| Description |
The University of Utah Clean and Secure Energy (CASE) project is pursuing interdisciplinary, cradle-to-grave research and development of energy for electric power generation and for liquid transportation fuels from the abundant domestic resources of coal, oil sands, and oil shale. Its work is divided into three programs: the Clean Coal Program, the Oil Shale and Sands Program (OSSP), and the Policy Environment, and Economics Program (PEEP). Emphasis will be on minimizing the environmental impacts associated with the development of these resources, including reducing the carbon footprint through the use of CO2 capture for subsequent storage (sequestration). During this quarter, the CASE team finalized the advisory board, scheduled the first advisory board meeting, and arranged for two NETL student internships. The Clean Coal Program task meetings have proved useful for integrating the experimental and simulation efforts for the oxyfuel and gasification tasks. Because of this initial success, the Chemical Looping team will also initiate simulation/ experimental meetings. In addition, work began on coupling the ODT simulations with the LES simulations for the oxyfuel and gasification tasks (Tasks 5 and 8), and the work continued on comparisons of one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) with direct numerical simulations (DNS) in support of the gasification tasks (Subtask 8.2). In addition, the Oxyfuel Team began retrofitting their pilot-scale oxyfuel reactor by designing a cooling system for the near-burner aerodynamics work (Subtask 5.1), and they began upgrading their laboratory drop-tube reactor for the ash-partitioning studies (Subtask 5.2). Experimental studies began on the single-particle fluidized bed (Subtask 5.3), the pressurized flat-flame burner (PFFB, Task 9), the laminar entrained-flow reactor (LEFR, Task 10), and the pilot-scale gasifier (Task 12)/ In addition, the Chemical Looping Team completed the reactor design and ordered the necessary parts for the laboratory-scale studies (Task 14). The six tasks that comprise the Oil Shale and Sands Program saw significant progress in this quarter. Preliminary results from Task 17.0, which is examining 3-D kerogen structure, indicated that model kerogen structures were too small compared with structures derived from experimental X-ray scattering data. Thus, the Task 17.0 team is currently constructing at least 6-unit models and fitting them into smallest box that can accommodate the length of the molecule with as little void space as possible. The largest model created thus far is a 12-unit model with more than 20,000 atoms. Structural information was also obtained from Task 19.0. In that task, researchers examined oil shale drill core samples both before and after pyrolysis using high-resolution x-ray microtomography (XMT). With XMT, cracks, voids, grain structure and interfaces between grains as small as 100 nm are clearly visualized. For the simulation efforts in Tasks 20.0 and 21.0, code modification to account for additional physics and structure was continued in this quarter. With the addition of a new team member on Task 20.0, the geologic information that is critical to the modeling of in situ oil shale production (important intervals and their spatial distribution) will be forthcoming. In Task 18.0, high yields of shale oil were obtained from the pyrolysis of oil shale core samples that had been soaked for extended periods in water. This unexpected result means that most of the tests will be repeated in this next quarter. Finally, gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy results from oil samples produced by oil shale pyrolysis indicate the presence of water soluble compounds such as olefins, alkyl benzenes and naphthalenes. Water solubility values for these compounds and others are currently being compiled. During this quarter, the Policy, Environment & Economics Program (PEEP) continued research and data-gathering efforts on the Climate Change Legislation and Regulatory Gap, Oil Sands and Oil Shale Resources, CO2 Emissions, Policy Analysis of the Canadian Oil Sands Experience and Policy Analysis of Water Availability and Use Issues in the Context of Domestic Oil Shale and Sands Development projects. Work on the Market Assessment has consisted primarily of initial economic analysis research and continued project organization and development. The Water Solutions for Future Unconventional Fuel Development project team completed model building for its preliminary water management model of the Uinta Basin. Significant progress has been made on PEEP's repository-related projects (Task 25) with numerous documents being uploaded to the repository and necessary software upgrades completed during this quarter. |
