An interdisciplinary team of SUNRISE researchers from NDSU and the University of North Dakota have been awarded a $1.95 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and an additional $527,000 from the North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program to study the impacts of particulate and trace element impurities on emerging advanced coal power systems.
The three-year program, titled “Performance Impacts of Impurities in Clean Coal Systems Equipped with Carbon Capture Technologies,” consists of an interrelated set of experimental and modeling projects focused on improving our understanding of the fundamental chemistry that determines the formation and partitioning of particulate matter and trace elements during oxy-coal combustion and coal gasification.
Additional elements of the program include a faculty seed grant program and funding to facilitate collaboration of North Dakota researchers with colleagues at the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories. Three SUNRISE outreach programs will also receive support, including the SUNRISE summer research experience for undergraduates, the American Indian freshman research experience and the California non-doctoral student outreach through research program.
This U.S. Department of Energy grant serves as a foundation project to continue the development of SUNRISE’s capabilities into a nationally recognized, highly funded center for research in sustainable energy. The research team is comprised of principal investigator Wayne Seames, SUNRISE director from UND chemical engineering; co-principal investigators Mark Hoffmann, UND chemistry, and Steven Benson, UND chemical engineering; Evguenii Kozliak and David Pierce, UND chemistry; Brian Tande, UND chemical engineering; Uwe Burghaus, NDSU chemistry; and Dean Webster, NDSU coatings and polymeric materials department. Burghaus will serve as lead principal investigator for NDSU’s subcontract from UND.
Founded in 2005, SUNRISE is a student-centered, faculty-led research program at UND, NDSU and other North Dakota universities.
The mission of SUNRISE is to conduct research that contributes to solving complex energy-related problems; investigate the development of sustainable energy options; spur economic development and job creation for North Dakota; increase UND and NDSU research competitiveness in sustainable energy; and produce graduates to develop and promote sustainable energy in North Dakota, the region and the nation. All this is done within a unified, interdisciplinary program that translates fundamental research into commercial solutions.
July 15, 2009