Bioenergy

Bioenergy technologies use renewable biomass resources to produce an array of energy related products including electricity, liquid, solid, and gaseous fuels, heat, chemicals, and other materials. Bioenergy ranks second (to hydropower) in renewable U.S. Primary energy production and accounts for approximately 3% of the primary energy production in the United States.

The Energy Institute has active research in the characterization and utilization of woody and agricultural biomass resources. Examples include:

• Use of animal fats as a direct-fire industrial boiler fuel
• Use of vegetable oil-based biolubricants in diesel engines
• Technical/ economic feasibility study for Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant and U.S. Department of Energy to CO-fire biomass with bituminous coal in a circulating fluidized-bed boiler
• Effect of oxygenated bio-derived diesel fuel additives on diesel engine performance and emissions
• Characterization of emissions from chicken litter in a bubbling fluidized-bed boiler
• Characterization of woody, herbaceous, and agricultural-derived biomass streams for CO-firing applications
• Steam pyrolysis of wood and fruit stones to produce activated carbon
• Reduction of NO_x emissions from pulverized coal-fired boilers using sawdust as a reburn fuel
• Characterization of wood char as a boiler fuel and a sorbent for SO₂ control

CO₂ Sequestration

The emissions of anthropogenic CO₂ have increased the CO₂ concentration on the atmosphere with over 30% compared to preindustrial levels. Although there is a passionate debate regarding the impact of increasing CO₂ emissions on global climate change and global warming, there is a general agreement in the scientific community that doubling the CO₂ emissions will have a serious detrimental effect on the environment. Most of these anthropogenic emissions caused by fossil fuel utilization, where around one third of these emissions is due to electricity generation from fossil fuel combustion. Furthermore, fossil fuel electricity generation units rank as the first target to reduce anthropogenic emissions due to their stationary nature. Accordingly, several research programs are being conducted at The Energy Institute in the areas of CO₂ capture and sequestration:

• Sequestering CO₂ through permanent carbonate storage by an active carbonation process that can ultimately evolve into an integrated CO₂ sequestration module for Vision 21 plants
• Development of novel fly ash derived sorbents to capture CO₂ from flue gas of power plants
• Development of a combined cogasification/ sequestration module for Vision 21 plants for in-bed carbon dioxide removal during coal/biomass gasification
• Development of a high-capacity CO₂ molecular basket to remove CO₂ from power plant flue gas

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics is defined as the generation of electronic charges (e.g. electrons) by absorbed photons, followed by separation of those charges to their respective electrical (ohmic) contacts. Fundamental to the design of a photovoltaic device is the application of electric current to do work. Sustainable energy research at the Energy Institute has recently expanded to include photovoltaics research, including interests in:

• Materials synthesis and characterization for photovoltaic applications
• New photovoltaic device architectures
• Thin films
• Sol-gel synthesis methods and colloid chemistry

More information on photovoltaic research.

WPPSEF

WPPSEF is focused on facilitating the promotion, development, and deployment of sustainable energy technologies throughout the 23 county West Penn service area in western and central Pennsylvania.