User:Center for applied energy research/sandbox

The Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) is one of the University of Kentucky's multidisciplinary research centers. Energy research performed here includes both fossil fuels and investigations into renewable resources. The laboratory doors opened in 1977 at Spindletop Research Farm, located around 10 miles off UK’s main campus. CAER is a nonacademic organization staffed by approximately 160 employees, including professional scientists and engineers, technical support, educational outreach staff, and students. The center maintains extensive interactions with UK and international faculty members, students, state and federal energy-policy officials and provides analytical services for outside organizations. Current Research Topics Biofuels and Environmental Catalysis is focused on reducing the environmental impacts of fuel use and developing renewable fuel sources. An open access laboratory is available to all Kentucky biofuels researchers. It is located at CAER and the UK Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. Carbon Materials researchers investigate engineering and scale-up of a continuous production nanotube process and the incorporation/dispersion of the materials in liquids and composite materials. In addition there is a great interest in carbon products from pitch and pitch and coal coking. Catalysis researchers perform industrial catalyst testing for many of America's major petrochemical companies, ensuring CAER's work is highly relevant to industrial needs. Besides the established expertise in Fischer-Tropsch catalysis, work is growing in syngas generation, environmental catalysis, and applying catalysis skills for increased hydrogen production at milder conditions via the water-gas-shift reaction and catalysis related to NOx and SOx formation. Electrochemical Power Sources investigators are implementing innovative energy-storage devices into a practical future use. Their emphasis is on renewable energy and the promise it holds. This group's work on capacitors complements the work of the Kentucky-Argonne Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center. Environmental and Coal Technologies are the set of technologies related to all aspects of coal ash. Researchers generate information to transfer new ideas to benefit utilization, handling, storage and disposal of coal combustion byproducts (CCBs). Also, an emphasis is placed on coal petrology and on tracking mercury and its fate in solid wastes as well as investigating mercury capture on coal-derived materials. Finally, the center conducts research into the low-energy low-CO2-emitting construction materials from coal combustion by-products as a substitute for Portland cement. Carbon emissions management from coal-burning power plants is a very strong area of research. Scientists are developing viable technologies for producing clean electricity and energy from Kentucky's fossil resources and biomass. The group's scope includes combustion/gasification, carbon management, pollution control, engineered fuels, as well as power plant performance improvement. In 2011 the group received CAER's largest federal grant ($14.5M) to enhance its pilot-scale technologies on a demonstration scale at a nearby utility. History In 1972 the Kentucky General Assembly appropriated $400,000 to establish the Kentucky Coal Utilization Research Program at the University of Kentucky's Institute for Mining and Minerals Research (IMMR). Five years later construction of the Kentucky Center for Energy Research Laboratory was completed. The General Assembly appropriated $1.25 million to equip the laboratory.

Center for Applied Energy Research - 1980s 1980 - Catlettsburg's H-Coal direct liquefaction facility, the largest ever built in the U.S., began operations. 1981 - A program to develop a fluidized bed technology for retorting Kentucky oil shale began. 1982 to 1992 - A 1.2MW atmospheric fluidized bed combustion (AFBC) unit for combustion and emissions control started in 1982. It was operated and tested over a decade to ascertain the performance of Kentucky coals and limestones. The unit also provided research support for the design and operation of demonstration unit constructed at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Shawnee Power Plant and later for the world's first utility scale AFBC unit. 1982 - The Center began research on coal combustion by-products (ash and flue gas desulfurization materials) for road building and construction. 1984 - Combustion by-products work expanded to include agricultural uses of AFBC spent-bed material as a lime substitute and soil amendment, as well as to investigate the environmental consequences associated with landfill disposal of AFBC solid wastes. 1984 - The Center's synfuels research capabilities were improved by installation of the Prototype Integrated Process Unit. This was a 10 pound per hour pilot-scale continuous-flow direct coal liquefaction mini-plant. Two years later the United States synfuels demonstration program ended with the abolishment of the Synthetic Fuels Corporation. Kentucky's projects were also discontinued. 1989 - A process (KENFLOTE) based on column flotation that was developed by CAER for cleaning fine coal was licensed and commercialized at a Powell Mountain Coal Company Preparation Plant in West Virginia. Center for Applied Energy Research - 1990s 1990 - A carbon materials research program was established to investigate alternative, high-value uses for coal and other carbonaceous feedstocks for producing structural and graphitic carbons. Early 1990's - CAER developed an array of indirect liquefaction reactor types for catalyst testing for improved processes for coal, biomass and natural gas feedstocks. The center established a leading open-access laboratory for producing and testing catalysts for the synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons. 1991 to 2001 - A US DOE-funded project developed and tested catalysts and operating methods for the Fischer Tropsch slurry-phase liquefaction process to produce ultra-clean transportation fuels. 1991 - The "Coolside" Project explored alternative uses of cement-forming desulfurization byproducts and fly ash from a pulverized coal combustion plant. 1991 to 1993 - Combustion research shifted from AFBC to circulating fluid bed combustion for control of flue-gas emissions. 1992 - The CAER developed an oil shale retort (Kentort II), which processed 50 pounds per hour of oil shale. The main product of the KENTORT II process was a crude shale oil that could be upgraded to transportation fuel or potentially used as asphalt paving material. 1992 to 2002 - The CAER conducted research related to Coal Liquefaction, sponsored by the US DOE. The first phase evaluated process concepts to effect reductions in the cost of producing coal liquids in a two-stage direct liquefaction process. The project was later extended to the production of potential value-added materials from coal liquids. 1992 - CAER was selected to administer the Kentucky DOE Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The program is designed to improve the research capabilities of select states so that they may better compete for federal research funding. 1994 - CAER began assessing the impact of low NOx burner conversion on fly ash quality, including the problem of significant carbon carry-over associated with incomplete combustion. The CAER developed methods for carbon removal from ash for re-burn in the power plant, and as potential precursors for active carbon. 1997 - An initiative was launched to extend CAER's analytical and consulting services to include problem-solving, collaborative research and testing for industry. Called the Industrial Support Initiative, the purpose was to provide a single point-of-contact for requests from industry. 1997 - Based on earlier nano-catalyst work, the Carbon Materials program expanded to include research on the synthesis and application of fullerene solids (primarily single and multi-walled carbon nanotubes). Center for Applied Energy Research - 2000s 2002 - CAER demonstrated a technology to recover fuel and aggregates from the coal combustion waste ponds at Western Kentucky Energy's Coleman Power Station in Hawesville, Kentucky. 2004 - The CAER began renewable energy investigations in addition to its traditional research on fossil fuels. 2005 - CAER began to carry out research funded by the Department of Homeland Security. 2006 - With funding from E-ON US, the CAER began an extensive program on clean combustion technology and emissions control research. Additional work in renewables continued. 2008 - CAER was awarded $1.2M over three years by utility E.ON to design materials for electrochemical capacitors. The funding is for research that tackles renewables' inability to meet base-load demand at the power plant level by funding innovative storage technologies. 2009 - The Biofuels and Environmental Catalysis group began an algae program, in collaboration with the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. BAE works on media and strain development on a laboratory scale. The CAER maintains a full-size green house where algae is grown and tested to eventually use waste CO2 and heat from a coal-fired power plant to cultivate algae, which could then be processed into value added products. 2009 - The CAER's Power Generation Group formed an industrial-governmental-academic consortium, which is carrying out a 10 year $24M ten-year research and development program. Initial participants included: Duke Energy, E.ON, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Kentucky Power Cooperative, along with EPRI. The Kentucky Dept. for Energy Development and Independence supports this project with a yearly $1M match in funding. 2009 - The Commonwealth of Kentucky, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville partnered with Argonne National Laboratory to establish a Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center to create and deploy a domestic supply of advanced batteries that will aid in securing U.S. energy independence, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen the economy. The administrative offices are housed at CAER with strong collaborations between the entity and CAER's electrochemistry experts. 2009 - The Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment (KRCEE) has been supporting the US DOE's efforts to complete the environmental restoration of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the Western Kentucky Wildlife Management Area, and surrounding areas since 1993. It has operated under the management of the CAER since 2009. Center for Applied Energy Research - 2010 Decade 2010 - Groundbreaking began in the fall on what would become the university's first LEED-certified laboratory. The $19.8 million renewable energy laboratory allows the Center to expand research devoted to renewable energy industries, including biomass and biofuels, electrochemical power sources (capacitors and batteries), and distributed solar energy technologies. The project should be completed summer of 2012. 2010 - The Kentucky Energy Club is focused on interesting undergraduate students throughout the state in energy issues. It includes: mentorship programs, energy site tours; community outreach, discussion/lecture series, etc. The club coordinator is based at the CAER. 2011 - Kentucky NSF EPSCoR was designed to benefit states that have traditionally received less NSF Research and Development (R&D) funding. CAER began managing this group in 2011. 2011 - DCE - The Development and Community Engagement group was formed in 2011 by pulling together several support groups into one entity to better serve the CAER. While previously separated, the following areas now all report to an associate director for the group. The areas include: communications, educational outreach, conference planning, web and social media, Kentucky Energy Club, library, regional office outreach, and policy development. KRCEE Kentucky NSF EPSCoR Kentucky-Argonne Battery Manufacturing Research Center Kentucky Energy Clubs Development and Engagement CAER Industrial Support Industrial services include difficult-to-obtain analytical testing, assistance with technical problem solving, and longer-term collaborative research. The Industrial Support Coordinator is a single point-of-contact who evaluates a given problem, recommends a course of action, provides a free-cost estimate, and assures the job is fulfilled quickly.

Regional Offices Energy-extension agents extends our reach to various parts of the Commonwealth. A regional office is located in the state's eastern sector; with a second in the western part of the state. The purpose is to assist local governments and industry in the development of energy projects by introducing them to the capabilities of the Center as well as the University as a whole. Workshops & Short Courses CAER holds various professional development events throughout the year. In general, these learning events target engineers and other professionals in the energy field. Services for Outside Organizations The analytical capabilities at the CAER are extensive and serve two purposes. The advanced equipment housed throughout the labs is used primarily by scientists to carry out experiments supporting research. Secondly, analytical services are also provided to external clients through the Industrial Support Program. Industry representatives may contract analyses to be performed by experts at the lab. Those services range from single-service consultations to longer-term collaborations. Energy Campus The CAER manages the property where its buildings are housed. Ten miles off UK’s main campus, the site includes a five-acre lake, the Cane Run Creek watershed, and the Legacy Trail a 12-mile walking and biking trail which begins in downtown Lexington and runs through the research park to its destination at the Kentucky Horse Park.