17. ADVANCED COAL RESEARCH

For the foreseeable future, the energy needed to sustain economic growth will continue to come largely from fossil fuels.  In supplying this energy need, however, the Nation must address growing global and regional environmental concerns, supply issues, and energy prices. Maintaining low-cost energy in the face of growing demand, diminishing supply, and increasing environmental pressure requires new technologies and diversified energy supplies.  These technologies must allow the Nation to use all of its indigenous resources more wisely, cleanly, and efficiently.  These resources include the Nation’s most abundant and lowest cost resource, coal.

a. Hydrogen Production from Coal—Clean forms of energy are needed to support sustainable global economic growth while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on air quality. Hydrogen systems can provide viable, sustainable options for meeting the world’s energy requirements.  In the long-term, research will improve technology that will lower the cost to produce hydrogen from fossil fuels and also enable sequestration of carbon dioxide.  Grant applications are sought for economical conversion of coal into hydrogen.  Proposals must show clear economic advantages over the existing state of the art.

Questions - contact Doug Archer (douglas.archer@hq.doe.gov)    

b. Potential for Sequestration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Enhanced Methane Recovery in Coalbeds—Previous and on-going work sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy has focused on carbon dioxide and nitrogen injection into coalbeds for the purpose of storing CO₂ and enhancing coalbed methane production.  For multi-component flue gas from fossil fuel power plants and other significant sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions including landfill gas ( LFG ), there is an economic incentive to inject a greater fraction of the GHG-containing emissions into unmineable coalbeds, thus reducing costly separation efforts for CO₂, nitrogen, or other gases and creating the possibility of removing and sequestering other oxides (nitrogen and sulfur) from the flue gas by adsorption on the coal.  Grant applications are sought to develop practical methods to (1) accelerate the state-of-the-science to inject greater volumes of flue gas or LFG into unmineable coalbeds; (2) develop advanced schemes for efficiently and economically capturing, separating, and injecting maximum volumes of GHG-containing emissions from power plants, industrial furnaces, and land fills; (3) address the practical problems from corrosion and other possible negative effects of injecting greater fractions of the total flue gas or LFG ; (4) evaluate smaller potential coalbed methane resources for local or regional use; and (5) recommend at least one candidate scheme/approach for viability of commercial-scale testing by industry.

Questions - contact Frank Ferrell (frank.ferrell@hq.doe.gov)

c. Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Enhancement through Infiltration Fabrication Techniques—Research is sought that employs infiltration processing techniques to develop enhanced performance solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathodes operating at intermediate temperatures (600^o to 700^oC).  This might involve new materials infiltrated to provide catalytic enhancement or new nano-structures that enhance the transport and surface activity of existing materials.  Grant applications should include a description of how an anticipated structure will lead to enhanced performance and how all of the required functionality of the cathode (such as current collection, gas transport, reaction site density) will be provided.

Background:

SOFC cathodes consist of an optimized structure involving ion, electron, and gas conduction paths.  The nexus of these paths results in electrochemical charge transfer yielding a steadily polarized electrode which drives the electrical current through the external power load.  The charge transfer process can be enhanced by a high density of reaction sites, by catalytic activation of reaction species, and by high conductivity to and from the reaction sites of all species involved.

High performance cathodes to date involve a heterogeneous mixture of materials in a combination that provides all of the necessary transport and reaction functions.  The industry standard for 800^oC SOFC operation is a porous composite structure of electrically conducting La/Sr/Mn oxide (LSM) and ionically conducting Y/Zr oxide (YSZ).  The active layer nearest the electrolyte surface consists of sub-micron particles and pores which create a network of “triple phase boundary regions” (tpb) where charge transfer can readily occur. 

Undesirable chemical reactions between the different materials in such a composite structure can occur during high temperature processing and limit the ability to use more catalytically active materials.  The LSM/YSZ tpb is a compromise between charge transfer activity and chemical stability.  Other materials, those with the highest concentration of surface oxygen vacancies and the highest kinetics for rapid surface oxygen exchange, also seem to be the least chemically stable during high temperature processing and operation.

An alternative to co-sintering of particles in the composite is to first process a porous sintered support structure at higher sintering temperatures and then create active nano-structural additions and modifications through chemical infiltration and oxidation processing at reduced temperatures.  In this manner, unique microstructures can be created and deleterious interfacial reactions avoided.  (See presentations from the most recent SECA core technology workshop, http://www.netl.doe.gov/seca/workshop.html.)  If the resulting cathode has an increased electrochemical activity and a lower overall area specific resistance, then it may be possible to operate at lower temperatures and provide for increased chemical and structural stability of not only the cathode but also the other components of the oxidation chamber.

Questions - contact Lane Wilson (lane.wilson@netl.doe.gov)

d. Coal-to-Liquids ( CTL ) Catalyst Development—As oil prices continue to rise, fuels from sources such as biomass or coal once again appear attractive.  The role of the catalyst is to hasten those CO hydrogenation reactions for the desired products, avoid wide varieties of competing reactions, lower temperature and pressure, and maintain activity and selectivity in stable operation for long periods of time.  In some cases, in addition to CO hydrogenation, accelerating the water gas reaction is also desired.  Bio-catalysis may find an application for the conversion of syngas to fuels.  A preliminary evaluation indicated that microorganisms could produce alcohols (up to C₃), acetic/propionic acid and acetone from syngas.  Preliminary results with some strains showed slow CO conversion to alcohols (40%) predominately ethanol.

Grant applications are sought for catalytic improvements that could contribute significantly to more economical manufacturing of synthetic liquid fuels from coal-derived syngas such as:

• Catalysts, which have higher selectivity to molecular species, which are useful as high performance fuels.  For hydrocarbons, this means conversion, preferably in one step, to high octane gasoline components, namely isoparaffins and aromatics, or to olefins, which can be converted to liquid fuels.  For oxygenates, this means octane enhancing ethanol or higher mixed alcohols.
• Catalysts, which eliminate or greatly reduce methane formation, particularly in the FT process or higher alcohol manufacture.
• Catalysts, which provide for operation of process modes, which are engineered to improve plant investment and operating costs, e.g., catalytic slurry system which can control heat release and decrease requirements for syngas recycle.
• Catalyst systems capable of providing for process integration for better efficiency.
• Catalysts with higher stability, resistant to deactivation by carbon deposition or by sulfur or halides.

Questions - contact Doug Archer (douglas.archer@hq.doe.gov)

 References:

 Subtopic a:  Hydrogen Production from Coal

1.      “Hydrogen from Coal RD&D Plan,” U.S. DOE Office of Fossil Energy, September 2005.  (Full text available at:  http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/fuels/publications/programplans/2005/Hydrogen_From_Coal_RDD_Program_Plan_Sept.pdf)

2.      “Hydrogen Program Plan,” U.S. DOE Office of Fossil Energy, June 2003.  (Full text available at:  http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/fuels/publications/programplans/2003/fehydrogenplan2003.pdf)

3.      “Basic Research Needs for the Hydrogen Economy,” Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Hydrogen Production, Storage, and Use, May 13-15, 2003, U.S. DOE Office of Science, 2003.  (Full text available at:  http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/hydrogen.pdf)

4.      Elam, C. C., et al., “Realizing the Hydrogen Future:  The International Energy Agency’s Efforts to Advance Hydrogen Energy Technologies,” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 28(6): 601-607, June 2003.  (Abstract and ordering information available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/.  Search for Journal title.)

5.      Montanez, F. G., et al., “Hydrogen Production from Catalytic Coal Gasification,” University of Akron Department of Chemical Engineering Akron.  (For more information, contact author Steven Chuang.  Email:  schuang@uakron.edu)

6.      Schobert, H., “Production of Hydrogen through Coal,” Penn State University Hydrogen Energy Center.  (For more information, contact author H. Schobert.  Email: schobert@ems.psu.edu)

Subtopic b:  Potential for Sequestration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Enhanced Methane Recovery in Coalbeds

7.      Blencoe, J. G. et al., “Effects of Temperature and Gas Mixing on Formation Pressure, CO₂ Sequestration and Methane Production in Underground Coalbeds.”  (DOE/FE/NETL Contract Number DE-AC05-00OR2275) (Full text available at:  http://www.ornl.gov/sci/fossil/Publications/ANNUAL-2003/feaa062.pdf)

8.      Pekot, L. J., “Matrix Shrinkage and Permeability Reduction with Carbon Dioxide Injection,” Coal-Seq II Forum, Washington, DC, March 2003.  (Full text available at:  http://www.coal-seq.com/Proceedings2003/Pekot.pdf)

9.      “2005 International Coalbed Methane Symposium,” Tuscaloosa, AL, May 2005.  (Abstracts of presentations available at:  http://www.bama.ua.edu/~pmdp/CoalbedAbstracts.pdf.  Please note abstracts 0509, 0510, 0518, and 0523.)

10.  “Carbon Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan-2005,” U.S. DOE Office of Fossil Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory, May 2005.  (Full text available at:  http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/sequestration/publications/programplans/2005/sequestration_roadmap_2005.pdf)

Subtopic c:  Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Enhancement through Infiltration Fabrication Techniques

11.  Minh, N. Q. and Takahashi, T., “Science and Technology of Ceramic Fuel Cells,” Amsterdam, NE:  Elsevier, 1995.  (ISBN:  0-444-89568-X)

12.  Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance Website, at http://www.seca.doe.gov/

13.  Bouwmeester, H. J. and Gellings, P. J., “CRC Handbook of Solid State Electrochemistry,” Boca Raton, CRC Press, 1997.  (ISBN:  0849389569)

14.  “Proceedings of SECA Core Technology Peer Review Workshop,” January 27-28, 2005 .  (Available at:  http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/05/SECA_PeerReview/SECAPeerReview05.html)

15.  Yamahara, K., et al., “Catalyst-Infiltrated Supporting Cathode for Thin-Film SOFCs,” Solid State Ionics, 176(5-6): 451-456, February 14, 2005 .  (ISSN:  0167-2738)

16.  Jiang, S.P., “A Review of Wet Impregnation – An Alternative Method for the Fabrication of High Performance and Nano-Structured Electrodes of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells,” Materials Science & Engineering:  A, 418(1-2): 199-210, February 25, 2006 .  (ISSN:  0921-5093)

Subtopic d:  Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) Catalyst Development

17.  Samuel, P., “GTL Technology – Challenges and Opportunities in Catalysis,” Bulletin of the Catalysis Society of India 2 (5): 82-99, November 2003.  (Full text available at:  http://catalysis.chem.iitm.ac.in/.  Search Table of Contents on menu at left)

18.  Goldman, A. S., et al., “Catalytic Alkane Metathesis by Tandem Alkane Dehydrogenation – Olefin Metathesis,” Science Magazine, 312(5771): 257-261, April 2006.  (ISSN:  0036-8075) (Abstract and ordering information available at:  http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/312/5771/257)

19.  “BRI Energy Seeking to Build Two Gasification-Fermentation Ethanol Plants,” posted on Green Car Congress Website, May 1, 2006 .  (URL:  http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/05/bri_energy_seek.html)

20.  Morrison, C. E., “Production of Ethanol from the Fermentation of Synthesis Gas,” Masters Thesis, Mississippi State University, August 2004.  (Full text available at:  http://sun.library.msstate.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-07022004-175606/.  Scroll down blank screen until text appears.)

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