Joseph Austin Holmes became the first director of the Bureau of Mines when Congress founded it on May 16th, 1910. Its mandate: develop technologies and processes to protect coal mine workers. Holmes enthusiastically led Bureau efforts by proving the explosive nature of coal dust and driving the discovery of other practices to make coal mining safer.

We’ve made a lot of progress in 100 years. In the earliest days of the USBM Experimental Mine at Bruceton, mules were used to move coal samples and mining equipment. In contrast, NETL now uses sophisticated methods and instruments to analyze, research, and develop advanced technologies and processes that will enter the public domain. In this way, the Energy Lab is helping our country produce safe, affordable, abundant energy for today—and for the future.

In 1911, a planned coal-mine explosion at the Bureau of Mine’s first research site in Pittsburgh, PA, proved beyond doubt the highly explosive nature of coal dust, which had been widely considered inert and harmless. The Bureau’s efforts to improve coal-mine safety saved countless lives, as researchers went on to develop coal-dust controls, cooler-burning explosives, and techniques for minimizing spark and flame.

In 1919, the Bureau of Mines explored oil shale as a potential substitute for petroleum. Although initial investigations determined that too many difficulties existed for its immediate use, researchers did not lose interest. Between 1944 and 1955, USBM built and operated two industrial-scale coal-to-liquids demonstration plants and a comparable oil-shale mining and processing plant that established the technical feasibility of mass-producing synthetic fuels. Advancements in technology continued to recast the resource, and by the mid-1970s, widespread commercialization of oil shale finally appeared to be possible. In 1984, DOE revised its Oil Shale Program to help private firms develop concepts for the next generation of retorts. Today, NETL scientists continue to develop technologies that will enable the use of oil shale as a clean and reliable domestic energy source. Seen here: a researcher lights a fragment of oil shale, circa 1950.

In the early 1920s, the New York and New Jersey Tunnel Commissions consulted USBM on how to prevent deadly concentrations of exhaust fumes inside the tubes of what would become the Holland Tunnel. The Bureau was well-positioned to offer advice—its mining safety research in Pittsburgh had yielded extensive knowledge of tunnels and poisonous gases. The Tunnel Commissions and the Bureau embarked on a ventilation research program that resulted in the most comprehensive set of data and analyses that had ever been prepared on automotive exhaust gases and underground air circulation. The Brockway 5-ton truck shown here was one of 101 different vehicles that Pittsburgh staff road-tested through the city streets.

J. W. Ambrose, who headed the Bureau of Mines from 1920 to 1921, began the strategy of modeling so that oil field operators could “see” the lay of the land before drilling. These three-dimensional peg models represented ground contours and underground geological structures with cross-sectional layers—such as the sand layer known to contain oil—helping speculators determine drilling and shot depths. 

Because of its strong early focus on mining safety, USBM personnel gained great expertise in the field of explosives while developing safe ways to wrest coal from mines.  This experience with explosives placed USBM in a key position to share its know-how by helping solve the mystery of a massive explosion on Wall Street in 1920, which killed 38 people and injured hundreds.  Bureau experts determined through tests that a bomb containing about 100 pounds of dynamite had caused the explosion, probably set off by anarchists.

(photo credit: Bettman/Corbis)

In 1921, the Pittsburgh Experiment Station, having worked on mine safety through ventilation of dangerous gases, helped develop a safe ventilation system for New York’s new Holland Tunnel. Testing was done at the Bruceton site’s Experimental Mine, shown here.

(photo credit: National Archives and Records Administration)

In 1922, disputes in the U.S. coal fields created disruptions in coal supply and popularized the use of petroleum fuels. However, concerns about supply prompted USBM to explore potential substitutes for petroleum, such as liquid fuels from coal. The Bureau did laboratory research and built a hydrogenation pilot plant in Pittsburgh. Although they indicated that synthetic liquid fuels were unsuitable for mass production in the United States at that time, these experiments yielded knowledge that had scientific, industrial, and military value. Shown here is a distillation unit for processing synthetic gasoline at the Pittsburgh Station.

In the early 1930s, Bureau researchers mastered the basic technique of deriving synthetic crude oil from coals. Crude oil from Pittsburgh's pilot plant yielded gasoline that fueled the station's motor pool, including this truck photographed in 1941. Pittsburgh's early work on synthetic fuels determined that carbon-rich coals, though harder to work with, tended to be the best oil sources.  These results indicated that most of the country's vast coal reserves qualified as usable raw material for synthetic liquid production.

(photo credit: National Archives and Records Administration)

During the 1930s, researchers at USBM’s Pittsburgh station began a hydrogenation assay of American coals to determine which varieties would be most suitable for manufacturing high-value liquids and gases. The assay revealed that low-carbon coals, such as lignite, liquefied easily but produced relatively little oil. By contrast, carbon-rich coals were harder to manage but tended to be better oil sources. The results confirmed that most of the country’s vast coal reserves could serve as raw material for synthetic liquid fuel production. Shown here, workers deliver coal samples to the Pittsburgh station.

(photo credit: National Archives and Records Administration)

In the 1930s, Pittsburgh researchers mastered the basic technique of turning coal into synthesis crude oil. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes had identified coal hydrogenation as a top research priority for the Bureau of Mines, and Congress funded a hydrogenation pilot plant at the Pittsburgh Experiment Station. Not only was the program wise for national security, the research was expected to assist the faltering coal industry and brighten the economic outlook for coal-mining districts. The first experiments used local bituminous coal from the Experimental Mine at Bruceton.  Shown here, the coal-to-liquids converter for the Pittsburgh coal hydrogenation plant.  Crude oil from the pilot plant yielded up to 7 gallons per day of gasoline.

Famed metallurgist Dr. William Kroll spearheaded the development of zirconium casting in the 1940s at the Northwest Electrodevelopment Laboratory in Albany, OR. Later, in 1959, the Lab’s successful casting of molybdenum caused stocks in light metals to rise sharply. Zirconium proved the to be the key for powering nuclear applications, such as the first nuclear submarine, while molybdenum’s stability at high temperatures made it an ideal candidate for critical assemblies in extreme environments, such as the exhaust pipe of a rocket or missile.

In the 1940s, the Bureau of Mines determined that lignite coal had value for manufacturing industrial organic chemicals, including synthesis gas, also called water gas. Using its Reyerson-Gernes generator, the Grand Forks plant turned 381 tons of lignite into 16 million cubic feet of water gas in one year’s time and demonstrated the feasibility of gasifying lignite on a commercial scale. Here, an interior view of the retort building at the Grand Forks gasification plant shows the hopper and charging valves that fed lignite into the top of the Reyerson-Gernes water-gas generator.

(photo credit: Bureau of Mines publication)

Essential to the U.S. Government’s wartime preparation was ensuring America’s energy security. Boilers were a key component in this strategy, because boiler outages could snarl critical industries and hinder military operations. To deal with the problem of embrittlement, in which waterborne caustic minerals trigger cracks in steel boiler components, engineers at the Pittsburgh and College Park experiment stations developed an embrittlement detector that gave advance warning of hazardous mineral concentrations. In 1943, the Bureau received a patent for this device, displayed here by project lead Wilburn C. Schroeder.

(photo credit: National Archives and Records Administration)

Producing ductile zirconium from southwest Oregon’s black sands was the top priority of the USBM Northwest Electrodevelopment Laboratory in Albany. Ductile zirconium was essential as a metal for the chemical industry, and its production would capitalize on the region’s rich, natural resource. Instrumental in developing this product was William Kroll, who in 1943 offered his services to USBM. Using zircon sand from Coosbay, OR, Kroll and his research team succeeded in producing the first strip of ductile zirconium in August 1945. Here, Kroll examines a display of ductile zirconium products, including springs and knife blades.

World War II placed heavy demands on U.S. petroleum resources. To assuage associated economic and national security concerns, USBM launched the first U.S. gasification research program at its Morgantown station in 1946. Initially called the Synthesis Gas Production Laboratory, the station was tasked with finding quicker, cheaper ways of gasifying coal to produce synthesis gas. Researchers designed and built their own gasifier to operate on a wide variety of American coals. A second edition of the pilot plant was developed in 1951, and by 1954 the new plant had proven itself a dependable generator of high-quality synthesis gas.

In this picture from 1947, a worker mixes drilling mud. Investigation into “mud” for drilling—a fluid needed to flush drilled-out material to the surface when boring for gas or oil—began as early as 1915 by the Petroleum Division of USBM. The mud is forced into the borehole, thereby clearing it, cooling the drill bit, and protecting the drill hole from fluids in the surrounding area.  Today, specialized mud may be a water-based, oil-based, or a gaseous fluid, depending on the kind of drilling to be done.

“Clean coal” research began in the 1950s, with researchers removing sulfur-containing pyrite from coal, as shown here, to prevent the sulfur from causing extensive equipment damage and interfering with chemical reactions during power production.  In the 1980s and 90s, investigators turned their attention to separating SOx, NOx, mercury, ash, water, and particulate matter from the power production waste stream. This work has positioned NETL to develop the technologies needed to separate and capture CO₂ emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities.

(Photo credit: National Archives and Records Administration)

When the National Electrodevelopment Laboratory, Albany, OR, opened in 1944, its first priority was to produce zirconium from the ore-rich black sands of the Northwest coast. Using a process developed by William Kroll for the Bureau of Mines, the lab met with success. The Kroll process supplied 85 percent of the zirconium raw material for the first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus. As zirconium production was in progress, Admiral Hyman Rickover made several hurried trips to inspect the equipment and discuss the results. January 17, 1955, the Nautilus got underway, marking the beginning of the era of naval nuclear propulsion.

In 1957, Albany metallurgists were discovering ways to free rare metals, such as molybdenum and vanadium, by an explosive method called “bomb reduction,”in which a metal is separated from its ore by reacting it with an even more active, but less costly, metal. A special type of reactor used was called a bomb. These “bombs” are made in varying sizes and constructed of thick steel cylinders, like the one shown here, because they must withstand great pressures. Thanks to this innovation, the Albany station gained international attention in the field of rare metals, announcing the world’s first casting of molybednum, ductile yttrium, and thorium in January 1959.  

In 1959, a gas turbine designed for locomotives was installed at the Morgantown Experiment Station for study. Engineers transformed the coal-based railroad engine into a stationary power plant for generating electricity; they developed new, longer-lasting blades and revamped the combustor to run on synthesis gas—a solution to the problem of coal dust and ash. In 1967, a new gasifier came online at Morgantown that could turn low-rank coal into synthesis gas, offering an excellent, inexpensive fuel source. By 1970, the Morgantown Station was en route to integrating its coal gasification, dust removal, and turbine technologies.

Pittsburgh scientists’ explosives research aimed at preventing mine explosions and fires gave way to space-age innovations. In the 1960s, under contracts with the armed forces and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Pittsburgh Explosives Research Center conducted projects on solid rocket propellants, safety procedures for handling liquid-hydrogen fuel, the behavior of explosives in conditions resembling the lunar atmosphere, and shielding to protect space vehicles against meteor impacts. Shown here, a researcher at Bruceton tests small explosive charges in a high-vacuum environment to simulate the behavior of explosives in the thin atmosphere of the moon.

(photo credit: Bureau of Mines publication)

The Henry H. Storch Award in Fuel Chemistry, sponsored by the Division of Fuel Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and Elsevier Ltd., was established in 1964 to honor Henry Herman Storch, director of research and development for the Office of Synthetic Liquid Fuels at USBM. Storch was a leading figure in American physical chemistry during the mid-twentieth century and a prolific writer. His masterpiece, The Fischer-Tropsch and Related Syntheses (1951), is still being cited as valuable source material more than a half-century later. Storch awards are given biennially to individuals who make outstanding contributions to research in the field of fuel science.

Leading the way to increased production of oil wells, USBM researchers developed directional drilling, which can substantially increase production of domestic oil and gas reserves while minimizing damage to the environment.  Directional drilling reaches laterally under the surface to follow oil and gas reserves for miles from the drilling site. In 1976, the U.S. Patent office awarded a patent to USBM staff for work in adapting directional drilling to coalbed methane recovery.

In response to the Clean Air Amendment of 1970, the Energy Research and Development Administration made cleaning up coal a top research agenda. One approach was to develop a boiler that could burn high-sulfur coals while cutting air pollution. The answer was fluidized-bed combustion. Fluidized-bed combustion improved the distribution of heat through the coal, enabling complete combustion. The technology also allowed the boiler to work efficiently at the lower temperatures that would limit the formation of NOx. During the mid-1970s, the Morgantown Energy Research Center’s Rivesville demonstration project in West Virginia led to the adoption of fluidized-bed combustion around the country.

In the 1970s, Albany, Morgantown, and Pittsburgh shared their expertise with the U.S. space program. This cryogenic device at Albany was used to rapidly cool metals to low temperatures to simulate conditions they might encounter in outer space. The Pittsburgh Explosives Research Center conducted research on solid rocket propellants, safety procedures for liquid hydrogen fuel, the behavior of explosives in lunar-like atmospheres, and shielding for space vehicles. In addition, Morgantown researchers analyzed rock samples brought back from the moon.

The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed an electronic revolution in engineering practice. For the first time, microcomputers put unprecedented computing power in the hands of individuals. Sophisticated software allowed researchers to track the performance of gas wells over time and to build mathematical models that simulated reservoir behavior. One example was the software program Drilling Decision Tree System, which provided step-by-step guidance for making choices about locating and drilling gas wells in Devonian shales. Shown here, METC petroleum engineer Gary Covatch uses a computer program to monitor and analyze the results of fracturing experiments in a natural-gas field.

In the 1980s, a prime research objective for METC was the production of methane gas from coal and coal-bearing rock. Research was aimed at recovering methane from horizontal in-mine boreholes and investigating uses for the produced gas. Research took place at Island Creek Coal Company’s No. 5 mine in Buchanan County, Virginia. Among the researchers involved were METC’s Leo Schrider, John Duda, and David Locke. Today, this one-time “waste” fuel accounts for 8% of U.S. natural gas production.

Computer modeling shows temperature variations inside a coal combustor.  METC—direct predecessor to NETL—engineers adapted the ASPEN modeling system developed at MIT for use in fossil-fuel research during the early 1980s.  Today, NETL's award-winning computational sciences division creates models of everything from individual technologies to power plants to geological formations for carbon storage.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, 80 percent of the coal that was mined in the United States provided 60 percent of the country’s electricity. Researchers at the Morgantown and Pittsburgh Energy Technology Centers (METC and PETC) developed innovations for improved coal preparation and for advanced coal-based power systems to allow power plant operators to meet the growing demand for power output while keeping costs and pollution under control. Programs like PETC’s Combustion 2000 campaign, launched in 1989, investigated systems for retrofitting plants. Here, a PETC researcher measures the temperature of combustion gases in an experimental coal combustor.

Under DOE’s Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program, the Morgantown and Pittsburgh Energy Technology Centers promoted integrated gasification combined cycle—or IGCC— power plants, which combined three of the technology centers’ research specialties: coal gasification, gas purification, and advanced turbine engines. Under this program, the Wabash River Power Station in Indiana and Tampa Electric Company’s Polk Power Station in Florida, shown here, came online. Today, they are still two of the world’s cleanest coal-fired power plants. 

DOE’s National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research (NIPER) in Bartlesville, OK, had great success with microbe-enhanced oil recovery throughout the 1990s. The technology used microbes injected into oil wells to reduce the viscosity of the oil and make it easier to pump to the surface. NIPER had a thermodynamics laboratory that was second to none in the world; the data generated by the thermodynamics lab was crucial to improving the refining and processing of crude oils. Microbe-enhanced oil recovery continued to be the most important technological solution that NIPER could offer independent domestic oil producers. By April 1994, microbe-injected wells were shown capable of increasing production by 20 percent after 3 years on a test site. The schematic pictured here shows the microbial enhanced oil recovery process.

Initiated in the fall of 1999, the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) unites government, industry, and the scientific community in the common mission of advancing solid oxide fuel cell technology. NETL independently tests and verifies the concepts and products the SECA teams devise and renews funding to projects only as long as they continue to best stringent technical performance expectations. In 2007, the Office of Management and Budget lauded SECA’s approach: “This novel incentive structure has generated a high level of competition between the teams and an impressive array of technical approaches.” 

Developed by NETL and its partners in 2007, SEQURE™ technology uses magnetic and methane sensors to quickly locate abandoned and leaking wells. This R&D 100 Award-winning technology can be attached to helicopters to cover large areas to determine if possible sequestration sites will retain injected CO₂.

In 2007, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, PA, became the first conservatory in the world to take advantage of fuel cell technology. Under an NETL building efficiency project, a 5-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell system powered the 12,000-square-foot, 60-foot-tall Tropical Forest exhibit and provided energy for heating water. The primary by-products of the fuel cell were heat, water, and CO₂, which were used in adjacent production greenhouses. The project added modern “green” efficiency to the Victorian glasshouse originally built in 1893.

In 2007, NETL’s Multiphase Flow with Interphase Exchanges software, or MFIX, gained an international reputation as the preeminent software for modeling gas-solids (multiphase) flow. MFIX allowed researchers to model high-efficiency, low-pollution processes to evaluate new system designs. Using MFIX, researchers could conduct simulated experiments by letting supercomputers determine the effects of altered variables. The tool replaced traditional experiments on reactors, thereby reducing costs and saving time. Today, MFIX is still in use, describing bubbling and circulating fluidized beds and spouted beds.  Illustrated here, MFIX shows the particle trajectories and oxygen concentrations of a transport gasifier.