It is expected that in the 21 st century the Nation will continue to rely on fossil fuels for electricity, transportation, and chemicals. It will be necessary to improve both the thermodynamic efficiency and environmental impact performance of fossil fuel utilization. General Electric Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (GE EER) has developed an innovative fuel-flexible Advanced Gasification-Combustion (AGC) concept to produce H 2 and sequestration-ready CO 2 from solid fuels. The AGC module offers potential for reduced cost and increased energy efficiency relative to conventional gasification and combustion systems. GE EER was awarded a Vision-21 program from U.S. DOE NETL to develop the AGC technology. Work on this three-year program started on October 1, 2000. The project team includes GE EER, California Energy Commission, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and T. R. Miles, Technical Consultants, Inc.In the AGC technology, coal/opportunity fuels and air are simultaneously converted into separate streams of (1) pure hydrogen that can be utilized in fuel cells, (2) sequestration-ready CO 2 , and (3) high temperature/pressure oxygen-depleted air to produce electricity in a gas turbine. The process produces near-zero emissions and, based on preliminary modeling work in the first quarter of this program, has an estimated process efficiency of approximately 67% based on electrical and H 2 energy outputs relative to the higher heating value of coal. The three-year R&D program will determine the operating conditions that maximize separation of CO 2 and pollutants from the vent gas, while simultaneously maximizing coal conversion efficiency and hydrogen production. The program integrates lab-, bench-and pilot-scale studies to demonstrate the AGC concept.

It is expected that in the 21 st century the Nation will continue to rely on fossil fuels for electricity, transportation, and chemicals. It will be necessary to improve both the thermodynamic efficiency and environmental impact performance of fossil fuel utilization. GE Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (GE EER) has developed an innovative fuelflexible Advanced Gasification-Combustion (AGC) concept to produce H 2 and sequestrationready CO 2 from solid fuels. The AGC module offers potential for reduced cost and increased energy efficiency relative to conventional gasification and combustion systems. GE EER was awarded a Vision 21 program from U.S. DOE NETL to develop the AGC technology. Work on this three-year program started on October 1, 2000. The project team includes GE EER,

Further development of a combustion Large Eddy Simulation (LES) code for the design of advanced gaseous combustion systems is described in this sixth quarterly report. CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC) is developing the LES module within the parallel, unstructured solver included in the commercial CFD-ACE+ software. In this quarter, in-situ adaptive tabulation (ISAT) for efficient chemical rate storage and retrieval was implemented and tested within the Linear Eddy Model (LEM). ISAT type 3 is being tested so that extrapolation can be performed and further improve the retrieval rate. Further testing of the LEM for subgrid chemistry was performed for parallel applications and for multi-step chemistry. Validation of the software on backstep and bluff-body reacting cases were performed. Initial calculations of the SimVal experiment at Georgia Tech using their LES code were performed. Georgia Tech continues the effort to parameterize the LEM over composition space so that a neural net can be used efficiently in the combustion LES code. A new and improved Artificial Neural Network (ANN), with log-transformed output, for the 1-step chemistry was implemented in CFDRC's LES code and gave reasonable results. This quarter, the 2 nd consortium meeting was held at CFDRC.Next quarter, LES software development and testing will continue. Alpha testing of the code will continue to be performed on cases of interest to the industrial consortium. Optimization of subgrid models will be pursued, particularly with the ISAT approach. Also next quarter, the demonstration of the neural net approach, for multi-step chemical kinetics speed-up in CFD-ACE+, will be accomplished.ii 8321/5

In the near future, the nation will continue to rely on fossil fuels for electricity, transportation, and chemicals. It is necessary to improve both the process efficiency and environmental impact of fossil fuel utilization including greenhouse gas management. GE Global Research (GEGR) investigated an innovative fuel-flexible Unmixed Fuel Processor (UFP) technology with potential to produce H 2 , power, and sequestration-ready CO 2 from coal and other solid fuels. The UFP technology offers the long-term potential for reduced cost, increased process efficiency relative to conventional gasification and combustion systems, and near-zero pollutant emissions. GE was awarded a contract from U.S. DOE NETL to investigate and develop the UFP technology. Work started on the Phase I program in October 2000 and on the Phase II effort in April 2005.In the UFP technology, coal, water and air are simultaneously converted into (1) hydrogen rich stream that can be utilized in fuel cells or turbines, (2) CO 2 rich stream for sequestration, and (3) high temperature/pressure vitiated air stream to produce electricity in a gas turbine expander. The process produces near-zero emissions with an estimated efficiency higher than Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) process with conventional CO 2 separation. The Phase I R&D program established the chemical feasibility of the major reactions of the integrated UFP technology through lab-, bench-and pilot-scale testing. A risk analysis session was carried out at the end of Phase I effort to identify the major risks in the UFP technology and a plan was developed to mitigate these risks in the Phase II of the program.The Phase II effort focused on three high-risk areas: economics, lifetime of solids used in the UFP process, and product gas quality for turbines (or the impact of impurities in the coal on the overall system). The economic analysis included estimating the capital cost as well as the costs of hydrogen and electricity for a full-scale UFP plant. These costs were benchmarked with IGCC polygen plants with similar level of CO 2 capture. Based on the promising economic analysis comparison results (performed with the help from WorleyParsons), GE recommended a "Go" decision in April 2006 to continue the experimental investigation of the UFP technology to address the remaining risks i.e. solids lifetime and the impact of impurities in the coal on overall system. Solids attrition and lifetime risk was addressed via bench-scale experiments that monitor solids performance over time and by assessing materials interactions at operating conditions. The product gas under the third reactor (high-temperature vitiated air) operating conditions was evaluated to assess the concentration of particulates, pollutants and other impurities relative to the specifications required for gas turbine feed streams. During this investigation, agglomeration of solids used in the UFP process was identified as a serious risk that impacts the lifetime of the solids and in turn feasibility of the UFP...

It is expected that in the 21 st century the Nation will continue to rely on fossil fuels for electricity, transportation, and chemicals. It will be necessary to improve both the process efficiency and environmental impact performance of fossil fuel utilization. GE Global Research has developed an innovative fuel-flexible Unmixed Fuel Processor (UFP) technology to produce H 2 , power, and sequestration-ready CO 2 from coal and other solid fuels. The UFP module offers the potential for reduced cost, increased process efficiency relative to conventional gasification and combustion systems, and near-zero pollutant emissions including NO x . GE Global Research (prime contractor) was awarded a contract from U.S. DOE NETL to develop the UFP technology. Work on this Phase I program started on October 1, 2000. The project team includes GE Global Research, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIU-C), California Energy Commission (CEC), and T. R. Miles, Technical Consultants, Inc.In the UFP technology, coal and air are simultaneously converted into separate streams of (1) high-purity hydrogen that can be utilized in fuel cells or turbines, (2) sequestration-ready CO 2 , and (3) high temperature/pressure vitiated air to produce electricity in a gas turbine. The process produces near-zero emissions and, based on ASPEN Plus process modeling, has an estimated process efficiency of 6 percentage points higher than IGCC with conventional CO 2 separation. The current R&D program has determined the feasibility of the integrated UFP technology through pilot-scale testing, and investigated operating conditions that maximize separation of CO 2 and pollutants from the vent gas, while simultaneously maximizing coal conversion efficiency and hydrogen production. The program integrated experimental testing, modeling and economic studies to demonstrate the UFP technology.