Release Date: October 3, 2001

MORGANTOWN, WV - Every day in the United States an average of 55 billion cubic feet of natural gas moves through more than1.2 million miles of underground pipe and thousands of compressor stations to virtually every home and nearly 5 million businesses across the country.

For the most part, this flow of natural gas is uneventful - in fact, America's pipeline system is unequaled in its efficiency and safety. But the current gas infrastructure is aging and leaks or breakages can occur. Moreover, as the Nation's consumption of natural gas increases, at least 300,000 miles of new distribution and transmission pipelines will have to be built by 2015.

In May, the Department of Energy announced its first set of joint government-industry projects to develop high-tech ways to improve the safety and performance of the Nation's gas delivery system. Now, the department plans to add another 10 cost-shared projects that will develop cutting edge automation, new sensors and leak detectors, corrosion monitors, and other advanced devices that can improve the way natural gas is transported through tomorrow's gas infrastructure.

The new projects were proposed by:

• Kansas State University, Manhattan KS, which will develop a "Virtual Pipeline System Testbed," a computer model that, for the first time, will allow operators to identify the most reliable and lowest cost path to deliver natural gas to the consumer by integrating both the operation of compressor stations and different pressures, flow rates and other variables in the pipeline itself.

  Point of contact: Kirby S. Chapman 785/532-2319

• Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, IL, (2 projects):

1. One project will design and test a robotic system that can seal joints in cast-iron pipes. About 47,000 miles of cast-iron distribution pipes, or "mains," are now used to bring natural gas into homes and businesses.

   Point of Contact: Kiran Kothari, 847/768-0893

2. The second project will develop an obstacle-detection sensor that can be installed near the drill bit in horizontal directional drilling system. These systems, which bore into the earth, then turn horizontally to create tunnels for underground pipes, are being used increasingly as an alternative to trenching. The new sensing system will signal the presence of obstacles so they can be avoided during the drilling operation.

   Point of Contact: Christopher J. Ziolkowski, 847/768-0549

• CyTerra Corporation, Waltham, MA, which will adapt a plastic detection technology originally developed for the U.S. Army to locate deeper non-metallic pipes and other buried materials before they are inadvertently damaged by construction or other excavation activities.

  Point of Contact: Glenn Anderson, 781/622-1360

• New York Gas Group (NYGAS), New York, NY, which will develop an advanced test kit that operators can use in the field to detect the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in natural gas distribution pipelines.

  Point of Contact: Ms. Daphne D'Zurko, 212/354-4790 x214

• Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, which will develop a device based on patented magnetostrictive sensor technology that sends low-frequency guided waves down a pipe to detect the minute changes in pipewall thickness that can signal the beginning of corrosion.

  Point of Contact: Mr. Aaron Taylor, 210/522-6094

• Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc., North Salem, NH, which proposes to build a low-cost, easy-to-use ground penetrating radar system for locating metallic and non-metallic pipes and detecting gas leaks.

  Point of Contact: Alan E. Schutz, 603/893-1109

• Automatika, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, which will partner with New York Gas and its associated utilities to develop a wireless network of small pipeline sensors that operators can use to monitor the real-time operations of active gas distribution mains, the smaller pipes that deliver gas to residences and businesses.

  Point of Contact: Dr. Hagen Schempf, 412/968-1022 x11

• West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown, WV, which proposes a system to detect the unique sound wave generated when a pipeline break releases a large discharge of gas after being damaged by landslides, excavations, or other disturbances. The system will be designed to monitor the background noise inside the pipe and pick up any sudden new frequencies that might signal a sudden pipeline rupture.

  Point of Contact: John L. Loth, 304/293-4111 x2343

• Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, which proposes to replace many of the manual operations in managing the flow of natural gas through pipelines and compressors with cutting-edge automated systems. The university will develop modeling tools and automated feedback controls for large-scale pipeline networks.

  Point of Contact: Dr. Michael A. Henson, 225/388-3690