Ohio State clean coal technology research receives $1.5 million federal grant

Ohio State has received the largest of a group of seven grants recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy to improve fuel and product versatility, efficiency, and economics of gasification processes.

L.S. Fan, Distinguished University Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and his research team at the Clean Energy Research Laboratory will use the $1.5 million grant to continue development of his patented chemical looping gasification (CLG) technology—an advanced air separation process that can be applied to produce electricity and/or chemicals. Project success will lead to the development of a scalable CLG process and confirm the economic advantages of this technology, enabling the development of a pilot-scale demonstration unit. The award includes a university cost share of $686,000 for a total project funding of $2,186,000. Fan received some of the cost share from the Ohio Coal Development Office.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Gasification System Program announced the grants on Tuesday, July 14. Projects conducted through this program are geared toward reducing the cost of coal conversion and mitigating the environmental impacts of fossil-fueled power generation. Advances in gasification technology are an important facet of unlocking the full potential of domestic coal resources, which both improves U.S. economic competitiveness and contributes to the protection of the global environment.

by Joan Wall, Office of Energy and Environment