| 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. It's 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 completed the project management plan, the Brighman Young University (BYU) subcontract, and began recruiting students for the NETL internship program. In the Clean Coal Program, a number of meetings were initiated to integrate the experimental work with the simulation efforts with an emphasis on the oxyfuel and gasification areas. In addition, work began on the experimental oxyfuel studies, including the modification of existing equipment for ash-partitioning sampling and the initial development of a PIV system. A new probe was developed for the gasifier tasks, and the entrained-flow gasifier was fired with natural gas for the first time. In addition, literature searches began on the chemical looping combustion (CLC) tasks in support of the economic studies and development of the reactor system. Work also commenced on the application of principle component analysis (PCA) methods to direct numerical simulation (DNS) data as part of the gasification tasks. Research efforts in the six tasks that are the Oil Shale and Sands Program (OSSP) began in earnest in October 2008. Collaborations among the various projects were intitiated, with oil shale core and pyrolysis samples needed for study in Task 19 being supplied by Prof. Milind Deo from his activities in Task 18. Collaborations have also been established with other research groups for data acquisition and analysis. As part of Task 20, one of those groups, the Energy and Geoscience Institute (EGI) at the University of Utah, is providing geologic to extend available oil shale core information to an area covering a few sections in the Uinta Basin. The second group, CANMET Energy Technology Centre, Natural Resources Canada, is supplying data from the firing of an oxygas burner. This data will be used in the validation analysis to be performed as part of Task 21 For the projects that require new experimental methods and equipment,including Task 18 and Task 22, significant time was spent this quarter on building, testing and evaluating experimental protocols. In the case of Task 22, the current protocol is being revised because insufficient quantities of water needed to study the effects of oil shale processing on water composition were generated in initial tests. Researchers in task 17 have leveraged molecular modeling capabilities in their laboratory to begin searching for the 3-D kerogen structure with the lowest local energy minimum. In Task 19, the research team is utilizing analytical equipment already available in their laboratory to obtain 3-D analyses and mineral compositions of various oil shale and sands samples. For the simulation efforts in Task 20 and 21, codes developed within ICSE are being modified to account for additional physics and structure. In October of 2008 the Policy, Environment & Economics Program (PEEP) of the Institute of Clean and Secure Energy (ICSE) began work on the following National Energy Technology Laboratory funded projects: Climate Change Legislation and Regulatory Gap; Market Assessment of Heavy Oil, Oil Sands and Oil Shale Resources; CO2 Emissions; Policy Analysis of the Canadian Oil Sands Experience; Policy Analysis of Water Availability and Use Issues in the Context of Domestic Oil Shale and Sands Development; Oil Sands/Oil Shale Repository of Data, Information and Software; Addition of New Materials to the Repository; Improvement of Map Server Interface to Repository; and Water Solutions for Future Unconventional Fuel Development. The initial months have been spent primarily on initial project management (organizing projects, assigning tasks, and hiring students) and data collection. Work on the Market Assessment project requested by the DOE Office of Oil and Gas also involved a literature survey, participation in the project kickoff meeting held at the Morgantown campus of NETL, and revision of the project outline. Similarly, interviewing and selection of additional staff members needed for the repository-related projects was conducted in the last quarter of 2008, although hiring arrangements were not finalized until January 2009. |
