Support of Advanced Coal Research at U.S. Colleges and Universities

The summary for the Support of Advanced Coal Research at U.S. Colleges and Universities grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Energy Technology Laboratory, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Support of Advanced Coal Research at U.S. Colleges and Universities: NOTE: This description provides an overview of the Technical Topic Area. YOU MUST READ THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS ON ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, EVALUATION CRITERIA AND HOW TO PREPARE AN APPLICATION. Please scroll to the bottom of this page to access the Funding Opportunity Announcement. BACKGROUND The Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is seeking applications for the University Coal Research (UCR) Program. Since its inception in Fiscal Year 1980 (by congressional direction), the UCR Program has endeavored to maintain and upgrade the educational, training, and research capabilities of U.S. colleges and universities in the field of coal science and technology. The academic environment is well suited to fundamental research of high payoff potential. The involvement of professors and students will be conducive to the generation of fresh ideas and will ensure a future supply of U.S. coal scientists and technologists. In support of advanced coal research at U.S. colleges and universities, the overall objective of this program is threefold: (1) to support the education of students in the area of coal science; (2) to maintain and upgrade the coal research capabilities at facilities of U.S. colleges and universities; and (3) to improve our understanding of the chemical and physical processes involved in the conversion and utilization of coal in an environmentally acceptable manner. Financial assistance awards under this Program Announcement are intended to maintain and upgrade the education, training, and research capabilities of our colleges and universities in the fields of science, environment, energy, and technology related to coal. The deliberate environment of academia is well suited to fundamental research of high payoff potential, and the involvement of students in the research ensures continuing availability of scientists and engineers of appropriate expertise for the U.S. Energy Industry. DOE is interested in innovative and fundamental research pertinent to coal conversion and utilization. This year, research is limited to the one board topic area: ENABLING ADVANCED MODELING AND SIMULATION FOR FUEL-FLEXIBLE COMBUSTORS. Examples of research interested under this topic are as follows: 1) Quantify Current Prediction Capability for Flashback and Lean Blowout, and Identify The Sensitivity to Physical Sub-Models Define the current capability and explore the limitations of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of transient flame stability phenomenon in lean premixed combustion of variable syngas and hydrogen based fuels. This involves benchmarking current state-of-the-art LES combustion approaches against existing and emerging experimental data. The goal is not the development of new models and codes. NETL already has experimental data on this phenomenon in a representative hydrogen combustor, but attempts to simulate the observed experimental results using LES have not been consistent. The focus of this study is on the ability of the simulation to capture fuel variability effects on turbulent flame anchoring and propagation in a realistic gas turbine combustor. An example of a benchmarking target might be prediction of the hydrogen concentration in a syngas type fuel at which a combustor experiences blowout or flashback. 2) Conduct Numeric Investigations of Boundary Condition Effects On CFD Simulations of Thermo-Acoustic Instabilities - Numeric and analytic studies are sought to determine the sensitivity of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) combustion dynamics (thermo-acoustic) predictions to experimental boundary conditions. The goal is to determine if/how poorly defined experimental boundaries (especially acoustic) impact the success of CFD dynamics predictions. A key issue is developing a method to describe time domain boundaries for acoustic terminations (i.e., a combustor inlet) which represent the acoustic response of distant hardware (i.e., the reflection or noise from compressor and diffuser). The analysis would be conducted with the goal of defining experiments to affirm the predicted sensitivity, and it is expected these experiments would occur in combustor geometries similar to NETL combustion experiments. 3) Evaluate The Role of Transport Parameters In Model Prediction Accuracy The goal of this effort is to determine how/if inaccurate transport representation within a numeric simulation (i.e. assumption of unity Lewis number) can affect the ability to predict turbulent flame behavior. The emphasis is on comparing how different fuel transport properties would affect a simulation of a practical flame. A key feature of this study is to determine the effect of transport properties at conditions and Reynolds numbers relevant to gas turbine operating conditions with pressures up to 30 bar, and maximum turbulent fluctuating velocities on the order of 20 m/s. Fuels of interest include hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and propane as well as even heavier hydrocarbons.