Number of Projects	Total Value* (Million $)	DOE Share (Million $)	Job Benefits**
Coal & Power Projects	11	$49.40	$29.48	1,408
Oil & Gas Projects	7	$37.16	$16.98	1,059

*Includes DOE and private sector cost-sharing

**An average of 28.5 direct and indirect jobs per $1 million in R&D funding is used based on the Department of Commerce's Regional Input-Output Modeling System II formula.

General Electric at Forefront of Advanced Turbine Technology for the 21st Century

• The General Electric Company (GE) is conducting three projects that have a combined total value of $12.27 million (DOE share: $8.04 million) and are developing advanced turbine systems.

  • Fuel Cell Hybrid System - General Electric Company, Syracuse, NY, is developing and demonstrating the feasibility of a highly efficient hybrid system integrating a planar solid oxide fuel cell and a turbogenerator. The hybrid system is based on the Honeywell planar solid oxide fuel cell and turbogenerator power technologies.  The focus of this work is to test a sub-scale hybrid system that will incorporate all of the components/subsystems required for a full-fledged commercial system. The project has a total value of $7.29 million with DOE's contribution of $4.97 million. 

  • Advanced Combustion System Concept - GE's global research center is developing a prototype combustor that is expected to reduce NOx emissions by 50 percent compared to state-of-the-art combustors. Several different concepts will be evaluated at small scales and used to refine computer models and to generate a design database. The database will be used to build and evaluate prototype combustors to operate in a variety of conditions. The best design will be selected for full-scale evaluation. The project has a total value of $2.80 million with DOE's contribution of $1.53 million.

  • Fuel Flexible Combustion System for Coproduction Plant Applications - GE is working on a $2.18 million project (DOE share: $1.54 million) to develop combustion technology that will overcome the limitations of current syngas gas turbine combustion systems, which are designed on a site-by-site basis. Benefits of this program include a flexible combustion system suitable for coproduction applications, ability to handle low-heating value syngas, better use of fossil fuels, reduction of process waste, and clean and efficient power production.

Company Using Oxygen to Improve Power Plant Efficiency and Emissions

• NOX Control Technology - Praxair, Inc., Tonawanda, NY, is designing a gas turbine combustor system for new and existing turbines with a combination of active air flow control and fuel composition control to achieve 2 parts per million NOx emissions. Since most Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle (IGCC) systems consider the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel and there is a large infrastructure of existing natural gas based turbines, it is imperative that the combustor design be amenable to operating on both coal gas and natural gas. DOE is contributing $3.80 million to this $6.76 million project. 

• Ceramic Membranes for Oxygen Separation - Praxair, Inc., Tonawanda, NY, has developed a ceramic oxygen transport membrane that separates oxygen from the air without relying on the expensive supercooling (cryogenic) processes in use today. Oxygen is the third most marketed chemical commodity in the United States. Besides being used in a host of industrial processes, oxygen could also be used in future energy plants to make combustion more efficient and environmentally cleaner. It is also an integral feedstock for future high-performance, coal gasification-based power plants. Praxair researchers are working to make these new membranes a commercial reality by resolving materials, processing, manufacturing, and engineering issues. DOE's Fossil Energy Program is providing $10.65 million for the $21.30 million project.

• Investigating the Use of Pure Oxygen in Combustion Systems - Praxair, Inc., is working on another project that is investigating the use of pure oxygen as a replacement for air in combustion processes to lower CO2 emissions. Capturing CO2 from flue gas streams that use air in combustion is difficult because CO2 is usually in a low concentration. There are several advantages to switching to oxygen. Oxygen lowers the volume of flue gas, enhancing thermal efficiency, thereby directly lowering the amount of CO2 emitted. Also, the flue gas stream would consist primarily of CO2 and water, simplifying separation and purification. DOE is cost-sharing $4.09 million of the $5.84 total project value.

Universities and State Museum Studying Fuel Cell Sensors, Hydrogen Storage and Invasive Species Control

• Feasibility of a SOFC Stack Integrated Sensor - The State University of New York, Albany, NY, was awarded a $223,000 project (DOE share: $200,000) to determine the feasibility of a SOFC-integrated sensor technology. The project will: (1) design a thermally stable nano-cermets using radio frequency magnetron sputtering techniques; (2) provide synthesis of nano-cermets with a narrow particle diameter distribution; (3) probe surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties as a function of temperature; and (4) provide chemical exposure to evaluate the feasibility of the technology.

• Hydrogen Storage and Delivery - Alfred University, Alfred, NY, will demonstrate that hydrogen can be stored and delivered using Hollow Glass MicroSpheres (HGMS) with efficiencies superior to that of other methods. The improvements in the traditional concept of hydrogen storage in HGMS which result from application of the newly discovered phenomenon of photo-enhanced hydrogen diffusion in glasses will be demonstrated. DOE is contributing $199,000 to this $276,000 project.

• Environmentally-Safe Control of Zebra Mussel Fouling - New York State Museum, Albany, NY, is working on a $1.14 million project ($911,000 DOE share) to develop an environmentally safe biological control technology for zebra mussel management in power plant cooling water systems. This control technology involves bacterial toxins selective for zebra mussels only and derived from the naturally-occurring soil bacterium. Application of this bacterial toxin will greatly reduce or eliminate the use of chlorine as a zebra mussel control agent, thereby reducing the harmful effects of chlorination on aquatic ecosystems. The final objective is the commercialization of the bacterial toxin for widespread use in power plant cooling/service water systems.

Brookhaven National Laboratory Measuring, Assessing Air Pollutants; Developing Soil Carbon Scanning System; Conducting Hydrate Study

• Mercury Risk Assessment - BNL is also conducting a study that will provide an updated assessment of the human health risk from mercury and other pollutants emitted from coal-fired power plants. DOE is fully funding the $707,000 project.

• Soil Carbon Scanning System - In another project, BNL develops a robust, flexible, non-invasive, scanning system for monitoring and verifying temporal changes in soil carbon in situ over large areas. The objectives of this project are: (1) to design and construct a continuous Soil Carbon Scanning (SCS) system for field measurements; and (2) to characterize, calibrate and test the SCS system in a calibrated sand pit and in well characterized fields. The project is completely funded by DOE at a value of $885,000.

• Methane Hydrate Characterization Study - BNL will perform a detailed decomposition kinetic study of methane hydrate samples under subsurface-mimic conditions.  The study will extend to field samples from various sites.  This project is completed funded by DOE at a value of $75,000.

New York Universities Developing Advanced Recovery and Processing Technology

• Mineral-Surfactant Interactions for Oil Recovery - Columbia University, New York, NY, is working on a $1.0 million project (DOE share: $800,000) to understand the role of mineralogy of reservoir rocks in determining interactions of reservoir minerals and their dissolved species with externally add reagants (surfactants/polymers) and its effects on solid-liquid and liquid-liquid interfacial properties such as adsorption, wettability, and interfacial tension, and devise schemes to control these interactions in systems relevant to reservoir conditions.  Particular emphasis will be placed on the type and nature of different minerals in oil reservoirs.  Such an understanding should prove helpful for identifying reagants and operating conditions that are optimal for improved oil recovery using surfactants/polymers.

• Innovative Fractured Reservoir Detection Method - The State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY-Buffalo), Buffalo, NY, is integrating exploration and production tools to locate naturally fractured deep reservoirs in the Appalachian Basin. This technology will advance oil and gas exploration. The total project cost is $1.6 million (DOE share: $828,000).

New York Companies Developing Oil and Gas Technologies

• Advanced Oil and Gas Detector - GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY, is developing a revolutionary solid-state, gamma-ray detector suitable for use in harsh environment downhole gas and oil exploration. This advanced detector employs wide-bandgap semiconductor technology to extend detector temperature capability and to provide ruggedness and reliability, which significantly exceeds current designs. DOE is contributing $649,000 to this $811,000 project. 

• Development of New Syngas Technology for Ultra-Clean Fuels - Praxair, Inc., Tonawanda, NY,  working on a three-year, $31.04 million project (DOE share: $13.78 million) to develop and test ultra-clean fuels derived from syngas. The research team will develop advanced oxygen transport membranes (OTMs) that will help reduce the cost of converting natural gas to liquid transportation fuels. Additionally, the team will evaluate the performance and emissions of this fuel in advanced automotive propulsion systems, and develop an optimized fuel/diesel engine/exhaust aftertreatment system capable of meeting stricter emissions regulations in 2007.

• New York State LNG Demonstration Program - The New York State Electric and Gas Corporation, Binghamton, NY, will develop, design, site and construct an integrated natural gas liquefaction plant and distribution system to demonstrate the technical, operational, economic, and environmental advantages of a combined liquefied and compressed natural gas (L/CNG) capability.  An L/CNG system will provide underutilized, relatively low-cost, in-state natural gas with the technical, environmental and economic benefits of an LNG network to allow wider (and cost-effective) distribution of New York natural gas to existing pipeline customers, new off-pipeline customers, and existing and expanded Alternate Fuel Vehicle (AFV) fleets.  The ability to integrate existing natural gas wells in central New York with a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production, storage and distribution network is a technology solution that will enhance the availability of natural gas and improve utilization of sometimes stranded in-state resources.  This project will provide a better understanding of the issues and resource requirements associated with the permitting, licensing, siting, construction, and operation of an integrated L/CNG facility. DOE is contributing $600,000 to this $2.13 million project.

National Laboratory Developing New Technologies

• Molecular Engineering - Gas separation is the major operation cost in gas industry. Polymer membranes and hollow fibers are currently employed to separate small gas species. However, the limited and similar diffusion coefficient of molecules such as N2 and CH4 through these materials makes this approach impractical, particularly in high throughput applications. Development of a molecular imprinting process, imprints a gas template into a polymer film during its polymerization process. The template is removed at the end of the reaction and the polymerized film retains a molecular-scale porosity that is characteristic of the imprinted template gas. Thus, the process can be developed for the selective separation of gases. The total cost of this project at BNL is $500,000 (DOE share: $250,000).