Research Energy and Environment

Pitt Engineers Invent CO₂ Gelling Agent

Professor Eric Beckman and Professor Robert Enick have invested techniques to gel carbon dioxide. Their CO₂ gelling technique requires less expensive, non-fluorinated compounds. The benefits are reduced costs and an environmentally attractive process.

The potential applications for this unique development include:

Thickened CO₂ to enhance the tertiary recovery of petroleum from aging oil fields
Because of the viscosity of "natural CO₂", the fluid dispersion in a reservoir is difficult to control. Increasing the viscosity of the CO₂ offers the potential to significantly improve the well stimulation.
Since the CO₂ is environmentally benign, thickened CO₂ is very attractive for reducing the environmental impact of well stimulation procedures.
The CO₂ gels produced can be precursors to microcellular materials, and could also support CO₂-based coating processes.

A current focus is on the utilization of these technologies for environmentally benign gas and oil well operations.

Alternative Fuels and Emissions Monitoring

The University of Pittsburgh commuter vanpool operates a fleet of natural gas powered vehicles. These vehicles provide a real-world test laboratory to evaluate the performance and emissions profile on local test routes. To meet data collection needs, the project team developed a portable emissions monitor that is now being marketed by Clean Air Technologies International, inc. The monitor determines real-world mass exhaust emissions from light and heavy-duty vehicles using a system comprised of a five-gas analyzer, an engine diagnostic scanner and a laptop computer. The computer uses live data from the engine control unit to compute exhaust mass flow, which computers the mass concentration of exhaust gases. The system, also capable of monitoring fuel consumption and engine and driving parameters, is portable, requires no modifications to the vehicle, and uses commonly available automotive diagnostic instruments. Comparison of monitor performance vs. standard I/M 240 dynamometer tests was done at a commercial test facility. The correlation was excellent. Another advantage of the portable monitor is that it produces a wealth of real-world data, which is difficult and cost-prohibitive to obtain in the lab.

Data from the portable monitor can be used to determine emission factors, to verify that emission standards on new vehicles are maintained outside the standard driving cycles, and to measure the effectiveness of different emission reduction strategies, such as alternative fuels, new technologies, shift in driving patterns, and driver education.

Greenhouse Gas Control

There is increasing concern about the emission of "greenhouse gases" and their contribution to global warming. Over 55% of the nations electricity comes from coal-fired electric generating plants. One means of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide from a coal-fired plant is to modify the fuel blend. A multi-company team of wood suppliers, boiler operators and Pitt students and faculty, led by Professor Cobb, have demonstrated that a 30% wood/70% coal mixture (by volume) can be fed and combusted in a stoker boiler. This blended fuel reduces fossil CO2 by 10%. The source of wood has been tub-ground wood pallets. The team has overcome significant materials handling and wood chip preparation issues to make the new fuel system compatible with industrial boilers.

The team is working to increase the percentage of ground pallet waste in the fuel mix. This is the leading U.S. stoker wood-cofiring project and is important in the overall effort to reduce the emission of fossil carbon dioxide, a major "greenhouse" gas.

Successful trials at the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, NIOSH and the Bellfield Boiler Plant have encouraged all that the commercial implementation of this concept is feasible.

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