Support of Advanced Fossil Resource Conversion and Utilization Research by Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions

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Support of Advanced Fossil Resource Conversion and Utilization Research by Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions: TECHNICAL TOPIC 3 ADVANCED MATERIALS (DE-PS26-06NT42788-03) New materials are required to significantly improve performance and reduce the costs of existing and/or advanced coal-based power systems. New materials are also needed to enable the development of new systems and capabilities for coal combustion, coal gasification, gas separations, hydrogen storage, high-temperature fuel cells, and advanced turbine systems. These materials are expected to perform satisfactorily under hostile conditions such as high temperatures, elevated pressures, pressure oscillations, corrosive environments (oxidizing or reducing conditions, gaseous alkali, chloride or sulfur-containing species), surface coating or fouling, and high particulate loading. The following are of interest for the current announcement: (a) Experimental Studies for the Development of High Temperature Structural Materials The implementation of high-efficiency coal-fired power systems requires materials with high-temperature creep properties and high-temperature oxidation and corrosion resistance. For example, ultra-supercritical fossil fuel power plants will require new materials for use at temperatures of 700 °C and above. Superheater and reheater tubes are likely to experience the most severe service conditions with respect to fire-side corrosion, steam-side oxidation, and creep. A material for this application must not only be creep resistant, oxidation resistant, and corrosion resistant at elevated temperatures; but also be easily fabricated, easily joined, and economical. Materials with improved mechanical properties need to be developed to allow the operation of power generation plants using supercritical steam cycles with steam conditions approaching 700oC and 325 bar, and cycle efficiencies of about 48%. In the case of steam turbines, .in addition to mechanical properties, oxidation studies to determine the temperature dependence of material loss and tendency for scale exfoliation need to be evaluated. A variety of modern tools, such as micro-structural modeling, segregation behavior modeling and plastic deformation simulation could be used to optimize the processing of these engineered materials and their microstructures. Additionally, coatings need to be developed for corrosion resistance in oxidizing, sulfurizing, carburizing and water-containing environments. They are of particular interest for improving the corrosion resistance of alloys to achieve higher operating temperatures in fossil energy systems where sulfur and water vapor can cause severe oxidation problems. One of the factors that inhibit their application is a lack of sufficient data about their potential benefits in terms of lifetime and applicable environments. Model coatings need to be fabricated for corrosion testing and diffusion studies and develop a comprehensive lifetime evaluation approach. Grant applications are requested to explore routes for the development of materials with temperature/strength capabilities beyond those currently available. The issues being addressed arise from the fact that (a) alloys with melting temperatures higher than current alloys have inherent mechanical property and environmental resistance deficiencies, (b) the potential of these materials can be exploited by application of mechanistic and thermochemical approaches, (c) exploitation requires compromises, e.g., ability to fabricate components, mechanical properties, and environmental sensitivity, (d) ceramics and ceramic composites have exceptional potential, but lack of understanding or databases of composition-structure-property relationships leads to need for extensive development , and (e) ceramics and refractories suffer rapid environmental degradation in some applications, which requires new approaches to develop increased corrosion resistance with good mechanical properties. The laboratory research could be accompanied by testing of the alloys under actual or simulated power plant conditions. (b) Experimental Studies for the Development of Functional Materials Functional, as distinguished from structural, materials are so designated because of properties that enable a process function to be performed, for example, membranes for gas separation and materials for hydrogen storage. Gas separation may be effected through several types of mechanisms including solution-diffusion, molecular transport, and ionic transport. Gas separation has been identified as being critical for FutureGen technologies such as coal gasification and fuel cells, and includes hydrogen separation from reformed natural gas and synthesis gas from coal, and carbon dioxide separation from gas production and from the products of combustion of hydrocarbon fuels. Advanced membrane technology offers opportunity for significant improvement over current separation techniques for production of hydrogen from coal. Reduction in cost, improved efficiency, and simplified systems are potentially possible with advancements in hydrogen membrane separation technologies. Grant applications are requested to develop novel membrane materials with high flux rates, structural strength, and low cost; the materials should lend themselves to defect-free manufacturing and perform effectively under conditions that exist at the gasifier exhaust or right after the gas clean-up step. Another critical need is the development of materials for hydrogen storage as a necessary precursor to the eventual implementation of the hydrogen economy. For practical transportation applications, the hydrogen storage material must function in the temperature range of 0-100/degrees/C and pressure range of 1-10 bar. The materials currently being investigated for hydrogen storage include metal organic frameworks; alloys and intermetallics; sodium and lithium alanates; nanocubes; carbon nanotubes; and other emerging materials. Research is needed to develop materials that provide high hydrogen storage density and stability at commercially relevant conditions of temperature and pressure. These materials should have the potential for achieving DOE's long-term hydrogen storage goals of 3 kWh/kg (9 wt%) at a cost of $2/kWh. The materials to be investigated must be amenable to realistic processing and large-scale production. (c) Advanced Materials for Gas Turbine Coatings for Use in High Hydrogen Fuel Applications Gas or combustion turbines work at high temperature (over 1300o C) and need protective coatings for the components such as engine blades, vanes, and combustors that experience such high temperatures or come in contact with deleterious substances in the gas stream. The coatings, especially those based on ceramics, are broadly categorized as thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) and environmental barrier coatings (EBCs), depending on their primary function. Priorities in the program include the selection and verification testing of turbine hot path component materials and protective coatings when using coal-derived synthesis gas or hydrogen as fuel. Specifically, the thermal barrier functions of EBC apos;s become vital for reducing the engine-component thermal loads and chemical reaction rates, thus maintaining the required mechanical properties and durability of these components. The improvement on the development of TBCs and EBCs will directly impact the successful development of advanced turbines. Differences in synthesis gas composition relative to natural gas due to different gasifier type may also be researched with respect to the interaction of trace contaminants with advanced turbine blade materials and coatings. Synthesis gas contains traces of heavy metals not found in natural gas. The interactions of these trace constituents with the materials and coatings currently being used needs to be investigated. In addition, the presence of particulates may cause erosion or deposition, and gaseous species (e.g. SOx, alkali compounds, HCl) may cause deposition and/or enhance corrosion. Synergistic effects between these degradation processes are also likely under gas turbine operating conditions. All these degradation modes rather than creep and fatigue processes may be limiting the operating life of turbine hot-gas components such as combustion chamber, vanes and blades when using coal-derived synthesis gas as fuel. Thus, hot corrosion and erosion-corrosion models to predict the lives of candidate materials in realistic environments for a gas turbine operating on coal-derived gases are necessary to assess potential lives of such components, and establish changes to these environments which would significantly extend these lives. In the past, the designs for the coatings, especially TBCs for single crystal (SX) turbine blades, were developed through a phenomenological approach. However, today, emphasis is on prime-reliant design (i.e., providing the designer with safe performance criteria) based on sound mechanistic knowledge of gas-solid interactions at high temperatures, and of the way in which these interactions influence the processes involved in degradation during service. Grant applications are sought for high-temperature protective coatings for gas turbines using coal-derived synthesis gas along with a coherent strategy for their development. The aim is to identify the physically attainable limits and to push the operating envelope to that point through prime reliant design. Proposed approaches for the coatings should demonstrate their low thermal conductivity, adhesion, and survivability under operating conditions. Areas of interest include coatings for turbines based on both SX alloys and ceramics. For metallic substrates, separate coating layers may be required for the environmental and thermal barrier functions, whereas for ceramics, it may be possible to fulfill both roles in a single coating layer. Also of interest are manufacturing/coating processes that are airfoil-specific - e.g., coatings for vanes may be different then those for blades (different property/thickness requirements lead to different coating processes, etc.) Interested parties looking to submit an application under this Technical Topic can download the application package by clicking on the How to Apply icon at the following web site: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW oppId=9058