Release Date: August 19, 2010

NETL Recognized for Technology Transfer
Researchers Garner National Awards for Outstanding Technology Development, Commercialization Success

The work of two research groups at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have been recognized by the Far West Region of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) for their efforts in developing and commercializing advanced energy technologies.

On September 2, 2010, at the annual joint meeting of the FLC Mid-Continent and Far West Regions, Paul Jablonski and David Alman will be presented with an Outstanding Technology Development Award for a coating material that can extend the lifetime of metal components used in high-efficiency energy production. James Bennett and colleagues, developers of a high-wear refractory material for use in industrial gasification units, will receive an Outstanding Commercialization Success Award at the meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

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	Comparison of the mass change caused by oxygen uptake of Crofer 22 APU (a stainless steel alloy with 22 weight-percent chromium) with (blue symbols) and without (red symbols) cerium oxide coatings under service conditions (an oxidizing environment at 800 degrees Celsius). A total of six comparisons are represented, extending up to 4,000 hours. The cerium oxide coatings consistently showed lower mass gains than the uncoated material, which equates to lower levels of oxidation and increased working lifetime.

The technology developed by Jablonski and Alman, Cerium Oxide Coating for Oxidation Rate Reduction in Stainless Steels and Nickel Superalloys, is a surface treatment that extends the working lifetime of stainless steels and nickel superalloys in the extreme temperature and pressure conditions of next-generation power plants. Testing has verified that the treatment is effective for a wide variety of alloys over long duration, including alloys such as AL-2025Nb, an austenitic stainless steel developed by Allegheny Ludlum for elevated temperature service, and nickel superalloys IN600 and IN625, currently used in medium temperature and/or corrosive environments. The patented coating recently won a prestigious R&D 100 Award as one of the 100 most significant new technologies commercialized worldwide.

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Refractories removed from adjacent positions in a slagging gasifier after 237 days of exposure. The NETL-developed refractory (center) has approximately 50 percent more material remaining than the conventional refractory (left). The NETL refractory lost only one third of its original height (right) versus two thirds for the conventional material.

The high temperatures and harsh conditions required to gasify coal, petroleum coke, or biomass take a significant toll on the refractory materials that line the gasifier reaction chamber. That’s where Bennett and colleagues’ invention, AUREX® 95P, comes in. Conventional high-chrome-oxide refractories typically last only 3 to 30 months. AUREX 95P, a phosphate-containing high-chrome-oxide refractory material, reduces or eliminates structural spalling—a major wear problem in existing refractory material—representing the most significant improvement for gasifier refractories in more than 25 years. The patented technology was licensed to Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, and has become the refractory material of choice at 15 percent of U.S. gasifier sites since its commercial introduction.

The FLC is a nationwide network of federal laboratories that promotes the rapid transfer of laboratory research results and technologies into the marketplace. Its national and regional awards programs recognize laboratory employees who have done an outstanding work in technology transfer over the past year. NETL is one of more than 250 federal laboratories and centers, and their parent departments and agencies, that are members of the FLC.