The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing up to $30 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) under the second closing of the Office of Fossil Energy’s (FE’s) Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies funding opportunity announcement.

NETL, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) only national laboratory devoted to fossil fuel research, will be represented at the fifth-annual WV Makes Festival – the Mountain State’s celebration of ingenuity and creativity held in conjunction with National Manufacturing Day Friday, Oct. 5, at the Memorial Student Center of Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. WV Makes is organized by the Robert C. Byrd Institute.

A recent interagency federal research cruise on the University of Delaware’s research vessel Hugh R. Sharp, which sailed along the Mid-Atlantic margin to characterize methane hydrate deposits, yielded 2,000 km of Multi-Channel Seismic (MCS) System data that confirmed previously detected methane hydrates and discovered new deposits. NETL supported the cruise.

In a project managed and co-funded by DOE Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), an industry/academic research partnership has taken a significant step toward developing a pilot-scale test facility for creating a more effective way to harvest rare earth elements (REEs) from coal ash – a by-product of coal combustion, created when coal is burned to generate energy.

As NETL strives to develop technology solutions to the nation’s energy challenges, which includes improving the health, safety and security of all Americans, the Lab is working to locate and quantify methane leaks in the natural gas infrastructure.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Morgantown, W.Va. will host a visit Thursday by the West Virginia Chapter of ASHRAE – an organization that advances the art and science of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration to promote sustainability. NETL, one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories, has been working with the organization for more than five years to share, learn about, develop and promote adoption of innovative technologies that improve building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality and sustainability.

Data from three years’ worth of research from the Marcellus Shale Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (MSEEL) – a research partnership funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) that involves West Virginia University (WVU) and Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) – will guide more extensive testing at a new well site near Blacksville, W.Va.

In the middle of the 20th century, the United States became a leading global supplier of rare earth elements (REEs). These valuable materials were used extensively in the manufacture of innovative technologies like color televisions and other high-tech devices of the time. However, U.S. dominance in the rare earth market began to slip near the turn of the 21st century, and now China exports almost all the world’s rare earth elements.

A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy (FE) leadership team headed by Assistant Secretary for FE Steve E. Winberg visited NETL’s Albany, Ore., site Wednesday, Aug. 29, for detailed tours of the Laboratory’s technical facilities, briefings by NETL experts, and a site-wide employee town hall meeting.

Two NETL Research Associates recently earned their Ph.Ds. as part of the Lab’s Science Education Research Programs, which are offered through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. Jarret Riley and William “Trey” Benincosa successfully defended doctoral theses that consisted of research performed entirely during their time at NETL, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Combustion Program.