CO₂ from the air in a single pass through the HDAC system. The atmospheric water extraction (AWE) section of the unit utilizes a novel isothermal pressure swing regeneration cycle with desiccant beds thermally coupled by heat pipes that provide a passive heat transfer mechanism to minimize energy losses. The low relative humidity air stream is then passed over a CO₂-selective sorbent to remove 85% of the CO₂ from the air stream. Combining potable water generation and CO₂ capture in a single device with the unique energy conserving features of the design enables a competitive cost of capture to be achieved with much smaller plant capacities and capital costs than required by conventional DAC systems.

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE) (Danbury, CT) will advance high efficiency and low cost Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (RSOFC) system technology for hybrid operation of water electrolysis for hydrogen production as well as power generation using hydrogen. The technology improvements envisioned for the proposed project are focused in the areas of cell materials, stack design, power electronics, and process controls. Three areas of focus, to be pursued concurrently will be: improvements to the fundamental repeat unit materials in the RSOFC stack (cell, seal, interconnects, and coatings) to improve efficiency and reduce degradation; stack design improvements, particularly in the area of thermal management; and , development of power electronics controls strategies. The improvements will be demonstrated at the prototype system level, based on FCE’s Compact Solid Oxide Architecture (CSA) stack platform. The cell and stacks have demonstrated operation in both fuel cell and electrolysis modes, reversibly, and can operate on hydrocarbon fuels (e.g.: natural gas) or hydrogen with the same stack. FCE will work with Virginia Tech CPES to develop and deploy the advanced fuel cell power management technology to the demonstration system. Similar to the benefits offered by advanced battery management systems for multi-cell battery packs, the project is expected to achieve improved lifetime, improved operational flexibility, and improved economics to the overall system.

Phillips 66 (Bartlesville, OK) will demonstrate the commercial feasibility of a low-cost, highly efficient reversible solid oxide cells (H-rSOC) system based on proton conductors for hydrogen and electricity generation. The unique advantages of this system over the ones based on an oxygen-ion conductor are as follows. First, it produces pure/dry H₂ without needs for downstream separation/purification, thus decreasing the complexity and cost of the system. Second, the durability of the fuel electrode (e.g., Ni-based cermet) will be dramatically enhanced since the risk of Ni oxidation by steam is eliminated. Third, the conductivities of the proton conducting membranes are much higher than those of zirconia-based electrolytes, implying much smaller Ohmic loss and higher efficiency. Further, the air electrode will be composed of a triple-conducting (H+/O2-/e-) phase with excellent activity for oxygen reduction and evolution. Under the support of a DOE-EERE project, the applicant has constructed small rSOCs based on proton conductors, achieving ~70% roundtrip efficiency at 1 A cm-2, far better than those reported for a zirconia membrane-based system. The results confirm that the H+-based rSOCs have potential to dramatically advance the technology for hydrogen and electricity generation.

Media and Process Technology Inc. (MPT), in collaboration with the University of Southern California, will advance a dual-stage membrane process (DSMP) for pre-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture in an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC)-based poly-generation plant. In this project, the primary objective is to transition the current single-ended “candle filter” configuration of the ceramic membrane support to a dual end (open both ends) ceramic membrane bundle configuration that will enable “permeate purge” capability with inorganic membranes for hydrogen recovery/CO₂ capture from coal-derived syngas. In addition to the purgeable membrane bundle, this project will also focus in parallel on the housing design for the dual end bundle with emphasis on minimization of stresses associated with membrane to housing seals and incorporation of multiple bundles into the full-scale housing design.

During Budget Period 1, the key objectives will be to: (1) design, construct, and assemble various dual end multiple tube bundle prototypes; (2) design and fabricate various prototype housings and seal configurations for a single bundle as a sub-unit; (3) conduct thermal/mechanical stress testing of the dual end bundles in the prototype housings at operating conditions expected with the use of membranes for pre-combustion applications (up to 800 pounds per square inch gauge [psig] and 400°C); and (4) conduct computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of the module layout for feed flow distribution and capital cost estimating for full-scale membrane modules. During Budget Period 2, the key objectives will be to: (1) prepare several multiple tube carbon molecular sieve (CMS) and palladium-alloy modified membrane bundles in the dual end configuration; (2) conduct various tests of the single (sub-unit) and the multiple bundle (unit) housing with synthetic gas mixtures; and (3) update the techno-economic analysis based upon the performance obtained with the “permeate purgeable” membrane bundles and module.

Gas Technology Institute will advance Ohio State University’s transformational membrane-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology through engineering-scale testing on actual coal-derived flue gas at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center (ITC). The amine-containing CO₂-selective membranes developed under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded projects (FE0031731; FE0007632) consist of a thin selective inorganic layer embedded in a polymer support and exhibit high CO₂ permeance and very high selectivity of CO₂ over nitrogen (N₂). The superior performance is based on a facilitated transport mechanism, in which a reversible CO₂ reaction with fixed and mobile amine carriers enhances the CO₂/N₂ separation. The objectives of this project are to fabricate commercial-size membrane modules; design and install a 1-megawatt-electric (MWe) CO₂ capture system at ITC; conduct parametric testing with one- and two-stage membrane processes at varying CO₂ capture rates (60 to 90%); perform continuous testing at steady-state operation for a minimum of two months; and gather the data necessary for further process scale-up.

Membrane Technology & Research Inc. will partner with Sargent & Lundy (S&L) and CEMEX to perform an initial engineering design of a full-scale Polaris membrane carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system (approximately 1 million metric tons of CO₂ per day) applied to the CEMEX Balcones cement plant located in New Braunfels, Texas. This study will produce estimates of the cost and performance of a first-of-its-kind industrial membrane capture plant at a cement plant. The technical activities include completing a project design basis and process design, estimating the cost of the capture plant construction and installation, performing an environmental health and safety review and permitting, constructability review and a hazard and operability study (HAZOP), and preparing a techno-economic analysis. S&L, an Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contractor, will have the lead role in conducting the design study. CEMEX is the owner and operator of the cement plant and will provide plant-specific information on the Balcones facility for this study.

ION Clean Energy, Inc. will partner with Koch Modular Process Systems, Sargent & Lundy, Calpine Corporation, and Hellman & Associates, to advance their transformational post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology through engineering-scale (1 megawatt-electric [MWe]) testing on a slipstream of flue gas from Calpine’s Los Medanos Energy Center (LMEC), a commercially dispatched natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant. The project team will design, construct, and operate a CO₂ capture pilot system using ION’s water-lean, amine-based, third-generation ICE-31 solvent that will capture 10 tonnes of CO₂ per day and yield a CO₂ product flow with greater than 95% purity that is suitable for compression and dehydration into a CO₂ pipeline. The project will leverage ION’s process expertise gained through testing their second-generation, state-of-the-art solvent, ICE-21, at bench- and pilot-scale with coal-fired flue gases. The CO₂ capture process will be optimized to take full advantage of the benefits provided by ION’s ICE-31 solvent in combination with other process improvements, all of which are derived through a process-intensification design philosophy focused on NGCC flue gas. The benefits of this holistic approach include a smaller physical plant, reduced energy requirements, improved CO₂ product quality, less solvent degradation, lower emissions, lower water usage, less maintenance, and lower capital costs.

RTI International is partnering with Creare and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University to develop two types of advanced adsorbent materials—metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and phosphorous dendrimers (P-dendrimers)—for direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Sorbents will be synthesized, characterized, and optimized to achieve high CO₂ capacity at very low CO₂ partial pressures, high swing capacity, improved mass and heat transfer, and long operational life at low cost. The project team will conduct testing of two selected sorbents (one MOF adsorbent and one amine-P-dendrimer adsorbent) over 100 adsorption-desorption cycles in a laboratory-scale packed bed reactor and evaluate sorbent performance in the presence of contaminants (e.g., oxygen and water). The best performing sorbent will be evaluated for commercial production cost and scalability. Incorporation of the novel sorbents into a low pressure drop multichannel monolith-type reactor will result in a pathway to developing an advanced low-cost DAC process that can capture CO₂ from air at a cost of approximately $70/tonne of CO₂.

Global Thermostat Operations, LLC, in partnership with Zero Carbon Partners, VADA LLC, Georgia Tech, Jedson Engineering, and the National Renewable Energy Lab, will develop a continuous motion direct air capture (DAC) system that will capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air through an adsorption process and produce a greater than 95% purity CO₂ product. The process employs honeycomb monolith contactors with a solid amine sorbent incorporated into the pores of the monolith, resulting in high CO₂ adsorption capacities at very low CO₂ partial pressures. The project team will design and validate the mechanical components of the system and complete detailed engineering and sizing of the process equipment. In parallel, a phenomenological flow model and a systems-level Aspen model will be developed to refine process step development, monolith lifetime, and key performance tradeoffs. Global Thermostat will leverage the phenomenological model to inform experimental work while assessing the impacts on sorbent lifetime. The process equipment will be fabricated, delivered, and integrated with the mechanical system to form an integrated DAC system. The prototype DAC unit will be commissioned and operated at the Global Thermostat Technology Center to collect on-stream data that will inform the techno-economic and life cycle analyses.

Electricore Inc. will advance a direct air capture (DAC) technology that combines a vacuum-temperature swing carbon dioxide (CO₂) adsorption process with structured adsorbent beds. The process employs Svante’s novel solid sorbent laminate filter technology integrated with Climeworks’ DAC technology in which CO₂ from air is chemically bound to a solid sorbent material and the sorbent is regenerated using vacuum- and temperature-swing desorption. The overall goals of the project are to construct and operate a 30-kilogram-per-day (kg/day) integrated field test unit capable of producing a concentrated CO₂ stream of at least 95% purity. A 12-month field test of the DAC system will be conducted at Wintec Energy’s renewable energy facility to capture operational data on the novel process and material combination under real conditions. A full characterization of Svante’s first-, second-, and third-generation sorbent materials will be performed after 1,000 hours of operation, with a goal of optimizing the sorbent structure geometry to reduce the amount of water uptake during adsorption and increase lifetime. Test data will be used to advise techno-economic and life cycle analyses of the technology. The project will validate current state-of-the-art DAC systems and sorbent materials, and will achieve cost reductions through the use of advanced sorbents and energy optimization realized via reduced pressure drop in sorbent beds and innovative heat recovery techniques.

Southern States Energy Board is leading efforts to advance a solid amine sorbent-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology for direct air capture (DAC) through field testing in a commercially relevant environment. Carbon capture materials that have been developed by Global Thermostat (GT) and tested on DAC systems in the laboratory will be utilized in the project. The primary goal of the DAC RECO₂UP project is to decrease the cost of DAC through the testing of existing DAC materials in integrated field units that produce a concentrated CO₂ stream of at least 95% purity. GT’s technology employs a monolithic contactor impregnated with a solid polyethylenimine polymer that forms agglomerations of polymeric amine capture sites within the mesopores of the contactor wherein CO₂ is adsorbed. The ultra-low pressure drop monoliths maximize the efficiency of air flow, increasing mass transfer of CO₂ for adsorption. The project team will conduct an engineering design of an integrated DAC system utilizing energy recovery and support services at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) and prepare a chemical process and energy utilization model on the design work. A DAC skid capable of adsorbing/desorbing CO₂ using GT’s solid-amine sorbent monolithic contactors and an energy recovery integration skid that uses process control and heat exchangers to produce the required steam for the DAC process will be constructed and installed at NCCC. AirCapture LLC will provide an existing third skid capable of compressing, liquifying, and purifying the CO₂. A three-phased testing campaign will be conducted in an integrated system environment at NCCC. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses will be performed in addition to a technology environmental health and safety assessment to determine the environmental sustainability and economic viability of the integrated DAC system.

Two separate but geographically proximate sites – one at the One Earth Energy (OEE) ethanol plant near Gibson City, Illinois, and one at the Prairie State Generating Company (PSGC) coal-fired power plant near Marissa, Illinois – will be characterized for large-scale (50 million metric tons) storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured from those facilities. Characterization activities at both sites include 2D and 3D seismic surveys, stratigraphic test wells and geophysical logs, well hydraulic testing, CO₂ capture and transport feasibility assessment, and detailed injection modeling. The anticipated outcome of the project is the acquisition of permits to install injection wells at both sites under U.S. EPA’s Class VI Underground Injection Control (UIC) regulations.

Ames National Laboratory's objective is to develop, evaluate, and improve physics-based analysis tools for gas turbine analysis. Two types of analysis tools are of interest: (1) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools and (2) system-level tools for preliminary and conceptual design. The CFD analysis tools of interest are those that can account for the steady and unsteady three-dimensional flow and heat transfer on the hot-gas side of the turbine with and without film cooling; the conduction heat transfer through the turbine material, the thermal and environmental-barrier-coatings (TBC and EBC), and the superalloy via conduction heat transfer; and the flow and heat transfer in the internal cooling passages as a function of design and operating parameters. The systems-level tools of interest are those that are highly efficient computationally and yet contain key physics that are derived from steady/unsteady multidimensional CFD studies. These models are intended to be used in design at the system level (e.g., the entire blade or the entire stator-rotor stage), where it is not feasible to perform detailed CFD analysis.

Semplastics aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of their Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) encapsulation technology. Samples of the selected CCR will be encapsulated and undergo leach testing to show reduction of toxic element leaching by more than 80%. The project team will mold test plates from CCR and a number of inorganic resins, which will be cut into test specimens for microstructural, mechanical, and physical property analysis. The process developed in making the test plates will be used for scale-up to make bulk demonstration parts. The team will optimize the scaled-up process to produce large-scale support columns (approximately 9” diameter). The team will develop two predictive models—one for encapsulated CCR in high-CCR-loaded bulk parts, and one for encapsulated CCR as filler in polypropylene. By the end of the project, the team plans to demonstrate that encapsulated CCR improves the strength and modulus of polypropylene by 30-50% and can be used in structural components to provide a strength five to ten times that of concrete.

TDA Research, Inc.—in partnership with Gas Technology Institute (GTI), Susteon, Clariant, and the University of California, Irvine (UCI)—is developing a novel modular pre-combustion carbon capture technology platform that integrates a low-temperature water-gas-shift (WGS) reaction with a high-temperature physical adsorbent to eliminate carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from a coal-based poly-generation system (i.e., co-production of power and chemicals). The system will be optimized for use with a Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small, Transformative) poly-generation system that is capable of highly flexible operation, allowing for seamless transfer between production and ammonia storage modes. The specific goal of this project is to evaluate the techno-economic viability of the process through: (1) large-scale slipstream testing using actual coal-derived syngas in a fully equipped prototype unit at GTI’s Flex Fuel Facility in Des Plaines, Illinois, and (2) a high-fidelity process design and engineering analysis. UCI will assist in the process design and cycle optimization, Clariant will work with Susteon to supply the desulfurization sorbent for the field tests, and TDA will lead the sorbent production, prototype design and fabrication, and overall testing efforts. The combination of the low-temperature WGS and CO₂ removal processes improves overall efficiency by reducing the amount of water needed to shift the equilibrium-limited shift reaction. The system is also integrated with warm-gas desulfurization and trace contaminant removal technologies to protect catalysts used in chemical synthesis processes, while maintaining the water content of the gas to achieve high efficiency in the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) portion of the poly-generation process.

Brigham Young University (Provo, UT) will develop a coal-fired primary heater that is capable of being integrated with a supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) power cycle, which has the potential to deliver high efficiency, low-cost, compact size, water-free operation for future coal-fired power generation. The coal-fired primary heater has been identified as a critical component requiring further development to enable its subsequent design, fabrication, delivery, and operation. Therefore, the overall objective of this project is to perform the R&D necessary for mitigating the risk associated with the design of the primary heater. This will be accomplished by utilizing pilot-scale testing and advanced modeling to optimize the conceptual design process. REI’s existing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and process modeling tools will be improved and utilized to help optimize a primary heat exchanger design for an sCO₂ power cycle. The designed primary heat exchanger will then be fabricated and installed into a 1.5 MW_th pulverized coal combustor integrated with Echogen’s existing EPS5 sCO₂ flow loop. Primary heater performance, with a focus on flow and heat distribution management, will be tested and demonstrated over a range of operating conditions and fuel properties. Lastly, results from the design process and testing campaign will be utilized by Echogen and REI to inform a scale-up analysis and technoeconomic analysis study.

Electricore Inc. will partner with Svante Inc. and Kiewit Engineering Group Inc. to accelerate the implementation of a commercial-scale (1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide [CO₂]/year) VeloxoTherm™ carbon capture plant at an existing cement plant. The project objectives include completing a pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) for installation of the capture system at a LafargeHolcim-owned cement plant in Florence, Colorado and identifying plausible options for CO₂ storage near the host site, including saline and depleted oil reservoirs and the Sheep Mountain natural CO₂ reservoir as alternatives to enhanced oil recovery. This project will be designed to remove CO₂ from the flue gas of the cement kiln (14% concentration), as well as CO₂ from the natural gas-fired steam generator (8.5% concentration). The study will also include optimization engineering for the potential expansion to 2 million tonnes of CO₂/year that may provide a step-change advancement toward achieving the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) goal of $30/tonne for CO₂ capture. The project will be executed in two phases: Phase 1 will focus on selecting the preferred design options and most advantageous plant capacity (Front-End Loading [FEL]-1), and Phase 2 will produce pre-FEED-level engineering deliverables for the selected design (FEL-2).

Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. will team with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Research Triangle Institute, and Worley Group, Inc. to conduct engineering-scale testing of a water-lean solvent for post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture. Through a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project (FWP-70924) under the Discovery of Carbon Capture Substance and Systems (DOCCSS) Initiative, a water-lean, single-amine solvent, N-(2-ethoxyethyl)-3-morpholinopropan-1-amine (EEMPA), was validated in laboratory-scale experiments and confirmed as a viable post-combustion capture solvent. This project will scale-up and test the performance of EEMPA for post-combustion capture of CO₂ from coal- and natural gas-derived flue gas over three phases (budget periods). In the first phase, the project team will develop a cost-effective method for synthesizing sufficient quantities of solvent to perform a 0.5-megawatt-electric (MWe)-scale test at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama, while evaluating process modifications needed to optimally operate the solvent process. In the second phase, the solvent will be manufactured and equipment modifications will be implemented at NCCC. In the final phase, test campaigns with both coal and natural gas flue gas sources will be conducted and a techno-economic analysis and an environmental health and safety risk assessment will be performed assuming full-scale deployment of the solvent and process at a power plant.

The University of Delaware will develop an electrochemically driven carbon dioxide (CO₂) separator (EDCS) using poly(aryl piperidinium) (PAP) ionomers for performing near-continuous CO₂ separation from air under ambient conditions. The novel EDCS process is distinct from thermal separation technologies for direct air capture (DAC) by use of an electrochemical driving force across a membrane to perform both capture and release of CO₂ with zero thermal energy input. The project team will fabricate structured membranes with porosity and internal air flow channels to provide high interfacial area for CO₂ uptake and low air pressure drop. Dense PAP membranes will be characterized to determine the fundamental kinetic, thermodynamic, and transport properties as a function of temperature, relative humidity, and degree of carbonation. EDCS cells (25 cm²) will be fabricated using composite electrodes and a flow-through membrane and tested for CO₂ separation over a range of simulated conditions.

The State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo (University at Buffalo) will prepare novel membrane adsorbents and develop an integrated adsorption system enabled by solar heating and radiative cooling for rapid temperature swing adsorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air. The technical objectives of this laboratory-scale project include:

• Designing, preparing, and characterizing highly porous flat-sheet membrane adsorbents containing CO₂-philic amines and CO₂-philic self-assembled inorganic nanocages (SINCs) that can be easily dispersed in the polymers with great stability.
• Constructing a portable device integrating sorption, solar heating, and radiative cooling.
• Conducting continuous operation of the prototype system for direct air capture (DAC).

The porous membranes coupled with porous SINCs offer low resistance for airflow and fast CO₂ sorption/desorption cycles, while the incorporation of the amine groups provides high CO₂ sorption capacity. With collaboration from project partner Trimeric Corporation, the resulting experimental data will be incorporated into a techno-economic analysis (TEA) to assess the feasibility, economic opportunity, and impact on CO₂ emissions reduction of this technology if implemented at scale.

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) will develop an enhanced depolarized electro-membrane system (EDEMS) for direct air capture (DAC). The EDEMS consists of a low-pressure ceramic membrane contactor/absorber in a tailored electrochemical process that leverages depolarization to regenerate and concentrate both a capture solvent and carbon dioxide (CO₂) extracted by the membrane. The technical objectives of this laboratory-scale project include developing and evaluating patterned inorganic membrane absorbers and a depolarized electrochemical cell, integrating the components into a novel EDEMS, and conducting continuous operation of the system for DAC. A process design package will be developed, and with collaboration from project partner ALL4, an Environmental Health and Safety Risk Assessment will be completed. The EDEMS technology will have the potential to extract CO₂ from ambient air, up-concentrate and regenerate the extracted CO₂, and simultaneously renew the capture solvent.

The objective of the proposed Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) effort is to accelerate wide-scale deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) by characterizing two safe and cost-effective commercial-scale storage sites within a storage complex in central North Dakota. These sites will safely and permanently store the nominally 3.1 million metric tons (Mt) of CO₂ emissions planned for annual capture from the 455-megawatt Unit 2 of the Milton R. Young Station (MRYS) near Center, North Dakota. The main activities of Phase III (site characterization and permitting) are geophysical surveys such as seismic and electro-magnetic surveys as well as drilling of a geologic characterization well. The EERC also plans to test target formation injectivity with a small scale CO₂ injection test. Information from these various characterization methods will serve as the basis for the Environmental Information Volume (EIV) which this project will develop to assist in the determination if the project will be subject to an Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Parametric Solutions, Inc. (Jupiter, FL) (PSI) will design, build, and test the world’s first syngas-fueled supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) combustor for the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle. This cycle has the potential to produce electricity at a lower cost than conventional fossil generation with high flexibility, inherent carbon capture, and near-zero air emissions and water use. PSI will build and operate two commercial-scale 50 MW_th syngas combustors at up to 12-20 MW_th load, moving the combustor up to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. Testing will be completed at the existing 50 MW_th NET Power facility, the world’s largest and only direct fired sCO2 power plant, to enable reuse of existing equipment, particularly the balance of plant, and easy utilization of the knowledge gained from NET Power’s successful natural gas sCO2 combustor test. The data generated during testing will be used to design, build, and test a production combustor that will demonstrate ignition, start-up, steady state performance, blow-out condition, and durability during testing at steady state conditions. This effort will provide the data needed to commercialize a 200-300 MWe Allam-Fetvedt coal plant, which would be built utilizing a radial array of ten to twelve 50 MW_th syngas combustors or with one or two large silo-type combustors.

Linde Inc., in partnership with Linde Engineering Americas (LEA) and BASF, will conduct an initial engineering design study for an approximately 3,500 metric tons of CO₂ per day carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture plant based on Linde-BASF advanced aqueous amine post-combustion CO₂ capture technology. The capture plant will be installed at a Linde-owned commercial-scale steam methane reforming (SMR) plant. The specific goals of the project are to define integration options with the SMR host site; produce a set of project requirements, including the design basis and environmental permitting needs; and complete the process design optimization for the site, the engineering design packages, and project cost and schedule estimates. BASF will develop a technology design package for the defined CO₂ capture system. LEA will complete detailed design packages for mechanical, electrical, civil, structural, instrumentation and control, and facilities engineering and assess the cost and logistics for constructability and site security; Linde Inc. will lead the technical analyses to supplement the engineering design study, including techno-economic, environmental health and safety, and technology maturation plan; Linde will interface with the SMR plant operators for operational and utility information.

Susteon Inc., in partnership with the University of Wyoming, will develop solid sorbent materials that can be regenerated at lower temperatures than current state-of-the-art materials. Structured sorbent beds will be constructed for low pressure drop operation to achieve reduced costs for direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂). The project aims to develop amine-doped solid sorbents catalyzed by a novel ionic liquid that has the potential to increase the CO₂ desorption rate by several orders of magnitude at desorption temperatures of 80 to 90°C. The catalytic effect of the ionic liquid has been tested at laboratory scale as an additive in monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent, resulting in an increase in the CO₂ desorption rate by 60 times at 85°C. The sorbent-based process enables a reduction in the energy required for sorbent regeneration and increased sorbent lifetime/stability due to operation at lower desorption temperatures.

The project objectives are to: (1) synthesize and test the ionic liquid catalyst to determine catalytic activity and catalyst stability; (2) evaluate the catalyzed amine-based sorbents to determine CO₂ desorption and absorption kinetics; and (3) based on the experimental results, develop a conceptual process design for the sorbents applied in a DAC system and conduct a preliminary cost analysis to assess the potential of the novel sorbent to reduce the cost of DAC.

Redox Power Systems, LLC (Beltsville, MD) will use advanced lower temperature/higher power SOFC and high-performance balance of plant components to enable widescale adoption of 5-25kW systems for distributed generation (DG) applications. The Redox SOFC operates at 650 °C and is capable of power densities as high as 1.6 W/cm2 with large format cells (10 cm by 10 cm). The project will culminate in the demonstration of a 7kW system for 5,000 hours. The goals of this project are to make significant progress towards commercialization of SOFCs for DG applications through the development of a 7 kW system prototype demonstrator and to reduce the system cost to a level on par with alternate technologies at lower production volume.

Columbia University, along with project partners Cornell University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will develop an intelligently tailored sorbent material using a state-of-the-art anhydrous nanofluid solvent and electrospinning technology to form a hybrid coaxial-fiber system for direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂). The hybrid fiber system will employ Columbia University’s well-studied, liquid-like nanoparticle organic hybrid materials (NOHMs) embedded in a permeable, hydrophobic, CO₂-selective ceramic or polymeric shell to form a viscosity-controlled sorbent material with improved CO₂ capture kinetics, long-term stability, and reduced energy requirement for sorbent regeneration. The nanofiber-encapsulated sorbent has the ability to selectively reject water while allowing facile CO₂ diffusion, which can lead to a reduction in parasitic energy consumption during pressure/temperature swing desorption. The nanofibers embedded with NOHMs will be used to fabricate air filters, affording the low pressure drop and improved chemical and physical stability that is needed for DAC systems.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will continue the development and validation of 3D-printed intensified devices (i.e., mass exchange packing with internal cooling channels) for application in absorption columns to enhance carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture processes. In previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded projects, ORNL exhibited that the novel packing can effectively achieve mass exchange and heat exchange functionalities in a lab-scale column using an aqueous amine solvent (FWP-FEAA130) and using an advanced water-lean solvent (FWP-FEAA375). In this project, ORNL will: (1) design and construct a larger-scale column (“Column B”) than previously tested at ORNL to further validate enhanced CO₂ capture with 3D-printed intensified devices for aqueous amine-based capture at more realistic operating conditions; (2) assess the modularity of “Column B” with the intensified devices by removing certain elements to allow for operation with advanced water-lean solvents; and (3) confirm that “Column B” can be easily configured to effectively capture CO₂ from different inlet gas CO₂ compositions and during process transients.

Nexceris, LLC (Lewis Center, OH) will scale reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC) and stack technology to the prototype system level and demonstrate world-class performance that will allow achieving hydrogen production cost goals at a large-scale system level (100 kW or larger). Nexceris’ cell and stack technology will be leveraged in this project. The goal of the proposed project is to demonstrate a RSOC system with the following attributes: minimum of 1 kW power generation in fuel cell mode (2+ kW in electrolysis mode) and roundtrip stack efficiency (RTE) of at least 60 percent, capability for dynamic switching between fuel cell and electrolysis modes in response to fluctuating grid demands, capability for operating in the pure electrolysis mode to produce hydrogen at sufficiently high efficiency to enable hydrogen cost of less than $2/kg (at scale, assuming an appropriate system design), and flexibility to perform steam electrolysis or steam/CO₂ co-electrolysis.

Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) will perform a Front-End Design and Engineering (FEED) study on an oxygen-blown gasification system coupled with water-gas shift, pre-combustion CO₂ capture, and pressure-swing adsorption working off a coal/biomass mix to yield high-purity hydrogen and a fuel off-gas that can generate power. Several designs capable of producing 50 MW net from a flexible generator, over 8500 kg/hr. of hydrogen, and net-negative CO₂ emissions at an efficiency of 50% net HHV are being considered. The plant will be hosted at one of two Nebraska Public Power District sites, where opportunities for enhanced oil recovery and sequestration have been investigated and the need for low-carbon power and hydrogen is imminent. The principal biomass to be used is corn stover—prevalent in Nebraska where the plant will be located—mixed with Powder River Basin coal, necessitating a gasifier that can use this feedstock and be flexible to allow other types. Other forms of biomass and waste plastics will also be reviewed for use. Two oxygen-blown gasifiers have been identified as candidates that have done testing with biomass, including corn stover: a Gas Technology Institute gasifier (a high-pressure, fluidized-bed type) and Hamilton Maurer International’s gasifier (a lower pressure moving-bed type). Both have relative advantages that will be investigated in the Phase I design study, with a resultant down-select of one system for which the FEED will be performed in Phase II.

Wabash Valley Resources LLC (WVR), in coordination with Gas Technology Institute (GTI), will complete Design Development, the Environmental Information Volume (EIV), the investment case, and a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study to redevelop the existing WVR’s Coal Gasification site into a prototype of the 21^st Century Power Plant for gasification based carbon-negative power and hydrogen co-production. The project will include two budget periods (Phase I and Phase II) over 26.5-month performance period. Phase I of the project will focus on feedstock selection, site logistics, and finalizing the design basis needed to successfully complete the FEED deliverables. At the completion of Phase I, the project team will complete a full Pre-FEED package for the planned facility and will complete the investment case and life-cycle analysis. The final Phase II deliverable will be a complete and integrated FEED package that will allow WVR to advance to engineering, procurement, and construction. The team members possess the engineering and laboratory capabilities to ensure a straightforward progression of program activities and to support the engineering design, test planning, and project management efforts for this program.

The overall objectives of this project are to advance the design of the advanced pressurized fluidized bed combustion (PFBC) power plant to a state of completion that satisfies the requirements of Phase 3 of the Front-End Planning Process defined by the Construction Industry Institute (CII), and to provide adequate information, including information on the plant design, host site, environmental considerations, CO₂ disposition strategy, and pro-forma financials, for use by DOE, investors, and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractors during potential negotiations for follow-on work needed to construct the prototype plant. Specific design objectives for this advanced PFBC power plant, which is envisioned to have a capacity of ~300 MW_net, include: (1) updating the existing P200 PFBC technology to incorporate a new gas turbomachine, hot gas filter, supercritical steam cycle, and digital control technology, so as to maximize modular construction capabilities and operational flexibility while maintaining high efficiency, (2) achieving near-zero levels of regulated emissions, (3) integrating carbon dioxide capture and storage, (4) utilizing fine, wet waste coal as the primary fuel to significantly improve dispatch economics through use of a low- or zero-cost fuel while simultaneously mitigating an environmental liability associated with the coal value chain (i.e., coal slurry impoundments), and (5) utilizing biomass co-firing to achieve net-neutral or negative CO₂ emissions.

The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) is leading a project to complete a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for a Hybrid Gas Turbine and USC Coal Boiler Concept (HGCC) with post combustion carbon capture and energy storage system. This project ties together several strands of DOE research in a single next-generation plant design for the use of clean fossil energy. This project combines a state-of-the-art 270 MW ultra-supercritical (USC) coal boiler subsystem with an 87 MW natural gas combustion turbine generator (CTG) subsystem, a 50 MW energy storage system (ESS) subsystem, a post combustion carbon capture (PCC) subsystem, and an algae-based CO₂ utilization subsystem. This combination offers tremendous potential for high-energy efficiency, effective handling of variable customer demand with associated high ramp rates and minimum loads, and with reduced capital, operation and maintenance costs, while significantly reducing regulated emissions and capturing and reusing CO₂. The host site is City, Water, Power, and Light (CWLP) in Springfield, Illinois. Investment cases will be developed for CWLP (retrofit site) and at least two other geographically diverse locations that use different coal types. Current greenfield sites to be examined are in Wyoming (Powder River Basin coal) and North Dakota (lignite).

Cummins Inc. (Columbus, IN) aims to advance the state of the art for Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (R-SOFC) systems by developing two novel technologies that will enable $2/kg hydrogen production with a 30% overall product cost reduction. Based on Cummins proprietary metal supported stack, it is proposed to further lower cost and improve performance by modeling and developing an advanced sheet-metal substrate. This substrate will target a 50% cost reduction by using less metal and substantially reducing processing costs. A new system concept will be demonstrated to drive the hydrogen gas/fuel loop with no moving parts in the recirculation loop, greatly simplifying the system design. By eliminating the hydrogen blower, recuperator and associated piping, a potential cost savings of up to 75% is possible for the hydrogen gas path. This project will advance the technology readiness of R-SOFC systems and has the potential to realize 30% cost reduction enabling earlier commercial viability of small-scale hybrid electrolyzer plants.

X-MAT CCC, LLC will work with production partner the Center for Applied Research and Technology, Inc. (CART) to establish the utility of coal-derived building materials (CDBM). The project will result in a market-worthy design for a CDBM structure and achieve the performance requirements to meet insurance standards (seismic, fire, wind resistance) and those of the International Building Code (IBC). CDBM components contain at least 55% coal by weight. Including the binders within the resin, the components contain at least 71% carbon by weight. In this Phase I effort, X-MAT CCC will perform the development and testing needed to improve the maturity of the technology.

The objective is to develop methods for continuous production of carbon foam panels and lightweight aggregates from coal at atmospheric pressure. Coal-derived carbon foams are currently produced commercially via a batch process at elevated pressure, primarily for use in composite tooling applications for the aerospace industry. This method of production limits carbon foam to high-value, small-volume markets; the goal of this project is to reduce the cost of carbon foam manufacture by over 90% to open up much larger market opportunities in the construction, infrastructure, and other industries, creating meaningful demand for U.S. coal.

InnoSense LLC will develop a direct air capture (DAC) system for carbon dioxide (CO₂) separation from ambient air using a hybrid polymer membrane to reduce CO₂ separation costs and energy penalties. Highly CO₂-selective, ultra-thin, functionalized hybrid polymer membranes (HypoMem), integrated with carbon materials such as graphene oxide (GO), will be developed to improve CO₂ capture performance from ambient or near-ambient conditions, thermal and chemical stability, and ease of processability for scale-up. Experiments will be performed in a lab-scale DAC system to collect data on CO₂ capture performance and long-term stability across a range of advanced materials and process parameters. These data will support analysis of the energy costs and high-level process design as a function of HypoMem thickness, permeability, and selectivity. InnoSense will complete a conceptual design and assess the scalability of a pilot-scale CO₂ separation system.

The objective of this project is to develop a process to produce rigid-board building panels using at least 55% by mass of coal-derived material (71% by mass of carbon) as filler in a new family of moldable inorganic resins. Prototype quantities of composite rigid board insulation panels will be produced with dimensions at least 16” × 32” × 1” and of architectural composite wall/facade panels with dimensions ranging from 9” × 14” × ½” to 8” × 12” × ¾” or larger. The panels will have better mechanical strength (three to five times higher flexural strength), lower weight (30-50% lighter), and significantly improved insulation (two to three times the R-value), compared to commercially used and certified building panels. A target market analysis for the coal-based X-MAT® panels and technology gap analysis will be performed.

This project will develop and demonstrate the viability of a new class of composite infrastructure components that use coal as the primary component. Coal particles are completely encapsulated and bonded using a specially formulated polymer-derived ceramic (PDC) that is cured to form an aggregate of coal and PDC resin. This aggregate can be further processed and pressed to produce a brick. The project team aims to produce brick and block components, called X-BRIX and X-BLOX, with dimensions comparable to commercially available bricks and concrete blocks, but with superior mechanical strength, lower weight, greater hardness, improved toughness, greater abrasion resistance, and greater chemical resistance than concrete. Sufficient quantities of full-size X-BLOX and X-BRIX will be fabricated to demonstrate the technology and to support the development of mortar or joining techniques.

Cummins Inc. (Columbus, IN) will develop a 20kW small-scale solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power system for applications such as data centers and commercial buildings demonstrating pathways to sub-$1000/kW goals. Cummins SOFC technology is a proprietary metal supported cell design. The cell is designed for volume manufacturing and has the ability to scale-up as required for optimum performance and cost. The small-scale SOFC power system provides flexibility, robustness and leverage to lower cost for larger systems. The 20kW module can be paralleled for larger power nodes. The project will: (1) develop analytical models and tools to optimize the Balance of Plant (BOP) design of a SOFC system, (2) design and develop the 20kW system using the principle of Analysis Led Design (ALD) and build the small scale SOFC power system, (3) demonstrate the performance and durability of the system for 5000 hours in a real-world environment, and (4) develop a cost model, complete techno-economic analysis for SOFC power systems and demonstrate pathways to achieve sub-$1000/kW goals.

The University of Akron, in partnership with Aspen Aerogels, Inc., will develop novel solid sorbent materials that can be regenerated in a low vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) process with greater performance than current state-of-the-art materials for the capture of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from air. A hierarchical structure of gradient amine sorbent, which allows CO₂ to adsorb in the form of weakly adsorbed CO₂, will be constructed in bead form. The weakly adsorbed CO₂ can then be regenerated from the sorbent by applying a low vacuum. The novel sorbent allows VSA to be operated at ambient temperature without a significant energy demand, eliminating the energy-intensive heating and cooling cycle in temperature swing adsorption (TSA) processes. Operation at ambient temperature further eliminates the possibility of thermal degradation of sorbents, leading to a prolonged lifetime of the sorbent and minimizing maintenance costs to provide a cost-effective approach for direct air capture (DAC).

The project objectives are to: (1) prepare amine functionalized aerogel (AFA); (2) fabricate hybrid sorbents, adhering specific amine structures and AFA on carbon fiber; (3) construct a VSA test apparatus; (4) and conduct sorbent characterization and performance testing. A high-level process design/analysis will be conducted to evaluate the feasibility of applying the sorbents in a DAC system.

The objective of this project is to develop coal-based siding materials used for cladding of residential and commercial buildings. The coal-based alternatives will consist of at least 70% carbon (by weight), and at least 51% of the carbon (by weight) must be coal derived and offer performance, cost, and environmental benefits in comparison to commercially available fiber-cementitious (FC) siding materials. The project team will assess the ability to design a continuous thermal process to directly convert coal into siding material to supplant and meet all applicable ASTM performance specifications for fiber-cementitious building materials. Bench-scale manufacturing trials will be conducted to assess coal-derived material properties and technical feasibility for siding and related applications. In addition, molecular dynamic simulations will be experimentally validated and utilized to predict properties of coal siding materials. Techno-economic and technology gap analyses will be conducted to assess coal siding manufacturing costs and identify best suited initial market applications and resources necessary to scale and commercialize the product.

Saint-Gobain Ceramics and Plastics (Saint-Gobain) (Northboro, MA) will advance and validate the performance and durability of materials used in the active layers of reversible solid oxide cells and stacks. The proposed project will utilize current state of the art cell designs including electrode supported and co-sintered all-ceramic structures. The aim is to ensure a design-agnostic materials solution that can be incorporated into any developer’s stack. This is considered an important point since the research community to-date has not settled on the most effective stack design for reversible operation. During the execution of the program one structure will be scaled to stack level for testing at system relevant conditions. Specific technical areas will be addressed in this program with the goal to demonstrate the ability to produce hydrogen at $2 per kilogram (at an electricity cost of $30 per MWhr) while achieving a stack degradation rate of <0.25%/1000h including degradation induced by mode switching. Note that the study’s projected future current density is at 1.28V is 1.5A/cm².

The primary objective of the project is to develop coal plastic composite (CPC) piping containing at least 70% by weight carbon derived from at least 51% by weight coal for non-pressurized and pressurized application that offer cost, performance, and environmental benefits in comparison to existing plastic pipe infrastructure. CPC piping offers advantages including minimal coal processing yielding low capital/operating costs, generating nearly zero carbon emissions, utilizing existing commercial manufacturing equipment, and producing a CPC piping product with lower manufacturing costs and equivalent or superior properties relative to existing plastic piping.

Ohio University will carry out the objective by conducting bench-scale research and development (R&D) to develop and refine CPC formulations for plastic piping applications, including appropriate ASTM testing for plastic piping applications, to correlate coal type, plastic resin, and additive content with formulation properties. Initial CPC piping continuous manufacturing trials will be completed to validate process operation and pipe properties. Process simulations will be developed to support CPC piping techno-economic analyses (TEA) to determine CPC piping manufacturing costs and assess potential in existing plastic piping markets. In addition, a technology gap analysis will be completed to identify additional R&D and resources necessary to scale up CPC piping manufacturing and commercialization.

This project is planned to develop and demonstrate a field deployable, multifunctional smart pavement system made from domestic coal-derived solid carbon materials. This research will demonstrate the use of coke-like coal char, a key byproduct of the coal pyrolysis process, in the design and construction of a prototype multifunctional pavement system that could provide roadways with the capability for self-sensing, self-heating (deicing), and self-healing. Specifically, this project will (1) carry out multiscale experimental and numerical studies to establish processing-structure-property relationships, (2) develop a novel coal char-bearing multifunctional pavement system and gather experimental data to evaluate its performance and assess the feasibility for scale up, (3) test a prototype pavement section to evaluate its intended functionalities, and (4) perform a comprehensive technoeconomic analysis to identify the potential market size and key technology gaps to field implementation.

University of Wyoming researchers will develop coal-derived carbon building materials from Wyoming Powder River Basin (PRB) coal pyrolysis products. Two building components containing more than 70% carbon, most of which is derived from coal itself, are proposed: char-based concrete brick (CCB) and carbon-based structural unit (CSU). These construction products have the potential to be transformational from a cost-benefit perspective and can be scale manufactured for use in residential and commercial buildings.

In this project, the as-mined coal will be converted to functional carbon elements through an integrated solvent extraction and pyrolysis process invented by the University of Wyoming that includes elevated temperature in an inert atmosphere and generation of pyrolyzed char (PC) and coal deposits, extracts, and residuals tar (CDER). The CCB will be developed for building wall applications by adding surface functionality to the PC, providing the modified material with engineered properties to ensure a high degree of interaction/reactivity and bonding with the cement binder. The purity of the PC and CDER intermediates has been shown to comply with the strictest health and environmental requirements for building materials from metals.

Specific goals for the development of the CCB and CSU coal-carbon based building components are: CCB with thermal conductivity greater than 0.40 W/mK, mechanical strength of 14 MPa (compression), and light weight at 1.0-1.5 g/cm3; and CSU with mechanical strength greater than 30 MPa (compression) and light weight at 1.0-1.3 g/cm3 with minimal water retention and long-term corrosion resistance and durability in service.

The overall goal of this project is to develop advanced anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIB) from lignite-derived carbon feedstock. Specific objectives include (1) prepare silicon carbon (Si-C) composite anode materials for LIBs using lignite-derived pitch and synthetic graphite (SG) as the main feedstock; (2) identify the optimal pitch and SG for LIB anode applications from a variety of sources produced by a co-sponsor; (3) develop a low-cost and scalable process to make porous and spherical Si-C composite anode materials; (4) evaluate the battery performance of the new Si-C composite anodes and compare with a similar commercial anode as the benchmark; (5) investigate the feasibility of making the Si-C composite anodes at pilot scale; and (6) evaluate the economic and commercial potential of the technology.

The University at Buffalo (UB) is teaming up with Arizona State University (ASU) and Gas Technology Institute (GTI) to develop an innovative sorbent comprised of trapped small amines in hierarchical nanoporous capsules (HNCs) embedded in porous electrospun fibers (PEFs) for direct air capture (DAC). The effective encapsulation of amines in HNCs will enable high sorbent stability and the innovative PEF macroscopic scaffold will allow for fast exposure of sorbent material to air. Research efforts involve the tailoring of both sorbent and PEF materials to achieve a compact system for DAC with high capacities for carbon dioxide (CO₂) at concentrations typically available in air and at near-ambient conditions. UB will prepare the HNCs with trapped small amines, which will be incorporated into PEFs by ASU. UB will then test the PEFs with the embedded sorbent material to collect data on CO₂ working capacity and adsorption/desorption rates. GTI will use the data to perform a high-level process design and analysis for the application of the sorbent material for DAC.

The objective of the project is to develop an innovative, facile, low-temperature, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly technology for producing high-value coal-based carbon quantum dots (CQDs), which have not been a commodity product yet. The coal-based CQD production is based on a proprietary technology developed at UW. A green solvent is used for directly extracting carbon out of coal with the help of coal itself. Optimal extraction conditions will be obtained via a study of the effects of different factors on the quantity and qualities (size, bandgap, and purity) of the solid carbon from coal. Since CQD have novel optical properties, efficiencies of photoelectric conversion and photocatalysis of the synthesized CQDs will carried out in order to determine suitability towards each application. Additionally, a techno-economic analysis of the novel coal-to-CQDs technology will be performed to evaluate the proposed CDQ production technology.

A novel and transformative dry-cooling system will be developed that integrates a daytime peak air-load shifting thermal energy storage (TES) system with an enhanced, highly compact, and optimized air-cooled condenser (ACC) to significantly increase power plant efficiency. The TES system, which is a phase-change-material (PCM) based heat exchanger, is integrated in the inlet air-stream of the ACC via an air pre-cooler (ACHX). This further cools the air during the peak daytime ambient temperature period so as to shift and store the requisite thermal load in the TES. In this proposed project, a pilot-scale prototype of the integrated ACC-ACHX-TES system will be designed, developed, and field tested in an environment equivalent to that of targeted power plants in order to establish the performance data as a pilot technology demonstration.

Harvard University will conduct experimental verification of a novel approach for direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that employs an alkalinity concentration swing (ACS) process. ACS involves concentrating an aqueous alkaline solution (that has equilibrated with air) using commercially available technologies such as reverse osmosis (RO) or capacitive deionization (CDI). The concentrated solution has a higher partial pressure of CO₂ relative to the initial solution, allowing the CO₂ to be separated and stored. The final step in the ACS process involves diluting the concentrated solution following carbon extraction, using the fresh water produced from the RO or CDI modules. The solution is then re-equilibrated with air, returning the system to the initial point. The project team will evaluate in parallel two methods for concentrating an alkaline fluid (RO and CDI), combined with two approaches for CO₂ extraction — one applying a vacuum on a fluid reservoir and another making use of gas permeable membrane technology. The lab-scale test results will be analyzed to determine the CO₂ yield per amount of water processed by the ACS method and the energy required per quantity of CO₂ captured.

In this project, technical data will be generated by testing coal-based composites formulated by a design of experiments (DoE) approach to assess the technical feasibility of the proposed technology. Results will be assessed against technical performance targets based on present commercial products and by uses identified through a market survey analysis. Technical gaps requiring additional R&D for scale-up or commercialization will be identified.

A techno-economic analysis (TEA) will also be performed encompassing coal processing, composite formulation, and brick fabrication stages to assess the readiness of the proposed technology. It will incorporate capital investment, direct operating costs (e.g., raw materials, energy inputs, labor), indirect costs (e.g., maintenance) and general costs. Economic performance targets will be identified. The economic growth potential of coal-to-products includes social benefits in the form of new job creation, especially in regions of the country adversely impacted by the recent downturn in coal production and power generation.

The Palo Alto Research Center Inc. (PARC), in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), will develop a novel solid sorbent (Tunable Rapid-uptake AminoPolymer aerogel Sorbent [TRAPS]) for direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂). The key innovation of TRAPS builds on PARC’s proprietary polymer aerogel synthesis platform, which will be adapted to produce a polyamine aerogel with a combination of high CO₂ capacity, rapid uptake kinetics, resistance to degradation, and low cost. During the project, PARC will develop the novel TRAPS sorbent and LLNL will test the performance of the sorbent under DAC-relevant conditions in a lab-scale, fixed-bed reactor with adsorption at ambient temperature and humidity, combined with temperature-vacuum swing or steam desorption. TRAPS will yield substantial improvements to process cost, energy consumption, and sorbent lifetime, drastically improving the economic viability of DAC.

The University of Oklahoma will conduct research on the integration of reversible methane (CH₄) electrochemical reactors as an efficient energy storage technology in fossil fuel power plants. Protonic ceramic electrochemical reactors (PCERs) integrated with a fossil asset may offer efficient energy storage by operating and switching between fuel cell and electrolyzing modes. In fuel cell mode (power generation mode), the chemical energy in the CH₄-rich supply gas is converted to electrical energy as the fuel flows from the fuel tanks through the stack. In electrolyzing mode (fuel production mode), the polarity of the cell switches as surplus electrical energy from the fossil power plant or renewable resource is supplied to the stack. The carbon dioxide (CO₂)-rich gas captured from the fossil power plant (e.g. using a carbon capture system) is converted to a CH₄-rich gas which can be stored in fuel tanks, injected into a natural gas pipeline, or immediately used as feedstock for fossil industries. Fundamental processes and system models will be developed to conduct a preliminary conceptual study and identify power plant system integration requirements, performance requirements, and technology gaps for eventual implementation at a system level.

PSU will develop a basic model of the all-Cu(I, II) redox flow battery (TRB) to assess its performance as an energy storage technology. The numerical model will produce current-potential simulations of the all-Cu(I, II) TRB via a multi-physics computational program. Once developed, the model will provide insights into its preliminary energy storage, power output, and energy efficiency capabilities. The model will simulate fluid flow, mass transfer, and electrochemical transport in the battery reaction cell using the proposed chemistry. Simulation results will allow us to determine mass transport effects on cell power output, identify favorable flow cell designs, and determine the optimal combination of electrode and membrane materials for lab-scale prototype testing. Electrochemical and spectrochemical experimental data will be used to collect and validate model inputs. Model outputs will be validated and improved through laboratory-scale prototype testing.

The research team will perform market analyses, cycle modeling and optimization studies, component specification and technology gap analysis, and techno-economic trade studies for variations of combustion turbine (CT) cycles augmented with liquid air energy storage (LAES). The studies and analyses will focus on a patent-pending Liquid Air Combined Cycle^TM (LACC) that is expected to lead to the conceptual design and specification of a commercial-scale LACC. The commercial-scale LACC will also be adapted to a demonstration-scale LACC conceptual design specification based on a smaller, 10 MW-class CT. The primary technical objectives of the development effort are to (1) define cost and performance trades for charge and discharge cycle components, (2) perform system optimization of the charge and discharge cycles, and (3) develop an optimized commercial-scale LACC specification from techno-economic trade studies and incorporate technology gap analysis.

The goal of this research is to explore and advance an innovative hydrogen (H₂) energy storage system – the Synergistically Integrated Hydrogen Energy Storage System (SIHES) – with existing or new coal- and gas-fueled electricity generating units (EGUs) that are best suited for the intermediate- to long-duration energy storage needs (i.e., from 12 hours to weeks). Such a storage system enables the EGUs to operate at optimal baseload operation conditions. The added round-trip electricity (E)-H₂-E cost is $5-10/MWh, or less than 10% of the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of today’s fossil plant for 30 years operation.

The recipient aims to develop a high-density Cryogenic Flux Capacitor (CFC) for hydrogen energy storage. A key advantage of CFC modules is that they can accept gaseous hydrogen at ambient conditions, such as from an electrolyzer, and “charge up” over time. On the discharge step, controlling heat input into a CFC storage cell can pressurize the system and regulate the flow of the hydrogen gas as it is released from its physisorbed state. Simple auto-pressurization of the cell via heat input provides operational flexibility for the total system and allows a wide range of demand loads and duty cycles. The project will validate the prior work on the NASA test rig, demonstrate a CFC storage system working with an electrolyzer, and assess the inherent ramp times of the system. The work will also analyze and assess the required cell storage size to maintain flexibility and optimize costs. A commercial-scale study and development pathway of the technology will be produced in the form of a TMP, Technology Gap Assessment, Commercialization Plan, and TEA.

The primary objectives of the project are (1) to design and build a prototype of an all steel, Type-IIs, low-cost and durable pressure vessel with a capacity between 1,500 to 2,000 liters to safely store between 50 to 60 kilograms (110 to 132 pounds) hydrogen at 500 bar (7,250 psi) for use in fossil power plants. WireTough will achieve this objective by designing the new cylinder that will fully comply with ASME-BPVC Section VIII-Division 3 requirements including Article KD-10 for service in hydrogen, conduct a detailed finite element analyses of (a) the steel liner by itself and (b) the finished pressure vessel to determine the magnitude and distribution of stresses during service loading and ensure that the design is safe and it can be safely produced, and demonstrate that the design utilizes only commercially and widely available materials and is compatible with the needs of fossil power plants.

The vessel will have the ability to apply deep pressure cycles daily ranging from the maximum operating pressure to ambient with a design life of 30 years or longer. It can be tailored to the needs of fossil power stations and can store as little as 1,0000 to 1,400 kWh electricity up to as much as 100 MWh or more, if necessary. WireTough will receive User Design Specifications that will lead to the preliminary cylinder design, followed by design analyses using finite element analysis. An appropriate liner will be selected and manufactured, followed by building of the prototype cylinder. Finally, a Manufacturing Design Report (MDR) will be prepared by a third-party and the vessel will be ASME stamped/certified, a process that requires an ASME authorized inspector to witness the manufacturing process and assure compliance with the MDR.

Sustainable Energy Solutions and Chart Industries will perform a quantitative assessment of an energy-storing version of their Cryogenic Carbon Capture process. The Cryogenic Carbon Capture-Energy Storing (CCC-ES) technology will provide a minimum of 10 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy storage. The technology uses liquefied natural gas as a refrigerant to store energy when power generation costs are low or when power is plentiful, and recovers energy by drawing on stored refrigerant when power generation costs are high or when power is scarce. The project team will conduct design, engineering, and modeling of the energy-storage process and analyses of the associated costs and fuel prices based on a specific fossil energy host site and the value added from energy storage.

The drive for a low-carbon future and the commensurate growth of variable renewable energy has led to a potential for grid instability and associated inability to provide dispatchable, synchronous power. Energy storage can alleviate these concerns. One promising vehicle for storage is sand-based thermal energy storage (SandTES) integrated with an operating fossil power plant. This strategy allows the plant to store energy in the system when less power is needed and provide power to the grid from both the operating fossil plant and the SandTES system when more is required. The objective is to perform a Phase I feasibility study on the integration of a 10-MWh-e SandTES system to Southern Company’s coal-fired Plant Gaston in preparation for a Phase II project in which a pre-front-end engineering and design (pre-FEED) will be performed. The scope of work for the Phase I feasibility study consists of a conceptual study, a techno-economic study, a technology gap assessment, a project plan for Phase II, a technology maturation plan, and a commercialization plan.

Universal Matter, Ltd. (Houston, Texas), in partnership with the University of Missouri, will scale up and attempt to commercialize a breakthrough process, Flash Joule Heating (FJH), to transform different coal grades into high-quality graphene. The main objective of this project is to optimize the process by using statistical modeling and to validate the technical and economic benefits of producing graphene by using different grades of coal as the feedstock for the FJH process. The graphene products developed from different feedstocks will be analyzed for application development in different strategic markets to further validate the cost and performance advantages and the environmental benefits that can be realized by the incorporation of graphene-based modifiers into different end-use applications.

This graphene is made using a high-voltage electric discharge that brings the carbon source to temperatures higher than 3,000 K in less than 10 milliseconds. The short burst of electricity breaks all chemical bonds and reorders the carbon atoms into thin layers of a special type of graphene. This project plans to advance the FJH technology from its current technology readiness level (TRL) of 4 to TRL 5. To achieve this goal, Universal Matter, Ltd. will focus on application of statistical modeling to develop the process-structure-property relationship required for process optimization and quality control of graphene produced in a controlled industrial environment using the FJH process.

The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate the techno-economical feasibility of a 250 ton/day manufacturing facility to convert coal to high-quality graphene. The core technology is based on flash joule heating (FJH) to convert various coals to graphene. C-Crete published a proof of concept demonstrating the feasibility of the FJH for 1 g/batch in Nature in 2020. The current laboratory FJH setup can produce a batch of 1 g of graphene every ~16 min (30 g/day) from coal. C-Crete will scale up the current laboratory batch process into a semi-continuous process via (i) increasing the batch size from 1 to 10 g, (ii) decreasing the flash process time from 16 to 4 minutes per batch, and (iii) change the tubular geometry of the FJH reactor to a cubic geometry. About 20 FJH tests for each of the four coal ranks will be done via a Taguchi approach to the design of experiments method (Tasks 1-3). C-Crete will develop machine learning algorithms to map out the correlation of processing parameters with the final product (graphene yield, quality, dimensions). There will be a small-scale demonstration of an optimized graphene/concrete composite as an end product (Tasks 4-5). The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate the techno-economical feasibility of a 250 ton/day manufacturing facility to convert coal to high quality graphene (Task 6).

Siemens Energy, Inc. will work toward the decarbonization of Clemson University’s combined heat and power facility, located in Clemson, South Carolina. Siemens will perform a conceptual study to develop a >50 MWh hydrogen energy storage system. The study will compare various energy storage systems considering the heat generation and grid requirements to maximize overall efficiency and reliability, thereby reducing the levelized cost of electricity. The advanced energy storage system will consist of hydrogen generation via a Siemens Silyzer electrolyzer, hydrogen storage, hydrogen co-firing of the existing SGT-400 gas turbine, and an integrated control system. The system will be designed and sized to ensure adequate supply for daily and or seasonal demand, as well as provide key grid support functions as an active electrical generator unit. The energy storage system would then be integrated into the Clemson University grid with controllable campus loads. As proposed, it has the potential to provide grid-forming and microgrid operations during outages while considering the steam demand and corresponding high-capacity factor of the gas turbine.

Siemens Energy, Inc. will develop a concept design of a hydrogen energy storage system integrated into an advanced class combined cycle power plant (CCPP). The goal is to maximize efficiency and reliability of the CCPP, mitigating inefficient or off-design operation by complementing it with the dynamic response characteristics of the hydrogen energy storage system. The project aims to address underlying hydrogen energy storage system challenges in technology and economic design, and thoroughly analyze the intricacies of integrating the system into an existing power plant and transmission grid. The conceptual study will be based on Siemens’ Silyzer PEM electrolyzer platform, hydrogen compression, hydrogen storage, and intelligent plant controls. A technoeconomic study using simulation and optimization software is planned to determine sizing, scheduling, and cost/benefit analyses. The study includes a thorough assessment of the hydrogen system integration into a CCPP, and how the dynamic response capabilities of the electrolyzer support grid stability, further promoting renewable penetration while avoiding off-design operation, thus improving overall efficiency and plant life.

Siemens Energy, Inc. will conduct a feasibility study to prove the technical and economic feasibility of integrating a Combined Cycle integrated Thermal Energy Storage (CiTES) system that stores low-cost electricity as thermal energy into an existing gas-fired Combined Cycle Power Plant. A secondary objective is to use the stored thermal energy to increase the flexibility of the Combined Cycle Power Plant by pre-warming the Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) during plant start preparation. This will transform each start into a hot plant re-start regardless of the plant down time, thus avoiding low-load holds of the gas turbine during start, which will result in fuel savings and emission reductions and improve the flexibility of the plant by shortening the start-up time. The CiTES system will use a thermal energy storage core using volcanic rocks with excellent thermal properties and durability. To charge the system, a blower will push air through an electrical heater using low-cost electricity to heat up the thermal storage core. To discharge, the gas flow will be reversed with a set of dampers and cold gas will be extracted at the stack, heated in the storage core, and injected into the exhaust gas of the gas turbine at the inlet of the HRSG to be converted into electricity in the steam bottoming cycle of the plant.

The overarching goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a new class of scalable, low-cost sorbents with an optimized balance of capacity-kinetics-thermodynamics for hydrogen storage and integration into fossil fuel power plants. The Phase I objective is to achieve full synthesis control over sorbent materials and their pore structure, and to fabricate a small module followed by optimization and various structural, chemical, and thermal property characterizations. The Phase II objective is to evaluate the performance of hydrogen energy storage at both the material and system levels followed by development of a conceptual process flow diagram, unit module, and performance models for integration into fossil fuel power plants.

Operation of fossil plants at partial capacity with frequent cycling results in decreased efficiency and increased emissions, wear, and maintenance. The objective of this project is to advance the integration of a titanium-cerium electrode-decoupled redox flow battery (Ti-Ce ED-RFB) system with conventional fossil-fueled power plants through detailed technical and economic system-level studies, component scale-up, and research and development. The Ti-Ce chemistry has a clear pathway to meet the Department of Energy cost targets of $100/kWh and $0.05/kWh-cycle owing to the use of low-cost, earth abundant elemental actives and incorporation of inexpensive carbon felt electrodes and non-fluorinated anion exchange membrane separators. With assistance from Giner, Inc., the team will scale up Washington University’s existing laboratory Ti-Ce flow battery system to a kW-scale stack with a current density of 0.5 A/cm², a cycle duration of 48 hours, and less than 5% capacity loss during 1-week standby.

Cost and performance data from the RFB scale-up efforts will be incorporated into a detailed techno-economic assessment (TEA) of this storage technology situated within the fence lines of a fossil-fueled power plant to demonstrate the benefits of co-location to asset owners, grid operators, and the public. The TEA will consider both pulverized coal and gas fired power plants with and without carbon capture. The path to commercialization of this storage technology will be enabled through market research, gap assessment, and technology maturation and commercialization planning. The resulting TEA and performance data are expected to show reduction in risk and lowering of potential barriers to wide-scale deployment of integrated grid-scale storage; resulting in more secure, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective delivery of electricity with increased share of renewables.

One tangible product of the proposed work will be a new power system economic modeling tool that will be made available to power plant owners. This tool will allow users to determine the best battery technology and size for their location and the electricity market. The tool may be used by developers of large-scale battery technologies to identify market opportunities and attract investment. The development of a 3-5-10 cell Ti-Ce ED-RFB cell stack with 400 cm² cells at 0.5 A/cm² current density, 48h cycle duration and less than 5% capacity loss in one week standby will provide a prototype scaled-up RFB that is cost effective at the grid level. The project will also identify pathways to capex values of less than $500/kW (power) and less than $ 50/kWh (energy) for an annual production volume of less than 100 MW/yr. and less than 1 GWh/yr., and a levelized cost of storage (LCOS) of less than $0.05/kWh-cycle which will enable the widespread deployment of this technology solution.

University of Illinois will conduct a conceptual design study for integrating a 10 MWh Compressed Natural Gas Energy Storage (CNGES) system with the Abbott Combined Heat and Power Plant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. CNGES technology is analogous to commercial compressed air energy storage except natural gas is compressed during off-peak hours and discharged during peak hours. The project takes advantage of synergies at the Abbott plant where natural gas is its primary fuel. Co-locating energy storage with the plant will improve the short- and long-term reliability of electric power delivery as the use of variable renewable power generation increases. The technology includes control systems and algorithms to reliably adjust the energy generated to maintain a stable grid. This Phase I study will focus on a preliminary technical design that includes (1) identifying potential on-site locations for the CNGES; (2) projected utility requirements for CNGES from the fossil asset; (3) tie-in points; (4) permitting and regulatory considerations; and (5) technical challenges for integration of CNGES with the fossil asset. The impact of integration of CNGES into the campus grid, which already has renewables, will also be examined. Upon successful completion of the project, this new integrated technology would provide CHP plants with improved energy efficiency, reduced fuel and maintenance costs, and reduced emissions (since efficient ramping uses less fuel).

Researchers at the University of Illinois will conduct a conceptual design study to determine the ability of compressed air energy storage (CAES) to capture and store compressed air in subsurface sedimentary strata when off-peak power is available or there is a need for grid balancing, as well as evaluate the feasibility of capturing surplus electrical energy from renewable sources and off-peak energy, at the Abbott Power Plant on the University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign campus. The project team proposes design of an integrated system to (1) capture surplus electrical energy from fossil-fuel and renewable sources at the Abbott Power Plant using a CAES system, (2) store both the compressed air and the thermal energy generated by compression in the subsurface as part of an adiabatic system, (3) simulate the movement of air and heat in the subsurface, (4) recover the compressed air and stored thermal energy to rotate turbine generators when additional electricity is needed during sustained interruption due to weather events or fossil fuel disruptions, and (5) remove or treat subsurface formation water that was recovered with the compressed air.

Fuel Cell Energy, Inc. (FCE) will complete a detailed feasibility study and technoeconomic analysis for MW-scale deployment of its reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC) energy storage technology, in combination with hydrogen production as an additional source of revenue and/or use in the power plant during peak periods. The RSOFC system will be designed for >10 MWhr capacity applications co-located with fossil-fueled Electricity Generating Units (EGUs). The primary objective of Phase I of this project is to show the technical and economic benefits of FCE’s RSOFC technology for a variety of fossil EGU applications, while also advancing the technology toward demonstration at Tri-State G&T’s natural gas-fueled combined cycle J.M. Shafer Generating Station power plant in Colorado as a key enabler for future commercial deployment. Additionally, FCE and team members plan to look more broadly at RSOFC energy storage implementations with fossil-assets and complete a technoeconomic study in specific market segments. The project includes creating a technology-to-market plan comprised of a technology gap assessment, Phase II Pre-FEED planning, technology maturation plan, and commercialization plan.

Gas Technology Institute (GTI), in partnership with Southern Company, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), will perform a Phase I feasibility study on asset-integrated production and intermediate duration storage of >150 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy in the form of “blue” hydrogen (H₂). The H₂ will be produced from natural gas with integrated carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture using GTI’s patented Compact Hydrogen Generator (CHG) technology. Stored H₂ will be used for load-following in an existing natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plant within Southern Company's fleet. The objectives of the study are to: (1) perform a conceptual engineering assessment to define a system consisting of onsite H₂ production, storage, and integration within a Southern Company-owned NGCC plant, in which the stored H₂ will be injected into a duct burner within the heat recovery steam generator section; (2) perform the associated modeling to predict and quantify the load-following characteristics of the system; (3) obtain preliminary techno-economics and environmental performance of the system; (4) determine the risks and mitigation steps at the component/subsystem, as well as at the integrated system levels; and (5) establish a project plan for conducting a potential preliminary-front end engineering design (pre-FEED) study at a site that will be down-selected from the 20 NGCC plants owned by Southern Company.

C-Crete Technologies’ overall objective is to produce coal-based construction material that has up to ~95 percent-by-weight coal with physical, chemical, and thermal properties exceeding ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based construction material. The first goal is to minimize external binders by implementing novel mixing techniques while exceeding the performance/cost ratio of OPC. The second is to demonstrate a semi-continuous production process of precast products through design and fabrication of a bench-scale semi-continuous process.

C-Crete Technologies will couple a combination of advanced synthesis, fabrication, characterization, and engineering to create novel coal-based construction materials. The strategy is to apply and further develop current data on binders, activators, and modular industrial design through a bottom-up approach. A set of systems-scale analyses will be performed to understand the technoeconomics and determine the economic viability of the proposed technology and the market penetration possibilities. Candidates from a wide (coarse) Taguchi design of experiments on different recipes will be shortlisted using performance/cost ratio index (figure of merit) as the downselection criterion. The top candidates will be optimized by fine tuning the composition and curing parameters (a second refined Taguchi design) to achieve properties that exceed those of OPC. Refined recipes that surpass a comprehensive performance/cost index of OPC will be demonstrated, leading to the design and fabrication of a small bench-scale semi-continuous process.

This project supports the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) goal to advance near-term commercial deployment of fossil-fueled asset-integrated, energy storage solutions. The overall objective is to conduct an initial feasibility study for a power-to-hydrogen system “inside the fence” of a fossil fuel electricity generating plant in the state of Kansas. The scope of work will set the stage for subsequent site-specific projects integrating relatively mature combinations of energy storage technologies with particular fossil-fueled assets. The specific goals of the project are to complete a conceptual study of a hydrogen-based energy storage system at a specific site, conduct a technoeconomic study of a generic implementation in the midwestern electricity market, perform an assessment of the key risks including perceived technology gaps that could delay commercialization by 2030, create a project plan for a Phase 2 pre-FEED study, define a maturation plan that includes the work required to advance the technology to TRL 9, and prepare a commercialization plan to enable wide-scale deployment. The project team will leverage previous geologic assessments performed by the Kansas Geological Survey and Linde’s industrial experience operating an underground salt cavern in the Gulf Coast area to facilitate attainment of the project objectives. Evergy, the energy asset partner, owns the two natural gas combustion turbine electricity generating units (EGU) that are the designated sites for the study.

Siemens Energy will develop an advanced compressor concept that significantly reduces the overall number of stages required for cost-effective hydrogen compression. The project will include progressing the design of the compressor, manufacturing a prototype, and testing it to verify its performance in relevant operating conditions. Testing will aim to provide validation of the efficiency and operating range of the compressor stage. Siemens also will develop a cost model and conduct a techno-economic analysis to evaluate the cost benefits provided by the advanced hydrogen compressor relative to current commercially available compression technologies.

Element 16 Technologies, Inc. will conduct a detailed feasibility study establishing the impact, cost, and performance of a molten sulfur thermal energy storage (TES) system integrated with fossil fuel assets. The molten sulfur TES performance model combined with cost model will be used to derive an optimal integration plan for increasing flexibility and improving economics of fossil-fueled electricity generating units. The planned activities include system performance and cost modeling for detailed techno-economic evaluation, and system design optimization to maximize the fossil fuel electricity generating unit’s output capacity and to minimize the levelized cost of electricity/storage and emissions. The project also includes developing a commercialization plan and technology gap assessment plan that identifies future research and development required to commercialize the technology by 2030.

Ammonia’s unique set of chemical, physical, and economic properties make it the ideal energy storage medium for deployment at coal-fired power plants to reduce or eliminate the need for costly load following/cycling. In this project, the NH3-BEST concept will be modeled, validated, and advanced from technology readiness level (TRL) 2 to TRL3. This will enable electricity generation unit (EGU) accommodation of load fluctuations while operating within an optimal performance baseline output range, ensuring EGU operational efficiency and minimum degradation of materials, equipment, and performance due to load cycling-driven stresses. A basic model of the NH3-BEST concept/subsystem—which comprises electrolytic ammonia production, storage, and conversion to electricity via a direct ammonia fuel cell—will be defined and built using operational data from coal-fired utility plants. The model will be utilized to evaluate and optimize NH3-BEST performance when integrated with a power plant, establish NH3-BEST round-trip energy storage efficiency, quantify power plant operational and economic benefits of NH3-BEST integration, and establish NH3-BEST performance requirements for commercial viability and deployment including storage capacity and operational ramp time.

Nexceris will advance the product readiness of EnergySafeTM, a disruptive metal-halide energy storage technology that is ideally-suited for fossil asset integration. The EnergySafe cell design eliminates the high manufacturing costs associated with thick-walled, cylindrical electrolyte designs of the past, the that have prevented widespread adoption of the technology while retaining its excellent safety and cycle-life, insensitivity to ambient conditions (lower operation and maintenance costs), and supply chain, which is based on low cost, recyclable, US-sourced raw materials. EnergySafe systems can improve fossil asset utilization and environmental performance while improving grid stability and renewable integration. Nexceris will advance the maturity of the EnergySafe cell by tailoring its chemistry and design for EGU-integrated 6-24 hour storage, a critical unmet grid support need. In Phase I, Nexceris successfully advanced EnergySafe from an initial concept to a 250 Wh battery pack, a critical proof-point that demonstrated all key battery functionalities. In the Phase II project Nexceris, in partnerships with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and BRITE Energy Innovators will accelerate the product readiness of EnergySafe culminating with independent testing and validation of a 5kWh module. This will position Nexceris for on-site EnergySafe demonstrations with industrial partners.

This project will develop a promising and environmentally friendly technology for recycling of strategic and value-added rare earth metals neodymium (Nd), europium (Eu), yttrium (Y), dysprosium (Dy), samarium (Sm), and cerium (Ce) from post-consumer electronics, electric motors, and waste materials. The process for direct recycling of rare earth magnets and high-purity rare earth metals production will be scaled up and will achieve 50 kg/day production scale by the end of the Phase 2. In addition to scaling up in Phase 2, the team will investigate more efficient reactions by compressing the ingredients to a more compact shape using available metal dies.

T2M Global will perform component development of its Advanced O₂-Free Electrolyzer (AES) technology for low-cost, long-duration hydrogen energy storage for fossil plants. Most fossil plants end up with ~ 25% of syngas as a dilute stream which is an underutilized/stranded resource. The low-level heat from these plants is also often wasted. AES technology provides a new pathway to create higher value co-products from these stranded resources--namely dilute/waste syngas streams, excess electricity, and waste heat--for additional revenue and greater sustainability. AES targets a round-trip electrical efficiency of 80% and hydrogen priced at < $4/kg. The stored hydrogen will be used to produce power on demand using a highly efficient hybrid power cycle. Test data will be utilized to develop a MW-class AES module design (target capacity 1 ton/day H₂ storage) to establish readiness for potential demonstration at Hawaii Gas. The AES module data will be utilized to perform a techno-economic analysis and validate the market potential for AES in the syngas industry.

Auburn University (Auburn, AL) will facilitate a unique combination of experimental and modeling research to produce hydrogen from the gasification of a coal-plastic wastes-biomass mixture to produce energy and fuels while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The main objective of this research is to examine the gasification performance of selected feedstocks (Kentucky bituminous coal, waste plastics, and southern pine) mixture in a laboratory-scale fluidized-bed gasifier to produce hydrogen. Specific objectives are to study coal-plastic-biomass mixture flowability for consistent feeding in the gasifier; understand gasification behavior of the mixtures in steam and oxygen environments; characterize the thermal properties of ash/slag from the mixture feedstock and investigate the interaction between slag/ash and refractory materials; and develop process models to determine the technology needed for syngas cleanup and removing contaminants for hydrogen production. Flow properties for the coal-plastics-biomass mixture will be measured. Syngas composition will be analyzed for permanent gases such carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen along with contaminants such as tar, hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, and ammonia. The team will perform thermal characterization such as ash melting and slag solidification kinetics, thermal conductivity, slag flow characterization, and slag-refractory interface microscopy, and develop a process model for hydrogen production from the coal-plastics-biomass mixture using data gathered in the laboratory-scale system at Auburn University.

The University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT) will leverage a high-pressure, slurry-fed, oxygen-blown entrained-flow system to enable co-gasification of biomass and waste plastic by creating slurries of pulverized coal, biomass pyrolysis liquids, and liquefied plastic oil. Objectives include determining compositions of coal-biomass-plastic mixtures that produce a stable slurry suitable for pumping to high pressure, designing and testing a novel burner to effectively atomize the mixed feedstock slurry in a pressurized gasifier, and acquiring first-of-a-kind performance data for pressurized, oxygen-blown entrained-flow gasification of slurried blends of coal, biomass, and plastic. Various combinations of coal, bioliquid, and plastic oil will be mixed to create blended feedstock slurries ranging from 25 to 60% biomass on a heating value basis. The slurries will be characterized to assess stability, viscosity, fuel properties, and ability to be pumped to high pressure and atomized. Additionally, a custom hot oxygen burner (HOB) specifically designed to gasify the slurry mixtures will be manufactured, and its atomization efficiency will be characterized. Gasification performance of the most promising slurry mixtures will be evaluated in the University of Utah’s 1 ton/day pressurized oxygen-blown gasifier with the Hot Oxygen Burner installed.

The primary objective of this work is to extend the previous research results beyond the proof-of-concept phase. This will include verification and validation testing with direct support and collaboration from operating power plants with advanced power generation technologies and prime mover and downstream systems using the near-real-time data provided through the SPS Operational Reliability Analysis Program (ORAP®) and ORAP Asset Insight data system

Commercial sources of rare earth elements include bastnaesite (La, Ce)FCO₃, monazite, (Ce, La, Th)PO₄, and xenotime, YPO₄. However, the processing of these materials to extract and recover rare earth elements is both challenging and process intensive. Interestingly, there are numerous unconventional domestic sources of rare earth elements, including coal fly ash, which can be extracted beneficially. Presently, there are several physical and chemical methods typically employed to separate the materials of interest from gangue material, which usually leads to the production of a mixed rare earth element concentrate. The mixed rare earth concentrate is then subjected to an entirely separate process to isolate the individual rare earth elements into high-purity materials for use in commercial applications.

GlycoSurf and its project partners Wayne State University and UCLA will build on the company's past successes for ligand-associated separation media to develop a new class of sorption media and a process to separate individual rare earth elements, resulting in individual high-purity rare earth oxide (REO) powders. This new class of sorption media will combine two classes of ligands: (1) glycolipids and (2) DTPA analogs, synthesized in-house for fundamental testing for the proposed novel process to concentrate REEs from coal leachates. The process will also allow for the separation of mixed light REEs from the heavy REEs, along with separation of these concentrates into individually separated REE materials. The team anticipates that Phase II will result in REO purity >90% with 10-15 processing steps, as opposed to hundreds to thousands of steps for current liquid-liquid separations.

The overall objective of the work is to build and test a full-scale prototype of a technology for clean water production from cooling tower water. The prototype will be installed on a large-scale natural gas power plant. The project will include the full engineering of the prototype, integration into a fossil plant, and testing to quantify water production rate and water quality. The durability of the equipment will be monitored as well for any potential component degradation.

The objective of the work is to perform a pilot conceptual study to treat grey water for reuse at a coal-fired power plant. The pilot facility will use Electrodialyis Reversal (EDR) which uses an electric current and selective membranes to remove ions from solution. Reuse of grey water would reduce the water demand of the plant for either the base facility or potential new emission control equipment cooling such as for a carbon capture system. The project will include full engineering of the pilot system, integration into a fossil plant, and testing to quantify water quality.

Purdue University will investigate flame structure and dynamics for gas turbine combustion with hydrogen and another hydrogen-based fuel—ammonia—and with mixtures of these fuels with natural gas. The researchers will explore processes such as flame stabilization, ignition, and flashback, and characterize combustion efficiency and pollutant emissions under combustion conditions characteristic of commercial aeroderivative and heavy-duty F- and H-class gas-turbine systems. The research will focus on additive manufacturing of a multi-stage, multi-tube micro-mixing (M3) injector with straight channels to carry the heated air and featuring staged transverse jet injection of fuels to vary the degree of premixing at the channel exit. The system will be configured so that any of the three fuels—hydrogen, ammonia or natural gas, or their blends—can be injected at multiple injection locations. The experiments will be performed in the Combustor Rig for Advanced Diagnostics (COMRAD) test rig developed in collaboration with General Electric. The study will be performed with the M3 injector in two test-article configurations, all anchored to the COMRAD test rig: one for steady state operation for flame structure and emissions characterization, and another for combustion dynamics characterization with well-defined acoustic boundaries. Flame structure and dynamics will be investigated using several laser diagnostics including dual-pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), ultrahigh-speed particle imaging velocimetry, and planar laser-induced fluorescence. The researchers will perform line CARS for temperature measurements and for concentration measurements of species such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water. In addition, probe sampling of the flame gases will be performed to determine the combustion efficiency and measure pollutant emissions.

Purdue University will develop a novel, compact combustor-diffuser-turbine strategy to transition high-speed, unsteady flow from rotating detonation combustors (RDCs) to industrial turbines. Physics-based-models will be developed to scale results to an F-class turbine, culminating in an experimental/numerical methodology to establish a successful architecture and the relevant nondimensional parameters for Powerplant operation at high thermodynamic cycle efficiency. The specific project objectives are to characterize the influence of various loss mechanisms on the performance metrics of RDC-turbine systems via integration of experimental and computational studies and develop the efficient transition of the high-Mach-number, unsteady RDC outlet into a turbine rotor for reliable work extraction. The research methodology involves three tasks: loss budgeting in a combustor with a downstream transition element and Nozzle Guide Vane (NGV); demonstrating the coupling of the RDC – flow transition and NGV turbine to produce work; and scaling experimental and computational studies to F-class and aero-derivative class rotating detonation engine (RDE) gas turbine integrated systems. The proposed approach will rely on a combined experimental and computational effort.

Ohio State University and the University of Michigan will develop a joint experimental-computational program to advance high-hydrogen content operation of gas turbines. The main objectives are to use advanced laser diagnostics to conduct simultaneous measurements of multiple flame related quantities to study flameholding, flashback, and axial fuel staging; develop a comprehensive suite of computational models to simulate unsteady and transient processes related to flame stabilization and flashback; and combine experiments and simulations to characterize operability and operational limits for a multi-tube primary burner with axial fuel staging design. The research team will use hydrogen/methane mixtures at engine-relevant conditions to study design issues critical to low-NOx multi-tube burner technology. Using canonical test configurations and multi-parameter time-resolved laser diagnostic measurements, flame processes in jets-in-crossflow configurations will be studied. In particular, the effects of flow properties (momentum, fuel composition, crossflow thermochemical composition) will be used to understand flame stabilization. Similarly, boundary layer flashback dynamics in narrow channels will be studied. Large eddy simulation-based modeling of gas turbines will be pursued, including development of flame-generated manifolds for combustion description, anisotropic near-wall models to describe flame propagation in boundary layers, and techniques for extracting models from high-fidelity direct numerical simulations. Validated models will be used to study the design space to understand operational limits for a model gas turbine with multi-tube burner and axial fuel staging.

University of Alabama and Virginia Tech will develop a robust methodology to integrate a rotating detonation combustor (RDC) with a gas turbine, and to identify the impact of loss mechanisms on detonation performance in the RDC. Hydrogen and hydrogen-methane fuel mixtures at conditions relevant to F-class gas turbine engines will be used. The research team will minimize flow unsteadiness at the RDC exit and maximize pressure gain by applying computational and experimental techniques to optimize the flow path in an annular RDC channel by strategically constricting the flow area to improve the stability of detonation and to weaken the oblique shock wave(s) for higher performance. In addition, the team will apply computational and experimental techniques to optimize and integrate the RDC with a diffuser for F-class gas turbines. The methodology developed will be applicable to aeroderivative gas turbines. Lastly, computational and experimental techniques will be applied to an optimized RDC-diffuser design to quantify the impact of loss mechanisms in the combustion process associated with non-ideal mixing, mixed mode combustion (deflagration/detonation), and wave mode/numbers in the RDC. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations will be performed and validated against detailed experimental data sets. A Design of Experiments approach will be applied to optimize geometric parameters of the RDC annular flow path and the integrated RDC-diffuser design. In addition, CFD simulations on the fully integrated RDC-diffuser design will be performed at select operating conditions to quantify the impact of loss mechanisms in the combustion process. Experiments will be performed using RDC and integrated RDC-diffuser system. A plenum with a backpressure plate will be used to simulate the turbine flow path. Pressure probes, ion-probes, dynamic pressure probes, and advanced high-speed, diagnostic techniques including particle image velocimetry and rainbow schlieren deflectometry will be used to quantify the flow unsteadiness, pressure gain (loss), and to generate a robust validation data set.

The focus of this project will be on the viability of beneficial use of harvested coal combustible residuals (CCRs), especially ponded fly ash and landfilled flue gas desulfurization (FGD) by-products . The project will take place at 3 sites represented by the phases I and II and the two phase III circles in the adjacent graphic. The proposed project is designed to demonstrate laboratory- as well as bench-scale testing and construction methods that can be applied to a wide variety of ash ponds, closed FGD landfills, and abandoned coal mine sites in the United States. The major tasks for this project are:

1. Geotechnical and environmental testing and evaluation using an existing bench-scale facility of harvested ponded fly ash and landfilled FGD material at the former Conesville power plant. Successful completion of the lab- and bench-scale testing will lead to Task 2 - Conesville Full-Scale Demonstration.
2. About 2 million tons of harvested CCR materials from an inactive fly ash pond and an adjacent old FGD landfill will be used to fully reclaim a nearby partially-abandoned surface coal mine. Site monitoring will be carried out during the project.
3. Numerical models leveraging the rich set of data collected from the Conesville site will be used to analyze risks for high-volume surface mine reclamation with harvested CCRs. Transport simulators and geochemical reaction models will be integrated, calibrated, and validated. Sensitivity analysis of the temporal evolution and significance of the factors involved in the process will be performed to determine significant risk factors and drivers.

The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, along with partners at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Silixa LLC, and the University of Utah, will carry out field deployment of an integrated suite of cost-effective and novel geophysical, geochemical, and geomechanical technologies for detection and characterization of faults and fractures above and below a target carbon dioxide (CO₂) injection zone. The project team's objectives are to: (1) deploy the latest field technologies, including an integrated behind casing fiber optic sensing system, at a characterization well drilled under the San Juan Basin (SJB) CarbonSAFE project; (2) utilize novel geochemical technology to analyze drill cuttings and core to locate faults (including aseismic faults) and estimate fault sizes and orientations; (3) detect faults in the subsurface environment near the well bore, including faults in the crystalline basement rock, using a novel multi-scale U-Net machine learning method to evaluate 3D surface seismic and 3D VSP images; (4) perform wellbore analysis to identify formation structures such as fractures and faults from wellbore data and characterize formation geomechanical behavior at different scales; and (5) integrate the technologies to develop advanced rock physics and coupled thermo-hydrodynamic-mechanical models in combination with the Monte Carlo method to determine the state of stress on each mapped fault as well as estimate long-term slip potential and/or maximum fault slip potential during large-scale CO₂ injection. Field activities will be completed at the SJB CarbonSAFE site.

The project will demonstrate the feasibility of modular building prototypes where key building components have greater than 70 weight percent carbon from coal where components have physical, chemical and thermal properties exceeding those of conventional construction materials. The first objective is to optimize bench-scale fabrication protocols, followed by technical and environmental tests of representative building components. The second objective is to conduct a conceptual design of a carbon-based building prototype and perform technoeconomic, life-cycle, and technology gap analysis to demonstrate feasibility for use in modular, precast buildings.

InnoSepra LLC (InnoSepra) has identified materials that have very good carbon dioxide (CO₂) capacities and CO₂/nitrogen (N₂) separation factors at cryogenic conditions. Coupling this with a cost-effective pre-treatment process developed in another project for the removal of moisture and other impurities can lead to a cost-effective process for CO₂ capture. During Phase I, InnoSepra successfully demonstrated the feasibility of this novel cryogenic post-combustion CO₂ capture process. The process has a significantly lower capital cost and parasitic power requirement for various CO₂-containing streams compared to current alternatives and, when fully developed, has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of CO₂ capture. In Phase II, InnoSepra will scale up the process and perform a more detailed techno-economic analysis to further validate the cost savings.

The overall goal of this project led by Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI) is to qualify coal, biomass, and plastic waste blends based on performance testing of selected pellet recipes in a laboratory-scale updraft moving-bed gasifier. The testing would provide relevant data to advance commercial-scale design of the moving-bed gasifier to be able to successfully use these feedstocks to produce hydrogen. In particular, the effects of the waste plastics on feedstock development (i.e., blending and pelletizing) and the resulting products (i.e., syngas compositions, organic condensate production, and ash characteristics) will be a focus. Providing data for an established gasifier will help accelerate its updated design to be able to accommodate feedstocks composed of coal, biomass, and plastic waste, and will lead to a lower cost, white hydrogen generation system being commercial sooner.

This project is producing new cost-effective, and self-validating fault/fracture detection and characterization algorithms using surface seismic data. New methods are being developed to detect and directly image large-scale, previously unidentified crystalline basement faults and associated small-scale fractures. Direct imaging of faults and fractures represents a major advancement over conventional workflows in which faults and fractures are interpreted from seismic images. Indirectly juxtaposing the imaged faults and fractures in a 3D geological model will yield crucial interpretable information about the subsurface stress field and the maximum magnitude of a potentially induced earthquake in the basement. A synthetic dataset and a multicomponent 9C field seismic dataset acquired at Wolf Springs Field in central Montana will be used to validate these methods. The use of multicomponent seismic data can yield consistent imaging results. This work will provide new and crucial information during the site selection phase for geologic carbon storage and seismic hazard assessment.

The objective of the project is to survey and document the current technologies that enable the integration of fossil fuels into the hydrogen economy with emphasis on tracking their potential for carbon neutrality and reduced water intensity. The project will develop tools to aid in planning and decision making including an adaptive evaluation platform to evaluate sensitivity of technology options to mitigate water consumption and to reduce cost and greenhouse gas emissions. A second tool developed under this project will be a dynamic Sankey-like diagram to visualize hydrogen production, transport, storage, and use. The project also aims to involve and educate undergraduate and graduate students on the hydrogen economy.

University of Central Florida researchers will conduct fundamental experimental and numerical investigations that cover previously unexplored hydrogen containing fuel blends and conditions. The choice of mixtures, diluents, and conditions will support combustors being developed and targeted by various original equipment manufacturers. Expected results include autoignition characteristics, NO and CO time-histories, laminar and turbulent burning velocities, strain rates and their relationship to NOx, the impact of preferential diffusion on combustion characteristics, and an understanding of flashback in turbulent boundary layers through high-fidelity simulations. The shock tube technique will be used to collect autoignition times and species time-histories through laser absorption spectroscopy, a constant-volume chamber, and high-speed schlieren imagery to obtain laminar burning velocities. A counter-flow flame experiment will be conducted to understand the strain rate/NOx relationship. A detailed chemical kinetic mechanism will be updated to improve its prediction of fuel oxidation and NOx under conditions relevant to combustors. The rate constants of important reactions will be estimated using the quantum chemistry approach. Further, a novel approach that accounts for turbulence and chemistry interactions will be used to reduce the detailed chemical kinetic mechanism generated in this work. Direct numerical simulations will be performed to investigate the significance of preferential diffusion and the need to upgrade existing combustion models to improve their predictability. Large-Eddy Simulations will be performed to investigate the impact of mixture concentrations, flow, and boundary conditions on turbulent boundary layer flashback. Finally, a deep-learning Artificial Intelligence model will be pursued for rapid analysis of detailed fundamental combustion characteristics that support the design and troubleshooting process of H₂-containing fuel combustor development. The experimental results will serve as validation targets for the computational portions of this application.

Thermo-catalytic decomposition (TCD) is an alternative energy technology to produce (blue) hydrogen by decarbonizing fossil fuels, providing a bridge to the hydrogen economy. A limitation is the ongoing deactivation of the carbon catalyst as deposited carbon from the decomposition reaction reduces the number of catalyst active sites. Cyclic regeneration complements the TCD reaction by creating new active sites through partial oxidation by CO₂, renewing carbon catalyst activity. Moreover, partial gasification of deposited carbon by H₂0 (generating H₂, the desired end product) also regenerates the catalyst. This establishes applicability of electric (E-) field enhancement to a coal feed and serves as a baseline for gasification of coal. Neither TCD nor carbon oxidation has been tested under an E-field for change in activation energy or mechanism. For both reactions, an imposed electric field may maintain and potentially increase the reaction rate, either by an increase in active site number or a shift in component energy level and the associated activation energy for reactions.

It is hypothesized that an applied E-field changes the reaction mechanism. This project will test two field configurations, perpendicular imposing only voltage stress and parallel imposing current stress. Active site and kinetic dependence upon reactive gases and their concentrations will be mapped parametrically as a function of applied E-field strength, polarity, direction, and frequency. Changes in rates may be resolved by active site number or activation energy. ReaxFF (reaction force field)-based molecular dynamics simulations will be compared to experimental measurements of activation energy and kinetics of deposition to test the hypothesis that the E-field changes the reaction mechanism, manifested by activation energy and kinetics of deposition, for both TCD and regeneration reactions.

University of Kentucky Research Foundation (Lexington, KY) will utilize the existing thermogravimetric analysis-mass spectrometer (TGA-MS), pyro-gas chromatography GC-MS, 1.5” drop tube furnace, 1 ton per day (TPD) coal gasifier, and a high-pressure extruder/pelletizer operated at University of Kentucky – Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) to develop and study a coal/biomass/plastic blend fuel. The research team will produce hydrophobic layer encapsulated biomass suitable for slurry with solid content greater than or equal to 60 wt% of blended coal/biomass and plastic suitable for oxygen-blown entrained flow gasification; complete lab-scale kinetic and gasification studies on the blended fuel; and demonstrate practical operations in the commercially relevant, UK CAER 1 TPD entrained flow gasifier. Once a preferred production process and operating parameters are identified, approximately 600 kilograms of pine wood-plastic fuel will be prepared for lab-scale studies with and without coal to determine grindability, slurryability, and slurry stability while taking into consideration different gasification kinetics between plastic/biomass and coal. Ash and slag from the blended solid fuel will be completely studied for gasification behavior and characterized for fusion temperatures, chemical and mineral content, viscosity as a function of temperature, and potential interaction with the refractory. During the final gasification campaign, gasifier performance and the raw syngas composition will be measured, including the presence of species requiring removal, or that can be recovered for beneficial use.

Hydrogen can be produced from the decomposition of hydrocarbons such as methane, without the production of carbon oxides. This represents a highly favorable route for hydrogen production compared to industrial production methods based predominantly on steam-methane reforming (SMR). Breaking hydrogen-oxygen bonds in water requires about seven times the energy compared to breaking carbon-hydrogen bonds in methane. SMR and methane decomposition processes both require indirect heating to provide the overall endothermic heat of reaction for hydrogen formation, but the heat of reaction for the SMR is more than double that for methane decomposition. In contrast to the SMR process, the methane decomposition process offers a promising path for economical and environmentally sound production of hydrogen without production of carbon dioxide.

The goal of this project is to make targeted improvements to the conventional thermo-catalytic hydrocarbon conversion process using an electromagnetic energy assisted mechanism; resulting in the reduction of downtime associated with catalyst reactivation or replacement due to poisoning. State-of-the-art solid catalysts exhibit short process lifetimes that are not suitable for commercial application. This project uses both experimental and computational tools to understand the fundamental interactions between fossil fuels and their interactions with an electromagnetic energy source. This technology can utilize natural gas or volatiles obtained from coal decomposition to provide carbon dioxide-free hydrogen. The first objective of this project is to identify catalyst supports that enhance the electromagnetic energy-assisted mechanism to ensure in-situ catalyst reactivation to near-initial fresh conditions. The performance of these prepared catalysts will be tested in laboratory units and the results will be used to validate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and chemical kinetics models. Finally, CFD will be used to investigate the electromagnetic energy-assisted conversion mechanism as a function of catalyst structure and operating conditions for hydrogen production.

The objective of this project is to establish and initiate a strategic plan in the Powder River Basin (PRB) that addresses all aspects of the area comprising carbon ore, rare earth element (REE), critical mineral (CM; collectively CORE-CM), and resource development to promote economic growth and workforce development. The team will complete initial assessments, gap analyses, and strategic plans for (1) resource evaluation; (2) CORE-CM potential of regional waste streams; (3) infrastructure, industry, and business; (4) technology development and field testing; (5) technology innovation centers; and (6) stakeholder outreach and education, including workforce development programs and forums to facilitate technology transfer.

This project will build upon existing experience with cellular based systems, power plant water quality sensing, and high-temperature sensors developed during past projects. The main objective of this project is to demonstrate the effectiveness of 5G cellular embedded, cloud, and edge computing-based sensors specific to coal-fired power plant needs where harsh, noisy RF conditions are encountered. Sensors that utilize 5G for data communications are the first logical step in revolutionizing wireless connectivity that will enable robust operations in coal-fired power plants. Working together, Ohio University and WVU will focus on a high-priority in-situ boiler temperature measurement system that relies on chipless RFID technology and much-needed temperature, pressure, environmental, and water quality industrial sensors.

The specific project objectives are (1) investigate specific needs of interfacing and data collection of identified sensing areas of significance within coal-fired power plants that would immediately benefit from 5G wireless data communications, (2) enable 5G data communication for ‘peel-and-stick’ chipless RFID-based boiler temperature and corrosion sensors, (3) demonstrate effectiveness and performance of 5G enabled Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors used in coal-fired power plants, (4) investigate sensor-driven deep learning/artificial intelligence using laboratory conditions that simulate power plants for system health monitoring, and (5) determine the limits of 5G systems in harsh environments–hot, humid, and cold.

The primary goal of this research is to develop a microwave-assisted technology for low-cost production of hydrogen from fossil fuels. The research objectives are: (1) to determine optimal parameters of solution combustion synthesis for the fabrication of iron-based alumina nanocomposites with superior catalytic activity, microwave absorptivity, and ferrimagnetic properties; (2) to determine the effectiveness of the iron-based alumina nanocomposites in the microwave-assisted catalytic decomposition of coal tar, crude oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline in terms of hydrogen selectivity and yield; and (3) to investigate regeneration of the iron-based alumina nanocomposites by microwave-assisted gasification of the formed carbon and by magnetic separation of the catalyst particles from the carbon byproducts.

The work will include fabrication of iron-based alumina nanocomposites by solution combustion synthesis using nitrates of iron and aluminum as the precursors and oxidizers. Citric acid will be used as the fuel. For optimization of the composition, morphology, and properties of the nanocomposites, the Fe-Al and oxidizer-fuel ratios will be varied. For comparison, iron-based catalysts supported on silicon carbide (Fe/SiC) will be prepared by incipient wetness impregnation. There will be a study of microwave-assisted dehydrogenation of coal tar, crude oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline using the fabricated materials as microwave susceptors and catalysts, and the effectiveness of the iron-based alumina nanocomposites in terms of hydrogen selectivity and hydrogen yield will be determined and compared with that of the Fe/SiC catalysts.

The objective of this project is for American Public Power Association (APPA) to employ its unique capabilities and position as a convener of community-owned electric utilities (public power utilities) to evaluate opportunities to integrate energy storage technologies with fossil power plants. APPA will consult with partner utilities to identify their needs and motivations in relation to integrating energy storage with fossil power plants and use the findings to create a storage project maturity framework showing specific knowledge gaps by project stage. APPA will use this framework to create both educational resources and publications tailored to public power utilities and technical tools that build utilities’ capacity for situation-specific project analysis (such as where to place storage units). APPA will also plan and/or host educational events such as conference sessions, workshops, and webinars. These events will be designed to allow experts in the field to engage with associated members on topics relevant to various maturity stages over project period, advancing in maturity and complexity.

In response to the pressing need for improved technologies for clean hydrogen generation, this project will combine experiment and ab-initio quantum calculations in order to understand the interaction between methane-containing plasma and a carbon-based catalyst. Predictive quantum calculations for the case of a methane plasma impinging onto a carbon surface will be performed, in addition to in-situ diagnostic techniques to experimentally characterize the interaction between the plasma and the carbon surface. These results of both computation and experiment will be used to leverage the design of an improved process for the plasma-driven pyrolysis of methane for low-cost hydrogen production.

Georgia Institute of Technology will demonstrate the commercial feasibility of a robust, highly efficient, and low-cost Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) system based on proton conductors for hydrogen generation. The objective of the overall project is to develop new materials that have potential to meet or exceed 95 % Faradaic efficiency in SOEC mode, and > 70 % roundtrip efficiency at 0.5 A/cm² in both SOFC and SOEC modes in individual cells. This objective will be accomplished through the: (1) production of dry hydrogen, thus eliminating the need of downstream purification, (2) optimization of the proton conductivity, air-electrode materials, and air-electrode catalyst by tailoring their compositions, structures, and architectures, and (3) study of in situ, ex situ, and operando measurements guided by theoretical analysis, thus obtaining a better understanding of the degradation mechanisms of cell materials and interfaces. In prior work, Georgia Tech has constructed small reversible Solid Oxide Cells (rSOCs) based on proton conductors, achieving ~70% roundtrip efficiency at 1 A/cm², far better than those reported for a zirconia membrane-based system, showing the potential that the SOECs developed for this project will dramatically advance the technology for hydrogen and electricity generation.

CORE-CM projects develop and implement strategies that enable each specific U.S. basin to realize its full economic potential for producing rare earth elements (REE), critical minerals (CM), and high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products from basin-contained resources. CORE-CM projects will focus on six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education.

The primary objective of this project is to reduce our nation’s reliance on imported REE and CM by establishing Alaska’s resources as competitive sources of supply. The University of Alaska has documented encouraging REE-CM concentrations in preliminary studies of coal at two sites, but otherwise Alaska has not seen a systematic analysis of its resource potential. This project will systematically perform a set of broad basinal assessments of Alaska’s carbon ores, rare earth elements, and critical minerals (CORE-CM) found in several of Alaska’s basins. Included in the analysis will be two obvious basins: (1) that hosting Alaska’s only operating coal mine, and (2) the basin hosting North America’s largest large-flake graphite deposit. The team will also investigate opportunities to create high-value, non-fuel products from carbon ores in basins associated with REE-CM resources to increase their economic potential. Alaska contains many and varied CORE-CM basins, each with its own set of challenges. Eighty percent of Alaska is without roads, and an even greater area does not have access to the only power grid in the state, which primarily connects Fairbanks to Anchorage. The team must consider factors in addition to mineral content within a basin and will devise a priority matrix for ranking CORE-CM basins. Final rankings will consider the quality of the CORE-CM content, access to infrastructure or ability to build it, readiness of technology to exploit the resource in that location, environmental factors, and market potential.

This project will develop strategic and novel development plans for the abundant COR-CM feedstocks located in the Greater Green River Basin (GGRB) and Wind River Basin (WRB) including waste streams from coal, coal byproducts, trona, helium, uranium, phosphate, and oil and gas industries. The project team will complete initial assessments, gap analyses, and strategic planning under several categories including (1) assessment CORE-CM feedstocks, (2) waste stream reuse assessments, (3) infrastructure, industry, and businesses, (4) technology pairing and development, (5) technology innovation center planning, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education, including workforce development programs and forums to facilitate technology transfer.

The objective of this Department of Energy (DOE)-United States Geological Survey (USGS) Interagency Agreement is to provide geologic and geophysical technical support to the Alaska Gas Hydrate Production Field Experiment. The specific goal of this cooperative effort is to support the planning, operations, and analysis of the technical results of the Alaska North Slope Extended Gas Hydrate Production Test, as supported by the goals of the 2005 Energy Act for National Methane Hydrates R&D, the DOE-led US interagency roadmap for gas hydrates research, and elements of the USGS mission related to energy resources.

This agreement is intended to provide support to the DOE and its research partners in understanding, predicting, and testing the recoverability and production characteristics of onshore natural gas hydrate in the Greater Prudhoe Bay area on the Alaska North Slope through the planning, operation, and analysis of the technical results of the planned Alaska North Slope Extended Gas Hydrate Production Test. To do so, the work to be conducted under this agreement is designed to contribute to the field implementation plan in support of the project well drilling, completion, and testing program. This cooperative project will also provide direct technical support to the field drilling and associated geologic and production test data acquisition phases of the field test. Within this agreement, the USGS shall also play a key role in organizing and analyzing the geologic and production test data as it is collected during the planned Alaska North Slope Extended Gas Hydrate Production Test.

OxEon Energy will operate a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) stack in a laboratory test bed showing improved performance over baseline stacks exhibiting robustness, reliability, endurance, hydrogen purity, and producing hydrogen at elevated pressure of 2 to 3 bar. OxEon will begin by validating a stack using a materials set that was optimized in a NASA funded program to establish a baseline performance tested under conditions relevant for producing hydrogen by steam electrolysis. The team will then evaluate stack materials and fabrication process modifications with a focus on improved performance, operational cycles (temperature cycling consistent with expected maintenance cycles, redox capability of fuel electrode, reversibility of electrolysis and fuel cell operation) and long-term performance stability. At the conclusion of the project, a short stack of 6-cells under various steam conversion conditions, and for at least 500 hours at a selected operating point defined by temperature, voltage, and steam conversion will be operated. Prior to steady state operation of 500 hours, the stack test will include five thermal cycles to determine stack robustness and five redox cycles to demonstrate the reliability of the fuel electrode. At the end of the 500-hour SOEC test period, the stack will be operated for an additional 300 hours in SOFC mode to verify reversible operation. A separate short stack will be tested for a period of 100 hours to produce hydrogen at a pressure of 2 to 3 bar.

This project is advancing an integrated open raceway algae cultivation and processing system to engineering-scale for carbon capture and utilization (CCU) from the flue gas of a naphtha-fired power plant. Global Algae Innovations has developed a technology suite for algae carbon capture, cultivation, and processing that includes improvements to each process step. This technology suite will be scaled up to an integrated engineering-scale system for algae CCU from the flue gas through final products. The systems will be used for parametric testing followed by a long-term testing over the course of a year to obtain design scaling parameters and to quantify the economic and life-cycle benefits of the technology.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is performing research to improve the cost-effectiveness of algal carbon dioxide (CO₂) utilization by synergistic integration with power plant and wastewater treatment operations. The technical objectives are related to algae cultivation with post-flue-gas desulfurization (FGD), CO₂ capture processes, algae dewatering/drying processes, algal biomass in animal feed applications, integration with power plant and wastewater treatment operations, and techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA).

The primary objective of this project is to advance the development of technology for synthesizing sulfurized vegetable oil modified (SuMo) fly ash particles with inherently reduced metal leaching for use as novel fillers in multi polymeric matrices. It will be demonstrated that these encapsulated fly ash particles will improve functional properties of plastics and elastomers and have comparable or improved environmental release of constituents of potential concern (COPC) compared to non-CCR (coal combustible residuals) products, thereby meeting EPA evaluation criteria for CCR encapsulated beneficial use.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recently developed a dual functional porous catalytic polymer material that simultaneously captures and catalytically converts CO₂ to a value-added, easily transportable liquid product, i.e. formic acid. The project will scale up the materials and design a scalable flow bed reactor system. Reactor modeling, including MFiX simulations in collaboration with NETL, will be employed to understand sorption, kinetics and thermodynamics throughout the process to enhance reactor design, while technoeconomic and life cycle analysis will guide and facilitate the evaluation of economic competitiveness of the alternative formic acid production pathway for commercial scale production. 

This project is developing a technique capable of locating and predicting the movement of carbon dioxide (CO₂) within a deep subsurface storage complex by detecting and analyzing acoustic emissions (AE) signals generated by the migration of CO₂ from a storage reservoir into an overriding geologic confining unit. The technique includes a theoretical, physics-based model capable of predicting AE signals from CO₂ flow in porous media, which will be validated with laboratory experiments and fluid flow simulations.

This project will develop and apply multiphysics and multiscale simulation methods for efficient electromagnetic (EM) energy assisted conversion from fossil fuel to low-cost hydrogen. This will entail the development and investigation of computational methods in two major thrust areas:

1. Modeling and simulation methods for coupled multiphysics phenomena involving EM, plasma physics, thermal and fluid dynamics, and quantum chemistry across multiple spatial scales from macro, meso, to microscopic scales and temporal scales from nanoseconds to minutes.
2. Simulation-guided designs for EM energy assisted high-throughput, high-yield, and low-cost hydrogen generation from fossil fuels such as methane and methanol.

Together, these will be used to target four specific objectives: (1) understanding 3D structures of catalysts and their supports; (2) characterization of EM hotspots within heterogeneous catalysis; (3) multiphysics investigation of EM energy assisted catalytic active sites enhancement; and (4) system design and optimization for high-yield and low-cost hydrogen generation.

Two key factors affecting the fossil power high-temperature material supply chain are the volatility of nickel-based alloy prices and the challenges in welding precipitation-strengthened alloys. This project seeks to use integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) design strategies to solve these challenges by designing, casting, forging, welding, and validating the properties of hybrid eta-gamma prime-strengthened nickel superalloys optimized for cost and weldability. Specifically, significant reduction in cobalt to less than 5 wt.% versus 10–20% in candidate alloys for advanced energy systems is sought. Performance in high-temperature strength and creep will be maintained within 10% compared against existing candidate alloys designed for extreme environments. Weldability criteria will be evaluated through use of various susceptibility indices (solidification cracking, liquation, stress relief cracking) with the goal of broadening the welding and post-weld heat treat processing windows to be more forgiving.

The objectives of the study are to quantify rare earth elements (REE) and critical minerals (CM) resources in feedstocks within the U.S. Gulf Coast Basin including coal from mines, coal ash from power plants, and refuse. REE and CM will also be quantified in water co-produced with oil in reservoirs adjacent to coal resources. Additional objectives include linking these mineral resources to manufacturing of high-value products, including nonfuel carbon-based products (CBPs), planning the development of a Technology Innovation Center, and stakeholder outreach and education to achieve the overall goal of enhancing economic growth and job creation to support economic development in the Gulf Coast. The methods involve development of coal and ash resource assessments by leveraging previous coal assessments and using power plant ash data. The geological assessment involves mapping the resources, considering depositional environments and structural data, resulting in a detailed geomodel of the Gulf Coast coals. Analysis of REE and CM in ~200 samples of coal and ash are designed to substantially expand the existing database and deepen our understanding of the potential for these resources. The Gulf Coast Basin has many surface lignite mines that have been highly undersampled for REE and CM; however, potential REE and CM resources may be as high as shown in studies of North Dakota lignite. In addition, much of the coal combusted in power plants in the Gulf Coast over the past decade is sourced from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming ,which has been shown to be promising in terms of REE and CM recovery. The study will benefit from rapidly expanding REE and CM processing in the Gulf Coast providing feedback on quality needs and resource value. The intensive industrialization in the Gulf Coast region represents a large market for REE and CM products. The comprehensive assessment of REE and CM (as a part of the CORE-CM Initiative) is designed to evaluate the volumes of these feedstocks and link upstream and midstream supply chains with downstream processing and manufacturing to enhance U.S. national and economic security.

The Regents of the University of California, San Diego will evaluate and demonstrate a highly efficient, durable, and reduction-oxidation (redox) resistant solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) technology for hydrogen production. This project focuses on the development of a novel cell design and its corresponding manufacturing processes. The proposed SOEC technology consists of two elements: 1) a cell design with the hydrogen electrode composed of two layers – a 3D hydrogen electrode support layer (for improved cell redox resistance) and an exsolved perovskite hydrogen electrode active layer (for enhanced cell performance and increased durability) and 2) a manufacturing scheme incorporating advanced inkjet printing, an additive manufacturing process, and photonic sintering, a relatively new industrial firing method, for fabrication of the cell configuration. The proposed project will culminate in the demonstration of a scaled-up SOEC featuring a design with improved performance, enhanced redox resistance, and increased durability under conditions suitable for hydrogen production from steam. The results of the project could form the basis for further development to advance the technology for practical applications and commercialization.

The project addresses fundamental algae-based carbon capture and utilization (CCU) challenges via integrating a cutting-edge carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture/controlled release sorbent with a breakthrough continuous cultivation system. The cultivation system features a frequent, low-cost harvest that maximizes light-driven carbon capture, utilization and valuable chemical and biomass production. The project is further enhanced by using hydrogel technology to reduce media cost, fertilize the algae with controlled carbon and nutrient delivery, and balance bicarbonate with CO₂ to improve carbon uptake and conversion.

The objective of this field work proposal is to develop a reactive capture and conversion (RCC) process based around a dual-functional material capable of producing renewable natural gas (RNG) from air. The project is developing a new class of hybrid organic-inorganic materials based on amines for direct air capture and atomically dispersed metal catalysts for methanation. These materials will be cycled between adsorption and conversion in a reactive-swing process that does not compromise either the amine or the metal catalyst. The composition of the material will optimized to match the rates and magnitudes of capture and conversion, with the goal of maximizing productivity while minimizing the cost and carbon intensity of the produced RNG. A successful project will develop a process for direct air reactive capture and conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into RNG using hybrid adsorbent-catalyst dual-functional materials that allows for a >15% relative improvement in the RNG minimum fuel selling price and carbon intensity compared to baseline scenarios.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and project partner, the University of Colorado at Boulder, will design and develop tailored dual-functional materials (DFMs) and an accompanying pressure-swing process for the reactive capture and conversion (RCC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to methanol, a vital product in the chemical market and a versatile precursor to fuels. The precise co-location of basic and metallic sites in a DFM will enable the efficient RCC of CO₂ with hydrogen (H₂) in a fixed-bed pressure-swing reactor under mild conditions (e.g., temperature = 100°C, pressure = 10 atm). The project team will synthesize and characterize the DFMs and evaluate the RCC performance of the CO₂-laden DFMs under high-pressure hydrogen flow. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis of the pressure-swing process will be performed and compared against a business-as-usual case for methanol production.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette will develop high-performance metal-supported solid oxide electrolysis cells and innovative diagnostic methodologies to achieve net-zero or negative emissions. The team plans to fabricate metal-supported solid oxide electrolysis cells (MS-SOECs) to improve the electrolysis performance while maintaining mechanical strength for the stack assembly and systematically investigate the role of cell parameters, including anode thickness, electronic conduction in the cathode interface, and cathode composition, on the electrochemical performance of button cells and single cells. Next, accelerated test protocols for SOECs will be developed. The team will then apply theoretical analysis to incorporate the electronic conduction at the interface between the oxygen electrode and electrolyte to improve its stability and suppress oxygen electrode degradation. Finally, machine learning will be used to study the dependence of electrochemical performance on microstructural details of an electrode, including tortuosity, pore connectivity, pore size and size distribution, and grain size and size distribution.

The University of South Carolina (USC) will develop a simplified, low-cost, high-efficiency reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC) that produces standalone power, hydrogen, or hybrid power/hydrogen. The activities of the project include: (1) developing a stable barrier-layer-free oxygen electrode (OE), (2) developing the bilayer oxygen electrode through atomic layer deposition (ALD), (3) developing a graded porosity and open channel hydrogen electrode (HE) substrate embedded with active catalyst (4) partnering with PNNL to develop multi-level materials/microstructure cell validation (5) and developing Multiphysics models to understand the degradation mechanisms and failure modes of the oxygen electrode. By implementing these foundational materials and microstructure innovations into practical systems, the project could assist the commercialization course of RSOC technology and expand it to utility markets such as distributed standalone or hybrid power and hydrogen generation as a means of energy storage solution.

West Virginia University Research Corporation will improve the performance of the oxygen ion conducting Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs) for highly efficient and durable hydrogen production. Highly active and robust nano-scale coating layers will be developed using the additive manufacturing process of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and implanted to the internal surface of the porous electrode of as-fabricated commercial cells. The commercial cells adapted for this study consist of the Ni/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) fuel electrode and La_xSr_1-xMn_yO₃ (LSM)/YSZ and La_xSr_1-xCo_yFe_1-yO₃ (LSCF)/Sm₂O₃ doped CeO₂ (SDC) oxygen electrodes that are being developed and matured worldwide during the past two decades. For both the fuel and oxygen electrodes, innovative conformal surface nanoionics consisting of nanocrystalline ionic conducting materials will be incorporated into the ALD coating layer to provide structure protection for increased durability towards both the intrinsic and extrinsic degradation.

CORMETECH Inc., in partnership with Global Thermostat LLC and Georgia Institute of Technology, will develop and test a novel sorbent - air contactor composition with low pressure drop optimized for carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal from ambient air. The monolith contactor will be optimized to support the selected direct air capture (DAC) sorbent composition, linear poly(propyleneimine) (l-PPI), which offers advantages over benchmark poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI)-based sorbents. The process employs the desorption step developed by Global Thermostat LLC, whereby steam is directly contacted with the sorbent media to induce desorption, resulting in ultra-fast desorption kinetics. Experimental measurements of key adsorption and diffusion parameters coupled with various process and techno-economic models will inform the design and optimization. Bench-scale testing of the optimized sorbent-contactor composition will be performed. The novel approach will maximize the volumetric productivity of the DAC process while reducing the auxiliary power required to capture CO₂ from air.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) will design, test, and validate oxygen electrode materials for solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) that maintain high performance and low degradation rates under operation conditions with the presence of chromium (Cr) containing gas impurities using a combined Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) and lab-scale testing approach. WPI believes that when fully optimized, this oxygen electrode material would have an intrinsic, long-term degradation rate of less than 0.3%/1000hrs at 700°C. By the end of the first year, it is expected to reach 0.8A/cm² current density at 1.4V applied potential; by the end of the project, the researchers expect to reach 1A/cm² current density. These experiments will address remaining technical challenges and questions pertaining to SOEC's oxygen electrode. Furthermore, this proposed novel ICME and lab-scale testing approach could potentially be applied to hydrogen electrode materials in the future.

University of California, Irvine will adapt advanced liquid fuel injectors, designed by Collins Aerospace for aero engines, to accommodate injection of hydrogen and hydrogen natural gas blends, demonstrate their operation using experiments from laboratory scale model combustor configurations at elevated pressures and temperatures, and develop a design for test hardware that can be demonstrated at engine conditions in a test rig demonstration. The development of the hydrogen injector/array concepts, in conjunction with simulations, will produce a set of test hardware that will be evaluated at both ambient and elevated pressure conditions. The hardware configurations will be screened for stability, flashback, and reaction structure. In addition, emissions performance will be documented. Data suitable for simulation validation will also be obtained. These results will guide the design of a test module that will be ready for testing under a subsequent project, and will set the foundation for further development of the technology for utilization of high hydrogen content fuels for power generating gas turbines.

The overall objective is to integrate new and legacy critical mineral (CM) geochemical data with new basin-wide stratigraphic correlations of coal resources and genetically related strata within the greater Cherokee-Forest City Basin (CFCB) which encompasses parts of Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Osage Nation. Analyses will include new and/or existing drill cores located throughout the basin and assays from coal mine waste sites in historic mine districts to assess the rare earth elements (REE) and critical mineral potential within the region. The Recipient will also test a novel downhole elemental analysis tool at a number of new and/or existing well localities that are proximal and reliably correlated to drill cores. The Recipient will leverage previous and ongoing geologic assessments by United States Geological Survey-funded projects looking at REE and critical minerals within aluminum-rich underclays and phosphatic black shales of similar age. Current and ongoing bio-chemostratigraphic analyses and recalibration of stratigraphic correlations in the region by the Recipient—and accompanying new basin models constructed by the Recipient—will also be leveraged for interpretation of acquired data.

This study will encompass: (1) a basinal assessment of carbon ore, rare earth, and critical mineral (CORE-CM) resources, including aggregation of historical data, new depositional and structural modeling, and CORE-CM resource assessment; (2) development of a basinal strategy for reuse of waste streams and assist in the development of necessary infrastructure needed to mine and process both natural and waste REE/critical mineral materials; (3) development of a technology assessment and field-testing plan to identify technology gaps associated with the mining process and ways in which the mining technique may be improved; (4) planning for a technology innovation center that fosters public-private partnerships (providing a nucleus of expertise and facilities) that are focused on rapid commercialization of CORE-CM resources within the basin and identification of emerging technologies that can incorporate coal and coal by-products as a feedstock; and (5) development of a stakeholder outreach and education plan that will include educational forums, workshops, digital media, and publications.  

Massachusetts Institute of Technology will improve the chemical and electrochemical stability of the surface of LSCF as a state-of-the-art oxygen-electrode, against Sr-segregation and the consequent poisoning by chromium and sulfur. Through a combination of experiments and computations, MIT will develop infiltration chemistries to enable the surface modifications in an economical and efficient manner, and advance understanding of the role of operational parameters on oxygen-electrode surface chemistry and performance.

Solar Turbines Inc. will develop a retrofittable dry low NOx emissions gas turbine combustion system based on micromixer and lean direct injection technologies for 100% hydrogen and hydrogen / natural gas blends. The project team will build and rig test a complete combustion system on 100% hydrogen and various natural gas blends to demonstrate prototype feasibility and combustion performance leveraging existing hydrogen combustion technology at the early development stage and advancing it into an engine-ready design. Additional objectives include the development of engine control algorithms and hydrogen flame detection methodologies, and the development of reduced kinetics mechanisms for use with CFD/LES analysis, that are validated by bench-scale and rig tests. If successful, the project will enable industrial gas turbines to provide carbon free, rapidly dispatchable power that is vital to grid stability.

Integrating carbon capture with fossil fuel-based technologies currently stands as the most realistic pathway for enabling a hydrogen economy. To realize this, it is crucial to develop novel, energy-efficient, adsorption-based gas separation processes that are coupled with purpose-designed microporous materials serving as the adsorbents, in order to enable needed efficiencies in either a pre-combustion, oxyfuel combustion, or post-combustion carbon capture setting. In this project, mathematical models and computational methodologies are developed to enable the design of novel gas separation processes, along with the microporous materials they rely upon, in a co-optimization paradigm. This project specifically focuses on swing adsorption, considered to be the most promising technology for selectively adsorbing and separating gases at massive scales. Swing adsorption achieves the gas separation by utilizing the difference in pressure-dependent and/or temperature-dependent equilibria and kinetics that different gases exhibit when adsorbing inside solid sorbents.

The high-fidelity process modeling effort will be coupled with data-driven materials design methodologies, realizing a novel integrated process-materials co-optimization framework that will be implemented within DOE’s IDAES Integrated Platform, an open-source computational platform for the modeling and optimization of advanced energy systems. Harnessing data from open-source databases, the materials optimization effort will involve the automated learning of high-quality adsorption isotherms in forms that can be seamlessly incorporated within high-fidelity process models, in order to enable the direct search over the material’s molecular structure. Such materials optimization will be conducted simultaneously, in an integrated fashion, with process optimization that considers both cycle configuration and flowsheet design. Specific emphasis will be given to the development of a smart hierarchy of models that navigates the trade-off between model tractability and model fidelity, in a user-configurable model interface that empowers IDAES users to control this trade-off in their own application.

The project aims to develop novel high-temperature alloys from Ni-based alloys that further integrate additive manufacturing (AM) fabrication, creating novel nanoscale oxide precipitation for strengthened mechanical integrity and enhanced oxidation resistance, and subsequent application of conformal protective coatings on the additive manufactured alloys. To increase the strength and oxidation resistance of nickel alloys, erbium and titanium oxide (Er₂O₃ and TiO) precipitants will be added to the AM powders for the Inconel 625 alloy and result in dense nano-oxide precipitation of Er₂O₃ and Er₂Ti₂O₇, which will result in a solution-strengthened novel Ni-based alloy. Furthermore, a conformal protective oxide coating layer will be simultaneously applied on both the internal and external surface of the additive manufactured heat exchangers with complex geometry using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The ALD layer will be conformal, uniform, pin-hole free, dense, and ultra-thin with negligible weight gain to increase both the oxidation and corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures.

The project is organized into 5 Tasks. Task 1 is project management. Task 2 is devoted to introducing the dense precipitates into the Ni-based alloys through AM. Task 3 is devoted to ALD coating of the newly additive manufactured 3D printed Ni-based alloys and ALD repairing and recoating the alloys after oxidation exposure. Task 4 is the oxidation resistance testing of the additive manufactured and ALD coated Ni-based alloys. Task 5 is the comprehensive physical properties testing, and nanostructure analysis of the additive manufactured alloys (including the ones with precipitates), ALD coated alloys, and the alloys after exposure to the oxidation and corrosion environments.

Georgia Tech Research Corporation seeks to develop a scientifically rigorous foundational understanding of key kinetic, flame propagation, and emissions characteristics of high hydrogen fuels at gas turbine relevant conditions. This research project involves comprehensive combustion experiments with closely coupled modeling work to understand ignition, combustion, and emissions behavior for high-hydrogen content fuels as compared to natural gas. This project has four key objectives: 1) Development of comprehensive database on autoignition delays for hydrogen containing fuels, including pure hydrogen and ammonia, hydrogen/natural gas blends, and ammonia/hydrogen blends at realistic gas turbine conditions; 2) Measurement of turbulent flame speeds and emissions of hydrogen containing fuels at different turbulence levels; 3) Measurement of laminar flame speeds of hydrogen containing fuels at high preheating conditions in shock tube; and 4) Validation and optimization of existing kinetic models using data obtained from experiments and development of reduced kinetic models specific for hydrogen containing fuels.

San Diego State University (San Diego, CA) researchers, with partner Solar Turbines Inc., will execute a collaborative university/original equipment manufacturer (OEM) simulation and test program to advance the design of additively manufactured (AM) hydrogen micromix turbine combustors in industrial gas turbines. Because of the combined novelty of hydrogen fuels and AM, no good practice exists for OEM engineers to design robust AM hydrogen combustors. This project aims to develop a generalized modeling framework to predict the effect of geometric design and manufacturing anomalies of hydrogen fuel injectors on mixing, flow rates, pressure losses, heat transfer and flame stability. A chemically reacting flow computation of a single injector array injection into cross airflow above a smooth wall will set a baseline. The effect of several injector and combustor configurations of increasing complexity with multiple injector arrays and wall roughness will be systematically investigated. Design rules and reduced models will be formulated by combining high fidelity simulations of chemically reacting flow, stochastic modeling techniques, reduced modeling through machine learning and testing of injector configurations. These can be used in an industrial setting to predict the aerodynamic and combustion characteristics in hydrogen turbine combustors based upon which design decisions are made.

Helios-NRG is developing a novel algae technology to capture CO₂ from fossil fueled power plants and use the algae for products that generate revenue. Project activities will be supported by Helios-NRG partners State University of New York at Buffalo, Bozeman Fish Technology Center, The Conservation Fund’s Freshwater Institute, Craft Nutrition Consulting, Tresca Design, and the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC). The Multi Stage Continuous (MSC) flow capture system will be improved to increase the algae productivity and reduce the culturing costs through a suite of technology advances. These include improvements to culture operation and health, control, and gas dissolution. The updated MSC technology will then be operated at NCCC using flue gas from the fossil fuel-fired plant to demonstrate high CO₂ capture efficiency and productivity. The potential to generate revenue from algae will be advanced by developing value-added feed and nutraceutical products. Algae-blended feed will be validated in a field test using a large-scale aquaculture system. Nutraceuticals will be advanced to identify marketable products and commercial paths forward. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses will be performed on a modeled commercial system using data from the project to validate the potential to achieve the Department of Energy/Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management goals of a <$30/ton CO₂ capture cost and a net reduction in CO₂ emissions.

This project is developing a new strategy for monitoring seal integrity combining borehole-based Continuous Active Source Seismic Monitoring (CASSM) with next-generation distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) acquisition to improve the resolution and economic viability of such approaches. Prior generations of borehole sources used for CASSM radiate in the kHz range while DAS tends to have problematic optical noise above 500 Hz; this mismatch will be remedied by (a) development of a new borehole source tuned to lower frequencies; and (b) employing a new DAS interrogator design with improved response in the kHz range. These advances in acquisition technology will be paired with research into relevant processing including novel time-lapse full waveform inversion (FWI) approaches and coda wave analysis techniques. This combined approach will be tested at two different field locations: (1) a shallow (100 m depth) borehole test site located on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas (the Rice Subsurface Test Facility – RSTF); and (2) the Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory in Switzerland, where an existing array of 23 boreholes equipped with behind-casing fiberoptics will be used to validate the technology during a sequence of controlled fault leakage experiments. These tests will probe the capacity of the CASSM/DAS approach to quantify low-rate leakage scenarios which would be missed by conventional monitoring approaches.

The objective of the OASIS project is to assist in providing educational resources, outreach, training, workshops, and other means to electric cooperatives to empower them to integrate energy technologies with their generation systems. NRECA will also conduct coordination and outreach with its smaller electric generation utility members to facilitate awareness, transfer technology, and share best practices, lessons learned, and partnering on Fossil Energy projects. NRECA will enlist educational resources, available staff, case studies, guidelines, best practices, and training on common strategies for integrating energy technologies with fossil power plants and enhancing organizational capacities at utilities. NRECA will facilitate and convene meetings and events with cooperative utilities to define barriers to energy storage deployment and work with DOE and other stakeholders to overcome these barriers.

The objective of this project is to develop and establish a novel method for the flexible production of low-temperature sintered coal building materials. Microbeam Technologies Incorporated (MTI) and the University of North Dakota (UND) have developed a method to produce high-value carbon-based building materials using a flexible manufacturing process to produce products such as blocks and foams that are greater than 70 wt.% carbon with more than 51 wt.% carbon from coal. The project team will identify feedstock materials, optimize material development and performance, develop process flow diagrams, perform life cycle analysis for the flexible process, and complete a technical and economic assessment (TEA) of the product. Following these tasks, the team will perform additional materials testing to demonstrate compliance with all relevant building codes under relevant methodologies and update the TEA of the products.

Carbon Collect Inc., along with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Arizona State University (ASU), Trimeric Corporation, and PM Group, will complete an initial design of a commercial-scale, passive direct air capture (DAC) system termed “Carbon Trees” that will capture, separate, and store or utilize a nominal capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from air. Passive DAC is unique among DAC technologies in that passive air delivery by wind avoids the energy penalty of forced convection. Carbon Collect’s sorbent-agnostic approach offers the flexibility to choose sorbents for a wide range of climates. During CO₂ collection, the leaves of the Carbon Tree take the form of large horizontal disks arranged in a vertical column over a cylindrical regeneration chamber. For sorbent regeneration, the column lowers into the chamber; a combination of steam, low-grade heat, and vacuum releases the CO₂, which is extracted from the chamber and then purified and compressed. A commercial Carbon Tree farm will combine the output of several thousand trees for compression and purification with high heat and energy integration.

The project team will prepare an initial engineering design package for carbon farms based on the “Carbon Tree” technology at each of three geographically diverse host sites throughout the United States to better understand the effect of local/regional ambient conditions on DAC system performance and project costs. A techno-economic analysis, life cycle analysis, business case analysis, and an environmental, health, and safety risk assessment will also be completed for each of the three geographically diverse host sites.

This project looks to deploy carbon foams derived from coal as core materials for all-composite buildings, with a prime focus on housing. The team is focusing primarily on carbon foam as a potential core substrate for carbon nanotube composite panels. Carbon foam offers non-combustible, acoustically absorptive, compression-carrying properties that seem well-suited to building use. Additionally, the project will look at using the electro-thermal capacity of carbon foam, to permit heating and cooling, in place of separate systems. Fire, structural, thermal, acoustical, and other properties will be tested per building code requirements. The main goals are to more fully characterize carbon foam as a composite substrate for building use. An all-carbon house will be designed using the poly-functional attributes of carbon foam (and carbon nanotube), and life cycle analysis and techno-economic analysis will be performed on this design pilot.

The goal of this project is to develop a 5G integrated distributed edge computing framework that facilitates real-time monitoring of critical components in coal-fired power plants (CFPPs).

The objectives of the proposed effort are as follows:

(1) Distributed Edge Computing Service (DECS) Orchestration for CFPP Component Monitoring – Develop an on-demand distributed edge computing platform to gather, process, and efficiently analyze the component health data in the CFPPs. Given that edge computing servers are closer to the field devices in modernized power plants, the efficiency of edge computing service with respect to dynamic orchestration, resource data collection, and health information monitoring will be investigated for timely detection of remote faults and to perform diagnosis.

(2) Deploy and Integrate 5G networking to enable QoS (Quality of Service)-Aware Network Slicing – Leverage software-defined networking and network function virtualization mechanisms of 5G to instantiate a logically separated component monitoring network slice that will be integrated with DECS for time-sensitive and efficient transfer of CFPP component health data.

(3) Prototype Development and Empirical Evaluation – Develop a customizable 5G-capable distributed edge computing prototype with a separate network slice for efficient plant component monitoring. In addition, extensive performance evaluation of the developed platform will be conducted by measuring several critical metrics.

Since traditional component monitoring in CFPP is done manually using costly portable testing equipment, it is a very time-consuming and labor-intensive maintenance process. Thus, integration of 5G-enabled sensor communication with edge computing infrastructure will be able to monitor the health of components in a CFPP in real time and in an automated manner using machine learning capabilities. The proposed 5G integrated distributed edge computing framework will facilitate plant operators in conducting real-time monitoring of critical components in CFPPs. Furthermore, the 5G-based communication infrastructure will allow orchestration of on-demand network slices in order to dynamically meet the component monitoring data throughput and quality of service requirements. This R&D will produce a working prototype using 5G-compliant sensors, remote terminal units, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) servers.

CORE-CM projects will develop and implement strategies that enable each specific U.S. basin to realize its full economic potential for producing REE, CM and high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products from basin-contained resources. CORE-CM projects will focus on the following six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education.

The objectives of this project are to quantify, assess, and plan to enable the transformation of Uinta Basin earth resources such as coal, oil shale, resin, rare earth elements, and critical materials into high-value metal, mineral, and carbon-based products that can be used in advanced products such as carbon fiber composites in aircraft and high powered magnets and batteries in electric vehicles. The transformation begins with understanding the geology, which enables discovery of value-added resources, followed by innovative mining to optimize resource recovery, metallurgical processing to separate minerals and purify metals, chemical engineering to enable production of value-added carbon-based products, training and education to prepare the workforce, stakeholder engagement and outreach to facilitate sustainable development, and industry support to drive implementation and manufacturing.

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) is enhancing the United States Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management's ability to educate and inform state utility regulators on important issues surrounding the use of coal-fired power and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies. NARUC plans to research, analyze, and socialize among its membership regulatory strategies around modernizing coal infrastructure. NARUC is highlighting key federal and private sector investments in research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) of CCUS technologies; elevate opportunities for state utility regulators to help shape these investments and their deployment for greater impact; and translate complex, technical topics into language accessible to state utility regulators through the development of educational briefs and information sessions. NARUC supports states in developing strategies to leverage and enhance the attributes of the existing coal fleet. NARUC’s research, policy support, and convening activities focuses on areas that are of high importance to the State Public Utility Commissions to enhance coordination between state and federal government.

Tallgrass MLP Operations LLC will partner with the University of Wyoming and Technip Energies to perform an initial engineering design on a commercial-scale carbon capture and storage system to be installed at a proposed hydrogen (H₂) production plant in Douglas, Wyoming. The proposed plant will be capable of producing 220 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of H₂ from natural gas with 99.97% purity, or “blue” H₂, utilizing Haldor Topsoe’s auto-thermal reforming (ATR) technology. BASF’s OASE® White carbon capture system will be implemented to capture 1.66 million tonnes per year of 95% pure carbon dioxide (CO₂) with more than 97% total carbon capture efficiency. The project team will leverage existing ATR technology design and engineering to reach the optimal ATR and carbon capture design while minimizing the lowest levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) production and cost of CO₂ capture to achieve the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) target for carbon-neutral blue H₂ production of less than $1/kg. The design will include integration of the blue H₂ facility, the associated oxygen producing facility, and the carbon capture system to optimize the oxygen requirements and steam balance. Plausible options for storing the CO₂ will be evaluated and the economics will be assessed.

Carbon ore, rare earths and critical minerals (CORE-CM) projects focus on six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education. This Illinois Basin CORE-CM project will evaluate the domestic occurrence of strategic elements in coal, coal-based resources, and waste streams from coal use in the region of the Illinois Basin. The Illinois State Geological Survey-led project will conduct a basin-wide assessment of CORE-CM in coal, coal-based, and waste stream resources that will include CORE-CM availability and abundances. Additionally, the project will assess the mining practices, separation technologies, and local infrastructure necessary to produce and provide CORE-CM resources for U.S. industry and stimulate regional economic growth. The project team performing this work includes state geological surveys, regional universities, national laboratories, and industries active in the region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The Illinois Basin assessment will catalog and model existing geochemical and geological data to identify areas of CORE-CM resources in the area having potential economic viability. Regional infrastructure, industries, and businesses, either existing or required to integrate and utilize CORE-CM resources in the IB, will be evaluated. A strategic stakeholder and outreach program will be designed to engage relevant industries and commercial interests. Technologies most relevant to the Illinois Basin distribution and occurrence of CORE-CM in relation to mining techniques, the processing and separation of CORE-CM, and the incorporation of CORE-CM into products will be identified, characterized, and described. A technology innovation center will be developed to address IB CORE-CM-specific analytical challenges, extraction requirements, resource assessments, and product creation and will serve as a focus for outreach, industry participation, and the pursuit of commercial opportunities.

The Consortium to Assess Northern Appalachia Resource Yield (CANARY) of CORE-CM for Advanced Materials comprises university, private industry, and state, local, and federal government personnel to evaluate the carbon ore, rare earth element, and critical mineral (CORE-CM) production potential of the Northern Appalachian (NA) basin covering, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. CORE-CM projects will develop and implement strategies that enable each specific U.S. basin to realize its full economic potential for producing REE, CM and high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products from basin-contained resources. CORE-CM projects will focus on the following six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education. The proposed project will build on prior work by and current expertise of Penn State and other leading research universities and industrial partners, including some who currently own, develop, and operate carbon ore and critical mineral plants in the United States. CANARY will also collaborate with U.S. and state geological surveys and will review the USGS National Geochemical Database, ongoing efforts of the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, historic mining and processing sites, and data currently held by the project team members. To identify information gaps, the consortium will use GIS and machine learning applications to map the resource, infrastructure, and market data in consultation with NETL Research and Innovation Center geospatial modeling activities. Research needs and technology gaps will be assessed, and resources targeted for sampling and characterization. This effort will provide a complete Northern Appalachian CORE-CM value chain basinal assessment to enable quick development of commercial projects.

CORE-CM projects will focus on the following six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education.

The University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center will form and lead a coalition team of nearly 30 partners, encompassing all value chain segments, focused on expanding the use of coal and coal-based resources to produce rare-earth elements (REE), critical minerals (CM), and nonfuel carbon-based products in the Williston Basin. This basin, centered in western North Dakota with portions reaching into South Dakota, Montana, and Canada, contains over 800 years of lignite coal at existing rates of use. The primary development of Williston Basin lignite coal has been in North Dakota, providing coal resources to a series of power facilities totaling greater than 4000 MW of generation capacity. The project work constitutes Phase 1 of a long-term program with objectives to identify the existing knowledge base and gaps and to develop a series of assessments/plans. Research will be conducted to identify and compile the existing, extensive Williston Basin knowledge base related to REE, CM, and nonfuel carbon-based products. Specific efforts will focus on assessment of coal characteristics, identification of waste streams available, development of regional business planning opportunities, assessment of existing technologies, development of plans to create technology innovation centers, and stakeholder outreach. This assessment may result in databases, models, and a series of assessments/plans that are intended to guide the next phase of activities, with the overall goal of expanding and transforming the use of coal and coal-based resources within the Williston Basin.

CORE-CM projects focus on six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM Resources, (2) basinal stategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education.

The specific objective of this project is to determine the REE and CM resource potential in coal and related stratigraphic units in the San Juan and Raton Basins, NM. The project will (1) identify and quantify the distribution of REE and CM in coal beds and related stratigraphic units in the San Juan and Raton basins, (2) identify and characterize the sources of REE and CM, and (3) evaluate the basinal industry infrastructure and determine the economic viability of industrial upgrading. New Mexico Tech will conduct the following tasks: (1) a basinal assessment for CM and REE potential, using state-of-the-art technologies to estimate basin-wide CM and REE resources in coal and related stratigraphic units; (2) identify, sample, and characterize coal waste stream products; (3) conduct bench tests to develop a basinal reuse of waste strategy; (4) illustrate the current status of the feedstock supply of REE and CM to understand the basinal REE industry's capital expenditures and obstacles to expanding REE-related business development; (5) develop a life-cycle analysis to establish pathways, process engineering, and design requirements to upgrade REE processing industry, (6) evaluate technology gaps, (7) establish a Center of Excellence (COE) and training center for coal ash beneficiation at San Juan County; and (8) create REE research-based activities that can be shared during the NMBGMR summer geology teacher workshop and assemble REE research-related articles for an REE-centered issue of Lite Geology. This project will delineate favorable geologic terranes and priority areas containing potential REE and CM deposits for the DOE mandate, which is also a priority of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR) and State of New Mexico. This project also is important to the State of New Mexico because REE and CM resources must be identified before land use decisions are made by government officials. Future mining of REE and CM will directly benefit the economy of NM. Furthermore, it is crucial to re-establish a domestic source of REE and CM minerals in the U.S. to help secure the nation’s clean energy future, reducing the vulnerability of the U.S. to material shortages related to national defense, and to maintain our global technical and economic competitiveness. Another aspect of this project is the training of the future workforce because students at New Mexico Tech and San Juan College will be hired to work on this project. Sampling locations will include active and inactive mines, and post-combustion coal ash landfills.

Major Participants: New Mexico Tech, represented by the Mineral Engineering Department; Bureau of Geology (NMBGMR, State Geological Survey) and Petroleum Recovery Research Center (PRRC); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL); San Juan College; and SonoAsh.

Linde Inc., in coordination with Linde Engineering Americas, Linde Engineering Dresden, and Svante Inc., will complete an initial engineering design of a commercial-scale carbon capture plant using the Svante VeloxoTherm™ solid adsorbent carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology to be installed at an existing Linde-owned steam methane reforming (SMR) hydrogen (H₂) production plant in Port Arthur, Texas. The overall system will be designed to capture approximately 1,000,000 tonnes/year net CO₂ with at least 90% carbon capture efficiency while producing “blue” H₂ with 99.97% purity from natural gas. The engineering design will comprise of the core technology; process units inside the battery limits (ISBL) of the CO₂ capture unit, such as flue gas conditioning and CO₂ product purification; and balance of plant components outside the battery limits (OSBL) of the capture plant. The project team will perform a techno-economic analysis to estimate the cost of capture in $/tonne net CO₂ captured from the H₂ plant and the levelized cost of hydrogen.

The overall goal of the proposed effort is the delivery of an integrated fifth-generation time-sensitive networking architecture (5G-TSN) capable of supporting coal-fired power generation systems’ operational data while providing the required deterministic quality of service. Requirements formulation and design will be based on a thorough network performance and emitted electromagnetic interference (EMI) characterization of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Center for Space Exploration and Technology Research (cSETR) pressurized oxy-coal combustion system and the high-pressure oxy-natural-gas combustor. Recorded data and EMI profiles will then be played back into an end-to-end (E2E) simulation of the 5G-TSN network. The proposed research will demonstrate the ability to design a 5G-TSN network capable of providing the necessary quality of service and security for measurement and control of an oxy-coal and oxy-natural gas combustor systems. The UTEP team will advance this technology by simulating end to end, live combustor data through a 5G-TSN network. The goal will be fulfilled by the following specific objectives: (i) operational characterization of the pressurized oxy-coal combustion system, (ii) 5G-TSN integration Requirements and conceptual design, and (iii) E2E simulation of oxy-coal combustion SCADA onto 5G-TSN ontology.

Black & Veatch Corporation will partner with Global Thermostat (GT), Sargent & Lundy, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, Southern Company Services, and Elysian Ventures LLC to execute an initial engineering design of a commercial-scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage direct air capture (CCUS-DAC) system that captures at least 100,000 net tonnes/year of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. The lead system, designated as DAC+, consists of a DAC unit utilizing GT’s sorbent contactor technology coupled with a natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant. In the DAC+ process, CO₂ is extracted from the flue gas emanating from the burning of natural gas to power the process in addition to the CO₂ extracted from the air. A second approach will also be examined, which involves a DAC unit powered by a CHP unit combined with a conventional liquid amine-based capture system to capture additional CO₂ from the CHP flue gas (“two capture” approach). Initial engineering design studies will be performed for the base DAC+ design for three distinct locations in the continental United States—Odessa, Texas (dry hot climate); Bucks, Alabama (hot wet climate); and Goose Creek, Illinois (mid-continental climate)—that are conveniently located near known, well-characterized CO₂ storage sites. An initial engineering design study will also be generated for the “two capture” system at the Bucks, Alabama, site. Black & Veatch will lead project management and engineering design for construction and balance of plant; Sargent & Lundy will lead design efforts inside the DAC+ island; and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering will provide support for scaleup and plant layout at scale. Southern Company and Elysian Ventures will manage deployment logistics at the three selected sites. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses, as well as business case assessments based on utilization of the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard or 45Q tax credit, will also be performed for all three sites.

The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) is providing outreach, training, and technical assistance to State Energy Offices, as well as facilitating dialogue and peer learning among states, federal agencies, utility and other industries, and other pertinent stakeholders. This project is focused on a set of activities designed to support engagement of the states on Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) work pertaining to emerging carbon management technologies; issues related to short-term and long-term applications of fossil fuels, their byproducts, and fossil fuel industrial and workforce capabilities; and the latest pre-commercial and commercial capabilities of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) facilities and other technological advances impacting the fossil fuel sector (e.g., hydrogen). The project supports efforts to: 1) share information; 2) exchange ideas across states, regions, DOE, and industry; 3) conduct data and policy analyses; 4) provide technical assistance and 5) provide Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) with input from NASEO members. NASEO is providing outreach, education, and training to states via in-person and virtual workshops, meetings, conferences, and web-based media to share resources and directly engage State Energy Offices and their partners.

CORE-CM projects will develop and implement strategies that enable each specific U.S. basin to realize its full economic potential for producing rare earth elements (REE), critical minerals (CM), and high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products from basin-contained resources. CORE-CM projects will focus on the following six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education.

Project-specific objectives are to determine the quantity and distribution of these resources in the region, formulate strategies to utilize coal waste streams to produce useful fuels and materials, formulate strategies to encourage business development, guide research and development of new technologies, formulate plans to establish technology innovation centers, and formulate and implement stakeholder outreach and education initiatives. In addition, the research team will evaluate regional infrastructure and identify industries and businesses that may benefit from current and future CORE-CM production and utilization. Strategies will be presented to spur economic growth, close supply chain gaps, promote investment in the region, and address workforce education and training opportunities.

One critical need for onsite welding onto creep strength enhanced ferritic (CSEF) Grade 91 steel components in current use in power plants is how to ensure that the advanced welding methods without post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) or the traditional welding methods with PWHT worked properly in the field. This challenge is caused by the lack of an effective field-deployable non-destructive evaluation (NDE) method that can detect and quantify deleterious microstructures such as untempered martensite in a repair weld. Additionally, the usage of CSEF steels such as Grade 92, Grade 93 and Thor® 115 with better creep or corrosion properties than Grade 91 is expected to increase in fossil power plant components. Knowledge of weld reparability of these CSEF steels is limited. The current trial-and-error procedure to optimize the microstructure and properties of welded joints is time-consuming and expensive because of the need to fine-tune many welding variables. Hence there is an important need to rapidly establish such knowledge using advanced numerical models of welding processes based on scientific and physical principles.

The goal of the project is to establish the experimental and computational foundations that are crucial to implement high-speed and high-quality field welding repair based on advanced non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and numerical modeling. The scope of work of the project is focused on developing two enabling techniques for repair of CSEF Grade 91 and 92 steel components: (1) microstructure detection using ultrasonic NDE, and (2) hardness prediction using a computational model for multi-pass, multi-layer welding.

Weld coupons will be fabricated using a high-deposition-rate process based on hot wire gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). These weld coupons will be characterized for microstructure and hardness, which provides the baseline data for Gleeble® physical simulation to produce a bulk weld microstructure. Through the control of peak temperature and time, individual microstructures (especially martensite) with different levels of tempering will be produced. This simulated microstructure is needed since the actual weld comprises a highly inhomogeneous microstructure that is difficult for analysis by raw ultrasonics. Samples containing different microstructures will be scanned using ultrasonic testing and advanced data processing algorithms such as machine learning will be used to find ultrasound parameters that are unique to the susceptible microstructures. The physics-based models will consider the heat transfer and molten pool fluid flow in a multi-pass, multi-layer dissimilar metal welding repair. The Gleeble testing results will also be used to develop a tempering kinetic model to predict the as-welded hardness distribution as well as that after post-weld heat treatment (PWHT).

CORE-CM projects will develop and implement strategies that enable each specific U.S. basin to realize its full economic potential for producing rare earth elements (REE), critical minerals (CM), and high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products from basin-contained resources. CORE-CM projects will focus on six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education.

The overall objective of West Virginia University Research Corporation (Morgantown, West Virginia) will be to focus on the expansion and transformation of the use of coal and coal-based resources—including waste streams—to produce products of high value to the 21^st Century energy and manufacturing ecosystem. The project will accomplish these goals via a basin assessment of Central Appalachian resources, including waste streams, that could be reused as feedstocks and raw materials in processes that produce carbon ore, rare earth and critical minerals (CORE-CM) products. The team will prepare R&D plans to fill information gaps in the assessments of CORE-CM resources and regional waste streams. A technology and economic gap assessment to address barriers and spur growth for the basin’s CORE-CM resources will be developed, including preparing initial research plans to fill those gaps. In addition, the team will prepare plans for stakeholder outreach and education needed to support these activities. This effort will culminate with the preparation of initial plans for a technology innovation center that will be developed and operated by a basin-specific public-private partnership, leveraging facilities and resources of the MAPP-CORE team.

This project will perform the initial strategy development and economic and technical gap assessment for the mid-Appalachian region, defined as the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The project team also includes resource assessments for southwestern Pennsylvania, recognizing the geologic and geographic connections between these regions.

CORE-CM projects will develop and implement strategies that enable each specific U.S. basin to realize its full economic potential for producing rare earth elements (REE), critical minerals (CM), and high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products from the basin's resources. CORE-CM projects will focus on six objectives: (1) basinal assessment of CORE-CM resources, (2) basinal strategies for reuse of waste streams, (3) basinal strategies for infrastructure, industries, and businesses, (4) technology assessment, development, and field testing, (5) technology innovation centers, and (6) stakeholder outreach and education.

The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, or IACMI - The Composites Institute, is a national Manufacturing USA Institute managed by Collaborative Composite Solutions Corporation (CCS), to whom the project was awarded. CCS will develop strategies for manufacturing valuable, non-fuel products from coal in Southern Appalachia. The project focuses on using coal resources from the southern Appalachian Basin situated in east Tennessee, northwest Georgia, and northern Alabama. Key participants include University of Tennessee, Southern Company, state geological surveys of Alabama and Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Roane State Community College, and several other stakeholders that are informally supporting the project.

The project will assess the southern Appalachian Basin's coal resources and identify strategies for developing technologies to cost-effectively produce valuable non-fuel products from those resources. The program objective is to transform distressed coal communities into thriving manufacturing communities with high-wage jobs producing coal-based products. Initial product priorities include rare earth elements extracted from coal ash, as well as carbon fibers and graphite made from coal. Potential product applications include (i) automobiles, capitalizing on the region's vibrant automotive manufacturing industry and the emergence of electric vehicles manufacturing; and (ii) resilient infrastructure that can withstand natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods that frequently occur in the southeastern United States. A critical project element is economics and policy analysis on the interrelationships and risks or resource availability, market demand, supply chains, infrastructure, workforce, tax and regulatory policy, technology, and national security.

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, with project partners Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Reactwell Inc., and Trimeric Inc., will advance a fiber sorbent technology for direct air capture (DAC) through optimization of a contactor design to enhance productivity and lower cost. Polyethyleneimine (PEI)-infused cellulose acetate (CA)/silica fibers sorbents previously developed for DAC applications will be housed in 3D-printed modules that provide heat integration and flow control for adsorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂). The hybridization of fiber sorbent technology with modular housing provides several advantages that will lead to lower air pressure drops, higher sorbent productivity, and ease of manufacturing and assembly. During Budget Period 1 (BP 1), the hybrid 3D-printed modules will be designed, fabricated, and optimized. The fibers will be fabricated on a large-scale, with a portion woven into laminate-style sheets. Long-term cyclic testing will be performed at bench scale on the optimal 3D-printed module. During BP 2, the hybrid modules containing the fibers will be evaluated against pressure drop, productivity, purity, and degradation metrics. The hybrid system will be optimized to yield CO₂ purity of at least 95% with a volumetric productivity five times greater than state-of-the-art.

RTI International is partnering with Creare to design, fabricate, and test a bench-scale contactor for direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that is optimized for wind-driven operation. The system will incorporate RTI’s high-performance, high-durability amine sorbents and Creare’s hybrid additive manufacturing technology to produce high-performance, compact heat and mass exchange structures at low cost using methods that are ideally suited for integration with sorbent materials. The sorbent/contactor design enables high CO₂ sorption, low regeneration temperature, and excellent tolerance for oxygen and water. The project team will build a unique test system that will enable rapid, automated temperature-swing sorption cycling of DAC contactors under conditions that simulate operation in a wind-driven system. Tests will take place in an environmental chamber that will maintain constant, controlled test conditions for long-duration life testing (e.g., 1,000 cycles) and parametric testing.

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER), Vanderbilt University, and the Electric Power Research Institute are developing an intensified, cost-effective, and easily scalable process using aqueous potassium hydroxide (KOH) as the capture solvent for direct air capture (DAC). The two-unit operation employs a hybrid membrane absorber (MA) that extracts carbon dioxide (CO₂) from air, enriching carbon content in the solution after capture, coupled with an electrochemical solvent regenerator (ER) that releases the CO₂ and simultaneously refreshes the capture solvent while producing hydrogen (H₂) to offset the DAC cost. Key features of the process include (1) utilizing dilute KOH as the capture solvent in a compact hybrid absorber, (2) using a hydroxide (OH^-) selective nanofiltration membrane to concentrate carbon content in the rich solvent prior to regeneration to reduce the parasitic reactions, (3) producing saleable H₂ to offset the CO₂ capture cost, and (4) leveraging the mature technologies of nanofiltration and the alkaline electrolyzer to make the process easily scalable. In this project, the team will design and fabricate a bench-scale unit (up to 10 cubic feet per minute air flowrate) and conduct parametric and long-term studies. Results from the studies will inform next-scale process development.

GE Research is collaborating with University of South Alabama and University of California Berkeley (UCB) to develop an advanced integrated reticular sorbent-coated system to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) using an additively manufactured contactor (AIR2CO2 Contactor). The AIR2CO2 combines UCB’s metal-organic framework (MOF) sorbents for CO₂ capture and GE Research’s sorbent-binder coating and additively manufactured, low-pressure drop contactor technologies. This scalable, compact system reduces equipment size and pressure drop, improves volumetric productivity, and results in lower energy requirements than state-of-the-art solutions for direct air capture (DAC). The project team's key objective is to develop and test a bench-scale (1 kg CO₂/day) DAC system that consists of two low-pressure drop AIR2CO2 contactors that alternate adsorption/desorption cycles for continuous CO₂ removal from ambient air. GE Research will also develop techno- and macro-economic models to determine AIR2CO2 contactor capital and operating cost models as a function of contactor and sorbent scaling.

The University of Cincinnati, in collaboration with BASF, Daeyoung C&E Co., and Trimeric, will evaluate a direct air capture (DAC) technology that uses a robust, energy-efficient, and cost-effective sorbent technology for capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from air. The sorbent selectively adsorbs CO₂ from the atmosphere and releases high-purity CO₂ gas during the regeneration stage that is suitable for various downstream CO₂ utilization processes and/or carbon storage. The project team will design a novel air contactor system that passively collects air and introduces the air flow to the DAC system, through the sorbent-coated monolith structure, without any additional energy requirement. The DAC process has the potential to be readily scalable to process gigatonne-level CO₂ separation from ambient air at a cost of less than $100/tonne CO₂ removed. The scope of work for this project will consist of the determination of CO₂ adsorption kinetics, process modeling, sorbent manufacturing, development of a sorbent-washcoated monolith structure, the design, fabrication, and operation of a passive air contactor, performance evaluations, and techno-economic and life cycle analyses.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will lead a team to develop preliminary designs for large-scale direct air capture (DAC) and storage plants to collect and permanently store carbon dioxide (CO₂) at three different facilities located in Wyoming, Louisiana, and California. The project will utilize DAC technology provided by Climeworks, which captures atmospheric CO₂ through a cyclic vacuum-temperature swing adsorption process that utilizes fans to draw air into the plant. A solid amine sorbent adsorbs CO₂ from the collected air, then the CO₂-depleted air is released back to the atmosphere and the sorbent is regenerated by low-grade heat (approximately 100°C). The captured CO₂ is piped underground into a saline aquifer or depleted natural gas reservoir for safe and permanent storage. This study will examine the effect of various climatic conditions on the DAC system design and overall cost and evaluate the impact of using different low-carbon energy sources (i.e., geothermal, solar, wind, or waste heat). Further, this work will begin to tackle scale-up challenges related to construction, operation, and logistics, as well as gauge the technical and regulatory challenges at each site. The team will prepare a Class IV capital cost and construction estimate and will calculate the volume of CO₂ that would provide an economic benefit to storage sites. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses will be performed and the results will feed into a business case assessment for the DAC systems at each host site. Major partners in the project include Climeworks, Kiewit Engineering Group Inc., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Gulf Coast Sequestration, North Shore Energy LLC, SunPower Corporation, ORMAT Technologies Inc., and Sentinel Peak Resources.

Phillips 66, with the assistance of Worley Group Inc., will complete the initial design of a commercial-scale, advanced carbon capture and storage (CCS) system that separates and stores approximately 190,000 tonnes per year net carbon dioxide (CO₂) with 90%+ carbon capture efficiency from the Rodeo Refinery hydrogen (H₂) plant that produces H₂ from natural gas via steam methane reforming (SMR). Phillips 66 will first select commercially available carbon capture technologies that best suit the existing hydrogen production unit and then select the most technically sound and economical CCS system design from three proposed options—Option 1: carbon capture from SMR flue gas and from pressure swing absorption (PSA) tail gas; Option 2: carbon capture from syngas before PSA and from SMR flue gas; and Option 3: carbon capture from SMR flue gas (i.e., post-combustion carbon capture only). By performing a techno-economic analysis (TEA) comparing these options, the highest-ranked CCS system configuration with the lowest impact to the levelized cost of hydrogen will be selected. Based on that outcome, the project team will further advance the engineering effort for completing the initial engineering design for the selected CCS configuration, such that it will have sufficient scope definition to proceed into the next phase of engineering. The project will conclude with a final TEA based on the final CCS configuration.

Susteon Inc., in coordination with Cormetech Inc. and Columbia University, will conduct bench-scale testing on a novel structured sorbent system for direct air capture (DAC). The sorbent technology exhibits rapid carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture, high dynamic capacity under DAC conditions, excellent regenerability, and desired multicycle performance. The sorbent will be incorporated on commercially available monolith supports (for low-cost fabrication) to minimize pressure drop. The structured material system will integrate the highly dispersed sorbent with in situ desorption by direct electric heating and a low pressure drop structured support in order to reduce the overall cost of DAC by lowering energy consumption by approximately 50%. The project team will optimize the sorbent and structured supports to maximize CO₂ working capacity and capture rate; design and build a bench-scale test unit to evaluate the structured sorbent system to determine engineering factors and scale-up parameters such as CO₂ working capacity, adsorption and desorption rates, desorption energy requirements, and cycle times; develop and validate a process model using the experimental data from bench-scale testing; and to perform techno-economic and life cycle analyses.

The objective of this field work proposal is to develop and demonstrate processes for scaling up the production of graphite and carbon fibers from carbon ore, coal refuse, and waste streams associated with previous coal mining activities. The proposed work builds up on the results obtained by ORNL in FWP FEAA153, which demonstrated the feasibility of using coal char, obtained by the mild gasification of Blue Gem coal, for fabricating anodes for lithium-ion batteries, and on current work by ORNL and the University of Kentucky as part of FWP FEAA155, establishing processing-structure-properties relationships for carbon fibers derived from carbon ore.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in conjunction with Natural Resources Agency of California, the Bureau of Land Management, and the University of British Columbia, will develop a test site at the former King City Asbestos Corporation (KCAC) asbestos mine in California to evaluate multiple approaches for onsite mineralization of carbon dioxide (CO₂) using serpentinite rocks and asbestos mine tailings. LLNL will develop safety protocols to protect human health and safety and the environment, as well as monitoring protocols to reliably and cost-effectively measure CO₂ uptake. The project team will characterize the baseline mineralogy and geochemistry of the site through mineralogic samples and will conduct baseline monitoring of CO₂ fluxes at the KCAC test site. Based on these results, the team will design accelerated carbon mineralization experiments and perform one year of testing, followed by a phase for site restoration and publication of results. The overall objective of the project is to determine the most successful approaches to CO₂ mineralization of asbestos-bearing serpentinite rocks/mine tailings to enable the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and project developers to make informed choices about this pathway of carbon removal.

The primary objective of this project is to identify and evaluate advanced refining and metal production technologies capable of extracting high-purity rare earths and critical minerals (CMs) and metals from coal-based sources economically and in an environmentally friendly manner. Previously, the Recipient successfully designed, constructed, and operated a pilot scale rare earth processing facility that uses conventional approaches to extract and recover rare earth elements (REEs). Operational data from this facility has demonstrated the ability to successfully produce rare earth oxide (REO) concentrates at grades exceeding 90% and at production rates of 10 to 100 g/day. It is currently being expanded to 110 kg/year. However, this facility does not have the capability to produce individually separated high purity REEs. Through this effort, the project team will deliver a pathway and research plan to apply advanced technologies for individually separated high purity rare earth and critical minerals production from coal-based sources and reduction to metal that will minimize environmental impact and reduce capital and operating expenses by more than 20% over conventional processes while delivering at a minimum the following rare earths and critical minerals: (REEs) Y, Pr, Nd, Gd, Dy, and Sm of greater than 99.5% purity, and (CMs) Co, Mn, Ga, Sr, Li, Ni, Zn, and Ge of greater than 90% purity.

The purpose of this field work proposal is to develop the underlying and translational science to establish processing-structure-properties relationships for coal-derived carbon fibers that will enable energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable processes for manufacturing carbon fibers with tunable properties. The project will address challenges associated with coal processing, variability in coal feedstocks, and scaling up carbon fiber manufacturing from the laboratory bench scale up to semi-production scale at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Carbon Fiber Technology Facility.

The objective of this project is to develop a technical research plan for defining and assessing the techno-economic viability of a tunable electrochemical pathway (TEP) for producing individually separated high-purity rare earth metals and critical minerals (CM) as industrially relevant CM compounds from lignite coals and combustion by-products originating from the Williston Basin. This project focuses on technology development that advances rare earth separation into ISHP materials and reduction to metals. Advanced ISHP and reduction to metals processes have the potential for reduced capital costs and operating expenses compared to conventional separation and metal reduction technologies such as solvent extraction and metallothermic reduction processes.

SRI International, in partnership with Baker Hughes, Trimeric Corporation, and OLI Systems, will design, fabricate, and test a highly efficient regeneration module capable of generating an ultra-lean solvent solution for capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from dilute sources such natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) flue gas at 95% or higher efficiency. SRI will redesign the regenerator unit of their existing bench-scale mixed salt process (MSP) unit that includes two adsorption modules and will optimize the overall flow configuration for minimum energy penalty. SRI’s MSP has been tested at large bench-scale (in U.S. Department of Energy [DOE]-funded project FE0012959) and has exhibited CO₂ capture from coal-fired power plant flue gas with greater than 90% efficiency, greater than 95% CO₂ product purity, and 1.8–2.2 MJ/kg CO₂ regeneration energy. SRI has developed the MSP to yield rate-enhanced absorption steps, reduced ammonia emissions, and a high-pressure CO₂ product. Other key advantages of the MSP include low heat of reaction; high loading of CO₂; high purity of dry CO₂; low sensitivity to impurities; low process cost; use of a non-degradable, low-cost, low carbon footprint solvent; and reduced water use. Key project tasks include advanced stripper design and modeling, stripper fabrication and installation into the existing bench-scale system at SRI, and operation of the stripper as a single unit and integrated unit under dynamic and steady-state conditions followed by a series of parametric tests. A process hazard and operability analysis (HAZOP) evaluation and techno-economic analysis (TEA) will also be completed. Testing will be conducted at an SRI host site using a simulated flue gas stream equivalent to approximately 10 kilowatt-electric (kWe). OLI will assist with integrated system and process modeling, Trimeric will assist in performing the TEA, and Baker Hughes is providing cost-share for the project.

The objective of this project is to develop a conceptual design of a process to extract, separate, recover, and purify germanium (Ge) and gallium (Ga) from lignite coal-derived mixed rare earth element (MREE) concentrates. The process will be integrated into the University of North Dakota (UND) rare earth extraction process and will be designed to co-produce Ge and Ga concentrates. The potential multiphase effort involves an integrated development that spans the entire supply chain that includes: feedstock sourcing, feedstock optimization, extraction/concentration/separation/refining, and product use in industrial applications. The scope of work for this project involves the development of an environmentally benign concept to produce Ge and Ga that is fully integrated with downstream applications and with the properties of the MREE species. The effort will involve the characterization of midstream feedstocks from UND’s bench and pilot facilities; identification of optimal methods to recover and refine Ge and Ga for industrial applications; development of process flow diagrams of the Ge/Ga final production; and performance of a market analysis to determine the resource needed to produce quantities of refined product.

The proposed project will develop an integrated technical research plan based on advanced processes for recovery, separation, and purification of mixed rare earth oxides (MREO) to enable mass production of rare earth metals (REM) from the phosphoric acid sludge feedstock resource. The research strategy involves pre-treatment of the sludge to recover both the valuable liquid phosphate fraction and rare earth element (REE)-containing solids, leaching of REEs from the solids, novel solvent extraction technology to separate REEs from the leaching solution, precipitation and calcination to obtain high-purity MREOs, followed by advanced separation to produce REMs in either individual or group forms.

The general objectives of this project are to develop concepts for rare earth metal (REE) and critical mineral (CM) production from coal and related resources and incorporate them into a technical research plan and an innovative process flow sheet that specifies new technology. The specific project objectives include (1) identification of targeted rare earth element (REE) and critical minerals (CM) market(s), annual production quantities, demand, and intermediate/end-use products, (2) identification of a targeted set of critical materials used in these markets/applications, and as the basis for development of proposed advanced purification, separation, and reduction to metals processes, (3) selection of feedstock and existing facilities for mixed rare earth oxides (MREO)/mixed rare earth salts (MRES) and CM production, (4) identification and preliminary assessment of a process for making independently separated high-purity (ISHP) rare earth oxides (REO)/rare earth salts (RES)/CM, (5) identification and preliminary assessment of an REM production process, (6) identification and preliminary assessment of a process for conversion of CM from pilot-scale facilities to industrial CM-compounds, and (7) development of a conceptual process flow diagram illustrating circuit integration for REM/CM production from coal related resources.

Success in this context will be defined by the potential viability of the flow diagram for the production of the desired purified REE/CM products as well as by the potential improvements in flow diagram over conventional technologies. The ultimate success will be defined in the long term by the implementation of new technologies that enable domestic production of needed high-purity REE/CM products from coal resources.

The overall objective of this project is to design, develop, and deploy innovative process technologies to produce salable rare earth metals and critical minerals from acid mine drainage (AMD) feedstocks to reduce our nation’s vulnerability to interruption by international competitors. In prior efforts, the project team has successfully developed and demonstrated technology to produce mixed rare earth oxides (REO) from raw AMD in an economically attractive and environmentally benign matter. The current effort seeks to extend the process technology development further downstream to include (1) the separation of at least five individual high purity REO and (2) the production of at least five high purity rare earth metals and alloys. In addition, the project will explore technology to synergistically produce at least five target critical minerals (CM) during the processing steps. The development activities of this project will focus on two novel technologies, namely task specific ionic liquid separation for rare earth elements (REE) and CM separation and carboxylate reduction for the production of individually separated high purity metals.

CORMETECH Inc., in collaboration with Middle River Power, Southern Company Services Inc., and Nooter/Eriksen will further develop, optimize, and bench-scale test a novel, lower-cost integrated process technology for point source capture (PSC) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) flue gas. Similar to Global Thermostat’s leading process for direct air capture (DAC), this novel PSC process employs a monolithic amine contactor to capture the CO₂, followed by steam-mediated thermal desorption and CO₂ collection, in a multi-bed cyclic process unit. The process, however, does not include vacuum for desorption to enhance scalability to large NGCC plants. The process will incorporate an oxide monolith + amine-structured contactor based on the benchmark poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) sorbent. Experimental measurements of material and process impacts on adsorption and oxidative stability under the relevant conditions will be coupled with various process and techno-economic models to inform the design and optimization. A bench-scale system will be operated continuously for at least one-month at the National Carbon Capture Center to validate that the PSC technology yields a minimum of 95% carbon capture efficiency with a 95% purity CO₂ product stream.

8 Rivers Capital, in partnership with Technip Energies, is conducting a pre-front-end engineering design (Pre-FEED) study for a new hydrogen production plant equipped with ⁸RH₂ technology to cost-effectively produce 100 million standard cubic feet per day of 99.97%-pure hydrogen and capture 90–99% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Three design cases implementing the subsystems and equipment of the ⁸RH₂ autothermal reforming technology and a CO₂ separation unit, with variations in the process, will be evaluated. The captured CO₂ (~600,000 tonnes/year) will be stored at Painter Reservoir Gas Complex in Evanston, Wyoming, and the hydrogen product will be converted to ammonia for rail export to California. The project will deliver a detailed engineering package to deliver a Class III (+/- 25%) estimate for the CO₂ capture process and a Class IV (+/- 35%) estimate for the Balance of Plant, producing a levelized cost of hydrogen for the three design cases, and will enable a follow-on FEED study to allow for plant construction in 2023 and full operations in 2026.

For this work, Semplastics will apply its materials technology to develop and test filament material suitable for use in a commercially available 3D printer, using two different kinds of coal waste. Several demonstration objects will be produced using the best filament formulation. Commercialization and performance modeling will be performed for the technology as a precursor to establishing a market for resulting products.

The main objective is to develop a lab-scale manufacturing process to fabricate filaments with high carbon content for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing use. Graphene particles derived from domestic U.S. coal wastes will be used as feedstock for filament development. The specific objectives are to (1) develop a coal-enhanced filament production technology to fabricate filament containing high loading of coal-derived graphene, (2) develop debinding and sintering post-processing to fabricate a fully carbon preform structure, (3) develop a composite material based on the fully carbon preform structure and explorationally evaluate composite properties as a potential alternative to carbon fiber composite, and (4) perform a full techno-economic analysis to assess the coal-enhanced filament potential for the fast-growing and high-value additive manufacturing and composite market.

General Electric Gas Power (GEGP), in collaboration with Linde Inc., Kiewit Engineering Group Inc., and Southern Company Services, will complete a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a "Generation 2" amine-based post-combustion carbon capture system integrated with an existing domestic natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant. It will be designed to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions with at least 95% efficiency. The project will have emphasis on optimized plant integration and performance, reduced carbon capture and storage (CCS) cost, and increased operability and flexibility to accommodate renewable power sources. The 18-month project will begin with various conceptual designs, with a down select leading to a single NGCC/CCS configuration. The project will focus on operability to include startup, shutdown, and a range of outputs and loads, which is critical to enable NGCC plants with CCS to complement renewable power sources. The project will conclude with a detailed design, assessment of technical viability across a real-world plant operating profile, techno-economic and life cycle analyses, and a business case assessment.

Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions Inc. (Wood EIS), in partnership with Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) and the University of Houston (UH), will execute and complete a front-end engineering design (FEED) of a post-combustion carbon capture system to separate more than 820,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the commercially operated Shell Chemicals Complex located in Deer Park, Texas. The project will utilize Shell’s CANSOLV technology to capture CO₂ emitted from the olefin units and a hydrotreater unit, reducing the overall facility CO₂ emissions by 95%. The project will result in a capital cost estimate consistent with Association of the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) Class 3, with an expected accuracy range of -10% to +30%. Additionally, the project team will prepare a Business Case Analysis; Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA); Life Cycle Analysis (LCA); Environmental, Health, and Safety (EH&S) risk assessment; Environmental Justice Analysis; and Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Outcomes Analysis.

Sustainable Energy Solutions LLC (SES) will partner with Chart Industries Inc., Eagle Materials Inc., and FLSmidth Inc. to advance the Cryogenic Carbon Capture™ (CCC) technology to engineering scale (30 tonnes of carbon dioxide [CO₂] captured/day). The project objectives are to design, build, and operate an engineering-scale plant with industrial post-process flue gas at the Eagle Materials/Central Plains Cement Plant in Sugar Creek, Missouri. The project goal is to demonstrate that the system captures more than 95% of the CO₂ from the flue gas slip stream and produces a CO₂ stream that is more than 95% pure. SES has completed thousands of hours of testing with their skid-scale (1-tonne CO₂/day) CCC system, achieving capture rates of 90–99.7% with high CO₂ purity (99+%).

The project will be executed in three phases to (1) design and size the major equipment for the process and finalize host site agreements and any required environmental or operational permits; (2) procure all equipment and construct and commission the engineering-scale system; and (3) operate the engineering-scale plant for at least two continuous months within a six-month testing period, followed by decommissioning and restoration of the host site. The project will continually update techno-economic and environmental, safety, and health analyses in parallel with the experimental work.

Calpine Texas CCUS Holdings LLC will team with Electricore Inc. to conduct a front-end engineering design (FEED) study on a modular, commercial-scale, post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) system to capture 95% of the total carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions (5 million tonnes per annum [MTPA]) from the flue gas generated at Calpine’s Deer Park Energy Center (DKEC)—a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant located in Deer Park, Texas. The PCC system will utilize Shell’s amine technology that has been tested at commercial scale for the capture of CO₂ from coal flue gas streams and exhibits low parasitic energy consumption, fast kinetics, and extremely low volatility. The project team will prepare commercial assessments, including a Business Case Analysis; Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA); Life Cycle Analysis (LCA); and an Environmental, Health, and Safety (EH&S) risk assessment. Additionally, the project will evaluate public policy considerations, including an Environmental Justice Analysis and an Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Outcomes Analysis.

ION Clean Energy Inc. (ION) and Calpine California CCUS Holdings LLC (Calpine) will perform a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a solvent-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system to be retrofitted onto Calpine’s Delta Energy Center (DEC), an existing natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power station located in Pittsburg, California. The project team, consisting of ION, Calpine, Sargent & Lundy, Siemens, Jacobs, Toshiba, and Hamon-Daltek, will perform design, engineering, and analysis work to develop an AACE Class 3 Capital Cost Estimate (-20 to +30% accuracy); an overall cost of capture; and an analysis on environmental, economic, and social impacts to the Pittsburg-Antioch area. The team will endeavor to decarbonize DEC by capturing 95% of the CO₂ emissions for geologic storage in the nearby Sacramento Basin. This CO₂ capture plant design effort will utilize ION’s ICE-21 solvent and will be designed to take full advantage of the solvent benefits, which include a smaller physical plant, reduced energy requirements, less solvent degradation, lower emissions, and lower capital costs relative to systems built with commercial benchmark solvents. With the information developed through this project, combined with discussions with commercial partners, Calpine will be able to make an informed decision whether to proceed with deploying CO₂ capture at DEC.

The overall objective of this project is to develop graphite materials (greater than 51% coal derived) for transportation and grid-scale energy storage applications utilizing a continuous engineered foaming process. Specific project objectives include conducting bench scale coal foaming and graphitization trials, electrochemical performance testing of coal derived graphite materials in coin cells, and application of computational tools to demonstrate coal derived graphite can be successfully utilized in energy storage applications. The best performing parameters will be translated to a prototype extruder to demonstrate a commercially viable pathway for coal derived graphite production to produce sufficient material to construct single cell batteries to evaluate performance under energy storage conditions. Information from the prototype-scale trials will be used to conduct more thorough techno-economic analyses to estimate coal-derived graphite manufacturing costs and assess market potential.

General Electric Research, in collaboration with TDA Research Inc. and University of South Alabama, will develop a design for a “Plastic Additive, Sorbent-Coated, Thermally Integrated Contactor for CO₂ capture (PLASTIC4CO2)” for post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture from natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant flue gas. The key objective is to demonstrate an integrated system of plastic additive contactor and sorbents to capture 95% of CO₂ from NGCC flue gas and demonstrate the potential for a 15% or greater reduction in the levelized cost of electricity compared to liquid amine technologies. Sorbents will be synthesized and integrated with an additively manufactured two-channel plastic contactor. One channel will be coated with the sorbent for CO₂ capture from flue gas, and the CO₂ will be desorbed via indirect heat from the second channel. The PLASTIC4CO2 system will be fabricated using lower density plastic materials to reduce the energy requirements for carbon capture and capital costs by 30% and 50%, respectively.

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) will design, retrofit, and test a dual solvent carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system on their existing 0.1-megawatt-thermal (MWth) bench-scale facility using natural gas-derived flue gas, augmented to match natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) CO₂ and oxygen (O₂) concentrations. The overall objective of the project is to develop a dual-loop CO₂ capture process (i.e., two solvent absorption/regeneration loops) for NGCC flue gas with 99+% CO₂ capture efficiency and a 50% reduction in capital cost (as compared to the National Energy Technology Laboratory [NETL] B31B case). The operating cost is offset with credits from negative CO₂ emissions and hydrogen (H₂) production. The project will involve system design and installation, parametric testing to determine optimal parameters to achieve high capture efficiency, and long-term evaluation and accelerated life cycle testing to determine component stability, system performance variation upon load changes, and energy consumption optimization.

University of Wyoming will examine the economic impact of fossil energy production in Wyoming and provide various predictions for future energy mixes to achieve net-zero emissions. Specifically, the project will focus on critical aspects to reduce carbon emissions and facilitate the deployment of a clean hydrogen industry. Preliminary work suggests that Wyoming-based hydrogen production could have large economic benefits and job creation implications for Wyoming. The proposed study will further assess Wyoming’s opportunities to create decarbonized hydrogen-based industries, assess economic impacts, identify knowledge gaps and research needs, and create a Hydrogen Center of Excellence to accelerate commercialization and deployment.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) will complete a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for a commercial-scale carbon capture system that separates 95% of the total carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions at Holcim’s Ste. Genevieve cement plant in Missouri. The design will employ Air Liquide’s Cryocap™ technology that utilizes a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit to pre-concentrate the CO₂ in the feed stream combined with a cryogenic unit to produce a high-purity CO₂ product stream. The captured CO₂ will be stored at a site near the Prairie State Generating Company power plant in Illinois within 80 miles of the CO₂ source. UIUC will provide overall project management and will perform the techno-economic and life cycle analyses, business case analysis, and preliminary economic revitalization and job creation outcomes analysis. Air Liquide will develop the design basis and the inside battery limits (ISBL) design, and will also perform the hazard and operability (HAZOP) study. Kiewit will coordinate with Air Liquide for the ISBL design, perform the outside battery limits (OSBL) design, and lead the constructability review and cost assessment. Visage Energy will be responsible for the environmental justice analysis. Lastly, host site Holcim (United States) will provide support in the form of site data and participate in engineering design decisions pertaining to host site and capture plant integration.

The proposed project will validate an approach to make high-grade graphite from North Dakota lignite coal and lignite coal waste and to fabricate and test a fast-chargeable (FC) lithium-ion battery (LIB) anode prototype made from the produced graphite. Two pathways for coal-derived graphite will be pursued for comparative purposes: 1) lignite coal waste-to-graphite method and 2) lignite coal tar pitch-to-graphite method. The graphite made from each process will be further functionalized and utilized to fabricate and test a FC LIB anode prototype.

The objective of this project is to develop carbonizable, coal-enhanced filaments that can be used in commercial fused deposition modeling (FDM) printers to manufacture articles for construction, tooling, and metals-casting industries. Coal-enhanced filament formulation and filament 3D printing trials with commercial FDM printers will be conducted to quantify both filament and printed article properties. Thermal processing of printed materials will also be investigated to generate carbonized products for a host of commercial applications. Computational tools including molecular dynamic simulation and finite element analysis will be utilized to investigate coal-enhanced filament processing chemistry and predict bulk mechanical and thermal properties of printed materials to aid product design. Process simulations will be developed and validated using bench-scale information to support techno-economic and market analyses to identify required selling prices and resources necessary to scale and commercialize coal-enhanced filament materials.

The University of Kentucky Research Foundation (UKRF) will team with Electric Power Research Institute, Emerson Cornerstone Controls, and Nucor Steel Gallatin to perform engineering-scale testing of an existing (3 tonne CO₂/day for 1.5 vol% CO₂ gas stream) pilot CO₂ capture system (CCS) at the Nucor Steel Gallatin Plant, treating evolved gas from a steel galvanizing line. UKRF will employ two process-intensification techniques, previously proven at the bench scale, and a model-based, feed-forward process control strategy with in-line solvent performance characterization, to demonstrate 95% or greater carbon capture efficiency and 95% product CO₂ purity under actual flue gas conditions. In a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project, the capture technology was tested for more than 8,000 hours at a coal-fired generating power plant with flue gas containing greater than 10% by volume CO₂ concentration. In this project, the existing capture system will be relocated from the E.W. Brown Generating Station to the Nucor Gallatin Steel Plant in Ghent, Kentucky, for field testing at an industrial facility.

In the first year of the project, the existing unit will be reconfigured and a detailed plan for relocation and retrofit will be prepared. A hazard and operability (HAZOP) evaluation will be performed and an initial Technology Maturation Plan (TMP) will be developed. In the second year, the system will be relocated, installed, and commissioned at the Nucor Gallatin host site and a test plan will be developed. In the third year, parametric and long-term test campaigns will be conducted. The performance data will be used to perform a techno-economic analysis (TEA) and an environmental health and safety (EH&S) risk assessment.

Negative CO₂ Emission Transition Roadmap (NECTAR) will be a decision support tool for expansion planning for decarbonization. NETL’s Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES) will be used to quantitatively evaluate how direct air capture and carbon storage (DACCS) should be coupled with primary heat sources. Carbon Solutions LLC’s SIMCCSPRO™ software will be used to determine CO₂ pipeline networks that optimally connect sources of CO₂ to sequestration locations. The Electric Power Research Institute’s U.S. Regional Economy, Greenhouse Gas, and Energy (US-REGEN) Model, an economy-wide expansion planning model, will also be used in NECTAR. A data visualization interface will be developed to allow users to try out and optimize various process-, region-, and systems-level parameters. The target end users are utilities and regulators.

The project team will implement the Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Separation (HHS) process that was developed at Virginia Tech for reducing mineral deposits in coal. The research and development will focus on cleaning low, medium, and high rank coals and resulting waste-coal streams generated when cleaning coals via froth flotation. The objective is to clean waste coal to sufficient levels, thereby making it suitable for feedstock in high-value synthetic graphite processes. Touchstone will determine coal candidates based upon degree of graphitization, high capacity for ash impurity reduction via HHS, and demonstration that the cleaned waste-coal feedstock can be successfully molded and graphitized to meet application requirements and specifications through test and validation. An objective is to transition the HHS coal-derived graphite technology processes from laboratory-scale proof of concept to pilot system validation in a relevant environment.

The main objective of this study is to manufacture a suite of selected parts using traditional polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and coal-enhanced PEEK, baselining and comparing overall performance. Graphene oxide will be developed from coal char and will be incorporated into PEEK to broaden its applicability. Goals of the project include identifying how the graphene oxide can be sufficiently distributed into PEEK and test the coal-enhanced PEEK properties on product life and performance to further the supply chain using additive manufacturing.

This project will include the development of a coal-enhanced PEEK filament, investigation of the printability of the coal enhanced filament in a commercially available 3D printer, and printing in a fused deposition modeling (FDM) modality. Prototype parts will be tested to quantify the properties of the new filament.

In preparation for the widespread implementation of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) for hot gas path applications within hydrogen turbines, the Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management seeks to encourage the development of process intelligence for CMCs operating at surface temperatures in excess of 1500ºC, for extended periods of time in hydrogen-rich environments. CMCs are a new class of composite materials, but their application in hydrogen turbines is sure to raise new technical challenges that have, so far, not been of concern to other domains where CMCs are considered. To address anticipated shortcomings with hydrogen powered gas turbines, research is needed to design, model and test alternative interphase coatings and Environmental Barrier Coatings for the intended conditions. To this end, Free Form Fibers (FFF) and Materials Research and Design (MR&D) will implement a combined CIME-experimental approach leading to a CMC engineered for hydrogen turbines. FFF has unique capabilities to produce micro- composite samples with custom made interphase coatings while MR&D has a proven history of modeling material behavior.

In this project, a novel sorption technology which leverages a metal organic framework will be developed to recover critical materials from produced water through analysis, lab-scale fabrication, and testing. Test data will be used to optimize the process design and determine the technical and economic feasibility of the innovation. The project includes material synthesis and characterization, demonstration of the novel sorption technology, and development of a preliminary full-scale design with techno-economic assessment (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA).

In this project, Li will be selectively recovered from produced water using a liquid-liquid solvent extraction process, employing selectively functionalized ionic liquids as solvents. The extraction behavior will be analyzed as a function of various parameters including produced water dilution, acidity, temperature, ionic liquid type, and the addition of co-solvents. The extraction efficiencies obtained in these studies will be benchmarked against a traditional solvent used in metal ion extraction. In addition, the efficiency of Li extraction using the ionic liquid and the recyclability of the ionic liquid itself will be studied.

Thermisoln LLC, in partnership with the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, is working to develop a switchable-hydrophilicity solvent (SHS)-based absorption process that can energy-efficiently capture and fixate carbon dioxide (CO₂) from point sources of carbon emissions at the same time. The process enables the upcycling of gypsum wastes and could achieve at least 90% CO₂ capture efficiency from flue gas without increasing the total cost of electricity by more than 35%. In Phase I, the team demonstrated the technical viability of the technology. Phase II will have the following five key components (with major emphasis on the last one): (1) further development and improvement of a gas-liquid impinging scrubber, (2) design of a powerful decanter for efficient separation of oil phase from related emulsions, (3) design of a CO₂ desorber for rapid CO₂ desorption at temperatures less than 65°C, (4) mitigation of solvent volatile loss, and (5) system integration and process intensification. An integrated prototype comprising all the key units will be built and tested in-house at bench scale to demonstrate the techno-economic advantages over other alternative carbon capture technologies.

Advanced Cooling Technologies Inc. (ACT) and Lehigh University (LU) are developing a novel acid/base ion-exchange direct air capture (DAC) process during this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. This system is unique because sorbent regeneration can be driven by either a low-grade heat source (industrial waste heat or geothermal) or an electrically derived weak base solution. During Phase I, the project team demonstrated carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture rates of greater than 90%, with thermal regeneration of the sorbent occurring at temperatures as low as approximately 50°C. The DAC system uses widely available commercial adsorbent resins, which reduce cost and help alleviate supply constraints. The system design and layout allow it to scale easily and be implemented as a modular system, minimizing manufacturing and deployment costs.

During Phase II, ACT and LU will develop the individual system-level components required for scaling the technology. After demonstrating the operation of these components and sub-systems, an integrated sub-scale test bed will demonstrate system operation across dozens of capture and regeneration cycles. The project team will use the data from these test bed cycles to refine their full-scale system models.

The BIL requests development of a program to help identify and characterize undocumented orphaned wells (UOWs), “conduct research and development activities in cooperation with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) to assist the Federal land management agencies, States, and Indian Tribes in identifying and characterizing undocumented orphaned wells.” To begin developing this program, the DOE, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and IOGCC, is creating a research consortium that will consist of five national laboratories including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The consortium will leverage institutional knowledge and existing processes, as well as fundamental and applied science expertise, to undertake the primary objectives as defined in the BIL, focusing specifically on undocumented orphaned oil and gas wells. Research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) for this program will be aimed at finding and characterizing UOWs and determining the physical locations, methane emissions, wellbore integrity, and other environmental impacts of those wells so they can be prioritized for plugging and abandoning activities by State and Federal agencies. This program will focus on UOWs in multiple basins and involves private, State, Tribal, and Federal lands. The proposed approach to this program includes (1) enabling collaboration with oil and gas producing states through IOGCC and the DOI Federal agencies to assess technology needs, (2) determining critical barriers and developing necessary technologies (which may vary by region), and (3) testing and demonstrating these new technology solutions in partnership with Federal agencies (e.g., BLM, U.S. Geological Survey [USGS], National Forest Service [NFS], and others) and the oil and gas producing states through the IOGCC and Tribal lands.

The BIL requests development of a program to help identify and characterize undocumented orphaned wells (UOWs), “conduct research and development activities in cooperation with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) to assist the Federal land management agencies, States, and Indian Tribes in identifying and characterizing undocumented orphaned wells.” To begin developing this program, the DOE, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and IOGCC, is creating a research consortium that will consist of five national laboratories including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The consortium will leverage institutional knowledge and existing processes, as well as fundamental and applied science expertise, to undertake the primary objectives as defined in the BIL, focusing specifically on undocumented orphaned oil and gas wells. Research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) for this program will be aimed at finding and characterizing UOWs and determining the physical locations, methane emissions, wellbore integrity, and other environmental impacts of those wells so they can be prioritized for plugging and abandoning activities by State and Federal agencies. This program will focus on UOWs in multiple basins and involves private, State, Tribal, and Federal lands. The proposed approach to this program includes (1) enabling collaboration with oil and gas producing states through IOGCC and the DOI Federal agencies to assess technology needs, (2) determining critical barriers and developing necessary technologies (which may vary by region), and (3) testing and demonstrating these new technology solutions in partnership with Federal agencies (e.g., BLM, U.S. Geological Survey [USGS], National Forest Service [NFS], and others) and the oil and gas producing states through the IOGCC and Tribal lands.

The BIL requests development of a program to help identify and characterize undocumented orphaned wells (UOWs), “conduct research and development activities in cooperation with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) to assist the Federal land management agencies, States, and Indian Tribes in identifying and characterizing undocumented orphaned wells.” To begin developing this program, the DOE, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and IOGCC, is creating a research consortium that will consist of five national laboratories including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The consortium will leverage institutional knowledge and existing processes, as well as fundamental and applied science expertise, to undertake the primary objectives as defined in the BIL, focusing specifically on undocumented orphaned oil and gas wells. Research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) for this program will be aimed at finding and characterizing UOWs and determining the physical locations, methane emissions, wellbore integrity, and other environmental impacts of those wells so they can be prioritized for plugging and abandoning activities by State and Federal agencies. This program will focus on UOWs in multiple basins and involves private, State, Tribal, and Federal lands. The proposed approach to this program includes (1) enabling collaboration with oil and gas producing states through IOGCC and the DOI Federal agencies to assess technology needs, (2) determining critical barriers and developing necessary technologies (which may vary by region), and (3) testing and demonstrating these new technology solutions in partnership with Federal agencies (e.g., BLM, U.S. Geological Survey [USGS], National Forest Service [NFS], and others) and the oil and gas producing states through the IOGCC and Tribal lands.

Recent growth in oil and gas production through fracking has increased the amount of generated wastewater, known as produced water, that requires treatment in order to meet environmental regulations. Wastewater treatment processes may employ several types of membranes, including microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), and nanofiltration (NF). The main difference in these processes is the solute size that can be separated from the wastewater stream. For example, while typical UF membranes have pore sizes of 10–100 nm and are used to remove proteins, organic acids, oil emulsions, microbes, and viruses from wastewater, NF membranes with 1–5 nm pore sizes can separate monovalent and multivalent ions based on the charge and size. In this project, a multistage NF process leveraging NF membranes with different pore sizes will be employed to separate Li and Mg salts from one another as well as from other species present in produced water.

The BIL requests development of a program to help identify and characterize undocumented orphaned wells (UOWs), “conduct research and development activities in cooperation with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) to assist the Federal land management agencies, States, and Indian Tribes in identifying and characterizing undocumented orphaned wells.” To begin developing this program, the DOE, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and IOGCC, is creating a research consortium that will consist of five national laboratories including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The consortium will leverage institutional knowledge and existing processes, as well as fundamental and applied science expertise, to undertake the primary objectives as defined in the BIL, focusing specifically on undocumented orphaned oil and gas wells. Research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) for this program will be aimed at finding and characterizing UOWs and determining the physical locations, methane emissions, wellbore integrity, and other environmental impacts of those wells so they can be prioritized for plugging and abandoning activities by State and Federal agencies. This program will focus on UOWs in multiple basins and involves private, State, Tribal, and Federal lands. The proposed approach to this program includes (1) enabling collaboration with oil and gas producing states through IOGCC and the DOI Federal agencies to assess technology needs, (2) determining critical barriers and developing necessary technologies (which may vary by region), and (3) testing and demonstrating these new technology solutions in partnership with Federal agencies (e.g., BLM, U.S. Geological Survey [USGS], National Forest Service [NFS], and others) and the oil and gas producing states through the IOGCC and Tribal lands.

The University of North Dakota (UND) will use the first six months to assess the retrofit repowering options at three existing waste coal-fired plant locations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The purpose of this initial investigation is to provide a quick-reference tool to size different units depending on the feedstock availability and composition. Subsequently, UND will complete two Techno-economic analysis (TEA)s, one for a retrofitted waste coal power plant facility and another for a greenfield waste coal facility. Each of these facilities will include a carbon capture system. A life cycle analysis (LCA) will be conducted jointly with the other tasks to help guide decision making regarding feedstock composition, plant logistics, and critical carbon-related cradle-to-grave considerations.

The overall goal of this project is to conduct a scoping study and university-wide self-assessment to evaluate how the Recipient’s current capabilities, expertise, personnel, and facilities/equipment align with Department of Energy (DOE) Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) goals (particularly decarbonization).

The primary project goal is to identify optimal biomass/torrefied biomass and coal refuse cofiring ratios to produce carbon-neutral or carbon-negative power generation from co-fired power plants. Specific goals are to develop a technoeconomic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) of a biomass/torrefied biomass and coal refuse co-fired power plant. Objectives are to examine heat and mass balances for coal refuse and biomass cofiring scenarios; evaluate levelized cost of electricity (LCOE); assess environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions; and identify the effects of torrefaction and pelleting on the performance, cost, and environmental impacts of various cofiring ratios. The team will produce novel data on this method to achieve carbon-neutral or carbon-negative power generation using coal refuse and low-carbon biomass/torrefied biomass.

AirCapture LLC, in partnership with OCO Inc. and the University of Alabama, will execute and complete a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for an integrated direct air capture (DAC) and carbon conversion system (i.e., a direct air capture utilization and storage [DACUS] system) co-located at a Nutrien nitric acid production facility in Kennewick, WA. The DACUS design will be capable of capturing and converting a minimum of 5,000 tonnes/year net atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) to low carbon intensity formic acid using industrial waste heat and renewable electricity. The project will develop a Class 3 cost estimate for the DACUS system that maximizes the use of thermal energy from the Nutrien Kennewick Fertilizer Operations (KFO) host site to produce low carbon intensity formic acid from atmospheric CO₂. The project team will also perform a cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis of the DACUS system to determine the environmental sustainability and carbon intensity of the project and product. The project will leverage the results of the FEED study to quantify how deployment of the technology will promote and prepare a ready workforce for clean energy and manufacturing jobs and coordinate with community stakeholders to perform an environmental justice analysis and a preliminary economic revitalization and job creation outcomes analysis.

The University of Utah and Idaho National Laboratory researchers will demonstrate the feasibility of sorption-enhanced biomass gasification for production of hydrogen (H₂)-rich syngas in a dual fluidized bed (DFB) reactor operating under industrially relevant conditions. In this project, waste biomass will be homogenized and prepared to ensure reliable feed to a DFB process development unit (PDU). The PDU will be operated as a conventional DFB gasifier with olivine bed material, then as sorption-enhanced gasification (SEG) by adding limestone to the bed material and, finally, as an oxy-SEG by fluidizing the combustor with an oxygen/carbon dioxide (CO₂) mix. Complementary lab-scale studies will provide rate data that will feed into computational models of the gasifier and overall process. The SEG approach will simplify production of H₂ from biomass and will advance clean hydrogen production technology toward the goal of achieving $1/kg H₂. Specific research objectives include (1) demonstrating that waste biomass can be pre-processed with and without additives to affect SEG, (2) understanding and modeling fundamental processes and chemistry associated with SEG, (3) evaluating SEG performance and syngas quality in a small-scale gasifier over a range of industrially relevant conditions, and (4) demonstrating oxy-SEG to produce separate H₂- and CO₂-rich streams.

GE Research, in collaboration with GE Aviation, University of Michigan, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, and University of Central Florida, will design, fabricate, and demonstrate operation of a rotating detonation combustor (RDC) at 7FA cycle conditions while integrated with upstream and downstream turbomachinery components. The project team will study the integrated system performance when operating over a range of natural gas and hydrogen fuel blends. RDC operation has been extensively studied at low-pressure operating conditions and without the presence of representative inlet and exit engine components. Therefore, the impact on performance and operability of the coupled components that represent the integrated gas turbine system is largely unknown. Furthermore, the performance impact of this coupled system at realistic gas turbine cycle conditions is also not well understood. This project will focus on studying the interactions between the RDC and the inlet air compressor/diffuser components and the interaction between the RDC and the downstream turbine inlet section.

Clarkson University, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Madison, will develop a potentially transformational approach to produce low-cost carbon-neutral hydrogen (H₂) from biomass gasification by using H₂-selective membrane-assisted water-gas shift reactors (MAWGS). In this approach, H₂ is produced from the WGS reaction and simultaneously separated from the mixture gas without undergoing other treatments that remove pollutants and separate it. The key goal for the realization and development of this technology is the synthesis of a reliable H₂-selective membrane material with long-term stability and high permeability and selectivity. For this purpose, ternary alloys of Pd-Ag-Au membranes will be considered due to the unique characteristics of the three metals. In particular, palladium (Pd) is completely selective toward H₂; gold (Au) is resistant to the poisoning contaminants contained in the exhaust gas stream, such as hydrogen sulfide (H₂S); and silver (Ag) increases the permeability and decreases the membrane cost. In this project, several alloys of Pd-Au-Ag deposited on porous support will be synthesized. The alloyed membranes will then be characterized and their performance will be evaluated by carrying out permeation tests with single gases, binary mixtures, and multicomponent mixtures. The alloy(s) showing the highest selectivity and permeability and long-term stability will be scaled-up and tested by using a synthetic exhaust gas feed stream at temperatures and pressures relevant for the stream coming from the gasification plant. Several parameters will be optimized to obtain homogenous, thin, continuous, and stable alloy films on the support. The experimental results will be input into process models and used for the life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis to determine the best option for the location of the MAWGS in the modular gasification process, to understand the environmental impact of the process, and to evaluate the ability of the MAWGS technology to provide a pathway to achieving the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) goal of $1 for 1 kg of produced H₂.

Raytheon Technologies Research Center (RTRC) and project partner University of Connecticut (UConn) will develop and demonstrate an ammonia combustor for power-generating turbines. The project team will generate fundamental and engineering data for ammonia combustion at gas turbine-relevant conditions and apply this learning to tailor existing rich-staged technology for the low-nitrogen oxide (NO_X) combustion of ammonia. The project will culminate in high-pressure, full-temperature testing of a single-injector gas turbine burner using ammonia fuel at RTRC. Ammonia combustion data will be acquired at both RTRC and UConn using well-suited and existing high-pressure flame facilities. RTRC and UConn will also collaborate on developing chemical kinetic understanding from the data for the prediction of ammonia combustor performance and NO_X emissions.

This project will focus on assembling a material inventory that includes mixed waste plastics, biomass, and legacy coal wastes, and develop a procedure for sample processing, analysis, chain of custody, and quality assurance. The Recipient will design and assemble a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system for detection and quantification of material samples under both static and dynamic conditions (e.g., material flow on a small-scale research conveyor belt) and optimize this measurement technique to develop an analytical database. Machine learning algorithms for LIBS data processing will be utilized to provide improvement in measurement accuracy of the proposed LIBS technique for parameters of interest and throughput corresponding to on-line measurements, reducing future feedstock sampling, and analysis requirements. A techno-economic analysis of the proposed technology will be performed to assess the benefit of incorporating the proposed system on upgraded operational protocols and control schemes of gasifiers for hydrogen production.

West Virginia University Research Corporation (WVURC) will develop a process intensified two-stage bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasifier for hydrogen production from biomass. As shown in the accompanying figure, WVURC will design and build a BFB gasifier system integrated with a membrane separator and pre-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system with syngas recycle. Additionally, the team will: (1) develop and use a multifunctional catalyst to enhance the reaction rates of biomass reforming, tar cracking, and water gas shift functions, (2) develop the membrane based on carbon molecular sieves (CMS) for hydrogen separation, and (3) design rigorous unit level and plant level process models that will be used to both optimize the process and develop the techno-economic analysis (TEA). The overall goal of the project is to reduce the costs of hydrogen production by developing a modular and highly efficient and intensified gasification system with significantly less equipment items than traditional systems.

The major objectives of this project are to (1) estimate the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of pulverized coal/waste coal-biomass co-firing power plants with deep carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) using liquid solvents for 95−99% CO₂ capture, including the quantification of variability and uncertainty; (2) determine the breakeven co-firing level of biomass required to achieve net-zero GHG emissions and its dependence on key factors on a life cycle basis; and (3) quantify bounding conditions for the techno-economic performance of net-zero power production in deterministic and probabilistic forms.

To achieve these objectives, this project proposes an integrated systems analysis framework that combines techno-economic analysis for CCUS-enabled power production with life cycle analysis and quantifies the variability and uncertainty of net-zero energy production at multiple levels. The proposed modeling framework will be incorporated into the Integrated Environmental Control Model, a power plant modeling tool developed by Carnegie Mellon University in previous research for NETL, as new modules or options.

TDA Research is partnering with Membrane Technology and Research Inc. (MTR) and Schlumberger to develop a transformational polymer sorbent-based microwave assisted thermal swing adsorption (MTSA) process that captures more than 95% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant, recovering CO₂ at 95%. TDA’s system uses a highly stable, high-capacity functionalized mixed matrix polymer (MMP) sorbent that will be manufactured into a structure with well-defined size flow channels to achieve a very low pressure drop through the sorbent bed. The regeneration of the sorbent is carried out using a thermal swing of only 30°C, which allows a short cycle duration and increases sorbent utilization (i.e., achieving a high CO₂ capture per tonne of material per hour, reducing the equipment size and capital cost). The sorbent will be prepared in the form of sheets (laminates) instead of pellets, which also significantly reduces the mass and heat transfer distances, resulting in complete thermal cycling of the sorbent in less than 30 minutes (full-cycle time). The system will also use directed microwave energy to assist with the rapid heating of the bed, reducing the heat requirement. MTR will fabricate the sorbent sheets/laminates in 1-by-1-foot-size, which will then be integrated with a microwave heater. The resulting bench-scale sorbent reactor module will be evaluated at TDA using simulated NGCC flue gas. Schlumberger and GE Gas Power will assist with assessing the technical and commercial viability of the technology for capturing CO₂ from NGCC flue gas.

Raytheon Technologies Research Center (RTRC) and Pratt & Whitney (P&W) will develop a retrofittable combustor module for the FT4000 aeroderivative power generation gas turbine engine to enable efficient operation using hydrogen as a carbon-free fuel source. The FT4000 combustor was developed by P&W, RTRC, and PW Power Systems (PWPS) with core technology from the proven P&W PW4000™ turbo-fan engine. The FT4000 provides efficient, reliable peaking and baseload power with a relatively compact footprint. The overall goal of the project is to develop and test the burner of the FT4000 for 100% hydrogen fuel operation. The project objectives are to:

1. Determine the limits of hydrogen content in natural gas that can be safely fired in the current FT4000 fuel nozzle/burner and identify situations in which the operability and durability of the combustor and fuel nozzle are compromised by issues such as flameholding internal to the fuel nozzle.
2. Conceptualize design elements that either help separate the flame from the burner surface or provide sufficient cooling for full life operation and test the design elements in high-temperature rigs to evaluate their effectiveness.
3. Redesign the FT4000 fuel nozzle/burner for hydrogen fuel such that it fits in the current FT4000 envelope.
4. Test the redesigned fuel nozzle at full engine temperatures and pressures to measure its performance on hydrogen with respect to operability, durability, and nitrogen oxide (NO_X) emissions.

This collaborative project seeks to develop distributed fiber sensors to perform real-time temperature and hydrogen concentration measurements to improve hydrogen production and energy efficiency for waste plastics gasification processes. Sensors to be developed by this project can be inserted into gasification reactors to perform in-situ real-time temperature and hydrogen concentration measurements inside feedstocks to achieve improved spatial resolution. Working with project partners, this project will perform distributed temperature and hydrogen sensors studies using an experimental gasification reactor to understand various gasification feedstocks and reaction conditions. Based on these results, the research team will demonstrate a sensor-enabled gasification optimization process to improve hydrogen production and reduce harmful chemical generation.

The goal of the project is to prevent negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts of coal waste (coal ash and tailings) by developing an aerial robot-enabled inspection and monitoring system of active and abandoned coal ash and tailings storage facilities. The first objective of this project is the development of a programmable drone, equipped with several complementary sensors, that will autonomously inspect several structures of a storage facility. The second objective of this project is to create artificial intelligence-based hazard detection algorithms that will use multispectral and georeferenced images (i.e., thermal and visual) and 3D Point Clouds data collected by an autonomous drone to detect hazards in the storage facility structure that would indicate uncontrolled leakage to the environment or lead to the potential failure of the structure.

The University of Illinois, in partnership with Visage Energy, CarbonCapture Inc., Ecotek Engineering, U.S. Steel Corporation, Ozinga, and CarbonCure Technologies, will execute and complete a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study of a direct air capture, utilization, and storage (DACUS) system that is capable of removing a minimum of 5,000 tonnes/year net carbon dioxide (CO₂) from air (based on cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis [LCA]) and utilizing the CO₂ to produce low-carbon intensity ready-mix concrete. The DACUS will consist of CarbonCapture’s DAC system and CarbonCure’s CO₂ utilization technology. The waste heat utilized by the DAC system will be supplied by U.S. Steel’s Gary Works located in Gary, Indiana, and the CO₂ will be used by the CarbonCure technology installed at multiple Ozinga concrete facilities. The project will also complete a Business Case Analysis (BCA), Technology Maturation Plan (TMP), LCA, Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Analysis, Environmental Justice Analysis, Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Outcomes Analysis, and Workforce Readiness Plan.

The University of Illinois, in partnership with Climeworks, Visage Energy, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will execute and complete a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study of an advanced direct air capture (DAC) system that is capable of removing and storing 5,000 tonnes/year of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air based on cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The DAC system will be co-located with an existing (retrofit) geothermal plant in Brawley, California for utilization of the thermal energy for DAC operation. The DAC system consists of an adsorption-desorption process to remove CO₂ from ambient air by using a selective filter. The project team will complete the FEED study, including a detailed cost estimate, a Business Case Analysis (BCA), Technology Maturation Plan (TMP), LCA, Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Analysis, Environmental Justice Analysis, Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Outcomes Analysis, and Workforce Readiness Plan.

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and team members Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), University of Central Florida (UCF) and Combustion Research and Flow Technologies, Inc. (CRAFT Tech) will perform an in-depth evaluation of ammonia as a zero-carbon fuel for power generation. The project goal will be achieved through an iterative physics-, computational-, and experimental approach resulting in the design of two pilot combustors validated through testing conducted under gas turbine conditions. The project objectives are to: 1) Establish the foundational aspects of the physics of combustion of ammonia and ammonia-hydrogen mixtures through literature search, analyses, modeling and experiments under gas turbine operating conditions; 2) Use the resulting modeling reaction kinetics data to establish reduced reaction mechanisms, including nitrogen oxides (NOx) formation, and apply them to update a commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code to support the design of one or more prototypic gas turbine combustors; and, 3) Use the anchored code and combustion knowledge to design a scaled up burner and a representative scaled test article system, fabricate and test the article to confirm combustion system performance and emissions, and validate model and emissions estimates.

The University of North Dakota and project partner Envergex LLC will develop a novel process-intensified and modular Combined Hydrogen, Heat, and Power (CH₂P) production technology, targeting commercial scales of 5–10 megawatt-electric (MWe) equivalent. The process technology integrates a novel adaptation of the state-of-the-art steam-iron process to produce high-purity hydrogen (H₂) and a compression-ready carbon dioxide (CO₂) stream from the gasification of biomass and biomass blends, enabling significant progress toward achieving the target cost for clean H₂ of $1/kg.

The process addresses the challenges to small-scale modular H₂ production by:

1. The use of a novel, iron-based material with multi-functionality (oxygen carrier material [OCM]) that combines syngas purification, H₂ production, and CO₂ separation (process intensification).
2. Adopting a commercially available, low-cost, modular bed gasification system patented by Singularity Energy Technologies and known as the Sandwich™ Gasifier, specifically designed for variable quality feedstocks.
3. Tightly integrating the gasification process and synthesis gas conversion process for a feed conversion rate of 25–50 tonnes/day.

The Research Foundation for State University of New York (SUNY) on behalf of University at Buffalo will develop a process-intensified gasification system for economically viable, modular hydrogen (H₂) production from waste biomass using catalytic membrane reactors (CMR) based on carbon molecular sieve (CMS) hollow fiber membranes (HFMs). Specifically, the CMR will be developed to selectively remove H₂ during the high-temperature water-gas shift (WGS) reaction to circumvent thermodynamic limitations on the conversion of carbon monoxide (CO) to carbon dioxide (CO₂) and H₂. Technical objectives include: (1) developing high-performance CMRs based on thermally stable, processible polymer-derived CMS membranes, (2) designing and preparing new multicomponent CO2-tolerant nano-catalysts for WGS reaction using a unique flame-based aerosol process , (3) developing CMR and HFM models, and (4) producing a techno-economic analysis (TEA) of the biomass gasification process incorporating the membrane reactor technology. The endpoint of the program will be a 200-hour continuous test of the optimized CMRs for achieving high CO conversion at high temperatures and a roadmap for technology demonstration, deployment, and commercialization.

Constellation Energy, in collaboration with 1PointFive Inc., Worley Group Inc., Carbon Engineering Ltd., University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), will perform a front-end engineering design (FEED) study to facilitate a future investment decision in a potential direct air capture (DAC) project by validating the commercial case for utilizing nuclear energy to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. Specifically, the FEED study will integrate Carbon Engineering LLC’s DAC technology into Constellation’s Byron Generating Station (BGS) in Illinois, with waste heat thermal and electrical integration. The expected amount of net carbon removed from the atmosphere is 250,000 tonnes/year and the CO₂ captured from the atmosphere will be transported by pipeline to an underground geologic formation in Illinois for permanent storage.

The project’s purpose is to determine how well the use of hybrid heating (gas and electric) technologies in multifamily and single-family households enables reduced gas system peak-hour and peak-day usage to alleviate gas system constraints. Using a hybrid heating approach, National Grid will seek to overcome customer comfort and safety barriers that normally occur when curtailing gas demand during extreme cold events. The proposed pilot expands upon the existing successful gas demand response programs (“DR” or “gas DR”) National Grid operates, using electric heating technology to expand the market potential of gas DR. The project will test two representative technologies — window units and radiator covers — and integrate them with advanced/smart control systems to validate the utility of gas DR programs.

Washington University in St. Louis, in collaboration with Skyre Inc., will develop and demonstrate an innovative electrochemical hydrogen pump (EHP) technology that will significantly reduce the costs of clean hydrogen production, specifically from small-scale (5–50 MW) biomass gasification units. This cost reduction will be achieved through substantial process intensification by combining two energy-intensive process steps, namely hydrogen purification and compression, into a single step, and by replacing inefficient and scale-driven purification and compression units with a single modular electrochemical purifier/pump. The EHP utilizes a very small amount of electricity, theoretically on the order of 1 kWh/kg hydrogen (H₂), to simultaneously treat product gas from a standard water-gas shift reactor and selectively pump pure H₂ through an electrochemical cell to achieve high-purity (99.99%) and high-pressure (800 bar) H₂ for subsequent storage/utilization or pipeline injection. This results in substantial energy savings as compared to mechanical compression and traditional purification systems. The modular nature of these electrochemical cells enables utilization at similar efficiency at any gasification unit scale. The specific project objectives are to: (1) design, develop, and test critical custom EHP components for specific application to high-purity and high-pressure H₂ synthesis from biomass gasifier product gas; (2) demonstrate the optimal operation of a laboratory-scale EHP unit with 82 cm² cells and up to 10 cells in a stack to produce purified and compressed H₂ from a synthetic gasifier product gas, thereby advancing the technology from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to TRL 4; and (3) perform a techno-economic analysis (TEA) to quantify the potential cost savings associated with EHP implementation and make progress toward the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrogen Energy Earthshot goal of $1/kg H₂.

This project will quantitatively assess legacy coal mine sites in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and develop reclamation strategies for waste coal and biomass development with best management practices to reduce GHG emissions and achieve a regional decarbonized economy. Methods will include geospatial data analytics, machine-learning (ML)-assisted coal refuse pile estimation, and integrated ML-based techno-economic assessment (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). Outcomes include identification of the characteristics of legacy coal mine sites, strategies and best management practices of biomass development on legacy mined lands, a robust database and models of LCA for biomass development and the utilization of legacy mine waste materials, and integrated LCA and TEA data and impacts of the net-zero or net-negative pathways of biomass development and waste coal utilization.

Battelle Memorial Institute, partnering with AirCapture LLC, Southern Company, Carbonvert, the University of Alabama, and Sargent & Lundy, will provide a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a direct air capture (DAC) system co-located with Southern Company's Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant in Columbia, Alabama. The DAC system will be designed to capture at least 5,000 (and up to 20,000) net tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per year from ambient air. The technology consists of a polymeric amine sorbent on a commercially available monolith contactor substrate to capture CO₂ from ambient air. The two-step temperature vacuum swing adsorption process begins with moving air across an ultra-low pressure drop contactor that adsorbs the CO₂ from the incident air stream, followed by desorption of the CO₂ and regeneration of the sorbent using steam generated from waste heat. Integration of the system with an operational nuclear power plant facility will maximize the use of thermal energy from waste heat at the host nuclear plant. The captured CO₂ will be transported offsite for permanent geologic storage. The project team will prepare a balance-of-plant study, Technology Maturation Plan, Workforce Readiness Plan, project cost estimate, Business Case Analysis, life cycle analysis (LCA), environmental health and safety assessment, environmental justice analysis, and economic revitalization and job creation outcomes analysis.

General Electric Gas Power (GEGP) will develop and test a retrofittable F-Class staged combustor module with fuel capability ranging from 100% natural gas to levels up to 100% hydrogen (H₂). GEGP’s design will build upon the Micro Mixer (MM) and Axial Fuel Staging (AFS) technologies from the proven HA-Class combustion system. GEGP intends to design, manufacture, and test a 100% hydrogen capable AFS injector system to address flashback and other challenges associated with burning highly reactive hydrogen fuels. The project team will size the combustor module specifically for retrofit on F-class engines. GEGP plans testing to evaluate MM and AFS operating boundaries and screen for new operating modes.

The project objectives are to integrate satellite remote sensing, machine learning and image processing, geological engineering models, and soil science and plant pathology to: 1) identify potential leaching of metals from coal ash impoundments (Phase I), and 2) propose locally adaptable phytoextraction approaches to remediate contaminated regions (Phase II). The analyses will consider potentially contaminated areas surrounding coal combustion product impoundments of southern West Virginia, south-west Virginia, eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and North Carolina. The project will develop a locally adapted phytoremediation design including a database of phytoremediation potential of different hyperaccumulating plants, an environmental justice screening to prioritize areas with high environmental justice impact, and a machine learning informed model that outputs a ranked list of suggested plant species for each candidate site.

The overall objective of this project is to develop a modeling framework and identify the scenarios with net-zero or net-negative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and lower levelized cost of energy production (LCOE) for a waste coal and switchgrass co-fired power plant equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the Ohio River Valley.

The overall goal of this project is to combine experimental algal cultures with predictive quantum calculations to evaluate system-level Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) uptake and conversion efficiency of cellulose-producing Nannochloropsis species (sp.) algae. UCR will optimize Nannochloropsis salina (N. salina) cultures on effluent gas produced directly from cellulosic ethanol fermentation, characterize the fermentation products, quantify cellulose production, and calculate CO₂ uptake efficiency with predictive quantum calculations. UCR will conduct a life cycle and techno-economic analysis of the proposed integration informed by the results of testing.

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is conducting an R&D scoping study and university self-assessment to evaluate how the current capabilities, expertise, and facilities align with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) objectives. Gaps in capabilities and plans to better prepare UTRGV for potential future competitive solicitations focused on FECM-supported technologies will be considered.

The project will develop a student training and education plan to ensure that UTRGV's minority students are prepared to conduct R&D projects. Current academic courses and programs that align with FECM goals will be assessed in order to identify, describe, and develop additional student training. Aligned with this, partner institution Louisiana State University will provide support for student training, including a specialized course on decarbonization, to fill the gaps in UTRGV's curriculum in a timely manner. Throughout this project, the team will utilize underrepresented students at UTRGV to conduct the assessment study, while also providing them with specialized training to strengthen their research skills.

University of Utah researchers will demonstrate the technical feasibility of gasifying blends of biomass and high-volume waste materials to produce hydrogen and improve feedstock preparation and feeding to enhance gasifier performance and conversion. During this project, various slurried mixtures of coal, biomass liquid, and waste plastic oil will be prepared and gasified in a 1-ton/day pressurized, oxygen-blown entrained-flow gasifier to characterize the influence of operating conditions on reactor performance, carbon conversion, and syngas quality. Special attention will be given to the biomass and plastic liquefaction processes to minimize energy input, maximize product yield, and expand the range of usable waste materials to include agricultural waste. A new flexible fuel gasifier burner based on proven hot oxygen burner technology will be developed that will allow liquid slurries and gaseous feedstocks to be fed individually or in combination. Impurities in the syngas will be measured, and the suitability of the syngas for hydrogen production via water-gas shift will be evaluated. Specific objectives are to (1) develop customized bioliquids and plastic oils for gasifier feed; (2) create stable, pumpable slurries that maximize the concentration of waste materials; (3) design a second-generation hot oxygen burner to improve performance and fuel flexibility; and (4) acquire industrially relevant performance data for pressurized, oxygen-blown entrained-flow gasification of slurried blends of biomass and waste materials.

The Texas State University (TXST) Carbon Transport and Storage Program will conduct an R&D scoping study and institutional self-assessment to evaluate how the capabilities and expertise as well as facilities and equipment at TXST align with FECM’s goals.

The overall objective of this project is to significantly improve the temperature performance by at least 150° C of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials in high-hydrogen environments using field assisted sintering technology (FAST). FAST is a relatively new material synthesis technology that allows for novel materials to be processed at significantly shorter fabrication times by using high-density electrical currents to drive rapid, high-intensity heating.

The project objective will be achieved by the following methodology. FAST-derived CMCs in conjunction with advanced ceramic coatings will be developed to adapt to higher-temperature combustion with higher-humidity contents as a result of the high-hydrogen fuel. The fabricated samples will be tested at a range of combustor operating conditions with up to 100% hydrogen fuel to understand the impact of different CMC formulations and combustion gas environments on the material performance.

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and team members Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) will execute the early technological steps needed to develop a 5–50 megawatt electric (MWe) equivalent scale hydrogen (H₂) production plant that produces H₂ of 99% purity from the gasification of biomass, waste plastic, and municipal solid waste (MSW) feedstock blends. These early technological steps consist of understanding the chemical kinetics and gasification behavior of biomass and waste material feedstock blends on a bench scale as well as developing a safe and reliable feeding mechanism for those blends into GTI's U-GAS® pilot-scale gasifier. Moreover, the project team will conduct a pre-feasibility study to understand the techno-economics of the envisioned 5–50 MWe equivalent scale H₂ production plant based on GTI's U-GAS® technology.

The overarching goal of the proposed R&D scoping study and self-assessment is to evaluate how the current research capability and educational activities of the Recipient (California State University, Los Angeles; CSULA) can be expanded to align with the DOE/Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) objectives. The Recipient will also identify gaps in research and education capability and develop strategies to enable CSULA to be competitive for future solicitations focused on FECM-supported technologies.

This overarching goal can be realized through the following specific objectives:

1. Identify existing university research thrust areas that are synergistic with FECM mission goals and assess the current capabilities and resources, including personnel, expertise, awards, and facilities/equipment, in the identified areas.
2. Determine the resource needs (gaps) to enable competitive standing in future FECM research opportunities.
3. Describe CSULA’s current student education and training activities, including current academic courses, programs, and curricula, that align with FECM goals (decarbonization).
4. Discuss additional needs to enhance the education and training of minority students from underrepresented and structurally marginalized communities.
5. Assess the potential for national and international collaborations on research and education in decarbonization.

This project’s goal is to assess the research and development capability of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) toward development of a research-scale modular high-pressure municipal solid waste (MSW) gasifier for hydrogen (H₂) production and to plan for a transition to hydrogen energy systems research at UTEP. The work will take place in three phases: (1) preliminary concept development based on the state of the art accompanied by a gap analysis of available UTEP facilities, (2) roadmapping an H₂ generation R&D pathway, and (3) training students in design and modeling tools for gasifier components along with course development in H₂ power generation and energy systems.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in collaboration with the University of Kentucky (UKy), Bechtel, and Vogt Power, will conduct a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for UKy’s solvent-agnostic, low-cost carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture process retrofitted to Louisville Gas & Electric Kentucky Utilities (LG&E-KU) Cane Run #7 (CR7), a commercially operating natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power generation unit. The process will capture approximately 1,700,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year at a greater than 95% capture rate, suitable for permanent geologic CO₂ storage along the Ohio River corridor. The CR7 unit is representative of power plants in the Midwest and Midsouth, where intermittent renewable power and geographical storage for CO₂ is limited. Although UKy’s CO₂ capture process is solvent-agnostic, an optimized aqueous amine solvent developed by UKy will be considered for this study.

This collaborative project aims to understand the utilization of algal biomass produced from a wastewater treatment facility as fertilizer for cotton plant growth by conducting experimental trials in a greenhouse environment and field trials in test plots. Algae growth conditions will be optimized using a bench top revolving algal biofilm (RAB) reactor system in the lab, and algal biomass pellets obtained from the RAB pilot plant will be used for cotton growth trials in the test plots for two consecutive years. The project objectives include: (1) optimizing the conditions to maximize the carbon dioxide (CO₂) uptake by algae in wastewater when bubbling simulated flue gas using an RAB reactor system; (2) using different spectroscopy and advanced imaging techniques to measure the carbon uptake and composition of algal biomass; (3) evaluating the algal biomass as biofertilizer for cotton plant growth under normal conditions to reduce carbon footprint; (4) conducting cotton plant growth trials in test plots using varying amounts of algal biomass; and (5) evaluating the environmental and economic benefits of utilizing algal biomass as fertilizer by performing life cycle and techno-economic analyses.

The objective of the work by Florida A&M University is to utilize algal- and cyanobacterial-based phycotechnologies to address pervasive heavy metal contamination from coal combustion product (CCP) impoundments at the Savannah River Site. Novel bioindicators will be developed to gauge the potential for phytoremediation to restore legacy impoundment sites. This will be achieved by conducting an environmental diagnostic assessment of ash pond sites, using metagenomics to identify taxonomic composition and gene functions of algal communities in sites with heavy metal contamination, developing an environmental health index of ash pond sites to predict the success of remediation strategies, isolating algal-cyanobacterial taxa and screening them against heavy metals to confirm heavy metal resistance and/or hyperaccumulation, and populating artificial intelligence models to develop an iterative remediation strategy.

Susteon is developing a transformational solvent specifically designed for capturing greater than 97% of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) from natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant flue gas. The design approach for the novel solvent is based on meeting the CO₂ capture efficiency target by tailoring the physical and chemical properties while making significant progress toward 40% capture cost reduction, as compared with the current commercial Shell Cansolv solvent-based technology, when fully developed. If successful, this solvent will have reduced energy requirements for solvent regeneration; a high oxidative, thermal, and hydrothermal stability for reduced solvent loss and emissions; and high CO₂ capture working capacity and fast kinetics, resulting in a reduced footprint and lower capital cost. The laboratory-scale testing program will consist of the following elements: synthesis, optimization, production, and characterization of solvents, and performance testing of the solvents with a simulated NGCC flue gas to advance the technology from current Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2 to TRL 3.

Gas turbines for power generation are under transition to hydrogen-based combustion systems to achieve net-zero or net-negative carbon emissions. A transition to hydrogen-based fuel combustion must also coincide with other technological advancements in gas turbines. The project will investigate a new ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material, YSZ/Si(B)CN (YSZ = yttria stabilized zirconia) coated or interlayered with multi-layered nano-ceramic composites assembled at the molecular level, in a hydrogen combustor similar to modern gas turbine combustors. The project scope of work is to develop CMC materials and their manufacturing techniques towards high temperature performance and high resistance to environmental degradation in hydrogen combustion environments, provide an experimental assessment of high-temperature CMC materials in hydrogen-based fuels combustion under gas turbine relevant conditions, and develop a high-fidelity analysis platform that can adequately evaluate the thermo-mechanical performance of CMC materials with direct consideration of environmentally induced material degradation due to chemical reaction and physical material configurational changes.

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), with partners HY-TEK Bio, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Argonne National Lab (ANL) is engineering microalgal polycultures through a photosynthesis-driven process to capture and sequester Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) from power plant flue gases in the form of algae biomass and Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃) precipitates. Work includes laboratory development of algal cultivation systems with injection of micro- or nano-bubbles to improve CO₂ mass transfer and sequestration, optimization of algal culture microbiome and the biocementation process, pilot-scale testing of the algal carbon sequestration system at the partnering power plant and development of Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) models to evaluate and guide research and testing activities and explore the potential of algae CO₂ capture and utilization systems.

The objective is to develop a mine-scale tool that can be used to screen mines and other geologic deposits for potential viability as rare earth element (REE) and critical mineral (CM) mines. Machine learning techniques will be used in combination with existing and newly collected data from the Wyodak Mine to develop this screening tool. While developed with data from Wyodak, the tool will be site-agnostic and enable users to identify whether or not a mine has economic potential for mining REE/CM and to identify regions within the mine with a high probability of economic viability.

Characterization of rare earth elements and critical minerals (REE-CM) in unconventional and secondary sources is a complex task that needs to overcome the challenges of detecting low and variable concentrations and the uniqueness of every source material deposit in terms of composition, host material, and disposal environment. As in traditional mineral prospecting, delineation of REE-CM "hot zones" is critical for assessing the economic viability of these sources. Here, hot zone is defined as a spatially delineated volume of high REE-CM concentrations within the tailing deposits. The project will develop and field demonstrate a machine learning (ML)-aided multi-physics approach for rapid identification and characterization of REE-CM hot zones in mine tailings with a focus on coal and sulfide mine tailings or other processing or utilization byproducts, such as fly ash and refuse deposits.

The objectives of this project are to design, process, and validate a laser-manufactured, integrated, and graded bond coat-environmental barrier coat-thermal barrier coat (BC-EBC-TBC) system that can effectively protect and lead to the use of Silicon Carbide fiber/Silicon Carbide (SiC_f/SiC) matrix CMCs in next-generation hydrogen-fueled turbines. This will be achieved through six objectives:

1. Characterization of the thermal and mechanical properties of the candidate coating materials, including polymer-derived ceramics (PDC), yttrium silicates, and gadolinium zirconate, followed by developing theoretical design of the integrated and graded BC-EBC-TBC to maximize the thermal protection while minimizing the thermal stress.
2. Optimization of the laser processing parameters for various compositions consisting of PDC, yttrium silicate, and/or gadolinium zirconate to achieve the targeted crystalline phase and microstructure, followed by fabrication of micro-sample arrays of the multilayer integrated BC-EBC-TBC on CMC substrates for high-throughput test and characterization.
3. Simulation of the thermal (i.e., temperature characteristics) and chemical environment (i.e., gas species including steam, NOx, residual oxygen, and hydrogen, and their velocities) during the combustion of mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen with the hydrogen content from 25% to 100%. This will provide guidance for realistic test settings.
4. Testing the coating sample array under the key testing parameters (e.g., high temperatures, high-velocity steam, and controlled chemical environment), and characterizing the microstructure change and possible defects such as cracks and de-bonding.
5. Increase the TRL to 4 by the end of this project by establishing machine-learning (ML)-based in-process monitoring to evaluate the on-the-spot microstructure and defects (i.e., cracks and pores) to ensure the quality of the integrated BC-EBC-TBC and the manufacturing reliability and repeatability. The team will also establish manufacturing code standardization and carry out a manufacturing maturation process.
6. Use of the air plasma ray (APS) method to fabricate graded coatings with similar layered compositions and test the samples in simulated hydrogen-fueled combustion environments for the purpose of benchmarking laser-fabricated integrated BC-EBC-TBC performance. Microstructure and defects of laser-fabricated coatings will be compared with APS-fabricated coatings.

MicroBio Engineering Inc. has teamed up with New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, California Polytechnic State University, Heliae Development, LLC, and Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop and demonstrate innovative technologies for increasing the Carbon Utilization Efficiency (CUE) in microalgae cultivation, through innovative CO2 delivery and cultivation strategies. This will be coupled with the selection of high productivity microalgae strains for economic and sustainable production of crop biostimulants and other bioproducts for regenerative agriculture. The project objectives are to increase CUE to near 70% and to create novel non-GMO algal strains of the green alga Scenedesmus obliquus that achieve biomass productivity of 25 g ash-free-dry-weight (AFDW)/m2-day of biomass required for commercial viability. Techno-economic analyses and life cycle assessments (TEA/LCA) studies will model the process for algae biomass production, to provide a trajectory to meet the market requirements for production scale-up of biostimulants. This project will utilize CO2 from the flue gas produced at a wastewater treatment plant for power generation by combustion of biogas.