An NETL specialist whose work significantly reduced the complexity of transferring the Lab’s technologies to the private sector and increased the number of agreements executed by 27% is being recognized as the “Best in Region” for the Mid-Atlantic region by the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC).

NETL will host an extended residency for a Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) doctoral candidate in chemical engineering under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program. CMU’s William Strahl is one of 87 awardees from 58 different universities who will conduct research at 16 DOE national laboratories. Strahl earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University with a minor in computer science before arriving in Pittsburgh to study at CMU for his doctorate.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is recognizing outstanding entrepreneurs and small businesses during National Small Businesses Week, April 30 – May 6. To mark the occasion, NETL’s Small Business Program and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization will host Opportunity Day at the Lab’s Morgantown campus May 3.

NETL Director Brian Anderson will serve on a panel to discuss the use of Appalachia’s abundant, low-cost energy resources to enable and sustain a regional clean hydrogen hub Tuesday, May 2, during the West Virginia Manufacturing Energy Growth (MEG) Summit at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling.

A team of NETL researchers led by environmental sustainability expert Mark McKoy participated in the Carbon, Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) conference April 25–27 at the University of Houston in Texas. McKoy and a team of experts addressed the Laboratory’s key research on point source carbon capture, CO2 removal, CO2 conversion into products, reliable CO2 storage, blue hydrogen production, and critical mineral production from industrial and mining waste.

To get the word out regarding challenges and opportunities to optimize the effects of efforts with other national labs, NETL hosted fellows of the prestigious Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leaders Program (OSELP) April 24-25 for site visits at the Lab’s Morgantown and Pittsburgh campuses.

The Appalachian region is well suited to be one of the nation’s clean energy hydrogen hubs because of its natural gas resources, infrastructure, storage capacity, workforce and industrial demand, according to a recently released report conducted by NETL. NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., said the report, “Appalachian Hydrogen Infrastructure Analysis,” studied how development of a hydrogen industry in Appalachia offers a path to sustainable long-term growth.

Washington — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) issued a notice of intent (NOI) to fund a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law program that will focus on developing advanced concepts to lower the costs of producing rare earth elements and critical minerals and materials from domestic coal-based resources.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques, NETL researchers are exploring a way to treat water that seeps through coal combustion waste using a sorbent synthesized from fly ash, itself a coal combustion waste ─ a development with implications for improving the costs of managing future waste sites.

By embracing the twenty-first century tools and techniques of the geospatial mapping, NETL researchers are developing new means of locating orphaned oil and gas wells so they can be plugged in the interest of public health and the environment by reducing the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.