September 20, 2019

Manchin Praises Multi-Million DOE Investment in WVU

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, praised the Department of Energy’s (DOE) $2.5 million investment in three clean-coal technology research projects at West Virginia University (WVU).

“One of my main priorities as Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is to support and promote advancements in clean coal energy technologies. I am thrilled to see the Department of Energy recognize the world-class research conducted at WVU. These projects allow continued use of our domestic resources in an environmentally friendly way and will help reduce our vulnerability to foreign sources of rare earth elements,” Ranking Member Manchin said.

The awards reflect DOE’s interest in advancing clean coal technology, improving safety and efficiency in power generation, and developing new sources of minerals. WVU’s selected projects include development of a new technology for monitoring the health of coal boilers, a pilot program for more durable power-plant components and a new process for extracting critical minerals from acid mine drainage.

“The Department of Energy is committed to advancing technologies that will allow us to meet our energy needs in an environmentally responsible way. We will continue our commitment to investing in research, development and demonstration initiatives to drive these innovative clean coal technologies forward,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

 “We are excited about the transformative potential of these projects. Advancing this coal R&D is paving the way for future technology innovation and integration,” said Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg.

For a full list of DOE’s awards of funding, click HERE.

  • Advanced Manufacturing of Ceramic Anchors with Embedded Sensors for Process and Health Monitoring of Coal Boilers – West Virginia University Research Corporation (Morgantown, WV) will develop advanced manufacturing methods to fabricate and test ceramic anchors with an embedded sensor technology for monitoring the health and processing conditions within pulverized-coal and fluidized-bed combustion boiler systems. The sensors will be incorporated and interconnected through the volume of the ceramic anchor and will not negatively impact the intrinsic properties of the anchor or the monolithic (castable) boiler refractory liner—circumventing the need to insert an isolated stand-alone sensor into the monolithic refractory liners via an access port.

DOE Funding: $999,084; Non-DOE Funding: $255,635; Total Value: $1,254,719

  • Additively Manufactured Graded Composite Transition Joints for Dissimilar Metal Weldments in Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Power Plant – West Virginia University Research Corporation (Morgantown, WV) will develop and demonstrate at the lab scale the technical feasibility of producing an innovative functionally gradient composite transition joint part that can be used to connect and join dissimilar metals to cost-effectively solve the critical challenges of premature failure of the conventional dissimilar metal welds under increased cyclic operating conditions of fossil power plants.

DOE Funding: $999,966; Non-DOE Funding: $269,899; Total Value: $1,269,865

  • Development and Testing of an Integrated AMD Treatment and Rare Earth/Critical Mineral Plant – West Virginia University Research Corporation (Morgantown, WV) will develop and test a pilot-scale, continuous process for efficiently treating Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) while producing an enriched REE/CM concentrate. In addition to addressing one of the region’s largest sources of stream pollution, AMD, this new type of AMD treatment plant will generate a steady supply of REE/CM, a strategically important and valuable product stream. The upstream concentration unit to be installed at an active AMD discharge treatment site will simultaneously treat up to 1,000 gallons per minute of AMD while recovering and concentrating a commercially attractive REE/CM product.