Published March 28, 2023
By Christine Reed
The University of Wyoming is co-hosting a National Lab Day in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The event will be held April 12-13, 2023, and was created for participants to learn about and explore opportunities for partnerships with DOE national laboratories.
The event will introduce the national labs with panel discussions on topics, such as energy, environmental science and computing.
Researchers in the School of Energy Resources (SER) will lead multiple breakout sessions featured on the agenda covering areas of expertise and active projects. Topics include:
— Carbon Management, led by Dr. Fred McLaughlin, SER director of the Center for Economic Geology Research (CEGR);
— Hydrogen, led by Eugene Holubnyak, SER director of the Hydrogen Energy Research Center (H2ERC);
–Critical Minerals, led by Dr. Erin Phillips, SER project manager for critical minerals in CEGR, and;
–Nuclear, led by co-directors of the SER Nuclear Energy Research Center (NERC), Tara Righetti and Caleb Hill.
–A fifth panel moderated by SER Senior Director of Research Scott Quillinan will tie in multiple projects listed above with their industry partners.
Attendees will be able to take advantage of this incredible opportunity to meet lab directors and scientists, learn about the facilities and expertise available to support research, technology development, education, and discover how to engage with national lab scientists.
SER actively partners with national laboratories across the country to advance multiple research projects, boasting successful collaborations with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NRTL) among others.
Some current projects in collaboration with these entities include:
— The Wyoming CarbonSAFE (Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise) Project, which is dedicated to the deployment of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and being conducted in collaboration with NETL and LANL. The research team has worked with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on equipment testing related to the project;
— A second CarbonSAFE effort, the HERO (Hermiston, Oregon) Basalt CarbonSAFE Project was recently awarded in collaboration with PNNL to further examine underground storage mineralization of carbon dioxide;
— The carbon ore, rare earth elements, and critical minerals (CORE-CM) projects in both the Powder River Basin (PRB) and the Greater Green River and Wind River Basins which are focused on expanding and transforming the use of coal and coal-based resources to produce coal-based products are advancing with the help of NETL;
— A project dedicated to the development of technologies and methods for extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from coal ash is working toward scaling up a patent-pending extraction technology developed by NETL researchers in the PRB and is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF);
— Researchers in NERC are engaged in the Emerging Market Analysis (EMA) initiative alongside INL. The EMA initiative is an interdisciplinary and multi-institution collaboration. INL also works alongside the Center to help build capacity related to nuclear research topics;
— Led by H2ERC, Wyoming is part of a four-state collaboration with Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to develop a regional hydrogen hub in partnership with NREL;
— SER and other project partners recently submit a proposal to explore the feasibility of a Wyoming Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hub Pilot-Center. If awarded, the project will move forward in collaboration with NREL;
— In the summer of 2022, researchers in the Center for Carbon Capture and Conversion also had the opportunity to visit Argonne National Laboratory to use specialized equipment to advance research on a novel catalyst which is able to convert carbon dioxide mixed with methane into a valuable synthesis gas.
“The School of Energy Resources and our partners across UW and the state are grateful for our long-standing, robust collaborations with the nation’s national labs,” says SER Executive Director Holly Krutka. “National Lab Day at UW is an exceptional opportunity to strengthen and expand those relationships, as well as to launch new collaborations into fields of research.”
The lab day event will complement the Research Explorations for Nuclear Energy in Wyoming (RENEW) academic workshop taking place on April 13-14, 2023. RENEW will focus solely on connecting potential faculty and student-led research projects at UW with nuclear experts from across the country, including INL, to build connections and opportunities.
Both events are free and open to the public. Details and registration for UW National Lab Day can be found here: https://www.uwyo.edu/research/national-lab-day-at-the-university-of-wyoming/index.html
Details and registration for the RENEW Academic Workshop can be found here: http://www.uwyo.edu/ser/events/conferences/renew/index.html
