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University Coalition for

Fossil Energy ResearchSpring 2017 Newsletter Volume 1

What’s InsideMessage from the Director ......... FC

Founding Universities .................... 2

Welcome to UCFER ........................ 3

The Five Core Competency Areas . 3

Inaugural UCFER Meeting ............. 4

5th U.S.-China Symposium on CO2 Control ........................................... 6

UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre Biannual Meeting .......................................... 6

Meet the People from Founding Member Universities ...................... 7

UCFER Inaugural Request for Proposals ....................................... 8

Collaboration with NETL a Key Component of UCFER ................. 11

Time to Start Inviting Members to the Industrial Advisory Board ...... 11

UCFER Mourns the Passing of Dr. Christodoulos (Chris) Floudas of Texas A&M University .................. 12

UCFER Second Round of Solicitations .................................. 13

Welcome New Member Universities ................................... 14

Meet the New Members from March 2017................................... 15

Recent and Upcoming Events ...... 16

Message from the DirectorWelcome to the inaugural edition of the DOE-

NETL University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research newsletter. We launched UCFER a year ago and would like to update everyone on our progress. It has been an exciting and busy first year, and we have a lot of information we want to share.

I would like to begin by first thanking all of those at the founding member universities for all the collaborative work we did together in preparing the proposal to DOE to establish UCFER, as well as all their hard work after project award began to help set up the policies and procedure for operating UCFER.

In this issue, we introduce the founding members, specifically those on the Technical Advisory Council (TAC), Core Competency Advisory Board (CCAB), and Executive Council. We also welcome new members that have recently joined and look forward to working with them in the coalition.

The inaugural meeting was held at Penn State on May 26, 2016 bringing together representatives from DOE NETL, TAC, CCAB, and Penn State faculty and staff to kick off UCFER, discuss the vision, mission, and direction of UCFER, and to explain the logistical operation of UCFER. The meeting was highly successful.

We completed two rounds of proposal solicitations in 2016 and they are summarized in this issue. Proposals selected for the first round have started. We are close to finaliz-ing the project awards with DOE NETL for the second round and anticipate that these projects will start in August 2017.

We would like to emphasize that collaboration among universities and NETL on individual projects is a key component to make UCFER successful. Therefore, we are highlighting this in the newsletter.

We have informed all member universities of the upcoming events, specifically the Coalition Workshop that will be held at NETL in May. It is very important that TAC and CCAB representatives and faculty members from each university attend the workshop to meet with NETL scientists and leaders to maximize the benefits of collaboration with NETL and coalition members. I look forward to continue working with all of you to advance the mission of UCFER.

Dr. Chunshan SongDirector, DOE-NETL UCFERDirector, EMS Energy Institute, Penn StateDistinguished Professor of Fuel Science and Professor of Chemical Engineering

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UCFER Spring 2017 Volume 1

Founding Universities

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• Geological and Environmental Systems, consisting of research on geomaterials, fluid flow in geologic media, and geospatial and strategic field monitoring

• Materials Engineering and Manufacturing, consisting of research on the design, development, and deployment of advanced functional and structural materials for use in extreme service environments

• Energy Conversion Engineering, consisting of the evaluation, integration, control and performance modeling of processes and components for developing innovative energy conversion processes and transformational technologies

• Systems Engineering and Analysis, consisting of analysis and design of advanced energy systems such as power plants, energy markets, and energy-environment interactions

• Computational Science and Engineering, consisting of research involving high-performance computing and data analytics that enable the generation of information and insights through the integration of experimental data and engineering analyses

Welcome to UCFERPenn State is leading the University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER) that will advance ba-

sic and applied research for clean and low-carbon energy based on fossil fuels in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) mission. UCFER is focusing on research that will improve the efficiency of production and use of fossil energy resources, while minimizing the environmental impacts and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Through a nationwide open competition, the six-year, $20 million dollar project was awarded by the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Penn State, along with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Texas A&M University, University of Kentucky, University of Southern California, University of Tulsa, University of Wyoming and Virginia Polytechnic and State University, are the founding members of the coalition. Dr. Chunshan Song, director of Penn State’s Energy Institute in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science and Professor of Chemical Engineering, is the principal investigator and director of UCFER.

UCFER was established to advance basic and applied fossil energy research through mechanisms that promote collaboration among the DOE-NETL and the universities that are members of the coalition by the coordination of research and the sharing of data. Its collaborative research focuses on coal, natural gas, and oil, and the research involves one or more of the five core competency areas.

The Five Core Competency AreasDr. Grace Bochenek, director, National Energy Technology Laboratory, speak-ing at the UCFER Inaugural Meeting at Penn State in May 2016.

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The primary objectives of the meeting were to:

• Provide a face-to-face meet-ing for key personnel of UCFER, which included NETL personnel, UCFER Technical Advisory Council representatives, and key Penn State personnel

• Understand NETL’s perspec-tive of UCFER, which was provid-ed by Dr. Grace Bochenek, direc-tor of NETL in her introductory remarks

• Provide an overview of UCFER’s vision, mission, manage-ment, and operation to the TAC representatives, which was given by Dr. Chunshan Song, Director of UCFER

• Discuss the UCFER proposal online submission and review pro-cess (and project management) web portal, which was provided by Elizabeth Wood and Bruce Miller

growth in the economy that we need. We consider this a new opportunity and an opportunity where we can be a strong group together to achieve some of the challenges facing us.”

Song then discussed the UCFER vision, mission, management, and operation of UCFER. “The vision of the program is a secure, reliable and affordable energy future with the more environmen-tally friendly and more efficient production and use of fossil fuels including carbon dioxide cap-ture, storage and use/reuse,” said Song.”The challenges of the twenty-first century are to supply clean fuels, electricity, and water to meet growing energy demand; increase efficiency; eliminate en-vironmental pollutants; minimize greenhouse gas emissions; and develop sustainable energy and sustainable organic materials.”

Song noted that there is no silver bullet for the future of energy in the foreseeable future. Both fossil fuels like coal, oil, gas, and shale and renewable sources like solar, wind, biomass, hydro-electric, and geothermal will be necessary.

• Discuss direction, funding, and operation of UCFER in the future

• Provide tours of the EMS Energy Institute laboratories

The meeting started with intro-duction of the delegation mem-bers from NETL, UCFER Technical Advisory Council, and Penn State participants. This was followed by welcoming remarks by Dr. Neil Sharkey, vice president for re-search, Penn State, and Dr. Grace Bochenek, director, NETL, U.S. Department of Energy.

“This is a great time for Penn State,” said Sharkey. “We have a real focus on energy at this point and we really want to make this project a working collaborative. Penn State takes its mission seri-ously and we want to work closely with NETL and our partner univer-sities.”

“What we are trying to achieve is collaboration,” said Bochenek. “We are going to drive technol-ogies that are truly transforma-tional. We see things that say we can walk away from fossil fuels, but everyone in this room knows you can’t. We want to provide the country and the world with the

Inaugural UCFER MeetingRepresentatives of the Coalition universities and DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory met on

May 19, 2016, to kick off the University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER).The meeting with NETL, attended by representatives of eight of the nine member universities involved,

including Technical Advisory Council Members, was to discuss the vision, mission, and direction of UCFER, and for the UCFER Operations Management Team (OMT) to discuss the logistical operation of UCFER.

Dr. Neil Sharkey, vice president for research, Penn State

Dr. John Hellmann, associate dean for graduate education and research, Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

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“Many of the fossil energy technologies we will work on can be translated to or are directly applicable to developing renew-able energy technologies,” said Song, who is also Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science and Chemical Engineering. “These include translations such as from coal to biomass and from natural gas to biogas.

“While we work to develop more renewable energy, we also need to continue the R&D on more environmentally friendly and more efficient utilization of carbon-based resources, which provide over 80 percent of our en-ergy supply and builds our bridge to the sustainable energy future.”

Even before the meeting, member representatives and NETL have worked together to set up the basic framework for the UCFER program. UCFER’s OMT explained the newly created web-site and online submission system for proposals and the first UCFER call for proposals on carbon use and reuse, carbon storage, recov-ery of rare earth elements from coal, and crosscutting research and analysis, which was issued in late April 2016.

List of Participants for UCFER Inaugural Meeting, May 2016

From DOE NETL:Dr. Grace Bochenek, Director, National Energy Technology LaboratoryDr. Cindy Powell, Acting Executive Director, Science & Technology Strategic Plans

& Programs, National Energy Technology LaboratoryDr. Madhava Syamlal, Senior Fellow, Computational Engineering, Technical

Director for UCFER, National Energy Technology LaboratoryDr. Sydni S. Credle, Project Officer for UCFER, National Energy Technology

LaboratoryMs. Heather Quedenfeld, Acting Associate Director, Coal, Technology

Development & Integration Center, National Energy Technology LaboratoryDr. R. Paul Detwiler, Chief Counsel, National Energy Technology LaboratoryMs. Denise Riggi, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Finance & Acquisition Center,

National Energy Technology LaboratoryUniversity Representatives:Princeton University - Dr. Yiguang JuTexas A&M University - Dr. M. Nazmul KarimUniversity of Kentucky - Dr. Rick HonakerUniversity of Southern California - Dr. Kristian JessenUniversity of Tulsa - Dr. Mohan KelkarUniversity of Wyoming - Dr. Paul Dellenback

Virginia Tech - Dr. Roe-Hoan YoonFrom U.S. Energy Association:Mr. Barry Worthington, Executive Director, United States Energy AssociationFrom Penn State:Dr. Neil Sharkey, Vice President for Research, Penn StateDr. Tom Richard, Director, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the EnvironmentDr. John Hellmann, Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Research, Penn

State College of Earth and Mineral SciencesDr. Anthony Atchley, Senior Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering,

Penn StateDr. Chunshan Song, Director of EMS Energy Institute, Penn StateMr. Bruce Miller, UCFER OMT Mr. Liam JacksonMr. Joel Morrison, UCFER OMT Dr. Caroline CliffordMs. Elizabeth Wood, UCFER OMT Dr. Jackie O’ConnorMs. Kelly Rhoades, UCFER OMT Dr. Sharon Falcone MillerMs. Jennifer Lear Dr. Serguei LvovMs. Amanda Snyder Dr. Turgay ErtekinDr. A’ndrea Messer Dr. Dan HaworthMs. Barbara Rigg Dr. Li LiMs. Brandy Bowers Dr. Phillip SavageMs. Heather Harpster Dr. Karen TholeMs. Patricia Craig

Dr. Grace Bochenek, director, National Energy Technology Laboratory, and Dr. Chunshan Song, director, UCFER, and director, EMS Energy Institute, Penn State

Dr. Chunshan Song’s presentation on DOE-NETL UCFER at UK CCS Biannual Meeting during September 14-15, 2016 in Edinburgh, ScotlandPhoto by Kit Carruthers of UKCCSRC

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5th U.S.-China Symposium on CO2 ControlDr. Chunshan Song attended the 5th U.S.-China Symposium on CO2 Emission Control Science and

Technology, which was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and held in Hangzhou, China, during June 4-7, 2016. Song was invited by DOE to give a presentation on DOE NETL-supported CO2 capture and conversion research at Penn State. He presented an invited lecture titled “Solid Molecular Basket Sorbent with High Capacity for Selective CO2 Capture and Catalytic Conversion.” Song also took this opportunity to introduce UCFER at this meeting to the researchers in the U.S. and China. He presented one slide as an outline of UCFER at this meeting. Several U.S. DOE officials attended this meeting including:

• Mr. David Mohler, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Clean Coal and Carbon Management• Mr. Scott Smouse, Senior Advisor to Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Fossil Energy• Dr. Samuel Tam, China Chief Representative, Office of Fossil EnergyThe meeting was co-organized by Zhejiang University in China and the University of Wyoming in the U.S.

The meeting participants also toured the laboratories on energy and CO2 research at Zhejiang University.

UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre Biannual Meeting

By the invitation of Professor Jon Gibbins at the University of Sheffield, director of UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre (UKCCSRC) and with the approval of NETL, Dr. Chunshan Song at-tended the UKCCSRC’s Edinburgh Biannual Meeting on September 14 -15, 2016, and gave an invited plenary presentation on UCFER to the attendees. The title of his presentation was “University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER) Funded by US DOE NETL – Vision, Mission and Operation.” Professor Jon Gibbins gave an enthusiastic introduction for Song and the presentation on the UCFER was well received by the attendees in UK.

During the trip Song also visited the UKCCSRC and toured the carbon capture facility (UKCCSRC PACT facilities) both in Sheffield, England. While there Song also attended the 14th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization at the University of Sheffield.

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Meet the People from Founding Member UniversitiesTechnical Advisory Council (TAC)

Dr. Bradford Hager, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Chunshan Song*, Penn State

Dr. Yiguang Ju, Princeton University

Dr. Stratos Pistikopoulos, Texas A&M University

Dr. Rodney Andrews,University of Kentucky

Dr. Kristian Jessen, University of Southern California

Dr. Mohan Kelkar*, University of Tulsa

Dr. Richard Horner, University of Wyoming

Dr. Roe-Hoan Yoon*,Virginia Tech

Dr. Madhava Syamlal*,NETL, DOE

Not Pictured: Dr. Sydni Credle*,

NETL, DOE

Core Competency Advisory Board (CCAB)

Dr. Ruben Juanes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Andri van Duin, Penn State

Dr. Eric Larson, Princeton University

Dr. Akhil Datta-Gupta, Texas A&M University

Dr. Rick Honaker,University of Kentucky

Dr. Theo Tsotsis,University of Southern

California

Dr. Cem Sarica, University of Tulsa

Dr. Paul Dellenback, University of Wyoming

Dr. Srinath Ekkad, Virginia Tech

* Executive Council Member

UCFER Inaugural Request for Proposals On April 22, 2016, UCFER released its inaugural request for proposals to its nine-member coalition. The

RFP closed on June 17, 2016. A total of 39 proposals were received and reviewed by the UCFER Technical Advisory Committee and its Executive Council. Funding available for this round of proposals was $1.925 million and the total funding requested was $7.66 million. The following chart summarizes the number of proposals submitted per subtopic area and the amount requested.

UCFER recommendations were provided to NETL for funding consideration. The following six projects were approved for fund-ing:

Converting CO2 and Methane to Fuels by Enhanced Plasmonic Effects in a Nanotemplated Catalyst Plasma Project Reactor - (Princeton University, 18-month project, $199,631)

Rising atmospheric concentra-tion of CO2 is forecasted to have potentially disastrous effects on the climate from its role in global warming and ocean acidification. To alleviate atmospheric CO2 lev-els, significant cuts in emissions and active removal of CO2 from

the atmosphere are necessary. Princeton University will develop a novel nanodischarge reactor with enhanced plasmonic effects from a nanotemplated catalyst structure to achieve highly ef-ficient plasma-enhanced low temperature conversion of CO2 and methane (from natural gas) to chemicals or fuels. Primary objectives are to: 1) demonstrate low temperature operation of a novel nanoplasma catalysis reac-tor to enable a large volume and uniform discharge, 2) understand and optimize the energy transfer and kinetic interactions between the plasma and catalyst, and 3) in-crease the selectivity for coupling reactions. The research is being conducted under the direction of Dr. Bruce Koel.

Efficient Reduction of CO2 in a Bipolar Electrochemical Cell - (Penn State, 18 –month project, $200,000)

An electrochemical CO2 re-duction cell employing a unique bipolar membrane and novel catalysts will be employed to produce scalable, efficient con-version of CO2 to syngas. The bipolar membrane electrochem-ical reduction of CO2 to carbon monoxide and hydrogen is meant to circumvent limitations in pure-ly acidic or basic electrochemical systems. This novel concept will be validated at NETL in terms of products produced and efficiency calculations at both Penn State and NETL will ultimately allow this new process to be compared to conventional CO2 conversion

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technologies and other emerging electrochemical reduction work. The developed membrane and catalyst materials will be integrat-ed into a membrane electrode as-sembly and tested for the current density and product distribution. This early-stage product will produce the data necessary to assess electrochemical processes for their potential as CO2 conver-sion devices.

Electrochemical devices are scalable and continuing to push into emerging markets, such as industrial hydrogen generation. This project will assess the eco-nomic case of electrochemical CO2 conversion using a novel bipolar electrochemical cell that incorporates inexpensive mate-rials. Dr. Michael A. Hickner will serve as principal investigator for Penn State.

A Low-Cost Technique for In-Situ Stresses and Geomechanical Properties Measurement Based on Leak-Off Tests and Caliper Logs - (University of Wyoming, 18-month project, $325,600)

Knowledge of state of in-situ stress and geomechanical prop-erties is essential to understand the potential wellbore instability and induced fracturing in the injection zone and confining zone as a result of CO2 injection in a carbon storage site. Traditional in-situ measurement of stress field is at high cost, and tradi-tional laboratory measurement of geomechanical properties affect-ed by the disturbed core sam-ples. It’s therefore desirable to develop a method that can keep the measurement in-situ while in

the meantime reducing the cost and enhancing the accuracy. The objectives of this project are to develop an in-situ technique for state of in-situ stress and geome-chanical properties measurement at low cost and with enhanced accuracy, and to demonstrate the feasibility of such a technique for in-situ stress measurement by comparing with different field data from oil fields. The project is being led at the University of Wyoming by Dr. Shunde Yin.

A Novel Point Process Filtering Paradigm for Modeling and Inversion of Microseismic Monitoring Data During CO2 Storage - (University of Southern California (USC), 18-month proj-ect, $244,300)

This project will develop a novel geomechanically driven point process modeling approach for accurate representation and inversion of microseismic moni-toring data as a key monitoring technology during bulk CO2 injec-tion into geologic formations. Accurate representation of the distribution and attributes of discrete microseismic monitoring events is critical for characteriza-tion of rock flow and mechanical properties. These properties determine the changes in the subsurface stress and strain dis-tributions due to CO2 injection.

The proposed method es-tablishes physical correlations among rock mechanical proper-ties and discrete microseismic events, a fundamental require-ment for formulating and solving inverse problems to estimate rock physical properties from observed microseismic monitor-

ing data. Point process modeling techniques are discrete stochastic methods that are suitable for de-scribing binary random processes (such as microseismic events) and their associated uncertainty with very high accuracy and reso-lution. While point processes represent discrete observations, which are challenging to incor-porate into inverse problems, their underlying parameters are continuous and a more amenable estimation with well-established inverse formulations. The pro-posed point process model con-stitutes a measurement operator for coupled flow and geomechan-ic state-space models. This obser-vation model, in turn, enables the development of theoretically rigorous filtering methods to infer rock mechanical properties from discrete microseismic data. Dr. Behnam Jafarpour will serve as principal investigator for USC.

Integration of Geophysical and Geomechanical Modeling to Monitor Integrity of Carbon Storage - (University of Southern California, 12-month project, $244,100)

The geological storage of CO2 in saline aquifers is considered to be a primary technology to address greenhouse gas emis-sions in the short term. The safe, long-lasting storage of CO2 re-quires a combination of a struc-tural trap with intact integrity, and a suitable monitoring system to image the movement of the injected CO2 and determine any potential breach or leakage points. Several successful pilot projects have been implemented to tackle some of those issues, utilizing 3D seismic, time-lapse

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borehole seismic surveys, cross-well and Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP), and Electromagnetic (EM) based methods.

The focus of this research is the use of different types of geophysical data (seismic and EM) with different resolutions for CO2 monitoring. The work will involve rock physics and geotech-nical based modeling to conduct sensitivity analyses to determine the feasibility of seismic moni-toring under different geologic settings. Proposed techniques are intermediate scale (1-100’s m) geophysical surveys providing information in between the large scale of surface seismic (km’s) and the smaller scale of well logs and core measurements (mm to m). The time-lapse seismic signa-ture extracted from cross-well, VSP, seismic, and EM, in certain geological settings, can be ex-tremely useful for the monitoring of CO2 injection and storage. The physical properties of CO2 with reservoir pressure and tempera-ture, and the properties of the reservoir rocks saturated with CO2-fluid mixtures after injection, will determine the strength and the detectability of the 4D signal. The core objective of the project is to conduct research to develop appropriate techniques for an effective, low-cost, and geohaz-ard-risk-free CO2 capture, stor-age, and monitoring. The work will complement several current projects within the USC Reservoir Monitoring Consortium (RMC). The size and the standalone na-ture of this project is comparable to some other initiatives that are either in the planning stage or ongoing. Collaboration with the

NETL will provide the opportu-nity for an exchange of data and ideas with the industry partners of RMC. The project will be led by Dr. Fred Aminzadeh of USC.

Grid Independence and Uncertainty Quantification in Gas-Solid Flow Simulations - (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 12-month project, $134,000)

Grid independence studies for modeling gas-solid flows are chal-lenging because of the particular-ly prohibitive computational cost of high-resolution simulations. Most efforts in the literature are focused on specific operating conditions and, as such, there is a need for robust criterion for determining the optimum grid resolution.

The proposed work will em-ploy large-scale 3D simulations (periodic and/or large reactor sizes) for a systematically sam-pled range of operating condi-tions (particle properties, solids concentration, gas velocity) and domain sizes, determined using statistical methods developed at NETL and in-house. Grid inde-pendence will be realized based on the convergence of cluster dynamics with decreasing grid size, in addition to global metrics such as the pressure drop and/or bed height. Subsequently, using the response surface for the cor-responding grid resolution and cluster statistics generated from these sampled cases, a robust criterion for grid independence will be proposed and its sensitivi-ty to operating conditions will be

evaluated. Cluster and/or bubble statistics will be computed using MS3DATA, which has been de-veloped in-house for detecting and tracking interfaces accurately and efficiently. Numerical errors propagating because of the spa-tial and temporal discretization will be quantified using mixed-or-der analysis and their relative importance will be compared with the uncertainty arising from operating conditions, using UQ approaches such as those devel-oped by Gel et al (Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 52(33): 11424-11435, 2013). The project will provide essential guidelines for high-fidelity simu-lations for the conversion of fossil energy and other chemical pro-cesses using fluidized beds. The project will be directed by MIT’s Dr. Ahmed Goniem.

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Time to Start Inviting Members to the Industrial Advisory Board

UCFER has started to establish an Industrial Advisory Board (IAB). The IAB, depicted in the UCFER organization chart, will provide advice to the director of the UCFER on areas of research that would be of interest to coal, natural gas, and oil industries. The director, in consultation with the Executive Council, will recruit industry representatives to the IAB, who will serve in a voluntary capacity and participate in the UCFER’s annual review meeting, interim reviews, and other activities of the UCFER that the direc-tor determines to be appropriate. The IAB will seek to identify opportunities for industry to collaborate in the UCFER’s research areas. The IAB will provide advice and guidance on the industrial relevance of research projects and the outreach and technology transfer to industry.

Members of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) should have recent, significant, senior-level experience in a firm engaged in commercial activity relating to fossil energy. In most cases, this experience would be with a for-profit entity but could in some cases be with a non-profit entity. Experience at the level of vice president, chief scientist, chief technology officer, chief engineer, or similar seniority is desirable. At the time of appointment to the IAB, the member should be currently serving in such a capacity. If not, they should have been serving in such a capacity fewer than ten years before the time of their appointment to the IAB.

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Collaboration with NETL a Key Component of UCFERThe University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research has been established to advance basic and applied

fossil energy research through mechanisms that promote collaboration among the Department of Energy and the universities that are members of the coalition through the coordination of research and the sharing of data. This collaboration between university and NETL scientists is one of the most important objectives of the UCFER. Consequently, NETL held a video conference for interested faculty from each member university on May 26, 2016 to discuss the types and scope of collaborations for each research topic area in the first request for proposals. The purpose of the webinar was to set the framework for the first and subsequent solicitation rounds.

University researchers were encouraged to submit questions about the types of collaboration that NETL would view as feasible and worthwhile before and after the video-conference. NETL sent its responses to the researcher who posed the question, and the UCFER Operations Management Team posted the respons-es on the UCFER members-only website where all coalition members can view them.

NETL provided general information about the nature and scope of the collaborations under each research topic area that NETL would consider feasible and worthwhile. This included the types of facilities at NETL that may be available, limits on their availability, and the level of effort that NETL’s scientists and facilities can provide to collaborative research under the UCFER request for proposal. This was extremely helpful for those preparing proposals for the first request for proposals. All of this information, which includes several presentations and the video transcript, can be found on the members-only portal.

Subsequently, NETL provided similar information to the UCFER OMT for inclusion into the second request for proposals. NETL will provide this information for each round of proposals.

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UCFER Mourns the Passing of Dr. Christodoulos (Chris) Floudas of

Texas A&M University

Dr. Chris Floudas, director of the Texas A&M University Energy Institute, passed away Sunday, August 14, 2016, while on vacation with his family in Greece. His passing away is a major loss to the UCFER program. He made important contributions to the UCFER project development since the early stage of the proposal team development in April 2015. He was the director of the Texas A&M University Energy Institute, a professor of chemical engineering (at Princeton University and then Texas A&M University), a world-re-nowned scholar in multi-scale modeling and optimization of complex chemical engineering systems, and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. He came to Texas A&M in February 2015 after teaching at Princeton University for twenty-nine years.

Floudas received his undergraduate degree from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and his doc-torate from Carnegie Mellon University. UCFER passes condolences on to his family, colleagues, and students.

For more information see:

http://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2016/08/15/christodoulos-floudas-world-renowned-schol-ar-professor-and-director-of-the-texas-am-ener-gy-institute-passes-away

and

http://www.theeagle.com/news/a_m/pres-tigious-texas-a-m-professor-dies-of-apparent-heart-attack/article_930c6c44-6274-11e6-af68-f7194403188c.html#user-comment-area

Dr. Christodoulos Floudas, director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute

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UCFER Second Round of SolicitationsOn July 22, 2016, UCFER released its second request for proposals (RFP) to its nine-member coalition. The

RFP closed on September 16, 2016. A total of 25 proposals were received. Reviews were performed by the UCFER Technical Advisory Committee, Core Competency Advisory Board, external reviewers, and Executive Council. Funding available for this round of proposals was $2.08 million and the total funding requested was $8.16 million. The following chart summarized the number of proposals submitted per subtopic area and the amount requested. UCFER recommendations have been provided to NETL for funding consideration. Five proposals were recently approved for funding. Details of each project will be announced later.

Projects approved from RFP 2016-02 for funding:• Layer-by-Layer Functional Thin Film Coatings for Enhanced Light Gas Separations,

Texas A&M University, $236,839• Designing Polymer/2D MOF Composite Membranes with Enhanced CO2 Transport for CO2/N2

Separation, Penn State, $305,000• Validation of CFD Models for Turbulent, Supercritical CO2 Combustion,

Texas A&M University, $398,832• Fundamental Studies on the Reaction Mechanisms of Oxygen Carriers for CLC/CLOU of Solid

Fuels, Penn State, $400,000• Evaluation of Agglomeration Potential of Oxygen Carriers for Chemical Looping Combustion

(CLC) and Chemical Looping with Oxygen Uncoupling (CLOU), Penn State, $221,375

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Welcome New Member Universities!An important feature of UCFER is the flexibility in the organizational structure to add new members to

further strengthen UCFER’s research capabilities. New members must have strong technical expertise in fossil energy research and qualifications in disciplines that support NETL’s five core competency areas:

1. Geological and Environmental Systems2. Materials Engineering and Manufacturing3. Energy Conversion Engineering4. Systems Engineering and Analysis5. Computational Science and Engineering

We welcomed the following universities to UCFER in March 2017 for the start of our second year of re-search activities:

More general information on UCFER can be found at www.energy.psu.edu/ucfer. Membership application information is available at www.energy.psu.edu/ucfer/?q=becomemember.html.

Applications from university members will be reviewed on a yearly basis.

New Member Universities from March 2017

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Meet the New Members from March 2017Technical Advisory Council (TAC)

Core Competency Advisory Board (CCAB)

Dr. Brian Anderson, West Virginia University

Dr. Arnis Judzis, University of Utah

Dr. Götz Veser, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Debangsu Bhattacharyya , West Virginia University

Dr. Raymond Levey, University of Utah

Dr. Karl Johnson, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Umit Ozkan, Ohio State University

Dr. Konstantin ‘Gus’ Kousoulas, Louisiana State University

Dr. James Sorensen, University of North Dakota

Dr. John Kitchen Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. James J. Spivey, Louisiana State University

Dr. David Cole, Ohio State University

Dr. Michael Mann, University of North Dakota

Dr. Andrew Gellman Carnegie Mellon University

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UCFER Contact InformationFor more information or questions about UCFER, please contact the director, Dr. Chunshan Song, at [email protected].

edu or the Operations Management Team at [email protected].

Recent and Upcoming Events

The UCFER director, Dr. Chunshan Song, represented UCFER at DOE’s NETL Crosscutting Research Annual Review Meeting held March

20-23, 2017 at the Omni Willima Penn hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Song was a plenary speaker on Tuesday, March 21st. He introduced the UCFER program, provided a brief progress update on the tasks within the statement of project objectives, and presented

significant accomplishments to date.

March 20 -23, 2017DOE’s Crosscutting Research Annual Review Meeting

A university coalition workshop was held at NETL May 16 & 17. This workshop provided university-coalition members information about the research and development conducted at NETL’s Pittsburgh and Morgantown campuses. The participants were able to tour NETL’s

laboratory facilities at both campuses and listen to NETL scientists and technologists. The workshop also included presentations about the university-coalition projects. The workshop provided participants an

opportunity to discuss lessons learned from NETL-university coalition collaboration so far and to identify best practices to maximize the ben-

efits of collaboration to NETL and the university coalition members. All Technical Advisory Council and Core Competency Advisory Board

members, or their alternates, and faculty members were encouraged to attend.

May 16 & 17, 2017University Coalition Workshop at NETL

This publication is available in alternative media on request. U. Ed.#17-68The University is committed to equal access to programs, facilities, admission, and employment for all persons. It is the policy of the University to maintain an environ-ment free of harassment and free of discrimination against any person because of age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, service in the uniformed services (as defined in state and federal law), veteran status, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, physical or men-tal disability, gender, perceived gender, gender identity, genetic information, or political ideas. Discriminatory conduct and harassment, as well as sexual misconduct and relationship violence, violates the dignity of individuals, impedes the realization of the University’s educational mission, and will not be tolerated. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy to Dr. Kenneth Lehrman III, Vice Provost for Affirmative Action, Affirmative Action Office, The Pennsylvania State University, 328 Boucke Building, University Park, PA 16802-5901; Email: [email protected]; Tel 814-863-0471.

June 11-15, 2017The 42nd International Technical

Conference on Clean Energy

March 6, 2017Welcoming New University Members Teleconference

Joel L. Morrison from UCFER’s Operations Management Team will represent UCFER at the 42nd Clearwater Clean Energy Conference in

Clearwater, Florida. He will present a paper titled “University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research,” which he co-authored with Bruce G. Miller and Chunshan Song. In addition, Morrison will showcase the coalition

with a poster in the exhibition hall. The objective of the paper and poster are to promote the coalition, both to universities and industries with interests similar to those of the coalition. This is important as the Industrial Advisory Board is being established and industry participa-

tion in supporting coalition research is welcomed.

The UCFER director, Dr. Chunshan Song, organized a welcoming teleconferece for the representatives from all the seven new mem-ber universities. Together with the Operations Management Team at Penn State, he discussed with the participants about the UCFER structure, operation, the outline of proposal solicitation, and peer

review, as well as the by-laws and the conflict of interest policy.

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