The Fossil Report ossil Report ossil Report

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Fossil Energy Program Fall 2001

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

IN THIS ISSUE

ORNL Proposal Winner in Recent

Competition

Latest on FY 2002 Appropriations

Lehigh University Researcher Wins

Awards

New Research to Benefit

Coproduction Plant Concept

NETL Unveils Methane Hydrate

Web Site

Liu Wins Distinguished Award

Prototype Fuel Cell Uses Diesel Fuel

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Paul T. Carlson

Editor and Publisher

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Fossil Energy Program

Claudia Rawn is a Research Staff Member in the

Diffraction and Thermophysical Properties

Group where she studies the crystal structure,

phase transitions, and thermophysical properties of materials using in-situ X-ray and neutron

diffraction.

She received her B.Sc. from Virginia Polytechnic

Institute and State University in Materials Engineering in 1986, her M.Sc. from George Mason

University in Chemistry in 1991, and her Ph.D.

from the University of Arizona in Materials Science and Engineering in 1995.

Between 1987 and 1992, Claudia worked in the

Ceramics Division of the National Institute of

Standards and Technology as a Materials Research Engineer studying the phase equilibria of high Tc

 superconductor

systems. After completing her Ph.D., she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Ceramics Department of the Joñef Stefan Institute in

Ljubljana, Slovenia, where her research responsibilities included single

crystal growth and solid state synthesis of samples for single crystal X-ray

diffraction and X-ray and neutron powder (Rietveld) structural refinements, respectively. She joined the Metals and Ceramics Division at ORNL

in 1997 as a participant on the Oak Ridge Associated Universities

Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

During her career, she has co-authored over 40 technical publications and

is active in a number of professional organizations, serving on several

committees.

ORNL Proposal Winner in

Recent Competition

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory proposal

was one of the winners in the recent DOE

Laboratory solicitation for research and

technology to bring methane hydrates into

the natural gas resource base and ensure

safe drilling operations in and around hydrate occurrences.

The proposal, Mesoscale Characterization

of Natural and Synthetic Gas Hydrates, was

submitted by Claudia J. Rawn of ORNL’s

Metals and Ceramics Division.

It is anticipated that this research, through

a deeper understanding of the physical

properties of natural and synthetic gas hydrates, will form the basis for developing

working models of hydrate stability relevant

to global climate change, greenhouse gas

sequestration, development of clean-burning fuels, and exploration and recovery of

fossil petroleum fuels.

It is envisioned that the results of this research will guide decisions for the safe and

economic production of natural gas from

See Winner - page 2

UNITED WE STAND
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THE FOSSI L REPORT FALL 2001

natural gas hydrate deposits.

Knowledge of the physical and chemical

properties of gas hydrates is critical. The

resolution of production issues, such as the

location and quantity of natural gas hydrate

deposits, the sediment-hydrate relationships, the process of gas release (and, conversely, the process of CO2

 inclusion), and

the mitigation of hydrate formation in pipelines depend on a clear understanding of

both the physical and chemical nature of

these materials.

The experimental methodology will be developed to characterize structural and interfacial properties of natural gas hydrates

on a mesoscopic length scale. Mesoscopic

refers to dimensions intermediate between

macroscopic and atomic dimensions.

These studies will contribute to the accumulation of information for reliable evaluation of various hydrate recovery schemes

and assessments and predictions of seafloor stability.

This work is supported DOE Office of

Fossil Energy, National Energy

Technology Laboratory.

For more information on this work,

contact Claudia Rawn, Oak Ridge

National Laboratory.

Winner from page 1 Lehigh University Researcher Wins Awards

Jonathan Regina, a graduate student at Lehigh University and a participant on the Fossil Energy Advanced Research Materials Program, was awarded a

first place for his entry to the 2001 International Metallographic Contest, sponsored by American Society for Metals International and the International Metallographic Society.

His poster “Passive Layer Breakdown During High

Temperature Corrosion,” won a first place in the Scanning Electron Microscopy category.

Jon also placed first in the Artistic Black and White

category for his photograph entitled “Mount

Olympus.”

Jon, in pursuit of a Ph.D., and his advisors, Professors Arnold Marder and John

DuPont, are involved in research for the Advanced Research Materials Program, investigating the effect of

chromium on iron

aluminide weld overlay coatings for corrosion protection in fossil-fired power plants,

operating with lowNOx

 burners.

Mount Olympus

From Poster:

“Passive Layer

Breakdown During

High Temperature

Corrosion”

Latest on FY 2002 Appropriations

The Interior and Related Agencies Bill, which, when enacted, provides appropriations for Fossil Energy research

and development activities, was signed by President Bush

and became Public Law 107-63 on November 5.

The Conference Committee Budget, cleared for the White

House on October 17 and presented to The President on

October 25, may be found in summary and detailed tables

on the DOE Fossil Energy Web site.
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THE FOSSI L REPORT FALL 2001

NETL Unveils Methane Hydrate Web Site

The DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory has developed a very informative Web site on the

National Methane Hydrate R&D Program.

The site contains the latest developments in hydrates research, a primer on the science of methane

hydrates, a description of the Government’s activities in hydrates research, and links to other organizations involved in methane hydrate R&D.

The Methane Hydrate Data Bank, containing technical information on worldwide resources, and the

Interagency Coordination Plan will be available at this site in the near future.

Burning Hydrate Photo, courtesy National

Energy Technology Laboratory

Liu Wins

Distinguished

Award

Chain Liu, a researcher on the

ORNL Fossil Energy Program, was

presented with a Distinguished Award at the THERMEC 2000 International

Conference on Processing & Manufacturing of Advanced Materials.

Distinguished Awards are given to those scientists who have made outstanding

contributions in the field of advanced materials.

Liu’s citation was specifically for “for innovative and outstanding contributions

in the field of intermetallic materials.”

Liu and co-principal investigator Mike Brady perform research on the Advanced Research Materials Program on intermetallic reinforced Cr alloys.

Courtesy, M&C Pipeline, Summer/Fall 2001

New Research to Benefit

Coproduction Plant Concept

A consortium of Texaco, Praxair, General

Electric, and Kellogg, Brown and Root is in

the process of developing a new concept of

combining integrated gasification combined cycle and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technologies to improve process efficiency by the coproduction of clean electric power and Fischer-Tropsch diesel fuel.

The project was developed as part of the

DOE’s Early Entrance Coproduction

Plant concept. 

The feedstock, petroleum coke, for the gasification process has a low hydrogen-tocarbon ratio, and the synthesis gas combustion products have a different composition than that of a typical gas turbine exhaust stream.

A gas turbine fueled with natural gas yields

an exhaust gas with approximately three

percent carbon dioxide. By comparison, the

exhaust gas from a turbine fueled with synthesis gas derived from petroleum coke,

combined with the off-gas from the FischerSee Coproduction - page 4
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THE FOSSI L REPORT FALL 2001

Prototype Fuel Cell Uses

Diesel Fuel

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a prototype fuel cell

which operates on ordinary diesel fuel,

opening the door to a new generation of

fuel cells—and a new viability for this important energy source.

Work to develop commercial fuel cells has

been hindered by the limited fuel sources

on which they are capable of operating.

The prototype fuel cell, developed by Professors Raymond J. Gorte and John M. Vohs,

along with graduate student Hyuk Kim and

postdoctoral researcher Seungdoo Park, is

smaller than a penny and operates in a furnace at 700 C.

A commercial, self-contained fuel cell,

however, would generate that

heat itself, using the fuel placed

in it.

The prototype fuel cell is the

first to run directly on hydrocarbons, without requiring

complicated reforming into

hydrogen—either within the

device itself or at specialized

filling stations.

Generating electric power

through controlled electrochemical reactions, rather than

combustion, means that its only

emissions are water, carbon dioxide, and heat.

David Bauer, team leader for the

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell project

at the Ford Research Laboratory commented that they are “excited by

the progress that Professor Gorte and his

colleagues are making in the area of direct

oxidation of hydrocarbon fuels using solid

oxide fuel cells.”

Bauer added that “The ability to utilize

conventional fuels with little or no reforming is particularly important in transportation applications where fuel storage and

system packaging are such critical issues.”

The U. S. military regards fuel cells as a possible source of “portable power” for soldiers carrying electronic devices.

In a partnership with Honeywell, the University of Pennsylvania has recently been

awarded a $1.8-million contract by the U.S.

Army and the Defense Advanced Research

Projects Administration to develop a coffee-can-sized fuel cell capable of generating power equivalent to 50 D-cell batteries.

The military is particularly interested in

the prototype, because of the reduced tendency for explosion, owing to the lower vapor pressure of diesel fuel.

This article is excerpted from an story in

Science Daily, adapted from a University

of Pennsylvania news release.

Tropsch synthesis process, contains about

9.5% carbon dioxide.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a physical adsorbent called the Carbon Fiber Composite Molecular Sieve that

has been shown to be effective in separating CO2

 from a wide variety of gas streams

via the process of physical adsorption.

Moreover, because the material is electrically conductive it may be efficiently regenerated by the passage of an electric current at low voltage. This is the focus of the

recently-patented Electrical Swing Adsorption Process.

Tim Burchell and his team at Oak Ridge

National Laboratory will be contributing

to the consortium through modifications

to, as well as potential new developments

for, the current Carbon Fiber Composite

Molecular Sieve. The objective is a version

of the CFCMS capable of removing CO2 from

the exhaust gas of a turbine of the type envisioned by the consortium.

Over the next several years, it is hoped that

the research will result in an optimization

of the CFCMS to achieve a reduction of the

CO2

 concentration in the turbine

exhaust stream from 9.5% to approximately 350 ppm, the latter

representing atmospheric concentration.

Determinations will be made of

the CFCMS capacity limit for the

adsorption of CO2 from the turbine exhaust gas and of the kinetics of CO2

 adsorption and desorption under Electrical Swing Adsorption Process conditions, relevant to the turbine exhaust gas.

The long-range vision of the work

is a manufacturable CO2

 removal

system, based on the CFCMS, for

inclusion in an operating

coproduction power plant.

This work is jointly funded by

DOE Office of Fossil Energy, National

Energy Technology Laboratory and

Texaco Energy Systems, Inc..

This article was excerpted from a

narrative prepared by Tim Burchell, Oak

Ridge National Laboratory.

For more information about this research,

please contact Tim Burchell.

Coproduction from page 3

“Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we

have found our mission and our moment. Freedom

and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom — the great achievement of our time, and the

great hope of every time — now depends on us.

Our nation — this generation — will lift a dark

threat of violence from our people and our future.

We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts,

by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter,

and we will not fail. ”

President George W. Bush

Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the

American People

September 20, 2001