The Fossil R The Fossil R The Fossil Report

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Fossil Energy Program Summer 2003

Energy Technology for the Future...and for the World

IN THIS ISSUE

International Materials Institute Launched

New Study Focuses on Cleanup of Produced Water

Fly Ash Tested for Use in Carbon Sequestration

Proceedings of Materials Conference Posted

Bill Steele Tells History of Bartlesville

Thermodynamics Group 

ORNL Inventors Honored

ORNL Fossil Energy Program Annual Report OnLine

ORNL Researchers Win R&D 100 Awards

The Fossil Report is published quarterly by

Paul Theodore Carlson, Oak Ridge National

Laboratory Fossil Energy Program.

UNITED WE STAND

International Materials International Materials

Institute Launched

The University of Tennessee

recently announced the creation

of the International Materials Institute, made possible by a

grant from the National Science Foundation. The $3.6-

million grant establishes the IMI

under the the name Advanced

Neutron Scattering netWork for

Education and Research (ANSWER).

The team receiving the funds is led by Dr. Peter Liaw,

a professor in the Department of Materials Science and

Engineering and a researcher on the Fossil Energy

Program. Details of Liaw’s fossil-related research can

be read on the Fossil Energy Program Web site.

Other members of the team are Dr. Raymond

Buchanan, Interim Department Head and Professor in

the Department of Materials Science and Engineering;

Dr. Xun-Li Wang with the Spallation Neutron Source,

Dr. Hahn Choo, a professor in the Department of Mate-

 (front) Dr. Peter Liaw (l)

and Dr. Raymond Buchanan

(r) of the UT Department of

Materials Science and

Engineering; (rear) Dr. XunLi Wang (l) with the

Spallation Neutron Source;

Dr. Hahn Choo (center) a

MSE professor; and Dr.

Camden Hubbard (r) with

ORNL’s Metals and

Ceramics Division.

Photo courtesy of The

University of Tennessee

See IMI Launch - page 2

New Study Focuses on Cleanup of New Study Focuses on Cleanup of

Produced Water

Discharge of produced water into the Gulf of Mexico is

regulated, and the regulations specify that total oil and

grease in the discharged water be below a daily maximum of 42 ppm.

Unfortunately, current methods for analysis of produced

water for total petroleum hydrocarbons do not discriminate between recoverable oil and grease and waterSee New Study - page 3
2

THE FOSSIL REPORT SUMMER 2003

Proceedings of Proceedings of

Materials Conference

Posted

The proceedings of the 17th

Annual Conference on Fossil

Energy Materials

have been

posted on the

National Energy

Technology

Laboratory’s

Web site.

The conference, held in April

2003, included presentations

and posters on the latest work

in new alloys, functional materials, coatings and protection

of materials, and materials

performance and reliability.

Fly Ash Tested f ested for Use in Carbon Sequestration

By Anthony V. Palumbo

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Collaborative work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is investigating the use of fly

ash amendments to soils to increase carbon sequestration.

Tony Palumbo, Suzanne Fisher, and Jizhong Zhou

are the investigators at ORNL. James Amonette and Jana

Tarver are pursuing this research at PNNL.

As there is concern that toxic metals may be released

from fly ash and biosolid amendments, a series of experiments, designed to address this concern, were conducted through laboratory column leaching procedures.

The focus of the experiments was to determine if leaching of potentially

toxic materials was influenced by mixing fly ash with soil and biosolids and

if the biosolids could be a concern for release of metals.

Results from the simulated leaching were examined using a standard biosensor-based measurement technique for testing toxicity of water and soil.

The tests showed there was little potential for leaching of toxic metals from

the mixtures.

For more information on this work, please contact Tony Palumbo, Oak

Ridge National Laboratory.

This work in sponsored by the DOE Office of Fossil Energy, National

Energy Technology Laboratory.

rials Science and Engineering; and Dr. Camden Hubbard with the Oak Ridge

National Laboratory Metals and Ceramics Division.

Liaw comments that the mission of the IMI is to develop an international neutron

scattering network for innovative multi-disciplinary materials research and education.

“The ongoing construction of the Spallation Neutron Source, as well as upgrades

at the High Flux Isotope Reactor in Oak Ridge, provide a unique opportunity for UT to partner with ORNL to lead

the way in the application of neutron scattering in materials research,” Liaw said. “This is a powerful technique,

particularly in the study of mechanical behavior of advanced materials.”

Read more about this and other exciting materials research at the University of Tennessee in the Tennessee

Engineer.

IMI Launch from page 1

Tony Palumbo

Bill Steele Tells History

of Bartlesville

Thermodynamics

Group

Click Image
3

THE FOSSIL REPORT SUMMER 2003

ORNL Fossil Energ ossil Energy Program Annual

Report On-Line

The annual report of ORNL Fossil Energy Program

in-house projects

is now on-line.

The report covers progress

from April 2002

through March

2003.

The report contains the details

of progress during the past year

in materials, fuel cells and functional materials, oil

and gas, natural gas and carbon sequestration, coal

combustion, and environmental analysis activities.

David DePaoli (l) and Moonis

Ally (r) are shown a vial of

ionic liquid, synthesized by

Sheng Dai (c).

Photo by Curtis Boles

soluble organic compounds, mainly organic acids.

Close to a trillion barrels of produced water are treated

each year.

Current techniques for cleaning discharged water involve the use of acids, termed acid springing. This technique, however, often has unpredictable results.

David DePaoli and Joanna McFarlane of the Oak

Ridge National Laboratory Nuclear Science & Technology Division are working on a new approach to sampling produced water, through solvent extraction using

ionic liquids.

If successful, this

method could be

extended to

remediation of produced water, as a

step which would

follow acid springing and filtration.

The produced water waste stream is

of concern to all oil

producers, large

companies as well

as the smaller independent producer.

Offshore and onshore facilities alike will benefit from

the ability to remediate produced water using methods

that are both efficient and cost-effective.

For more information on this activity, contact David

DePaoli or Joanna McFarlane.

This work is supported by the DOE Office of Fossil

Energy, National Petroleum Technology Office.

New Study from page 1

Click image to

visit the Fossil

Energy Program

Web site

ORNL Inventors Honored

Earlier this year, three former and current Fossil Energy Program researchers were honored at Battelle’s

Columbus headquarters as “distinguished inventors.”

This distinction was bestowed on them for having to

their credit 14 or more patents.

Those awarded this honor from ORNL included Tim

Burchell, C. T. Liu, and Vinod Sikka.

Burchell is still active on the Fossil

Energy Program, doing research on

the development of novel activated carbon composites.

Liu formerly

headed Fossil Energy

Program research on

the development of iron aluminides. That

Tim Burchell

C. T. Liu See Inventors - page 4
4

THE FOSSIL REPORT SUMMER 2003

ORNL Resear ORNL Researchers Win R&D 100

Awards

ORNL Metals & Ceramics

Division Bulletin Board

Phil Maziasz and Bob

Swindeman of the ORNL Metals and Ceramics Division,

and researchers on the Fossil

Energy Program, are among

those who used ORNL’s

uniquely-engineered microstructure alloy development

methodology to drastically improve high-temperature durability, performance, and reliability

of CF8C-Plus steel.

The collaborative work

by ORNL, Caterpillar,

and Solar Turbines,

which won a 2003 R&D

100 Award, was funded

by the DOE Freedom

CAR and Vehicle Technologies and Distributed Energy and Electricity Reliability Programs.

However, the engineered microstructures methodology

has roots in related work done on the Fossil Energy

Program’s Advanced Research Materials Program.

This earlier work won a 1990 R&D 100 Award and was

based on creep-resistant steels with special microstructures.

The method allowed them to change CF8C-Plus from

a steel that could not be used past 600-650°C to steel

which can be used up to 850°C, and which resists failure during creep, mechanical fatigue, and thermal fatigue.

A large number of companies will benefit from this improvement, because it is now a cost-effective product

Swindeman

Maziasz

work still forms an important part

of the Fossil Energy Program ‘s

Advanced Research Materials

Program.

Sikka was instrumental in the

early work on fabrication and mechanical properties of Fe3Albased iron aluminides.

Vinod Sikka

Inventors from page 3

“Every great advance in science has

issued from a new audacity of

imagination.”

John Dewey, The Quest for Certainty

with higher performance and significant dependability.

One such beneficiary of this work may well be the Fossil Energy Materials Program in the new efforts to

develop cleaner, more efficient boilers and steam turbines, which can operate in ultra-supercritical steam

conditions.

CF8C-Plus may be an advanced casing material for

ultra-supercritical steam turbines, instead of the Cr-Mo

bainitic and martensitic steels used today.

For more information, contact Phil Maziasz or Bob

Swindeman.