NETL recently collaborated with Our Nation’s Energy (ONE) Future, a coalition of 26 natural gas companies, to calculate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profile and methane emission rates across the group’s complete natural gas value chain. The report, Industry Partnerships & Their Role In Reducing Natural Gas Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Phase 2, leveraged NETL’s world-class life cycle analysis (LCA) tools to directly compare this data to the emissions profile and emissions rates of the entire U.S. natural gas sector and recommended several methane emission reduction strategies specific to various geographic regions within ONE Future’s natural gas supply chain. ONE Future comprises some of the largest natural gas production, gathering and boosting, processing, transmission and storage, and distribution companies in the nation and represents approximately 15% of the U.S. natural gas value chain.

Between analyzing fossil-fueled energy technologies and advanced thermal energy storage, NETL will have plenty of content and insight to share as a participant in the 2020 International Pittsburgh Coal Conference. Running as a virtual conference from Tuesday, Sept. 8 through Friday, Sept. 11, the 37th International Pittsburgh Coal Conference will cover a myriad of topics such as gasification technologies, combustion technologies, clean coal and gas to fuels, carbon management, power plants, sustainability and the environment, coal ash management, rare earth elements, and many more. NETL Director Brian Anderson is scheduled as one of the conference’s plenary speakers and will present, “Integrated Energy Systems of the Future.”

Next week’s DOE-NETL 2020 Virtual Integrated Project Review Meeting (Sept. 8-11) will feature four days covering a range of topics on carbon storage. Presentations will include overviews of the four Regional Initiatives, updates on five Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative Phase II projects, as well as results from several recent efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs). During the week, project leaders also will discuss secure storage technologies, wellbore integrity, plume detection, intelligent monitoring systems and offshore opportunities. Click here to access the week’s agenda, online registration and WebEx instructions. For more information about the 2020 Virtual Integrated Project Review Meeting, visit the NETL website or review the comprehensive schedule.

The United States Energy Association recently hosted a webinar to provide an update on critical minerals (CMs) and rare earth elements (REE) research development and deployment (RD&D) being performed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE), including NETL’s robust in-house research project portfolio as well as the Lab’s extramural program portfolio. The webinar featured opening remarks by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Kenneth Humphreys and Traci Rodosta, program manager for FE’s Critical Minerals and Coals to Products program. Additional speakers included REE and CM experts from NETL, who were joined by those from industry and academia.

Through her work with NETL, native West Virginian Kristyn Johnson, a graduate student at West Virginia University, is working to enhance the operation of rotating detonating engines (RDEs) in support of the Lab’s mission to enhance the nation’s energy foundation in an economically viable and environmentally sustainable manner. Growing up in Williamson, West Virginia, a small town on the Kentucky border, Johnson graduated from Mingo Central High School, where she took pre-engineering classes as part of a college preparatory program. She then enrolled at WVU, where her mother also attended, studying mechanical and aerospace engineering as an undergraduate before pursuing graduate studies in mechanical engineering.

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NETL have announced the award of approximately $72 million in federal funding to support the development and advancement of carbon capture technologies under two funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). Under this cost-shared research and development (R&D), DOE is awarding $51 million to nine new projects for coal and natural gas power and industrial sources. DOE is awarding a total of $21 million to 18 projects for technologies that remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, a process known as “direct air capture.” “The projects selected as a part of this research will help us develop the technological solutions needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. “This is critical to balancing our Nation’s energy use while continuing to lead the world in emissions reductions.”

The exchange of ideas and networking to pioneer new energy technologies and partnerships will continue in spite of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as NETL and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) host the 2020 DOE InnovationXLab CarbonX Summit virtually. Originally scheduled for Sept. 22-23 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh, the DOE InnovationXLab CarbonX Summit is now tentatively scheduled for Oct. 21-22. The event will showcase, primarily for members of industry, DOE technologies and the national laboratories’ capabilities at the heart of the domestic energy economy from production to utilization to reuse. NETL staff are working internally and in coordination with the Lab Steering Committee and OTT to secure the dates, times and agenda for the virtual event. With the change to a virtual setting, the event’s planners are considering several options for format and content. More information will be provided through email once the details are finalized.

This month, NETL and its partners working on Alaska’s North Slope surpassed a major research milestone in the development of technology that could unlock access to significant resources of thick oil trapped in Arctic oil fields. Injection of a benign polymer fluid to produce heavy oil from the Milne Point Field of Prudhoe Bay began in August 2018 as part of an NETL-supported field test. Two years later, the technology has not only demonstrated the ability to extract heavy oil, it also offers a promising solution to address production issues that have challenged energy companies working in the harsh Alaskan environment. “The heavy oil resources on Alaska’s North Slope have been estimated at 25 to 30 billion barrels,” said NETL’s David Cercone, the federal project manager for the field test. “The technology we are advancing has the potential to support the Alaskan economy and contribute to a reliable domestic oil supply for many years.”

NETL-City of Pittsburgh MOU 5th Anniversary Video NETL and the City of Pittsburgh initiated a partnership in July 2015 to transform the city’s energy system and aging infrastructure by implementing a “grid of microgrids” concept that spanned nine energy districts. For five years, the City of Pittsburgh has provided an opportunity for NETL to demonstrate how advanced fossil energy technologies can support the safe, efficient use of energy and shape Pittsburgh into a “Clean Energy City of the Future.”

The DOE-NETL 2020 Virtual Integrated Project Review Meeting continues next week with discussions focusing on advanced alloy manufacturing, state-of-the-art gasification systems and water management issues. Leading experts in these fields will explain how their work is helping to ensure reliable, affordable and cleaner energy for the nation, as well as conserve water, a critical resource for both human and ecosystem needs, during energy production. The week gets started with presentations describing recent advancements in the field of alloy manufacturing to develop materials that can withstand the harsh environments in fossil-energy power plants, which achieve maximum efficiency when operating at extreme high temperatures. The gasification sessions will explore technologies for converting diverse types of coal into clean synthesis gas to enable the low-cost production of electricity, hydrogen, transportation fuels, chemicals and other useful products.  Additionally, this session will explore innovations in oxygen production via air separation for gasification and other fossil energy technologies. Session titles and dates are: