September 26, 2005
Energy Department Awards $2.6 Million to Boost Combustion Efficiency in Industrial Boilers
WASHINGTON, DC-- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of three new combustion technology research and development (R&D) projects that will receive nearly $2.6 million in total cost-shared funding over the next two years. The selected R&D teams plan to develop advanced industrial boilers that deliver superior energy and environmental performance. By 2020, these boiler technologies are expected to reduce energy use in industrial boilers by seven percent, saving industry $2 billion per year in energy costs.
“Combustion systems use nearly three-quarters of all energy consumed in U.S. manufacturing,” said Douglas L. Faulkner, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “These new technologies are expected to help save energy, increase efficiency and improve environmental performance throughout the manufacturing sector.”
The three new projects were selected through an open, competitive solicitation process. The collaborative R&D teams include seven private companies and research organizations, two national laboratories, and three universities. In 2007, one or two of the projects will be selected for field testing, with the industry cost share increasing to 50 percent. The following table provides further information:
|
Project Title |
Partners and Project Description |
DOE Funding |
Cost-Share |
Modular, High Efficiency, Low -Emissions Package Boiler |
Babcock and Wilcox, Barberton, Ohio, will work with the John Zink Company, Tulsa, Okla., to develop an advanced, industrial-size, water-tube steam generation system with multi-stage combustion and low-emission burner equipment. The boiler and burner system design will also be enhanced to improve thermal and emission performance. |
Phase 1:
$600K
Phase 2:
$1,200K |
Phase 1:
$157K
Phase 2:
$1,488K |
Super Boiler
2nd Generation Technology for Watertube Boilers |
The Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, Ill., will lead Aqua-Chem, Milwaukee, Wis.; Alstom Power, Windsor, Conn.; Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga.; DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., in applying results from the successful Super Boiler project, now entering its demonstration phase, to large, high-pressure watertube boilers. New concepts, including a flash evaporation cooler and staged transport membrane condenser, will be explored to deliver high efficiency in a compact design. A flash evaporation cooler uses the cooling due to fast (that is, "flash") evaporation of water to cool the transport membrane condenser. A staged transport membrane condenser is a device that uses a membrane that is selective to water transport to condense the water vapor in a boiler exhaust (recovering the energy that is latent in the water vapor). It is "staged" in that there are two sections, one at 500-700 degrees F, and the other at 150-250 degrees F. |
Phase 1:
$496K
Phase 2:
$1,100K |
Phase 1:
$579K
Phase 2:
$1,884K |
Multi-Staged Printed Circuit Boiler for Industrial Use |
Reaction Engineering International, Salt Lake City, Utah, will lead researchers from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; University of Sydney, Australia; and Meggitt/ Heatric PLC, Sydney, Australia, to develop and demonstrate a printed-circuit, multi-staged industrial boiler with high efficiencies, ultra-low emissions, and multi-fuel capability. The small-footprint, lightweight boiler will produce steam at greater than 1,500° F and pressures greater than 1,500 pounds per square inch gauge (psig). |
|
Phase 1:
$155K
Phase 2:
$1,200K |
For more information on DOE’s programs to improve industrial energy efficiency, visit the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy website at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/ or call 877-337-3463.
Media contact:
Chris Kielich, 202/586-5806
|
 |
