Published January 13, 2021
By Christine Reed
The School of Energy Resources leads an extensive research portfolio that spans carbon capture, use and storage; creating novel, non-energy products from coal; advancing coal beneficiation; and working towards commercial development of Wyoming’s mineral wealth such as rare earth elements and critical minerals. In addition to SER’s existing research program, part of our mission is to encourage Wyoming-focused research across UW. To accomplish this, SER released a request for proposals (RFP) for seed research funding to be completed in the Spring 2021 semester. The ultimate goal of this seed funding is to support small projects and therefore enable the principal investigators to have sufficient information and tools to pursue external research grants, ultimately growing the foundation of work focused on Wyoming-energy driven economic development. The following projects were funded under the recent SER RFP:
Carbon Capture, Use and Storage
Biomass and Coal Co-Firing of Flameless Pressurized Oxy-Combustion for Carbon-Negative Power
Principal Investigators: Dr. Erica Belmont (Mechanical Engineering) and Dr. Michael Stoellinger (Mechanical Engineering)
High-Value “Blue” Light Olefin Production from Biomass and CO2 with Negative Carbon Footprint
Principal Investigators: Maohong Fan (Chemical/Petroleum Engineering), Laura Rita de Sousa Oliveira (Chemistry), and Haibo Zhai (Civil Engineering)
Seismic Waveform Inversion by Deep Learning-One Key Tool toward Attaining A Carbon-Neutral Future
Principal Investigator: Subhashis Mallick (Geology and Geophysics)
Rare Earth Element Extraction
REE Availability and Mineralogy in Wyoming Uranium Roll-Front Deposits: Potential Rare Earth Element Extraction
Principal Investigators: Simone E. Runyon, Assistant Professor (Geology and Geophysics)
Energy Economic Development and Impact
Economic Impact Assessment Framework for Energy Transitions: Jobs & Taxes in Wyoming Communities
Principal Investigators: Christelle Khalaf (CBEA), Benjamin Cook (CBEA)
Wind
Real-Time Small Signal Stability Assessment of the Power System with High Wind Power Integration
Principal Investigators: Nga Nguyen (Electrical and Computer Engineering), John W. Pierre (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Hydrogen Storage
A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Method for Hydrogen Storage Measurements in Carbon-Based Porous Substrates
Principal Investigators: Vladimir Alvarado (Chemical Engineering), Heng Wang (SER) and John Ackerman (Chemical Engineering)
Development of High-Performance Computational Fluid Dynamics Tools for Wyoming’s Hydrogen Deployment Planning
Principal Investigator: Maysam Mousaviraad (Mechanical Engineering)
Covalent Organic Framework/Nanomaterial Composites for Hydrogen Storage
Principal Investigator: Bruce Parkinson (Chemistry)
Multifidelity Optimization of Doped-Graphene Single Atom Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Principal Investigators: Lars Kotthoff, Prof. Patrick Johnson, Prof. Dilpuneet Aidhy, and Dr. Hud Wahab Artificially Intelligent Manufacturing (all PIs are in the AIM Center in the College of Engineering and Applied Science)