NETL Research Shows Problems Associated with Coal-Seam Sequestration

	NETL engineer Thomas Brown prepares a Pittsburgh #8 coal core sample for testing. The NETL research provides information on the parameters of permeability and storage capabilities of coal and reservoir rock under actual pressure and temperature conditions when injecting carbon dioxide for potential sequestration efforts.

A paper co-authored by an NETL researcher reports first-of-a-kind results that indicate sequestration of CO₂ in deep unmineable coal seams, with or without the association of coalbed methane recovery, may be problematic.

The paper on sequestering carbon and recovering coalbed methane from deep unmineable coal seams was co-authored by NETL researcher Thomas Brown.

It describes experimentation under replicated in situ conditions of tri-axial stress, pore pressure and temperature on Pittsburgh No. 8 coal.

Studies indicate permeability decreases with increasing CO₂ pressure, with an increase in strain in the coal associated with its swelling.

The paper also presented data from nearly 2,000 coal samples comprising 250 coal beds from 17 states, representing many of the coal-producing horizons in the USA, showing only moderate correlation (0.7) between depth and methane content for high volatile coal ranks.

More experimentation is required to determine the correlation of injected CO₂ on coal swelling and dramatic decreases in permeability associated with the possible recovery of coalbed methane.

The paper is published in Inderscience Publishers International Journal of Environment and Pollution,Vol. 29, No. 4 (2007), pp. 474-483.

NETL Completes U.S.-U.K. Collaboration on Virtual Plant Simulation

Researchers from the Process & Dynamic Systems Modeling Group at the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory and collaborators from Iowa State University conduct a virtual power plant simulation using NETL's Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulator (APECS) coupled with ISU's Virtual Engineering Suite (VE-Suite) software. Standing, from left, are Steve Zitney and Eric Liese (both from NETL) and Josh Koch of ISU. Seated are Terry Jordan of NETL and Doug McCorkle of ISU.

NETL has completed a three-year collaboration with the United Kingdom on virtual power plant simulation. The collaboration led to development of compatible virtual power plant/equipment co-simulation software platforms.

The work was done under the auspices of a memorandum of understanding and implementing agreement on fossil energy R&D between DOE and the U.K. Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

The collaboration and its accomplishments were highlighted by Stephen E. Zitney, director of NETL’s Collaboratory for Process & Dynamic Systems Research, at the 4th Annual U.S. CAPE-OPEN Conference.
The collaboration took advantage of synergies between NETL’s Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulator (APECS) project and the U.K. Virtual Plant Demonstration Model (VPDM) project, as well as the CAPE-OPEN Laboratories Network.

The APECS and VPDM projects exploited the process industry CAPE-OPEN (CO) software standard to provide plug-and-play interoperability between power plant simulation and high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics models of key equipment items such as gasifiers, gas turbines, heat recovery steam generators, and fuel cells.

The VPDM program was comprised of U.K. companies and academia, namely ALSTOM Power Ltd, Engineous Software Ltd, Fluent Europe Ltd, K-S Tech Ltd, Doosan Babcock Energy, Process Systems Enterprise Ltd, RWE npower, and the University of Ulster.

The ongoing APECS R&D project team includes NETL, ANSYS/Fluent, Aspen Technology, ALSTOM Power, Reaction Engineering International, Vishwamitra Research Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Iowa State University, and West Virginia University.

DoD Supporting Supercomputing Project for NETL Computational Chemistry Scientist

	NETL researcher Dan Sorescu studies compounds that are candidates for rocket propulsion applications. The project, selected as a Superchallenge Project by the High Performance Computing Modernization Program within Department of Defense, is aimed at understanding and transforming matter at nanoscale through high performance parallel computing methods.

The Department of Defense has selected a cooperative proposal submitted by NETL Scientist Dan Sorescu and Air Force Research Laboratory scientist Jerry Boatz for a second year as a Superchallenge Project.

Goals of the research are objective prediction and characterization of various nitrogen compounds and their interactions with aluminum surfaces and nanoparticles.

The researchers will be studying compounds that are candidates for fuels in rocket propulsion systems. The research could lead to cheaper, more reliable access to space via development of advanced energetic materials for rocket propulsion applications.

The study requires access to massively parallel supercomputers. Acceptance of the proposal by the Defense Department provides access to various DoD Major Shared Resource Centers with priority of supercomputer time on a variety of supercomputers.

NETL Licenses Emissions-Capture Inventions to Jupiter Oxygen Corporation, Powerspan

	NETL researcher Danylo Oryshchyn conducts experiments on the emissions capture technology licensed to Jupiter Oxygen Corporation.

NETL recently licensed two emissions-capture inventions to private industry.

Jupiter Oxygen Corporation was granted an exclusive license to an invention of a means to remove pollutants from new and existing power plant flue gas at lower overall cost, greater fuel efficiency, and with delivery of a stream of carbon dioxide alone or with other waste elements.

The result is capture of the entire combustion vapor/gas stream for sequestration, and a near-zero emissions power plant.  

The patented technology, invented by Jupiter Oxygen and Federal researchers at NETL, was developed under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement.

This invention combines Jupiter Oxygen's oxy-fuel combustion expertise with NETL expertise in CO2 purification and compression and energy recovery.

A technique invented at NETL to capture carbon dioxide and other acid gases from flue gas at coal-burning power generation point sources was licensed to Powerspan Corp. of New Durham, NH.

	NETL researcher Henry Pennline has been a co-inventor on a number of technologies to help capture gases produced by combustion at power-generating plants.

This regenerable absorption process uses an ammonia-based solution to remove CO2 and SO2 and NOx. Fertilizer, a salable commodity, is produced in the process and the spent ammonia solution is regenerated and recycled back to the scrubbing unit.

The invention will expand Powerspan’s efforts to remove all components of concern from flue gas.

Powerspan has committed to constructing a 1-MWe scale demonstration of the licensed technology at First Energy’s Burger Station in Shadyside, Ohio.