A Mathematical Model of Heat Transfer in Partially Insulated Airways in Deep, Frozen Ground Placer Mines

Large seasonal variations in the temperature of the ventilating air in mines in the arctic cause changes in the original thermal field through heat and mass exchanges between the air and the surrounding medium. These thermal interactions have major influence on climatic quality as well as on the stability of the mine openings. Thawing of walls and roof in mine airways can be reduced by various types of thermal-insulation. Application of thermal-insulation prevents deep thawing of the rockmass surrounding an airway. In this case, the mechanism of heat transfer around a frozen, underground airway would be much different. A model of heat transfer in a deep, partially insulated airway has been developed and analyzed using finite element methods. Results of the analysis show that without any thermal control, there will be stable change in temperature around the mine airway. With different insulations on the walls of the airway, roof thawing can be reduced and in certain cases, completely eliminated

Development of a Novel Efficient Solid-Oxide Hybrid for Co-generation of Hydrogen and Electricity Using Nearby Resources for Local Application

Developing safe, reliable, cost-effective, and efficient hydrogen-electricity co-generation systems is an important step in the quest for national energy security and minimized reliance on foreign oil. This project aimed to, through materials research, develop a cost-effective advanced technology cogenerating hydrogen and electricity directly from distributed natural gas and/or coal-derived fuels. This advanced technology was built upon a novel hybrid module composed of solid-oxide fuel-assisted electrolysis cells (SOFECs) and solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), both of which were in planar, anode-supported designs. A SOFEC is an electrochemical device, in which an oxidizable fuel and steam are fed to the anode and cathode, respectively. Steam on the cathode is split into oxygen ions that are transported through an oxygen ion-conducting electrolyte (i.e. YSZ) to oxidize the anode fuel. The dissociated hydrogen and residual steam are exhausted from the SOFEC cathode and then separated by condensation of the steam to produce pure hydrogen. The rationale was that in such an approach fuel provides a chemical potential replacing the external power conventionally used to drive electrolysis cells (i.e. solid oxide electrolysis cells). A SOFC is similar to the SOFEC by replacing cathode steam with air for power generation. To fulfill the cogeneration objective, a hybrid module comprising reversible SOFEC stacks and SOFC stacks was designed that planar SOFECs and SOFCs were manifolded in such a way that the anodes of both the SOFCs and the SOFECs were fed the same fuel, (i.e. natural gas or coal-derived fuel). Hydrogen was produced by SOFECs and electricity was generated by SOFCs within the same hybrid system. A stand-alone 5 kW system comprising three SOFEC-SOFC hybrid modules and three dedicated SOFC stacks, balance-of-plant components (including a tailgas-fired steam generator and tailgas-fired process heaters), and electronic controls was designed, though an overall integrated system assembly was not completed because of limited resources. An inexpensive metallic interconnects fabrication process was developed in-house. BOP components were fabricated and evaluated under the forecasted operating conditions. Proof-of-concept demonstration of cogenerating hydrogen and electricity was performed, and demonstrated SOFEC operational stability over 360 hours with no significant degradation. Cost analysis was performed for providing an economic assessment of the cost of hydrogen production using the targeted hybrid technology, and for guiding future research and development

Arctic Energy Technology Development Laboratory

The Arctic Energy Technology Development Laboratory was created by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in response to a congressionally mandated funding opportunity through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), specifically to encourage research partnerships between the university, the Alaskan energy industry, and the DOE. The enabling legislation permitted research in a broad variety of topics particularly of interest to Alaska, including providing more efficient and economical electrical power generation in rural villages, as well as research in coal, oil, and gas. The contract was managed as a cooperative research agreement, with active project monitoring and management from the DOE. In the eight years of this partnership, approximately 30 projects were funded and completed. These projects, which were selected using an industry panel of Alaskan energy industry engineers and managers, cover a wide range of topics, such as diesel engine efficiency, fuel cells, coal combustion, methane gas hydrates, heavy oil recovery, and water issues associated with ice road construction in the oil fields of the North Slope. Each project was managed as a separate DOE contract, and the final technical report for each completed project is included with this final report. The intent of this process was to address the energy research needs of Alaska and to develop research capability at the university. As such, the intent from the beginning of this process was to encourage development of partnerships and skills that would permit a transition to direct competitive funding opportunities managed from funding sources. This project has succeeded at both the individual project level and at the institutional development level, as many of the researchers at the university are currently submitting proposals to funding agencies, with some success

Low-Rank Coal Grinding Performance Versus Power Plant Performance

The intent of this project was to demonstrate that Alaskan low-rank coal, which is high in volatile content, need not be ground as fine as bituminous coal (typically low in volatile content) for optimum combustion in power plants. The grind or particle size distribution (PSD), which is quantified by percentage of pulverized coal passing 74 microns (200 mesh), affects the pulverizer throughput in power plants. The finer the grind, the lower the throughput. For a power plant to maintain combustion levels, throughput needs to be high. The problem of particle size is compounded for Alaskan coal since it has a low Hardgrove grindability index (HGI); that is, it is difficult to grind. If the thesis of this project is demonstrated, then Alaskan coal need not be ground to the industry standard, thereby alleviating somewhat the low HGI issue (and, hopefully, furthering the salability of Alaskan coal). This project studied the relationship between PSD and power plant efficiency, emissions, and mill power consumption for low-rank high-volatile-content Alaskan coal. The emissions studied were CO, CO{sub 2}, NO{sub x}, SO{sub 2}, and Hg (only two tests). The tested PSD range was 42 to 81 percent passing 76 microns. Within the tested range, there was very little correlation between PSD and power plant efficiency, CO, NO{sub x}, and SO{sub 2}. Hg emissions were very low and, therefore, did not allow comparison between grind sizes. Mill power consumption was lower for coarser grinds

Relationship between Particle Size Distribution of Low-Rank Pulverized Coal and Power Plant Performance

The impact of particle size distribution (PSD) of pulverized, low rank high volatile content Alaska coal on combustion related power plant performance was studied in a series of field scale tests. Performance was gauged through efficiency (ratio of megawatt generated to energy consumed as coal), emissions (SO2, NOx, CO), and carbon content of ash (fly ash and bottom ash). The study revealed that the tested coal could be burned at a grind as coarse as 50% passing 76 microns, with no deleterious impact on power generation and emissions. The PSD’s tested in this study were in the range of 41 to 81 percent passing 76 microns. There was negligible correlation between PSD and the followings factors: efficiency, SO2, NOx, and CO. Additionally, two tests where stack mercury (Hg) data was collected, did not demonstrate any real difference in Hg emissions with PSD. The results from the field tests positively impacts pulverized coal power plants that burn low rank high volatile content coals (such as Powder River Basin coal). These plants can potentially reduce in-plant load by grinding the coal less (without impacting plant performance on emissions and efficiency) and thereby, increasing their marketability

Oxygen Transport Ceramic Membranes Quarterly Report

Conversion of natural gas to liquid fuels and chemicals is a major goal for the Nation as it enters the 21st Century. Technically robust and economically viable processes are needed to capture the value of the vast reserves of natural gas on Alaska's North Slope, and wean the Nation from dependence on foreign petroleum sources. Technologies that are emerging to fulfill this need are all based syngas as an intermediate. Syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) is a fundamental building block from which chemicals and fuels can be derived. Lower cost syngas translates directly into more cost-competitive fuels and chemicals. The currently practiced commercial technology for making syngas is either steam methane reforming (SMR) or a two-step process involving cryogenic oxygen separation followed by natural gas partial oxidation (POX). These high-energy, capital-intensive processes do not always produce syngas at a cost that makes its derivatives competitive with current petroleum-based fuels and chemicals

Oxygen Transport Ceramic Membranes Quarterly Report

This is the fifth quarterly report on a new study to develop a ceramic membrane/metal joint. Results of wetting experiments on commercially available Nickel based brazing alloys on perovskite surfaces are described. Additionally, experimental and numerical investigations on the strength of concentric ceramic/metal joints are presented

OXYGEN TRANSPORT CERAMIC MEMBRANES

In the present quarter, the possibility of using a more complex interfacial engineering approach to the development of reliable and stable oxygen transport perovskite ceramic membranes/metal seals is discussed. Experiments are presented and ceramic/metal interactions are characterized. Crack growth and fracture toughness of the membrane in the reducing conditions are also discussed. Future work regarding this approach is proposed are evaluated for strength and fracture in oxygen gradient conditions. Oxygen gradients are created in tubular membranes by insulating the inner surface from the reducing environment by platinum foils. Fracture in these test conditions is observed to have a gradient in trans and inter-granular fracture as opposed to pure trans-granular fracture observed in homogeneous conditions. Fracture gradients are reasoned to be due to oxygen gradient set up in the membrane, variation in stoichiometry across the thickness and due to varying decomposition of the parent perovskite. The studies are useful in predicting fracture criterion in actual reactor conditions and in understanding the initial evolution of fracture processes

Mathematical modelling of the physical and mechanical properties of nano-Y \u3c inf\u3e 2 O \u3c inf\u3e 3 dispersed ferritic alloys using evolutionary algorithm-based neural network

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. This paper demonstrates the effects of chromium content and consolidation temperature on nano-Y2O3 dispersed ferritic alloys 83.0Fe-13.5Cr-2.0Al-0.5Ti (alloy A), 79.0Fe-17.5Cr-2.0Al-0.5Ti (alloy B), 75.0Fe-21.5Cr-2.0Al-0.5Ti (alloy C) and 71.0Fe-25.5Cr-2.0Al-0.5Ti (alloy D) each containing 1% Y2O3 (all in wt%) using mathematical modelling. An artificial neural network model is developed for the (a) physical properties (density and porosity) and (b) mechanical properties (hardness, Young\u27s modulus, and compressive strength) of alloy. A three-layer neural network model was developed, and the genetic algorithm (an evolutionary algorithm) is applied for training the neural network. The results reveal that the proposed genetic-algorithm-based model performed better than the traditional neural network model and the linear regression model for modelling of the physical and mechanical parameters of chromium alloys. The simulated maps of the physical and mechanical properties of alloys were generated against the processing parameters, i.e., consolidation temperature and Cr (wt.%). The developed model can be used for optimization of the mechanical alloying process for synthesis of nano-Y2O3 dispersed ferritic alloys