The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy is investing $4 million in federal funding for four national lab-led research and development projects to identify new concepts and technologies for producing oxygen via air separation for use in flexible, modular gasification systems.

NETL’s McMahan Gray, a physical scientist in Pittsburgh, has been named a recipient of a 2018 Innovation Award from The Pittsburgh Business Times. The honor, to be bestowed at a special ceremony later this year, recognizes extraordinary advances that challenge conventional thinking Gray is being honored for his work developing an effective, efficient and environmentally friendly technology that can remove carbon dioxide from air, remove lead from water, and recover rare earth elements (REEs) from water and waste streams.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has approved an unsolicited proposal, titled Quantification of Methane Emissions from Marginal (Small Producing) Oil and Gas Wells, received from GSI Environmental Inc. (GSI).  The data collected from well sites in basins across the United States will help address critical knowledge gaps and support best management practices that are appropriate for marginal wells.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) for a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for cost-shared research and development projects that will ultimately enhance the potential for deepwater enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of conventional resources. DE-FOA-0002005, Advanced Operations and Sensing Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Capabilities for EOR in Deepwater Offshore Wells, will support DOE’s offshore oil and gas portfolio.

Rare earth elements (REEs) – an integral component of high-technology products from smart phones and lasers to computer hard drives, medical devices and national defense systems – are not that rare, they just appear in miniscule concentrations in a variety of sources, including water. NETL researchers have developed a way to effectively filter water from oil and natural gas well flowbacks, industrial waste streams, acid mine drainage and even municipal drinking water to recover valuable REEs.

Fossil energy transformational power technologies like ultra-supercritical steam plants and supercritical carbon-dioxide power have the potential to increase efficiencies and bolster clean coal efforts because they operate at higher temperatures and pressures. However, this leads to harsher and more corrosive conditions compared to traditional power plants. Furthermore, today’s current fleet of fossil power plants are increasingly being subjected to cycling conditions due to the penetration of renewable energy sources onto the electricity grid.

Energy experts from around the U.S., China and Europe are converging at NETL in Morgantown this week to share ideas and challenges related to innovations that will improve flexibility in hybrid power cycles as part of the Low Emission Advanced Power (LEAP 4) Workshop on Flexibility in Power Systems.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) – a waste byproduct that must be treated – is an inevitable trade-off for the affordable, abundant and reliable power derived from coal mining operations. But AMD now offers potential economic opportunities, thanks to emerging technology being developed in collaboration with NETL to extract rare earth elements (REEs).

With expected shortfalls of 1-2 million unfilled jobs in science-, technology-, engineering- and math- (STEM-) related industries over the next decade, it will be imperative to attract and retain more people – including underrepresented populations – to join the STEM workforce.

NETL’s work to assist the City of Pittsburgh in its “Clean Energy City of the Future” initiatives will be recognized by the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Mid-Atlantic Region with a state and local economic development award for 2018 during the organization’s regional meeting set for Wednesday, Nov. 14 at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland.