The pollution-free energy plant of the future is beginning to take
shape with the Department of Energy's selection this week of the first
industry-led design and engineering projects for the futuristic concept's
core technologies.
The projects are part of the department's Vision 21 program,
an effort to develop a revolutionary new energy system that could be commercially
ready by the year 2015."The projects we are announcing today will
begin carrying the energy industry beyond the traditional concept of a
power plant," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "Vision
21 is intended to break the mold of today's conventional 'one fuel-one
product' thinking."Rather than producing a single product from a
single fuel -- for example, electricity from coal -- Vision 21
plants would be capable of processing a wide range of fuels such as coal,
natural gas, biomass or municipal wastes, and generating multiple forms
of energy such as electricity, transportation fuels and chemicals. The
energy plants would produce virtually no emissions.
Four of the projects will focus on key technologies that could eventually
become some of the critical "building blocks" for a Vision
21 plant: [Click on company name for more details]
-
FuelCell Energy,
Inc., Danbury, CT, will begin developing a "hybrid"
power system that would combine a fuel cell and gas turbine to generate
electricity at ultra-high efficiencies. Proposed DOE award: $2.5 million
-
Siemens Westinghouse
Power Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, will develop a membrane
for separating oxygen from air and using it to convert the depleted
fuel from a specially-modified solid oxide fuel cell into carbon dioxide
and steam. The carbon dioxide could then be easily separated for eventual
sequestration. Proposed DOE award: $2.1 million.
-
Eltron Research,
Inc., Boulder, CO, will develop a ceramic membrane to
separate valuable hydrogen from the gases exiting a coal gasifier
for later use in a fuel cell. Proposed DOE award: $1.74 million.
-
Clean Energy Systems,
Inc., Sacramento, CA, will adapt a rocket engine design
to burn a clean fuel gas and mix the combustion products with water
to produce a hot, high-pressure, steam-saturated gas stream that could
power an advanced turbine. Proposed DOE award: $1.77 million.
The other two projects will develop advanced methods for designing Vision
21 plants and integrating the key modules using new computer processes:
-
National Fuel
Cell Research Center, Irvine, CA, will define engineering
issues associated with integrating key components and subsystems into
Vision 21 plants. Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million.
-
Fluent, Inc.,
Lebanon, NH, will begin building a "virtual demonstration"
system that would give future plant designers a way to model a fully-functional
Vision 21 plant on a computer. Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million.
Final funding amounts will be determined in upcoming contract negotiations.
In each project, the industrial partner will contribute from 20% to 33%
of the total project cost.
The six projects were selected in the first of four rounds of competition
now underway in the Vision 21 program. The department plans to
select three more rounds of projects during the next 12 months from the
current solicitation, which remains open until September.
The Energy Department has elevated Vision 21 to one of the highest
priorities in its fossil energy research program. Last month, the department
announced its proposal to increase funding for all of its Vision 21
research, including the ongoing solicitation, from $29 million in fiscal
year 2000 to $41.2 million in fiscal year 2001.
A key aspect of the Vision 21 program is the Energy Department's
goal of removing virtually all environmental concerns from the way coal
and other fuels are used to generate energy.
"Future Vision 21 plants would operate at unprecedented
efficiencies. For example, we believe it will be possible to double the
amount of electricity that can be generated from a given amount of coal.
By producing energy products in addition to electricity, we can boost
efficiencies even higher, and higher efficiencies are the first step in
reducing emissions," said Robert W. Gee, the Energy Department's
Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy.
According to Gee, Vision 21 plants would also be equipped with
technologies to convert many pollutant-forming impurities into commercially
valuable commodities, in effect turning "pollution into products."
The department also is developing ways to capture greenhouse gases from
Vision 21 facilities for eventual storage or recycling.
Additional Descriptions of Vision 21 Projects
Category A - Enabling and Supporting Technologies
- "Critical Components for Direct Fuel Cell/Turbine
Ultra High Efficiency System," FuelCell Energy
Inc., Danbury, CT, with Allison Engine Company, Indianapolis, IN, and
Capstone Turbine Corp., Woodland Hills, CA
Technical Contact: Anthony J. Leo, FuelCell Energy,
Inc. (203) 825-6057The project team proposes to create a fuel cell/turbine
system that provides efficiencies and emissions targets that meet
or exceed stringent Vision 21 goals. Specifically, a high-utilization
fuel cell and system components would be developed. Sub-scale tests
of the fuel cell/hybrid system would be performed to yield data for
integrating an existing 250-kilowatt fuel cell stack with a commercially
available micro-turbine, and a conceptual design of a 40-megawatt
Vision 21 ultra-high-efficiency power plant would be outlined. An
attractive feature of the proposed system is that it allows the fuel
cell and turbine modules to operate at independent pressures and,
therefore, enhance system performance. The fuel cell hybrid system
has merit as a stand-alone, distributed or central-power-generation
unit.
Project duration: 36 months
Proposed DOE award: $2.5 million
Proposed industry cost sharing: $624,585
- "Zero Emissions Power Plants Using SOFCs and Oxygen
Transport Membranes" Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation,
Pittsburgh, PA, with Praxair, Tonawanda, NY
Technical Contact: Norman Bessette, Siemens Westinghouse
Power Corporation, (412) 256-1055Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation,
in conjunction with Praxair, Inc., proposes to develop a technology
that would create zero-emissions Vision 21 power plants using solid
oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and ceramic oxygen transport membranes. The
approach modifies the design of a tubular SOFC module by including
an afterburner stack of tubular oxygen transport membranes. Oxygen
transported through the membrane would be used to oxidize the SOFC's
depleted fuel, converting it into carbon dioxide and steam. The carbon
dioxide can then be easily separated for eventual sequestration by
condensing the steam.
Project duration: 30 months
Proposed DOE award: $2.1 million
Proposed industry cost sharing: $705,088
- "Advanced Hydrogen Transport Membranes for Vision
21 Fossil Fuel Plants," Eltron Research, Inc., Boulder, CO,
with Coors, Chevron, United Catalyst, McDermott Technology Inc., Argonne
National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Technical Contact: Anthony F. Sammells, Eltron Research,
Inc. (303) 440-8008This project consists of developing an environmentally
benign, inexpensive, efficient method of separating hydrogen from
coal gasification gas streams by using dense ceramic membranes based,
in part, on Eltron-patented materials that have already demonstrated
an ability for rapid proton and electron conduction. Hydrogen separation
is desirable for a Vision 21 application because the hydrogen
can be used in a fuel cell system that achieves very high efficiencies
while simultaneously separating carbon dioxide for possible sequestration
or chemical applications. The technical challenge is to create materials
that enhance conductivity and stability, and to develop thin ceramic
structures that achieve hydrogen-separation rates comparable to those
used in industrial processes. The effort includes catalysis, ceramic-processing
methods and high-pressure separation unit design.
Project duration: 36 months
Proposed DOE award: $1.74 million
Proposed industry cost sharing: $435,000
- "To Fabricate and Test an Advanced Non-Polluting
Drive Gas Generator" Clean Energy Systems, Inc., Sacramento,
CA.
Technical Contact: Eugene Baxter, Clean Energy Systems,
Inc., (916) 925-8206CES seeks to design and test a 10-megawatt high-temperature
gas generator to be used in a high-efficiency power plant. Based on
a rocket engine design, the generator uses a clean gas that is burned
with oxygen. With water injected to cool the combustor, a high-temperature,
high-pressure gas containing more than 90% water (steam) would be
produced. This gas would be fed to an advanced turbine, which needs
to be developed and is not part of this project. Engineering challenges
include building a device that is able to mix water and oxygen quot;perfectly,"
combine water and combustion products in a precise manner, and design
a combustor with long-life operation.
Project duration: 22 months
Proposed DOE award: $1.77 million
Proposed industry cost-sharing: $885,674
Category B - Systems Integration
- "Systems Integration Methodology," National
Fuel Research Center, Irvine, CA, with KraftWork Systems Inc., and Spencer
Management Associates.
Technical Contact: Scott Samuelson, National Fuel
Research Center, (949) 824-1558
The proposers outline a two-step approach in which two computer software
programs - designed to analyze all possible fossil-fuel-based combustion
systems applicable to a Vision 21 power plant - eliminate the deficiencies
associated with current computer models. In Part I, using two computer
programs already successfully applied to DOE's Advanced Turbine Systems
and High Performance Power Systems programs, the proposers would first
identify and analyze prospective power cycles with high efficiency
and environmental performance. Then temperature, piping, and coding
requirements for each technology module to be used in a Vision
21 plant would be investigated. Effects on power plant operation,
including startup, shutdown, part load, transient operation and emergency
response, would be considered. Part II would consist of non-technical
issues affecting system integration, such as trade-offs between capital
and operating costs. In this way, important features that would improve
plant operations at the cost of nominal plant efficiency would be
explored, identified and factored into plant designs.
Project duration: 36 months
Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million
Proposed industry cost-sharing: $485,927
Category
C - Advanced Plant Design and Visualization Software
- "Software Integration for Vision 21 Virtual Demonstration,"
Fluent Inc., Lebanon, NH, with ABB Alstom Power, Aspen Technology, Intergraph
and West Virginia University.
Technical Contact: Dr. Madhava Syamlal, Fluent Inc.,
(603) 643-2600.
Fluent proposes to develop interfaces between computer models as
a step toward building a full-function Vision 21 plant design. This
effort involves creating an integrated software system capable of
linking hierarchy models to allow seamless integration of flow-sheet
models with more detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes
so that more efficient Vision 21 systems may be designed. When completed,
the proposed system would link a set of defined spreadsheet codes
with CFD models. The project team would use and extend existing computer
codes, increasing the acceptance of its work. In addition to Fluent,
ABB would attempt to link its proprietary design codes to the executive
code.
Project duration: 36 months
Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million
Proposed industry cost-sharing: $762,578
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