NETL Director Brian Anderson will deliver a keynote address at the Data Center Sustainability Summit, a virtual event on Wednesday and Thursday, April 6-7, and outline the development of innovative technologies that support solutions for a clean energy future while creating jobs for American workers and expanding the nation’s information infrastructure. Topics to be explored by Anderson include NETL’s work, in close collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to develop carbon-based computer memory devices to meet the data-intensive, energy-efficient and fast computing requirements necessary to deploy new computing systems.

NETL, representing U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (DOE-FECM), will join in the April 7 kick-off of the Regional Carbon Management Applicant Education Workshops, which will provide information on how to initiate a variety of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Deputy Director for NETL’s Technology Development Center Heather Quedenfeld along with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Team Supervisor Fred Pozzuto and Contracting Officer Jeff Kooser are scheduled to speak during the virtual kick-off, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. EST. The workshops support implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The sessions are intended for potential applicants interested in supporting decarbonization and developing commercial-scale storage facilities, point-source carbon dioxide (CO2) capture demonstration projects, direct air capture hubs, hydrogen production hubs with CCS, carbon utilization, and CO2 transport required by BIL provisions. DOE will address various components of large-scale projects such as

The April 2022 edition of the SSAE Newsletter provides updates about recent research initiatives undertaken within NETL’s Strategic Systems Analysis and Engineering (SSAE) directorate. Click here to access this latest edition and learn about activities that SSAE is leading to gain insights into new energy concepts, support the analysis of energy system interactions and advance its capabilities. Highlights in this edition include:

NETL’s expertise in data analytics and high-performance computing to support a carbon-neutral and sustainable energy future will be highlighted at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Conference on March 29-31 in Houston, Texas. Themed “An Emerging Field for Energy Professionals,” the conference will examine the use of predictive modeling and other technologies to address challenges in subsurface geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), CO2-enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, reservoir monitoring and risk assessment, industry applications and other topics. The conference begins on Tuesday, March 29, with a keynote address by Emily Grubert, deputy assistant secretary for Carbon Management in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

During his two decades at NETL, William Fincham, a federal project manager, has developed a passion for technology development. His most recent efforts have included working to utilize technologies developed at the Lab to help support a changing energy future. Fincham grew up in Farmington, West Virginia, and earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Fairmont State University. Fincham first came to NETL as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education student in May 1999. Since then, as a federal project manager, he has overseen and provided technical support to projects associated with exploration and production of oil and natural gas technologies (both onshore and offshore), methane hydrates exploration and production, and fossil energy infrastructure as an oil and gas and as program manager has led the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) the natural gas and oil program.

The March 2022 edition of the RWFI E-Note Monthly, the newsletter of NETL’s Regional Workforce Initiative (RWFI), includes details on funding opportunities for advancing undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which is vital for ensuring the growth of a future work force. The U.S. Department of Labor has issued funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for the second round of Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants. The purpose of this program is to address two inter-related needs: 1) to increase the capacity and responsiveness of community colleges to address identified equity gaps, and 2) to meet the skill development needs of employers in in-demand industries and career pathways, as well as the skill development needs of underserved and underrepresented workers.

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced $2.4 million in funding for three projects to advance novel thermal and hydrogen energy storage technologies toward increased duration, reliability and affordability. The technologies will initially support transitioning of existing fossil assets to low carbon energy systems, with the long-term potential to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a fully decarbonized electricity grid by 2035. “The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management is investing in projects that will advance thermal and hydrogen energy storage technologies for use during and beyond the electricity decarbonization transition,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of FECM Dr. Jennifer Wilcox. “By validating new options for electricity storage, these projects will move us toward achieving the cost and performance goals of DOE’s Long Duration Storage Shot—to reduce the cost of grid-scale energy storage by 90 percent for systems that deliver 10 or more hours of duration in one decade.”

A six-year project managed with NETL oversight has culminated in the manufacture of commercial-scale nickel superalloy components that are needed for higher-efficiency thermal power plants.  Launched in November 2015, the Advanced Ultra-Supercritical (AUSC) Component Testing (ComTest) Project, which was completed in late February 2022, has enabled domestic manufacturers to fabricate full commercial-scale components that will enable plants to operate with greater efficiency and at conditions of up to 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit and steam or supercritical carbon dioxide pressures of at least 3,500 pounds per square inch. At higher levels of efficiency, fossil-fueled power plants generate electricity using less fuel and produce fewer emissions. “Through this project, Energy Industries of Ohio Inc. and other partners, with NETL support and guidance, have developed cost-effective, reliable components and brought them to the commercial-scale demonstration level of technology readiness,” said Vito Cedro III, NETL project manager.

Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced $2.2 million in funding for a project that will produce high-strength, lightweight building materials made from domestic coal waste. The waste will be sourced from active coal preparation facilities or existing waste storage structures and converted into building materials that are lighter, less bulky and fire-resistant, for use in residential, commercial and infrastructure applications. The selected project supports FECM’s Carbon Ore Processing Program, which develops innovative uses for coal as the nation undergoes a transformational shift to clean energy and economic growth through the support and development of new carbon-based technologies in U.S. energy communities. DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage the selected project:

When NETL recently gave the green light for a private sector partner to build a large pilot scale field test of a technology that can effectively capture more greenhouse gases without using hazardous chemicals at a reduced cost, it represented the latest chapter in a technology development story that has been a dozen years in the making. Membrane Technology and Research Inc. (MTR) is a world leader in the development and production of membrane-based separation systems for the petrochemical, natural gas, and refining industries. MTR researchers have had a long working relationship with NETL experts on ideas and support to develop a cost-effective CO2 capture process that uses a new class of membrane material known as Polaris™. Membranes are thin layers of materials that are permeable to the molecules they are meant to capture, such as water, CO2 or oxygen.