Massachusetts Company Heading Projects in Illinois, Alaska

• Engineering Development of an Advanced Coal-Fired Power System - DB Riley, Inc., Worcester, MA, was selected by DOE's Office of Fossil Energy to complete development of an innovative low-emission boiler system, likely to be the next major advance in pulverized coal burning. DB Riley, Inc. has been developing this new boiler system since 1992. The ultimate goal of this $147.50 million project (DOE share: $28.05 million) is to construct a 91-megawatt proof-of-concept plant in Illinois as a test unit for a 400-megawatt commercial design. The new boiler system is expected to reduce SO2 and NOx emissions to one-sixth and particulate matter emissions to one-third of today's federal air quality standards; achieve power plant efficiencies of 42 to 45 percent, which is greater than the average of 35 percent that is achieved by today's plants; and produce electricity at a cost equal to or less than that from modern coal-fired power plants.

• Clean Coal Diesel Engine Demonstration - TIAX, LLC, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, is the lead industrial partner in a DOE Clean Coal Technology project to design and install a coal-fired diesel engine on the University of Alaska-Fairbanks campus. The diesel engine will burn a coal-water fuel produced from Alaskan sub-bituminous coals to generate electricity and steam for the university. The new diesel engine is expected to achieve an efficiency of 41 percent with lower SOx and NOx emissions, and a reduction of 25 percent of CO2 emissions. The project has a total value of $41.61 million with DOE providing $20.81 million.

Small Businesses Combating Global Warming, Developing Sensors and Advanced Membranes

• Utilization of Algae to Sequester CO2 from Combustion Systems - Physical Sciences, Inc. is also conducting a $2.42 million project (DOE share: $1.74 million) to sequester CO2 using algae. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that is emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels. The capability to capture and sequester CO2 will enable advanced coal power systems to operate virtually pollution free. In this project, Physical Sciences, Inc. will select algae based on their growth rates and uptake of CO2, ability to convert CO2 into minerals such as carbonates, ability to produce high-value products, and capability to withstand the components in flue gas mixtures. Laboratory-scale tests will be performed to select the most optimal algal species. Use of these species will then be demonstrated in industrial-scale photobioreactors to optimize the system for CO2 sequestration. Finally, economic analysis will be performed to identify those processes of the system that have the greatest costs, so that steps can be taken to reduce these expenses.

• Coal Feed Sensors - Foster-Miller, Inc., Waltham, MA is developing a commercially-viable, dynamic signature-based sensing system that will used to infer the flow rate and fineness of pulverized coal. The sensing system utilizes accelerometers attached externally to coal feeder pipes. Data is collected from the impingement of the coal particles as well as acoustic noise generated from the flow and is transformed into characteristic signatures through proper calibration that are meaninful to the operator. DOE is contributing $120,000 to this $150,000 project.

Companies Helping to Control Pollution

• Hybrid Control System to Help Meet Emissions Standards - TIAX LLC, Cambridge, MA, has been awarded a project to demonstrate a hybrid system that will combine fuel-lean gas reburn (FLGR), selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR), and selective catalytic reduction (SCR). The hybrid system will be packaged as a lower cost alternative for meeting EPA emissions standards. The project has a total value of $24.00 million with DOE contributing $11.76 million.

Improved Hydrogen Separation and Operation of Power Plants Through Better Technology

• NDE Probes for Gas Turbine Materials - JENTEK Sensors, Inc., Waltham, MA, has been awarded a fully DOE-funded $100,000 project to develop probes that will determine the extent of degradation of turbine materials exposed to hot gases. The probes will use non-destructive evaluation techniques to preserve the integrity of the turbine.

• Advanced Membranes for Hydrogen Separation - CeraMem Corp., Waltham, MA is developing a silicon carbide-based (SiC) hydrogen separation membrane using novel chemistries and fabrication approaches. These membranes will be analyzed for permeability and selectivity of hydrogen, and durability in a high temperature CO2/water environment. DOE is fully funding this project at $100,000.

• Demonstration of Integrated Optimization Software at the Baldwin Energy Complex - NeuCo, Inc. Boston, MA, was awarded a $19.09 million project (DOE share: $8.59 million) to develop integrative optimization solutions for coal-fired plants in reducing emissions and increasing plant efficiency and availability. The optimization solutions will be based on NeuCo's platform, called ProcessLink that includes neural networks, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic techniques. Combustion, soot-blowing, and SCR systems will be integrated into the existing Baldwin Energy Complex in Baldwin, Illinois, and demonstrated for maximizing equipment performance and minimizing plant operation cost.

Universities Investigating Ways to Sequester CO2, Produce Hydrogen, Improve Fuel Cells

• International Collaboration on CO2 Sequestration - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, is developing instrumentation and potential experiments for the International Collaboration on CO2 Ocean Sequestration. The project is a collaboration among the United States, Canada, Norway, Japan, and Australia to investigate the technical feasibility and understanding of the environmental impacts of CO2 ocean sequestration and to minimize those impacts. DOE is completely funding the $1.10 million project.

• Carbon Management Geographic Information System (GIS) for the United States - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, has been awarded a $1.06 million project (DOE share: $850,000) to develop a systems analysis tool to aid in the development and deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technologies in the United States. The project will develop tools to provide real-time display and analyze CO2 sequestration sources, sinks and other data. Visualization of high quality and current data can assist decision makers by providing access to distributed sets of high quality data in a consistent manner. The Geographic Information System tool will be used to model, analyze and visualize spatial relationships between data.

• CO2 Sequestration in Deep Ocean Waters - The University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA, is investigating CO2 ocean sequestration in this $406,000 project (DOE share: $344,000). University researchers are investigating the use of a CO2-water-limestone emulsion to sequester CO2 in deep ocean waters. Physical and chemical characteristics and reaction kinetics data collection will be the early focus of the project to eventually develop a model for future scale-up work. The oceans of the world have enormous potential to sequester CO2. However, more research needs to be done to determine the cost-effectiveness of CO2 ocean sequestration techniques and also to determine their potential impacts on the marine environment.

• Material System for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell - Boston University, Boston, MA, has been awarded a completely DOE-funded $200,000 project to investigate a material system for making and evaluating planar intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells that are capable of operating at 50-90 percent fuel utilization with a power density greater than 0.6 W/cm2 at 500ºC and 1 W/cm2 at 700ºC, and have less than 1 percent long-term degradation in electrical performance. The goal is to manufacture these cell stacks at a cost not exceeding $400/kWe.

Oil and Natural Gas Projects in Massachusetts

• In-Situ Stress and Permeability in Fractured Reservoirs - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA - MIT is building a reservoir flow model for fractured reservoirs that can be used as a predictive tool for production optimization and reservoir management. The impact of this tool could be significant, as targeting the flowing fracture architecture can significantly boost production rates and provide a faster return on capital expenditure. Total cost of the project is $2.98 million with DOE cost-sharing $1.88 million.

• Robotic Inspection Platform for Gas Pipelines - Foster-Miller, Inc., Waltham, MA, is designing, constructing and demonstrating a semi-autonomous robotic inspection platform capable of deploying a variety of onboard sensors for in-line evaluation of natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines. The work will address and demonstrate the ability of novel sensors to detect pipeline defects. DOE is contributing $1.5 million to this $4.83 million project.

• Aerial Natural Gas Leak Detection System - Physical Sciences, Inc., Andover, MA is developing a cost-effective and power efficient advanced remote sensing technologu able to detect and quantify - from an aerial vehicle - natural gas leaking from a high-pressure pipeline. This technology ultimately will be capable of operating at heights of 50,000 feet or higher. DOE is contributing $448,500 to offset the $560,800 total cost.