Release Date: January 12, 2000

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced its annual competition for students and professors from minority institutions to compete for research dollars that will continue to support the nation's clean air goals and help bolster declining domestic oil supplies.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions will compete for $900,000 from the Department of Energy to conduct innovative research and development that converts and uses coal, natural gas and oil. Proposals are due February 18, 2000. The department expects to announce awards in May. DOE anticipates announcing four to six awards from the first six topics (maximum amount $200,000) and four to eight awards in the Faculty/Student Exploratory Research Training grants (maximum award $20,000).

A solicitation, Support of Advanced Fossil Resource Utilization Research by Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions, is currently available on the Internet at NETL's Electronic Business Center under Solicitations. Projects will be selected and managed by the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)

The solicitation addresses seven technical topics:

• Advanced Environmental Control Technologies for Coal -- This area focuses on technologies that will mitigate the environmental disadvantages of coal use by improving various aspects of the fuel cycle, from coal extraction and preparation to combustion-related waste utilization or disposal.

• Advanced Coal Utilization -- This area explores advanced combustion techniques, as well as other systems and materials, that allow coal to be used more efficiently and more cleanly than in currently deployed conventional systems.

• Clean Fuels Technology -- In this area, researchers examine production of premium fuels and products from coal. Novel concepts furthering this and/or other approaches that develop premium fuels and products are sought.

• Heavy Oil Upgrading and Processing -- This topic focuses on processing or understanding the upgrading of heavy oils to quality transportation fuels in a cost-effective manner. This work will apply to other heavy resources such as shale oil, coal liquids, and tar sands oil at a later time.

• Advanced Recovery, Completion/Stimulation, and Geoscience Technologies for Oil -- Characterization is the most important means of understanding an oil reservoir. Its two main facets - defining the anatomy of the reservoir and determining how that anatomy governs fluid movement - develop methods and strategies that improve oil recovery. Innovative applications are sought to improve the recovery of oil.

• Natural Gas Supply Storage and Processing -- DOE seeks innovative methods and concepts that allow more efficient, economical, and environmentally acceptable recovery of natural gas. Novel improvements in recovery techniques could lead to lower production costs and/or greater recovery efficiencies.

• Faculty/Student Exploratory Research Training -- These grants provide an opportunity to maximize the participation of students and faculty by addressing a variety of topics. Work can take the form of a novel idea or concept to be tested at a preliminary stage, or it can address a small, novel aspect of a larger problem. Research can continue or expand on previous work (e.g. sorbent formulations, catalyst conditions, etc.), or some other concept, but the topic must fall within fossil energy research needs.

Because the program is designed to stimulate cooperation between industry and academia, collaboration with private industry is encouraged for the first six topics. In fact, collaboration that promotes a cooperative or interactive effort between the minority institution and a private partner is preferred.

Applicants without Internet capability can receive a 3.5" double-sided, high-density computer disk by mail by contacting Debra Duncan, Contract Specialist, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, P.O. Box 10940, MS 921-143, Pittsburgh, PA, 15236-0940, or by faxing a request to 412-386-6216. Telephone requests will not be accepted.

NETL manages and implements a broad spectrum of energy and environmental programs. NETL employs approximately 1,100 federal and support-service contractor employees, and is the largest fossil-energy research organization in the United States.

For more information, contact:
Hattie Wolfe, DOE Office of Fossil Energy, 202/586-6503, e-mail: hattie.wolfe@hq.doe.gov.

Otis Mills, Jr., National Energy Technology Laboratory, 412/386-5890, e-mail: mills@netl.doe.gov.

Program Contact:
Donald Krastman, National Energy Technology Laboratory, 412/386-4720, e-mail: krastman@netl.doe.gov.