Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Optimizing Chemical & Rheological Properties Of Rejuvenated Bitumen, Dominic Nguyen, Hamzeh Haghshenas Fatmehsari, Santosh Kommidi, Yong-Rak Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bitumen has long been a material used in the construction of roadways, yet new pavement only consists of low fractions of recycled materials due to poor compatibility of aged bitumen and new materials. Thus, rejuvenators, chemical additives, have been used in an attempt to re-balance the chemical composition and restore the physical properties of aged bitumen back to its virgin state. A fundamental understanding of how one particular rejuvenator, soybean oil, revitalizes bitumen was investigated using a multi-scale approach.

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to determine the changes in chemical properties of pure and rejuvenated virgin and aged samples. …

Potential Effects Of Climate Change On Ecologically Relevant Streamflow Regimes, Sulochan Dhungel, David G. Tarboton, Jiming Jin, Charles P. Hawkins

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

We assessed the climate-driven changes in ecologically relevant flow regimes expected to occur by the year 2100 in streams across the conterminous United States. We used long-term daily flow measurements from 601 gauged streams whose watersheds were in relatively natural condition to characterize spatial variation in 16 flow regime variables selected for their ecological importance. Principal component analysis of these 16 variables produced five uncorrelated factors that described patterns of spatial covariation in flow regimes. These five factors were associated with low flow, magnitude, flashiness, timing, and constancy characteristics of the daily flow regime. We applied hierarchical clustering to the …

Factors That Impact The Co2 Mitigation Potential Of Cogeneration, Carl Bozzuto

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Cogeneration systems that produce both heat and power are being promoted as a means of improving the overall energy efficiency around the world, especially in the industrial and power sectors. Claims are often made regarding dramatic improvements in efficiency for such systems. For example, a cogeneration system is advertised as being 85% efficient, while, for example, the U.S. grid is only 31% efficient. However, comparing such efficiency figures directly can be misleading. An 85% efficient cogeneration system is being evaluated at full load and on a first law of thermodynamics basis (i.e., input = output at steady state). The average …

Zerronox Corporation: Using Pulsed Electron Beams For The Removal Of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides And Other Emissions From Power Plants, Stephen Kennedy

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Zerronox Corporation is a technology company addressing the market for emission abatement from fossil fuel power plants, specifically coal, natural gas, oil and diesel. Our mission is to commercialize the patented pulsed electron beam (PEB) technology for the cost effective removal of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and other exhaust stream pollutants such as sulfur oxides and mercury. The core technology was developed by the Naval Research Laboratory over the past fifteen years with a total investment from the DOE of more than $150M. Consequently, the developed technology is industrial scale in scope and has been tested for durability.

The …

Baysian Uncertainty Quantification And Calibration Of A Clean-Coal Design Code, Troy Holland, Sham Bhat, Peter Marcy, James Gattiker, Joel Kress, Thomas Fletcher

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Current concerns about atmospheric carbon levels have sparked demands for massively reduced carbon emissions. These demands, both environmental and regulatory, exceed the capacity for near-term deployment of emission free technologies. Therefore, to simultaneously meet carbon emission targets and supply the vast global energy demands in the foreseeable future, energy generation must incorporate carbon-capture and sequestration technologies on point source CO­₂ emitters such as coal-fired power plants.

Coal-fired power plants have long been the primary energy pillar of industrialized nations, and while reduced utilization is an important target for CO₂ reduction, coal combustion remains the most intensive and prevalent …

Fulfilling The Promise Of The Paris Agreement: The Role Of Efficiency And Renewable Energy, Chuck Kutscher

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Renewable energy, energy policy, energy efficiency, buildings

The rapid large-scale deployment of efficiency and renewable energy technologies is crucial to meeting the goals of the COP21 agreement. Key to achieving this is transitioning to zero-carbon cities comprised of highly efficient buildings powered by renewable electricity. This presentation will survey the current efficiency and renewable energy research underway at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with special attention paid to zero-carbon buildings and the challenges of developing a renewable energy electric grid.

Using Geologic Co2 Storage For Enhanced Geothermal Energy And Water Recovery And Energy Storage, Thomas Buscheck, Jeffrey Bielicki, Jimmy Randolph

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Reductions in CO₂ emissions at a scale consistent with limiting the increase in the global average temperature to below 2oC above pre-industrial levels requires a range of measures, including increased use of renewable and low-carbon energy and reduced CO₂ intensity of fossil energy use, with each of these measures having major deployment barriers. The variability of the predominant renewable resources (wind and solar) requires major advances in utility-scale diurnal-to-seasonal energy storage. Base-load energy, such as nuclear, that cannot be cycled during periods of over-generation will have difficulty co-existing on electric grids with a large presence of variable renewables. …

Predictive Models Of Carbon Capture Systems And Their Validation Using Bench Scale And Pilot Scale Data, Debangsu Bhattacharyya, Anderson Soares, Joshua Morgan, Benjamin Omell, Sarah Genovese, David Miller

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Predictive steady-state and dynamic models are essential for optimal design and scale up of CO₂ capture processes. The models should be able to predict accurately across all scales and required operating conditions with quantified uncertainty. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI) process modeling team has been working on the development of a framework to develop such models. This framework is demonstrated on a typical amine-based system which is highly non-ideal and can exhibit large nonlinearities and therefore serves as a nice platform to test the framework. To validate both steady state and dynamic models developed …

Mist Injection Causes High Co2 Capture In Wastewater Stream, Sanjev Jolly

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Enviro Ambient specializes in a multi-pollutant emission reduction control process where several pollutants like NOx, SOx, halogens and heavy metals including mercury are reduced simultaneously. The process involves injecting two strong oxidants – ozone and hydrogen peroxide – in the flue gas stream and converting the pollutants into water soluble compounds, which are then precipitated out of the flue gases via condensation process by injecting very fine water droplets. The condensed acids are then collected as wastewater for neutralization and further treatment depending upon local wastewater discharge requirements. The results were successfully demonstrated for natural gas and coal-fired units at …

Sunshine To Petrol: Thermochemistry For Solar Fuels, James Miller, Eric Coker, Andrea Ambrosini, Anthony Mcdaniel, Ivan Ermanoski, Ellen Stechel

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Sandia National Laboratories has for many years been engaged in investigating and developing the science and technology of solar thermochemistry for application to production of solar fuels (“Sunshine to Petrol”), and thermochemical energy storage. The vision of Sunshine to Petrol is captured in one deceptively simple chemical equation:

Solar Energy + xCO₂ + (x+1) H₂O → CxH₂x+₂ (liquid fuel) + (1.5x+0.5) O₂

Practical implementation of this equation may seem far-fetched, since it effectively describes the use of solar energy to reverse combustion. However, it is also representative of the photosynthetic processes responsible for …

Monitoring Co2 At An Enhanced Oil Recovery And Carbon Capture And Storage Project, Farnsworth Unit, Texas, Robert Balch, Richard Esser, Ning Liu

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Southwest Partnership on Carbon Sequestration (SWP) is one of seven large scale CO2 sequestration projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, each with the goal of permanently sequestering at least 1,000,000 metric tonnes of CO₂. The SWP project is at an active Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project in a mature waterflood in the Farnsworth Unit, Texas, which is undergoing conversion to a CO₂ flood. CO₂ for this project is anthropogenically sourced from a fertilizer plant in Borger, Texas and an ethanol plant in Liberal, Kansas. Currently, the field has 13 CO₂ injectors and …

Integration Of High-Fidelity Co2 Sorbent Models At The Process Scale Using Dynamic Discrepancy, Joel Kress, Kujin Li, David Mebane, Priyadarshi Mahapatra, Sham Bhat

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

A high-fidelity model of a mesoporous silica supported, polyethylenimine (PEI)-impregnated solid sorbent for CO₂ capture has been incorporated into a model of a bubbling fluidized bed adsorber using Dynamic Discrepancy Reduced Modeling (DDRM). The sorbent model includes a detailed treatment of transport and amine-CO₂-H₂O interactions based on quantum chemistry calculations. Using a Bayesian approach, we calibrate the sorbent model to Thermogravimetric (TGA) data. Discrepancy functions are included within the diffusion coefficients for diffusive species within the PEI bulk, enabling a 20-fold reduction in model order. Additional discrepancy functions account for non-ideal behavior in the adsorption …

Development Of The First Internationally Accepted Standard For Geologic Storage Of Carbon Dioxide Utilizing Enhanced Oil Recovery (Eor) Under The International Standards Organization (Iso) Technical Committee Tc-265, Steven Carpenter

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) industry is lacking standardization and therefore the ability to allow CCUS projects to advance as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or to be considered for any type of carbon management or accounting scheme is also hindered. An international effort between the United States and Canada, funded by the International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide (IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.), and managed by CSA Standards, have developed the first internationally recognized Standard for the geologic storage of carbon dioxide (Z-741). The Z-741 Standard has been adopted by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) …

The Value Of Co2-Geothermal Bulk Energy Storage To Co2, Jonathan Ogland-Hand, Jeffrey Bielicki, Thomas Buscheck

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Two primary challenges for modern societies are to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that is emitted to the atmosphere and to increase the penetration of renewable energy technologies into electricity systems. CO₂-bulk energy storage (CO₂-BES) is a CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) approach that can address both of these challenges by using CO₂ emitted from large point sources (e.g., fossil fuel power plants, cement manufacturers) that is sequestered in sedimentary basin geothermal resources to take power from, and deliver power to, electricity grids. Electricity can be generated by wind and …

Update On The Net Power 50 Mwth Zero Emission Power Station, David Freed

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Allam Cycle is a highly-recuperated oxy-fuel supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle that offers significant advantages over traditional power cycles, including high efficiencies, low capital costs, low or no water consumption, and elimination of all air emissions, including CO2. Traditional power cycles, such as natural gas combined cycle, supercritical coal cycles, and integrated gasification combined cycle, all require the addition of expensive, efficiency-reducing equipment in order to decrease and capture emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. The Allam Cycle takes a novel approach to reducing emissions from fossil fuel power generation, whereby the system uses oxy-combustion of fossil fuels and …

Introduction To The Wyoming Integrated Test Center, Jason Begger

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

No abstract provided.

Successes And Challenges Of Renewables Deployment In The Eu Power Sector, Hans-Wilhelm Schiffer

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Several countries in the EU have taken initiatives to become global leaders in the deployment of renewable energy technologies. While this effort is generally aimed at reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, cost minimization, reducing the role of nuclear energy, increasing efficiency and simply expanding the role of renewables are also often named as motivations. Thus, with varied national goals and approaches, the path to decarbonize through renewables deployment in the EU has been far from simple and tension has between the EU and its members has grown in recent years. The successes, challenges, and current status of renewables …

Electrochemical Membrane Technology For Carbon Dioxide Capture From Flue Gas, Hossein Ghezel-Ayagh, Stephen Jolly, Dilip Patel, William Steen

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

To address the concerns about climate change resulting from emission of CO₂ by power plants and industrial facilities, FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE) has developed the Combined Electric Power and Carbon-dioxide Separation (CEPACS) system. The CEPACS system utilizes Electrochemical Membrane (ECM) technology derived from the Company’s molten carbonate fuel cell-based Direct FuelCell^® products. The system separates CO₂ from the flue gas of other plants and produces electric power using a supplementary fuel. FCE is currently evaluating the use of ECM to cost effectively separate CO₂ from the flue gas of Pulverized Coal (PC) power plants under cooperative …

Multiscale Research Toward Resilient Civil Infrastructure, Hamzeh Haghshenas Fatmehsari, Keyvan Zare Rami, Mahdieh Khedmati, Kommidi Santosh, Farshad Fallah, Yong-Rak Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Infrastructure materials are generally composite in nature and consist of different phases. Despite their widespread use, the mechanisms behind their behavior are often not fully understood. The aim of this research is to develop the capability to predict the performance of infrastructure based on its components, thus eliminating the need for costly experimental tests. Such an objective requires thorough understanding of material properties at various length-scales and investigation of the linkage between each scale. This approach can lead to more optimized designs, sustainable performance and maximized public benefit

Managing Co2 In Rural America, Barbara Walz

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

No abstract provided.

Aep Perspectives On 21st Century Power Generation, Matt Usher

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

This presentation will provide an overview of AEP’s Business, focusing on the current and future generation portfolio, and progress made to date in the reduction of emissions, including CO2. Included will be a discussion of key industry trends and issues influencing AEP’s R&D and business development strategies, perspectives on current and future CCUS technology development, as well as insights into the role that AEP sees technology playing to support the “utility of the future”.

Update On The Status And Development Of Issues Surrounding Enhanced Oil Recovery (Eor) In The State Of Wyoming, Steven Carpenter

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute (EORI) at the University of Wyoming is charged, by the Wyoming Legislature, to work with Wyoming oil producers to increase oil production, and as result, increase tax revenues of the state. EORI is part of the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming, which provides offices and laboratory facilities in which EORI works. A Technical Advisory Board (TAB), comprised of leading experts from universities and energy companies in the United States, provides technical oversight of EORI work. In addition to industry cooperation and project co-funding, EORI works closely with the other University of …

Chemical Utilization Of Co2 For Grid-Scale Energy Storage: A Prospective Scenario Of China And Global Energy Connection, Pengxiang Song, Bo Zhao, Zhaolong Du

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Utilizing carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestered from large point sources to produce fuels and chemicals has been proposed as an energy carrier of storing intermittent renewable energy. The integrated technology is Power to Gas (PtG), or Power to Liquid (PtL) process. In the scenario of very-high installed renewable energy source (RES>80%) or curtailed wind/solar energy, the RES+PtG/ PtL will play an important role of energy transition while fossil fuels are phased out. The study reviews and assesses the technology development, economic feasibility, system impact and future outlook in prospective of grid-scale analysis and global energy interconnection.

Geologic Co2 Storage Using Pre-Injection Brine Production In Tandem Reservoirs: A Strategy For Improved Storage Performance And Enhanced Water Recovery, Thomas Buscheck, Jeffrey Bielicki, Joshua White, Yunwei Sun, Yue Hao, William Bourcier, Susan Carroll, Roger Aines

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Deployment barriers for CO₂ capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in saline reservoirs can be grouped under three categories: (1) net cost (after accounting for utilization benefits); (2) water intensity of CO₂ capture, and (3) uncertainty about storage capacity and permanence. The third category is often considered to be the most challenging. Overpressure, which is fluid pressure that exceeds the original reservoir pressure due to CO₂ injection, is the limiting metric for storage capacity and permanence because it drives key physical risks: induced seismicity, caprock fracture, and CO₂ leakage. Variables that control overpressure include: (1) the quantity …

Assessment Of The Co2 Capture Potential From Irreplaceable Industrial Sources, Peter Psarras, Jennifer Wilcox

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The industrial sector represents approximately 20% of total US CO₂ emissions.¹ These emissions can be further categorized as direct (accountable on-site, e.g., stationary combustion), indirect (assigned to electricity purchased for power) and process (CO₂ liberated as a reaction by-product). For example, steel and cement production both involve processes that directly emit CO₂ as a by-product (via the oxidation of metallurgical coke and conversion of calcium carbonate to lime, respectively). While climate change mitigation efforts have the potential to reduce direct and indirect emissions through the adoption of best practice technologies and low-carbon energy sources, process emissions …

Perspectives Of Pre-Combustion Ccs Systems For Central Europe, Monika Vitvarova, Vaclav Novotny

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has a potential to play a significant role in the future of power generation in Europe, at least in a short to intermediate term. Among the reasons are necessity and also growing political willingness to limit the CO2 emissions while it appears that fossil fuels are to remain an important source for fuel and electricity production. CCS technologies however mean inevitable technical, energy and economic penalty, especially since most common fossil fuel for power generation in the Central Europe is lignite.

We are presenting the focus and first results of a recently initiated Norway Grants …

U.S. Doe Carbon Capture Program: Advancing Multiple Generations Of Carbon Capture Solutions Laboratory To Pilot Scale Development, Jose Figueroa

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The changing energy profile of the United States has reduced energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, according to the DOE Energy Information Administration (EIA). However, this does not preclude the need for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) as an important solution to climate change. In fact, the change only further supports the need to develop flexible and cost effective carbon capture technologies that can be applied to various fuel sources for power generation application.

CCUS is one of many approaches but is critical to significantly reducing domestic and global CO2 emissions, considering CO2 atmospheric concentrations reached 400 ppm in May 2013 …

The Critical Role Of Ccs And Eor In Managing Us Carbon Emissions, Brad Crabtree

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plants and industrial facilities for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with safe and permanent geologic storage represents an essential pathway for domestic energy security, achieving mid-century national and global greenhouse gas reduction goals and accomplishing both affordably. Fortunately, awareness and support from across the political spectrum are growing to make carbon capture and storage (CCS) a national priority and to enact federal and state policies that will accelerate large-scale commercial deployment of carbon capture in electric power generation and a wide range of industrial sectors. This presentation will review the oil …

Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction As An Alternative Source Of Fuels And Chemicals, Kendra Kuhl, Etosha Cave, George Leonard, Daniel Diaz, Nicholas Flanders

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Cost-effective electrochemical CO₂ recycling (ECO2R), is the holy grail of green chemistry. ECO2R combines just three inputs: CO₂, water, and electricity, and converts them into useful products. At commercial scale, this technology could eliminate our dependence on fossil resources by providing an alternative source of carbon-based compounds for fuels and commodity chemicals. However, commercial fuel and chemical production via ECO2R is challenging, because the current state of the technology is not cost-effective enough to compete with conventionally manufactured fuels and chemicals already on the market.

The key cost-drivers of ECO2R are the energy efficiency, product selectivity, and …

Iron-Based Chemical Looping Processes, Cheng Chung, Liang-Shih Fan

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Chemical looping technology has attracted significant attention due to its potential in cost-effective CO₂ capture capabilities. It utilizes metal oxide as oxygen carriers to indirectly convert carbonaceous fuel such as coal, natural gas and biomass into electricity, H₂, liquid fuel without the use of an air separation unit (ASU). In the case of power production, chemical looping process allows for high exergy efficiency, as the high grade heat produced from the oxidation of the oxygen carrier can be extracted for steam production, while the lower grade heat is recuperated in the oxygen carrier to perform its endothermic …