Utah Center for Ultra-Clean Coal Utilization in a Carbon-
Constrained Environment
The University of Utah is pleased to announce the formation of the Utah Center for Ultra-Clean Coal Utilization in a Carbon- Constrained Environment. The Center's mission is the generation of scientific and technical breakthroughs that allow coal to be used as an energy source in a carbon-constrained world. Key research areas will target the elimination of pollutants and greenhouse gases, and safeguarding human health and the environment. Building on the existing core-competencies developed over a long history of basic and applied research in coal science and combustion processes, the Utah Center will serve as center of excellence not only as a State and national resource but also with an international reach and influence based on international research collaboration.
Coal is the nation's largest fossil fuel resource and is responsible for over 50% of the United State's electricity generation. Its use in the U.S. has steadily increased over the past 25 years even as power plants were required to meet increasingly strict air pollution standards. With a 250-year reserve/production ratio of this domestic, low-cost fuel, the U.S. is likely to continue using coal as a major component of its energy portfolio for the foreseeable future. Although remarkable progress has been made in developing technologies for the clean and efficient utilization of coal, the biggest challenge in the utilization of coal is protection of the environment. Specifically, the mounting pressure for the mitigation of CO2 emissions confronts the coal utilization community with an environmental challenge that is greater than any it has previously faced. The magnitude of the problem will require a multitude of responses, including increased efficiency, co-firing with biomass, retrofitting of existing power plants, and CO2 capture and sequestration, which in turn provide a host of new challenges for the research community.
The Center will act as the focus for university-wide research activities contributing to the ultra-clean utilization of coal. The Center will address issues related to the development of carbon capture and sequestration technologies (CCS) that can be retrofitted to existing coal fired plants, new plants that are designed for later addition of CCS, or green field plants with CCS. Technologies that are currently available, e.g., pulverized coal fired plants (conventional, supercritical, and ultra-supercritical), IGCC, and those that show longer range promise – oxy-coal combustion, coal-fired solid-oxide fuel cells, gasifiers integrated with chemical looping or ion-transport membranes for oxygen separation – will be considered.
These technical problems are best addressed by multi-disciplinary teams of scientists and combustion and process engineers, and students, working together with health effects researchers from the life sciences. Industrial and technical advisory boards (including State and Federal government personnel as well as scientists and engineers from universities) will be utilized to evaluate technological challenges and make recommendations to the Center Directorate. An international conference will be held each year focusing on selected technologies that need to be reviewed. Barriers and impediments will be evaluated and reports will be issued which document existing issues together with possible mitigating solutions.
The Center is committed to providing students trained in coal utilization technology tuned to the environmental constraints that we face in the future. Student participation will be the key to success of the Center. With the increased importance of coal for energy independence, training of graduate and undergraduate students in the development of new technology is critical. The environmental driving force in a carbon-constrained world together with the opportunity to work on integrated efforts directed at national goals will be important stimulants for attracting brilliant engineering and science students. Plans are being developed to provide industrial and Federal internships for students who are being trained in the Center and student participation will be actively pursued in all research areas. In addition, student exchange programs will be developed with key international coal research laboratories/institutes.
The co-directors of the Center are Professor Ronald J. Pugmire (Chemical Engineering, Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, and Associate Vice President for Research) and Adel F. Sarofim (Presidential Professor, Chemical Engineering). The Center is organized within the Institute for Clean and Secure Energy (ICSE), directed by Professor JoAnn S. Lighty, and within the College of Engineering.
