For generations, coal powered industries that created new jobs and helped supply light, heat and hot water to homes, hospitals, schools and businesses. But soon, people may associate the nation’s most abundant natural resource with a host of other uses from building materials and energy storage capabilities, to carbon composites and 3D printing materials.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and NETL have selected seven Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small, Transformative) conceptual designs to receive $7 million and proceed with preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) studies. These designs have been selected from 13 conceptual design studies that were completed by 11 different recipients as part of the first phase of the effort.

An NETL review of corrosion sensing technology demonstrates the powerful potential of emerging applications to provide continuous real-time, in-situ monitoring of oil and natural gas infrastructure. This capability empowers industry to prevent pipeline leaks and failures, boosting infrastructure resilience and safety while mitigating unnecessary expenses that are often passed on to consumers via energy bills.

A new NETL study identified strong opportunities for global export of high-performance materials that are used in power plants and the aerospace industry – exports that could mean increased demand for U.S. goods and services and positive impacts for the U.S. economy.

NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., will participate in a roundtable discussion at National Lab Day at the University of Toledo, which will be held Oct. 10-11 in Toledo, Ohio, to meet with other national laboratory directors and discuss NETL’s role in moving technology to society.

A team of researchers from government, academia and industry used NETL’s advanced carbon storage estimation tool called CO2-SCREEN to assess the feasibility of a commercial-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) storage complex in the Northern Michigan Basin (NMB) that could safely and cost-effectively store carbon emissions from industrial operations in the region. Use of the tool was documented in the “International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.”

NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., discussed state-of-the-art energy R&D and his Lab’s work to meet the nation’s most important energy challenges with representatives from mining companies, power providers and other businesses that rely on lignite at the Lignite Energy Council Fall Conference Oct. 3, 2019, in Bismarck, North Dakota.

NETL Director Brian J. Anderson, Ph.D., and other representatives will share the Lab’s innovative work to develop energy technology solutions at the upcoming West Virginia Governor’s Energy Summit.

An NETL-sponsored project is leveraging artificial intelligence in a manner that will lead to more efficient, long-lasting and reliable gas turbines to meet America’s growing energy needs. As advanced energy systems move toward higher temperatures to boost efficiency and reduce emissions, monitoring their performance under such harsh conditions becomes a challenge. Existing monitoring tools for gas turbines are costly, time-consuming and complicated, involving wires and risks for damage.

NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., and other Lab personnel will exchange information and ideas with industry, universities, investors and end-use customers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) InnovationXLab Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit Oct. 2-3, at the historic Drake Hotel in Chicago.