Society depends on critical infrastructures like the electricity grid, and ensuring that the power grid is able to recover rapidly from disruptions is vital. Researchers from Penn State and the University of Washington have been awarded a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study economic mechanisms for grid resilience against extreme events and natural gas disruptions.
In an effort to modernize and reimagine the United States' power grid, Penn State researchers have qualified for a highly selective, innovative competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Oil companies are missing out on vast sums of recoverable oil in unconventional reservoirs, according to Penn State experts.
Dramatic improvements have been made to the process of converting carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to methanol, a fuel and building block for a wide range of everyday materials, according to Penn State researchers.
Researchers from Penn State, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Texas at Austin are partnering on a new $2.5-million project to illuminate what happens to carbon dioxide during underground sequestration. The team will use seismic data collected through a novel real-time monitoring system to track the spread of carbon dioxide underground. The four-year project is being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
For the second year in a row, the Penn State chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers won the Outstanding Chapter Award at the 93rd Annual Technical Conference Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas.
Sanjay Srinivasan, the newly appointed head of the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME), said he’s looking forward to helping “world-class” faculty further extend Penn State’s reputation as “the energy university.” President Eric Barron in 2015 announced a University-wide effort to be at the forefront of energy security and independence, and Srinivasan said his department is well-suited to address these global issues and lead the University’s efforts.
In 2016, a team of Penn State and U.S. Department of Energy researchers discovered a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to extract rare earth elements (REEs) from coal and coal byproducts. Now, through a $1 million grant from DOE's Office of Fossil Energy, this research may be headed one-step closer to commercialization.
No one can predict exactly when a coal mine will collapse, but a $1.1 million grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health aims to change that, according to a Penn State mineral engineer.
In the U.S., approximately 60 percent of oil underground is inaccessible through conventional recovery methods, but through a new $1.3 million grant from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Russell Johns, professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering, is developing improved methods to free the once-trapped fossil fuel.
Installing a microgrid within a regulated electricity market will sometimes, but not always, provide an economic benefit to customers, investors and utilities involved, according to new research led by Chiara Lo Prete, assistant professor of energy economics, Penn State.
J. Thomas Hill, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Vulcan Materials Company, will give the 2016 G. Albert Shoemaker Lecture in Mineral Engineering titled "Aggregate Mining — You Can't Live Without Us" at 4:30 p.m. April 8 in 22 Deike Building. The event is free and open to the public.
When carbon dioxide is stored underground in a process known as geological sequestration, it can find multiple escape pathways due to chemical reactions between carbon dioxide, water, rocks and cement from abandoned wells, according to Penn State researchers.
The U.S. could soon decrease its dependence on importing valuable rare-earth elements that are widely used in many industries, according to a team of Penn State and U.S. Department of Energy researchers who found a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to extract these metals from coal byproducts.
A proposed recovery technique for oil extraction developed by a Penn State-led research team not only outperforms existing drilling and recovery techniques, but also has the potential to sequester more carbon dioxide in the process.
