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For NETL, March Came in Like a Lion.
NETL was busy in the first half of March innovating, communicating, and supporting technologies and ideas that help America address energy challenges of today and tomorrow.

NETL was busy in the first half of March innovating, communicating, and supporting technologies and ideas that help America address energy challenges of today and tomorrow. We hit productive new levels scoring successes, posting research funding opportunities, forging a strong new partnership, and setting new records.

NETL kicked off March by joining with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in agreeing to merge our considerable intellectual and physical resources to pursue research on new ways to use coal to create innovative high-value products. DOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steve Winberg joined ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia and me for an official memorandum of understanding signing ceremony in Pittsburgh.

In mid March, the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership led by Battelle and managed by NETL, hit an important milestone by safely and permanently storing one million metric tons of carbon dioxide into a series of depleted oil fields in northern Michigan. That resulted in production of a significant volume of oil that would otherwise been left behind.

DOE Office of Fossil Energy and NETL announced the availability of some exciting research and development funding opportunities in March including:

  • $10.4 million, subject to availability of appropriations, for cost-shared research targeting development of technologies to advance the understanding of state of stress and geomechanical impacts within the subsurface.
  • $7 million for cost-shared research projects to advance carbon dioxide–capture and –separation systems to help meet overall fossil energy performance goals. 
  • $32.5 million for cost-shared research to advance solid oxide fuel cell technologies.

 

Details of each opportunity are available in news releases on our Newsroom site.

Also in March, DOE announced its selection of two projects that will receive $2.8 million for cost-shared research that advances solid oxide fuel cell technology for cost-competitive fossil-based power generation with near-zero emissions. Mohawk Innovative Technology of Albany, N.Y. and West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va. will conduct the research with NETL management. More information about the projects is available here.

In March, our researchers pursued a busy schedule of appearances at prestigious scientific gatherings all over the nation to share results and plans. Stops included Pittcon in Orlando, Fla., the world’s leading annual conference and exposition on laboratory science organized by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C. 

Finally, in March, NETL released the Spring 2018 edition of its Impact magazine, which was dedicated to the Lab’s research on revolutionizing energy systems with new emerging sensor technologies. The on line version is available here.

Keep watching for more innovation.

 


As Acting Director of NETL, Sean I. Plasynski, Ph.D., builds on an extensive background in energy as he leads NETL in its mission to enhance the nation’s energy independence and protect the environment for future generations. For more information about Sean Plasynski's experience, please click here.