DOE Selects First Vision 21 Projects to Design the Energy Plant of the Future

The pollution-free energy plant of the future is beginning to take shape with the Department of Energy's selection this week of the first industry-led design and engineering projects for the futuristic concept's core technologies.

The projects are part of the department's Vision 21 program, an effort to develop a revolutionary new energy system that could be commercially ready by the year 2015.

"The projects we are announcing today put us one step closer to a pollution-free energy plant of the future," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "Through our Vision 21 program, industry-led design and engineering projects will provide the critical building blocks necessary to turn vision into reality."

Rather than producing a single product from a single fuel -- for example, electricity from coal -- Vision 21 plants would be capable of processing a wide range of fuels such as coal, natural gas, biomass or municipal wastes, and generating multiple forms of energy such as electricity, transportation fuels and chemicals. The energy plants would produce virtually no emissions.

Four of the projects will focus on key technologies that could eventually become some of the critical "building blocks" for a Vision 21 plant: [Click on company name for more details]

• FuelCell Energy, Inc., Danbury, CT, will begin developing a "hybrid" power system that would combine a fuel cell and gas turbine to generate electricity at ultra-high efficiencies. Proposed DOE award: $2.5 million

• Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, will develop a membrane for separating oxygen from air and using it to convert the depleted fuel from a specially-modified solid oxide fuel cell into carbon dioxide and steam. The carbon dioxide could then be easily separated for eventual sequestration. Proposed DOE award: $2.1 million.

• Eltron Research, Inc., Boulder, CO, will develop a ceramic membrane to separate valuable hydrogen from the gases exiting a coal gasifier for later use in a fuel cell. Proposed DOE award: $1.74 million.

• Clean Energy Systems, Inc., Sacramento, CA, will adapt a rocket engine design to burn a clean fuel gas and mix the combustion products with water to produce a hot, high-pressure, steam-saturated gas stream that could power an advanced turbine. Proposed DOE award: $1.77 million.

The other two projects will develop advanced methods for designing Vision 21 plants and integrating the key modules using new computer processes:

• National Fuel Cell Research Center, Irvine, CA, will define engineering issues associated with integrating key components and subsystems into Vision 21 plants. Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million.

• Fluent, Inc., Lebanon, NH, will begin building a "virtual demonstration" system that would give future plant designers a way to model a fully-functional Vision 21 plant on a computer. Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million.

Final funding amounts will be determined in upcoming contract negotiations. In each project, the industrial partner will contribute from 20% to 33% of the total project cost.

The six projects were selected in the first of four rounds of competition now underway in the Vision 21 program. The department plans to select three more rounds of projects during the next 12 months from the current solicitation, which remains open until September.

The Energy Department has elevated Vision 21 to one of the highest priorities in its fossil energy research program. Last month, the department announced its proposal to increase funding for all of its Vision 21 research, including the ongoing solicitation, from $29 million in fiscal year 2000 to $41.2 million in fiscal year 2001.

A key aspect of the Vision 21 program is the Energy Department's goal of removing virtually all environmental concerns from the way coal and other fuels are used to generate energy.

"Future Vision 21 plants would operate at unprecedented efficiencies. For example, we believe it will be possible to double the amount of electricity that can be generated from a given amount of coal. By producing energy products in addition to electricity, we can boost efficiencies even higher, and higher efficiencies are the first step in reducing emissions," said Robert W. Gee, the Energy Department's Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy.

According to Gee, Vision 21 plants would also be equipped with technologies to convert many pollutant-forming impurities into commercially valuable commodities, in effect turning "pollution into products." The department also is developing ways to capture greenhouse gases from Vision 21 facilities for eventual storage or recycling.

Additional Descriptions of Vision 21 Projects

Category A - Enabling and Supporting Technologies

• "Critical Components for Direct Fuel Cell/Turbine Ultra High Efficiency System," FuelCell Energy Inc., Danbury, CT, with Allison Engine Company, Indianapolis, IN, and Capstone Turbine Corp., Woodland Hills, CA

  Technical Contact: Anthony J. Leo, FuelCell Energy, Inc. (203) 825-6057

  The project team proposes to create a fuel cell/turbine system that provides efficiencies and emissions targets that meet or exceed stringent Vision 21 goals. Specifically, a high-utilization fuel cell and system components would be developed. Sub-scale tests of the fuel cell/hybrid system would be performed to yield data for integrating an existing 250-kilowatt fuel cell stack with a commercially available micro-turbine, and a conceptual design of a 40-megawatt Vision 21 ultra-high-efficiency power plant would be outlined. An attractive feature of the proposed system is that it allows the fuel cell and turbine modules to operate at independent pressures and, therefore, enhance system performance. The fuel cell hybrid system has merit as a stand-alone, distributed or central-power-generation unit.

  Project duration: 36 months
  Proposed DOE award: $2.5 million
  Proposed industry cost sharing: $624,585

• "Zero Emissions Power Plants Using SOFCs and Oxygen Transport Membranes" Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, with Praxair, Tonawanda, NY

  Technical Contact: Norman Bessette, Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, (412) 256-1055

  Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, in conjunction with Praxair, Inc., proposes to develop a technology that would create zero-emissions Vision 21 power plants using solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and ceramic oxygen transport membranes. The approach modifies the design of a tubular SOFC module by including an afterburner stack of tubular oxygen transport membranes. Oxygen transported through the membrane would be used to oxidize the SOFC's depleted fuel, converting it into carbon dioxide and steam. The carbon dioxide can then be easily separated for eventual sequestration by condensing the steam.

  Project duration: 30 months
  Proposed DOE award: $2.1 million
  Proposed industry cost sharing: $705,088

• "Advanced Hydrogen Transport Membranes for Vision 21 Fossil Fuel Plants," Eltron Research, Inc., Boulder, CO, with Coors, Chevron, United Catalyst, McDermott Technology Inc., Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  Technical Contact: Anthony F. Sammells, Eltron Research, Inc. (303) 440-8008

  This project consists of developing an environmentally benign, inexpensive, efficient method of separating hydrogen from coal gasification gas streams by using dense ceramic membranes based, in part, on Eltron-patented materials that have already demonstrated an ability for rapid proton and electron conduction. Hydrogen separation is desirable for a Vision 21 application because the hydrogen can be used in a fuel cell system that achieves very high efficiencies while simultaneously separating carbon dioxide for possible sequestration or chemical applications. The technical challenge is to create materials that enhance conductivity and stability, and to develop thin ceramic structures that achieve hydrogen-separation rates comparable to those used in industrial processes. The effort includes catalysis, ceramic-processing methods and high-pressure separation unit design.

  Project duration: 36 months
  Proposed DOE award: $1.74 million
  Proposed industry cost sharing: $435,000

• "To Fabricate and Test an Advanced Non-Polluting Drive Gas Generator" Clean Energy Systems, Inc., Sacramento, CA.

  Technical Contact: Eugene Baxter, Clean Energy Systems, Inc., (916) 925-8206

  CES seeks to design and test a 10-megawatt high-temperature gas generator to be used in a high-efficiency power plant. Based on a rocket engine design, the generator uses a clean gas that is burned with oxygen. With water injected to cool the combustor, a high-temperature, high-pressure gas containing more than 90% water (steam) would be produced. This gas would be fed to an advanced turbine, which needs to be developed and is not part of this project. Engineering challenges include building a device that is able to mix water and oxygen "perfectly," combine water and combustion products in a precise manner, and design a combustor with long-life operation.

  Project duration: 22 months
  Proposed DOE award: $1.77 million
  Proposed industry cost-sharing: $885,674

Category B - Systems Integration

• "Systems Integration Methodology," National Fuel Research Center, Irvine, CA, with KraftWork Systems Inc., and Spencer Management Associates.

  Technical Contact: Scott Samuelson, National Fuel Research Center, (949) 824-1558

  The proposers outline a two-step approach in which two computer software programs - designed to analyze all possible fossil-fuel-based combustion systems applicable to a Vision 21 power plant - eliminate the deficiencies associated with current computer models. In Part I, using two computer programs already successfully applied to DOE's Advanced Turbine Systems and High Performance Power Systems programs, the proposers would first identify and analyze prospective power cycles with high efficiency and environmental performance. Then temperature, piping, and coding requirements for each technology module to be used in a Vision 21 plant would be investigated. Effects on power plant operation, including startup, shutdown, part load, transient operation and emergency response, would be considered. Part II would consist of non-technical issues affecting system integration, such as trade-offs between capital and operating costs. In this way, important features that would improve plant operations at the cost of nominal plant efficiency would be explored, identified and factored into plant designs.

  Project duration: 36 months
  Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million
  Proposed industry cost-sharing: $485,927

Category C - Advanced Plant Design and Visualization Software

• "Software Integration for Vision 21 Virtual Demonstration," Fluent Inc., Lebanon, NH, with ABB Alstom Power, Aspen Technology, Intergraph and West Virginia University.

  Technical Contact: Dr. Madhava Syamlal, Fluent Inc., (603) 643-2600.

  Fluent proposes to develop interfaces between computer models as a step toward building a full-function Vision 21 plant design. This effort involves creating an integrated software system capable of linking hierarchy models to allow seamless integration of flow-sheet models with more detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes so that more efficient Vision 21 systems may be designed. When completed, the proposed system would link a set of defined spreadsheet codes with CFD models. The project team would use and extend existing computer codes, increasing the acceptance of its work. In addition to Fluent, ABB would attempt to link its proprietary design codes to the executive code.

  Project duration: 36 months
  Proposed DOE award: $1.5 million
  Proposed industry cost-sharing: $762,578

-End of TechLine-

For more information, contact:
Hattie Wolfe, DOE Office of Fossil Energy, 202/586-6503, e-mail: hattie.wolfe@hq.doe.gov

Technical Program Contact:
Lawrence Ruth, DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, 412/386-4461, e-mail: ruth@fetc.doe.gov