DOE/Federal Energy Technology Center, P.O. Box 10940, MS 921-143, Pittsburgh, PA 15236-0940

A -- RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DUE 123196 POC Kenneth S. Askew WEB: For more information about the Federal Energy Technology Center, click here., http://www.petc.doe.gov. E-MAIL: To e-mail responses to Kenneth Askew, click here., askew@petc.doe.gov. The following is a continuation of a Sources Sought Announcement submitted earlier today, but cut-off due to its being longer than the maximum allowable length. The previous submission described Codes PM11, PM12, PM13, PM14, PM15, PM21, and PM22. SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT Fiscal Year 1997 Federal Energy Technology Center (Pittsburgh, PA) The U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Technology Center, is contemplating the procurement of research efforts in the areas listed below during the 1997 fiscal year. This announcement is NOT a formal solicitation and is NOT a request for proposals. Availability of any formal solicitations will be announced separately throughout the ensuing fiscal year, via the Commerce Business Daily, the Federal Register, and/or our HomePage on the Internet. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes ONLY and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. Your responses will be used to develop a source list of potential bidders for future solicitations. Interested firms may submit responses to the U. S. Department of Energy via regular mail or e-mail. TELEPHONE RESPONSES WILL NOT BE HONORED. For your organization to be included in our source lists for all appropriate Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 competitions, your response must be received not later than close of business on DECEMBER 31, 1996. Responses will be accepted after that date, but cannot be assured of automatic inclusion in all appropriate FY 1997 source lists. Responses should include the bidder's total number of employees and professional qualifications of scientists, engineers, and technical personnel; a description of general and specific facilities and equipment; a synopsis of previous projects in related fields, and other descriptive information. Firms responding should indicate whether they are socially and economically disadvantaged businesses or women-owned businesses. There is no specific format or outline that your response must follow. Responses must be limited to twenty typed pages. Our source lists are maintained from year to year, so entities which responded in previous years do not need to respond again in FY 97, unless their line of business has changed [which alters the Code(s) that they want to be considered for], or their mailing address has changed. You may indicate an interest in one or more of the following codes (e.g., PM11, PM43, RLE, ADCS, etc.), but one copy of your response is required for EACH code that you select. For more information about the Federal Energy Technology Center, please refer to our HomePage on the Internet, at: http://www.petc.doe.gov Mail responses to: U. S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Technology Center, ATTN: Kenneth S. Askew, MS 921-143, P.O. BOX 10940, Pittsburgh, PA 15236-0940. Overnight mail should be sent to: U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Technology Center, ATTN: Kenneth S. Askew, Bruceton Research Center, Building 921 Room 143, Wallace Road, Bruceton (Allegheny County), PA 15236-0940 E-mail responses should be sent to: askew@petc.doe.gov The research areas are as follows: PM-40 ADVANCED POWER GENERATION, FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH, AND SOLIDS TRANSPORTATION Code: PM41 University Coal Research The Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) manages the Office of Fossil Energy's University Coal Research Program (UCR). Through the UCR program solicitation FETC seeks to support fundamental and high risk research that advances the technical understanding of the chemical and physical processes involved in coal conversion and utilization. In FY1997, applications to this solicitation will be accepted from U.S. universities and colleges in the Solicitation s Core Program and Innovative Concepts Program. The UCR Core Program is governed by the following two focus areas: (1) NOx Control As environmental regulations become more stringent, the restrictions placed upon emissions from coal combustion processes will require either an improved understanding of the combustion process itself or tight post-combustion control or some combination of both. Currently, significant NOx control can be achieved both through decreased formation of NOx and NOx destruction prior to its exit from the combustion chamber. Further decreases in NOx emissions and control of the Products of Incomplete Combustion (PICs) from all combustion sources may be achieved with advances in our understanding of the combustion process and an ability to control it. Products of Incomplete Combustion includes: unburnt carbon; formation of trace, complex, organic compounds; and liberation and reaction of trace inorganic. Additional reductions in NOx emissions may also be sought through post-combustion control. Direct conversion of NOx, from dilute flue gas streams, to nitrogen or a saleable/ marketable product would be highly desirable. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is a commercially available post-combustion control that converts NOx to nitrogen. One of the limitations to the widespread use of SCR is the possibility that increased toxic emissions, ammonia and carbon monoxide, will occur when NOx removals greater than 90% (85% by some estimates) are desired. Research is necessary to identify alternate reductants, catalysts, and/or chemical pathways that will not result in the release of toxic emissions when high removals (> 95%) are required. (2) Catalysts for Coal Conversion and Utilization Catalysts are used in a host of coal conversion and utilization reactions. Although a vast and highly specialized literature exists for catalysts, a thorough understanding of the fundamental nature of catalytic coal conversion and utilization processes is still lacking. Systematic studies focused on understanding these fundamentals would lay the foundation for efficient development of catalysts for application in processes such as gasification, liquefaction, waste minimization, and contaminant control. New or improved catalysts for controlling product distribution, removing pollutants, upgrading products, and reducing the severity of reaction conditions are needed. Regenerable, poisoning-resistant, and attrition-resistant catalysts for cleaving specific bonds in coals, converting cyclic saturates to branched saturates in coal-derived liquids, or promoting selective conversion of gasification products (into condensible and non-condensible hydrocarbons) and oxygenates are also of interest. Methods focused on the recovery of catalysts and the removal of catalyst-deactivating species would also be valuable. The UCR Innovative Concepts Program seeks unique, "out-of-the-box," approaches for addressing fossil energy related issues; therefore, well-developed ideas, past the conceptual stage, are not eligible. The DOE is interested in innovative and fundamental research pertinent to coal conversion and utilization limited to the technical topic that follows. The examples provided under the technical topic are not intended to be all-encompassing; therefore, offers on other subjects that fall within the scope of the area will receive the same consideration as the examples cited. Innovative Concepts Technical Topic -- As the twenty-first century approaches, the challenges facing coal and the electric utility industry continue to grow. Environmental issues such as pollutant control, both criteria and trace, waste minimization, and the co-firing of coal with biomass, waste, or alternative fuels will remain important. The need for increased efficiency, improved reliability, and lower costs will be felt as an aging utility industry faces deregulation. Advanced power and environmental systems will come into play as older plants are retired and utilities explore new ways to meet the growing demand for electricity. Innovative research in the coal conversion and utilization areas will be required if coal is to continue to play a dominant role in the generation of electric power. Questions, like the ones that follow, will need to be answered: How can net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels be achieved? What are the implications of lowering the particulate matter standards (i.e. PM-2.5)? Where can the largest efficiency gains be realized in a power plant? How can adaptive control systems and neural networks be integrated into the electric utility industry? How can the trace element emissions from power plants (i.e. mercury, selenium) be cost-effectively controlled? How do we develop and test materials for advanced power systems? Successfully answering these and other questions in innovative ways will help us move confidently to the year 2000 and beyond. Code: PM42 Coal Utilization Science The Coal Utilization Science Program (CUS) is designed to generate the fundamentally-based knowledge and data required by designers of advanced combustion systems in order to make significant improvements in power plant efficiency and environmental performance. The CUS sponsors targeted engineering science research that seeks to bridge the gap between basic science and engineering development. Projects utilize the unique resources of the industrial, academic and national laboratory communities to tackle significant barrier issues pertinent to advanced power systems technology. Projects make use of state-of -the-art in instrumentation, experimental techniques and modeling to synthesize needed information or explore novel techniques or concepts. The Program emphasis is on producing fundamental information on processes and mechanisms by performing experimental research and theoretical investigations that can be used by equipment designers to improve the performance of advanced coal-fired power systems. No solicitations are planned in FY1997. Limited funding may be available to support Unsolicited Proposals for R&D on topics that are compatible with CUS objectives. Selected longer term CUS R&D objectives are: To produce a fundamentally-based model of coal char combustion that accounts for the significant changes in char structure and intrinsic reactivity that can occur as combustion proceeds. It is hoped that such a model may allow designers of advanced power systems to, among other things, better understand the fundamental relationships between coal properties and (low-NOx) combustion conditions on the quantity of carbon left in flyash as a consequence of incomplete char oxidation, and the creation or destruction of NOx occurring during char oxidation. In order to satisfactorily develop accurate models of the char oxidation process, it is necessary to generate and characterize laboratory quantities of pulverized chars, originating from a variety of coals and having burn-offs ranging to 95% or greater. These samples must be produced under carefully-controlled and well-characterized combustion conditions (e.g., atmospheres, temperatures, heating rates, etc.) that are relevant to those found in utility boilers. This requirement is not being fully met by currently active projects. Unsolicited Proposals seeking to generate and characterize coal chars under these conditions may be considered for CUS funding support. Experimental efforts that generate and characterize char samples within the context of developing or refining a fundamentally based model of char oxidation may also be considered. To characterize the behavior of (mainly) coal/biomass blends under a variety of combustion conditions that have the potential to promote significantly reduced emissions of SOx or NOx from existing coal fired power plants. The performance of biomass reburning under conventional reburning conditions has already been examined. Code: PM43 Historically Black College and Universities and Other Minority Institutions The Federal Energy Technology Center administers the HBCU & MI Program for the U.S. DOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE). The program stimulates innovative research and development of advanced concepts pertinent to conversions and utilization of fossil energy resources through collaborative efforts by prospective U.S. Industries and Historically Black and defined Minority Institutions of Higher education. FETC contemplates a program solicitation in FY1997 covering the following topics: Advanced Environmental Control Technology for Coal Advanced Coal Utilization Coal Liquefaction Technology Heavy Oil Upgrading and Processing Advanced Environmental and Recovery Technologies for Oil Natural Gas Supply, and Environmental Issues Related to Oil and Gas Exploration. BARTLESVILLE PROJECT OFFICE Code: RLE 01. Reservoir Life Extension. Research in novel extraction processes including gas injection processes, thermal recovery methods, microbial enhanced oil recovery, fluid flow mechanisms for mobilizing and displacing oil in prioritized reservoir classes such as Fluvial Dominated Deltaic, Shallow Shelf Carbonates and Slope and Basin depositional environments. Other areas of research in this sector are petroleum reservoir computer modeling and technology transfer efforts. Code: ADIS 01. Advanced Diagnostics and Imaging Systems. Research related to diagnostic techniques involved in reservoir characterization and imaging particularly in prioritized reservoirs such as Fluvial Dominated Deltaic, Shallow Shelf Carbonates and Slope and Basin depositional environments. Novel exploration work and fracture reservoir analyses and imaging are included in this topic. Research pertaining to novel concepts in the quantification of reservoir characterization as it relates to extraction processes and the application of these data to engineering aspects of petroleum production. Code: EEP 01. Effective Environmental Protection. Included in this sector is research to mitigate environmental constraints to oil and gas recovery that can cause early abandonment of wells, development of lower cost compliance techniques to meet regulatory requirements and the development of pollution prevention or disposal technologies for solids, liquids and gases. Code: EPTA 01. Emerging Processing Technology Application. Fundamental research in petroleum chemistry to increase the knowledge of the structural characteristics of heavy crudes and streams and products produced from heavy oils; fundamental studies on the chemical reactions that occur when hydrogen is added, by economic means, to heavy crudes so that greater yields of distillates may be achieved are the topics to be addressed in this work. Conducting laboratory scale fundamental studies of heavy oil processing reactions to produce information indicating new and novel processing routes to increase the yields of valuable products from heavy oil and processing conditions less severe than normal is another research area to be addressed. Code: ADCS 01. Advanced Drilling, Completion, and Stimulation Systems. Research conducted that can lead to decreasing the environmental "foot print" during drilling, completion and stimulation work is a priority. Also included in this work are horizontal wells technologies for advanced recovery processes targeted to the prioritized reserve classes such as Fluvial Dominated Deltaic, Shallow Shelf Carbonates and Slope and Basin depositional environments; slimhole drilling techniques and new drilling fluid research. End of Sources Sought Announcement -- FY 97 (0340)

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