Brazil's state-controlled oil company recently announced that it can "sink pipes and pump crude from Tupi, overcoming increasing heat and pressure at greater depths," but our resident petroleum expert, Shari Dunn-Norman ,says she's not so sure.

Gabrielli's schedule for tapping Tupi may be too ambitious because production technology tends to lag behind exploration technology by 5 to 10 years, said Shari Dunn-Norman, who teaches petroleum engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri.

``Production always lags behind our ability to find deposits in the deep water,'' said Dunn-Norman, a former Atlantic Richfield Co. engineer. ``They're being very aggressive.''

Via Bloomberg.

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Missouri S&T students took home the top prize in a student design contest earlier this month. Here's why:

The winning team's design included an on-site hydrogen fueling station, a primary fuel cell system to provide 200 kW of power to the airport, back-up power supply to protect the airport's computer systems, portable fuel cell power for tools and communications, a hydrogen forklift and baggage tug for use on the tarmac, as well as two hydrogen vehicles designed to increase public attention: a hydrogen ICE shuttle bus to transport passengers from the airport to downtown, as well as a hydrogen fuel cell scooter for use at the airport. Not only does the system drastically reduce the emissions created by power and personal vehicle use at the airport, it saves over $28,000 in heating and electric costs annually.

"The design presented by the team from Missouri was completely realistic and technically accurate," said Columbia Airport Director Mike Flack. "If implemented, this design would greatly decrease our energy footprint and bolster airport operations as a whole."

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Missouri S&T graduate Richard Stegemeier comes to the global warming debate from his perspective as the former chief executive officer of a big oil company. Dr. Stegemeier questions whether or not fossil fuels have really made a big impact on the environment. But that need not be a controversial stance, as far as he's concerned.

Stegemeier, former chair and chief executive officer of Unocal Corp., thinks global warming fears will soon be replaced almost entirely with energy concerns. Regardless of what you believe about global warming, Stegemeier says there aren’t enough fossil fuels left to cause major damage to the environment. “By 2050, the amount of emissions will be falling no matter what we do,” he told a Missouri S&T audience last Friday.

Continue reading "Why worry about global warming if we're totally running out of fossil fuels anyway?" »

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An interdisciplinary group of students from Missouri S&T won a hydrogen student design contest on Monday, beating teams from 22 other colleges and universities from around the world to develop and design hydrogen applications for airports.

As the winning team, Missouri S&T students scored the opportunity to present at the NHA's annual hydrogen conference, going on this week in California.

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Two energy researchers at Missouri S&T are revved up about the future of plug-in hybrid vehicles, what they see as the next generation of electrically driven automobiles.

“I would compare my excitement about plug-in hybrid technology to where we were with the Internet in the 1980s,” says Mariesa Crow, the Fred W. Finley Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Energy Research and Development Center. “The utility industry should be going gung-ho about plug-in hybrids.”

Read the full story.

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Dr. K. Krishnamurthy, vice provost for research at Missouri S&T, talked with the Springfield News-Leader while in southwest Missouri for the Ozarks New Energy conference. Missouri S&T "has been testing the two hydrogen-powered buses since November 2006," the article says.

"Part of the project is to find out the cost of using hydrogen as a fuel," he said. "It is going to be expensive for a while, but our goal is to reach a cost of between $1.75 and $4.75 per gallon of gasoline equivalent."

Pictures of the shuttle are available from our Flickr account.

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This morning, my colleague Tom Shipley and I were able to tour one of the newest laboratories at Missouri S&T, the Laboratory for Transportation Fuels and Polymer Processing, located in Rolla's Hy-Point Industrial Park. Just 18-months-old, the lab -- and its inhabitants -- is a fantastic example of the university's can-do-it spirit. Dr. KB Lee, a chemical engineering expert, has his hands into every aspect of alternative fuels and polymers.

You'll be hearing more about the projects Lee and his students are working on in the future, like their ideas on how military jet fuel could wind up as hydrogen, and how the plastic fork you use on your picnics could biodegrade in 60-90 days. Energy and environment research, all in one building and with one group -- that's how researchers do it at Missouri S&T.

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If you're in the Springfield area Feb. 22-23, you might consider heading to downtown Springfield for the Ozarks New Energy Conference. Two Missouri S&T folks -- Dr. K. Krishnamurthy, vice provost for research at Missouri S&T, and Dr. Paul Nam, assistant professor of chemistry at Missouri S&T -- are among the list of speakers who will discuss new energy applications. More about their talks here.

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They're not exactly Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, or even Jack Kerouac and Dean Moriarty, but several UMR researchers have been spending a lot of time on the road this fall, presenting their work at various conferences or preparing to do so, and even spurring some conversation among sci-tech bloggers. Here's what's been happening, or is about to happen, with some UMR faculty hitting the lecture circuit:

• Last week, Dr. David Summers, Curators' Professor of mining engineering, traveled to Dubuque, Iowa, to discuss his experiments in growing algae underground as a possible fuel source at a regional biofuels conference sponsored by the Soil and Water Conservation Society. A brief review of his presentation was included in a long blog post on the energy-focused blog The Oil Drum, and Summers' approach of growing algae in a mine drew quite a bit of commentary from Oil Drum readers.
• This Friday, Dr. Stephen A. Gao, associate professor of geophysics, will visit the University of Texas at Dallas to present a seminar on his research into the evolution of the earth's crust. In Dallas, he'll address the crustal evolution and composition in Southern Africa. Gao and his colleague Kelly Liu in UMR's geological sciences and engineering department have tapped in to the U.S. Geological Survey's Global Seismographic Network, a collection of seismographic stations around the world, to study how the earth's crust formed throughout its volatile history.
• Dr. J. David Rogers, our Hasselman Chair of Geological Engineering, will travel to Denver soon to present a dozen ideas about the land loss problem along the Gulf Coast during the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting. The meeting will be held Oct. 28-31, but if you can't wait until then to know Rogers' 12 reasons, Discovery News' Larry O'Hanlon spills the beans on his blog.

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A headline in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch nearly says it all: "Coming soon: A hydrogen highway?"

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla are "taking part in a public-private effort to establish Missouri's first permanent hydrogen fueling station and using a pair of hydrogen-powered shuttle buses to transport soldiers along a 55-mile stretch of Interstate 44 between Rolla and Lebanon beginning next year."

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Hydrogen research at the University of Missouri-Rolla caught the attention of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter, who made the trek down Interstate 44 to talk with a group of UMR researchers about the project. While they wait for a hydrogen refueling station to be built (should be done by summer 2008), we got at glimpse at the mobile refueling station. The article will likely appear next week, and we'll share it when it's available.

My question is this: are you a member of the hydrogen generation? Would you ride on a shuttle that used hydrogen for its fuel?

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U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson visited UMR today to hear about research into renewable, economical and environmentally-friendly biofuels. UMR is conducting research on microalgae (more info on algae as a potential source of oil here and here) and jatropha in addition to other sources of biodiesel. Above, Emerson got a demonstration of how smokescreens could potentially be deployed/employed on the battle field. This is a small jet engine that is normally produced for high-tech model jet airplanes. A UMR graduate student is running the engine on biofuel to produce smoke that doesn't harm humans or the environment. Among the other topics covered during Emerson's visit was power generation at Fort Leonard Wood. The idea is to generate power at some point in the future using the surrounding forest as fuel. Since the forest needs to be periodically thinned out anyway -- why not use some of the wood for energy?

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As a new soy-diesel plant prepares to begin production next month In Vernon County, a UMR researcher is developing a set of recommendations the Missouri Department of Transportation can follow to improve its biodiesel consumption.

A state mandate, revised last August, requires the Missouri Department of Transportation to fuel at least 75 percent of its diesel fleet with biodiesel. Last year, biodiesel accounted for 51 percent of the department’s consumption. Scott Grasman, associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering at UMR, says one of the easiest ways the department can meet the mandate is by buying biodiesel that meets ASTM standards.

Continue reading "Helping MoDOT meet its mandate" »

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Last week, we had video from UMR's Explosives Camp featuring an exploding chicken. This week has been pretty tame so far (it's only Monday) -- except for this: One of our colleagues here in the communications department brought squirrel for lunch today. No kidding. He's eating a squirrel at his desk right now! (Sorry, no video available.)

In non-chicken, non-varmint related news, UMR's plan to extract oil from algae made the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Eric Hand, the Post-Dispatch's science writer, interviewed UMR's David Summers about the research a few weeks ago, and the story ("Fuel from algae?") is in today's edition.

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Imagine thousands of Plexiglass tubes stored underground much like wine in a temperature-controlled cellar. While grapes are the prime ingredient in a bottle of Chardonnay, these tubes are full of odorous algae. And the long tubes of green slime are stored vertically, with carbon dioxide bubbling up from the bottom. Timed pulses of water push overflow algae – engineered to replicate four times daily – out the top of the tube and into a collection system, where the overflow is squeezed to yield, get this, crude oil.

“Why wait 10 million years for oil?” asks David Summers, one of the masterminds behind UMR’s underground algae project.

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We can put a man on the moon -- but we can't figure out a way to keep gasoline from dribbling all over our shoes every time we finish filling up? I don't get it. Can't one of you engineer-types make some kind of filter-stopper thing to fix this problem? In addition to dripping smelly fuel all over myself when I'm in a hurry, I'm sick of wasting the gas. That stuff is like gold. If we could just solve this one problem as a nation, I think we could be great again. It really shouldn't be that difficult, and you could make a lot of money. Of course, if you do get a patent for the filter-stopper thingy (we'll call it a nuzzle or something catchy like that), then I'm going to need a cut. This is kind of like when Navin Johnson temporarily saved the world from slipping eyeglasses by coming up with the idea for a nose brake with a handle. The guy who produced the product and made millions eventually gave Navin his cut. That's all I'm asking for.

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This morning, early reports surfaced in Colorado of an explosion at an old uranium mine near Denver. The Associated Press jumped on the story. Details were sketchy, but it still popped up on news sites like USA Today and Forbes. If it had been a mine explosion, we could have turned to UMR's Larry Grayson for reaction. Grayson chairs a federal mine safety comission, which on Dec. 5 released a report containing more than 70 recommendations to improve mine safety.

Fortunately, there was no mine explosion at all, just a broken electrical switch on a transformer that caused loud noises and bright flashes. At least that's the latest word from the Associated Press.

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Badrul Chowdhury, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UMR, shares his thoughts on whether alternative energy is hype or real.

Although still a magnet for environmentalists’ concerns for bird mortality, today wind power enjoys a state of tremendous appeal to power producers and consumers alike.

Via Today's Engineer.

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We have it on good authority that the four UMR students who participated in the MIT Vehicle Design Summit last summer showed up the competition. Any readers with HDTV who subscribes to Discovery HD Theatre can find out for themselves just how the UMR contingent fared at the event. The network is airing MIT Design Summit tonight (10 p.m. Eastern), so if you want to catch some UMR design team students in action, here's your chance.

Four UMR design team members – Navarre Bartz, Jerrod Bouchard, Craig George and Andrew Sourk – were among the 50 engineering students to participate in the summit last summer. The students presented four energy-efficient vehicles they hope will save the world from today’s polluting cars. Earlier this year, Bouchard was profiled in an earlier news story about the event.

If you can’t catch the MIT Design Summit tonight, you'll have other chances tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 30) or Dec. 3. Check the schedule for showtimes.

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It's a good time to be studying nuclear engineering. As noted in the subhead of a recent story (subscribers only) in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "For the first time in decades, new reactors are being planned, and a new generation of engineers must be trained."

It's up to universities like UMR to do the training, and UMR is uniquely poised to do so. Unlike many universities with nuclear engineering programs, UMR is not hamstrung by what the Chronicle calls "the demise of the university-based reactor."

Continue reading "Going nuclear" »

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Some people may think that politicians are more accustomed to shoveling loads of manure than talking about them.

But at yesterday's renewable energy conference in St. Louis, President Bush told the clean-energy crowd his vision of the future included ethanol.

I like the idea of promoting a fuel that relies upon our farmers ... But I also know it makes sense to have our farmers growing the feedstock for new energy. The way I like to tell our citizens is Johanns is going to come in someday and say, "Mr. President, corn is up, which means we're less dependent on oil." And that's good news for the country and good news for our economy.

What, you ask, does ethanol have to do with manure or for that matter, UMR research?

Continue reading "Moooooving into ethanol production" »

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While some people enjoyed a little downtime this summer, there was no rest for the TechnoFiles crew. Soaring gas prices, coupled with concerns about foreign oil, provided an interesting backdrop for a three-part series that focused on how UMR researchers have joined the worldwide rush to develop the next generation of alternative sources of fuel. Their efforts to diversify the nation's fuel supply may help save everything from the environment to our pocketbooks.

The series began in July, as David Summers, Curators' Professor of mining engineering at UMR, and Dev Niyogi, assistant professor of biological sciences at UMR, discussed their attempts to create crude oil easily and inexpensively in just a few hours by extracting the oil from algae grown in an underground mine. Typical algae are about 25 percent oil, which makes their capacity to yield transportation fuel greater than corn or soybeans. Now all the pair has to do is figure out the most efficient method to extract the oil.

In August, TechnoFiles explored the future of making an ethanol, an alternate fuel derived from corn. Current ethanol production methods yield just a little more fuel than it takes to produce it. To meet the increased demand, ethanol plants must increase those yields. UMR civil engineers Joel Burken and Mark Fitch and biologist Melanie Mormile discussed their plans to improve the efficiency of ethanol production by using the left-over biomass that now goes to waste.

The three-part series wrapped up this month, as Yangchuan Xing, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, talked about how polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells could one day power cars and trucks. The only byproduct of these fuel cells is clean water, which goes a long way twoward reducing air pollution.

Don't miss TechnoFiles; subscribe to the podcast today.

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The U.S. has a new oil field to exploit! It's huge! And it's located just off the coast of Louisiana! Not far from New Orleans! Deep below the floor of the Gulf of Mexico!

This on the heels of another gulf discovery off the shores of the country of Mexico. Maybe all the widespread panic about North America's dependence on foreign oil was premature. Maybe now we can stop talking about hydrogen and oil sands and switch grass. Or maybe not.

Incidentally, among all UMR graduates, petroleum engineers enjoy the highest starting salaries. The average is $75,750 per year and going up.

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Fortunately, the UMR Solar House Team builds its houses in easy-to-take-apart sections (well, relatively easy). Here, part of the house built for the 2002 Solar Decathlon awaits a transitioning to a new, permanent foundation. Soon, the 2005 house will be moved out of storage to its new home next door to the 2002 house on UMR property. The vision is to create a solar village of sorts. In this village of the future, high utility bills and the threat of 100 degree temperatures causing blackouts will be worries of the past. Using the knowledge acquired from previous builds, UMR will begin construction of a brand new solar house this fall on the exact spot vacated by the house pictured above.

This section of the 2002 house (above) is in the process of being relocated to a new foundation nearby, where it will be reunited with the rest of itself.

The foundation in the foreground above has been prepared for the 2002 house. Eventually, there will be four houses, each built uniquely for Solar Decathlon competitions, in UMR's solar village. Solar Decathlons are held every two to three years in Washington D.C.

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One day, you might be able to buy your very own version of a UMR solar house. Dr. Stuart Baur, advisor to the UMR Solar House Team, says he gets inquiries from people all the time about buying one of the university's solar houses or at least purchasing the plans. With this in mind, Baur is interested in partnering with a company that sells manufactured homes. Because UMR's houses have to be capable of quick assembly, they are constructed in units and are put together a lot like quality manufactured homes. Baur imagines rows of solar houses in a futuristic trailer park, where none of the residents have to worry about utility bills. UMR is currently plannings its own solar village near campus; and the solar house team will soon start construction on its house for the 2007 Solar Decathlon. This time, the Department of Energy is kicking in $100,000 to support the project.

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KOLR-10, the CBS-affiliate in Springfield, Mo., talked with UMR's own Jianmin Wang about his fly ash research for its story, "Potential power plant problems," which aired last night at 10 p.m.

A law passed last year says all power plants must reduce nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions by 2009. But researchers at a local university say to do that, there could be some negative side effects. ... And, a team of University of Missouri-Rolla researchers is now focusing in on that gray matter. Several companies, including City Utilities, plan on adding ammonia to their power producing process to meet federal regulations to reduce emissions.

"So, the fly ash will be contaminated with ammonia, so that is another issue," said UMR Assistant Professor Jianmin Wang.

It’s an issue that could cause other toxic materials including arsenic and selenium to leach out of the fly ash into the water supply.

"Eventually our goal is to prevent pollution," said Wang.

Get the rest of the story here.

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UMR's Chem-E Car Team grabbed a few moments of fame this morning, at least in KY3's Springfield, Mo., market area. Click here to see the car, powered by magnesium and acid, in action. Read more the project here.

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HGTV is planning to come to Rolla next month to shoot an episode of Small Space, Big Style. The idea is to film UMR student Natalie McDonald in her living environment -- she happens to rent a solar house built for the 2003 Solar Decathlon. We'll let you know when programming plans are announced.

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UMR is one of the first universities in the country to have an HPLC-ICP-MS system for metal speciation studies. Despite its alphabet-soup name, the cool set-up is so sensitive it can detect toxic species at ultratrace levels. UMR's Jianmin Wang and his students are using the technology in their effort to understand how heavy metals -- think arsenic, lead and mercury -- can leach from fly ash. Read more about their work here.

Dying to know what HPLC-IPC-MS stands for? If you must know, high performance liquid chromatography (that's the HPLC part), linked to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (IPC-MS). Still need more details? Go here.

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Maybe you've heard that Mexico has announced the discovery of a huge new oil field ...Given the price and global demand, this might be the best timing for a crude-related windfall since Jed became a millionaire. "Each country claims the right to explore and develop their outer-continental shelf, and an agreed upon distance beyond that," says Dr. Shari Dunn-Norman, a professor of petroleum engineering at UMR. "This is a huge field if what they are saying is correct."

Dunn-Norman, an expert in offshore oil and gas production, thinks the discovery could secure the supply to Mexico for some time to come. "This will certainly have a positive impact on the United States as well," she says, "since Mexico exports about half of what they produce to the U.S."

Dunn-Norman speculates that it will take 18-36 months for Mexico to start production in the new field. Meanwhile, U.S. drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is just starting to get back to normal after last year's hurricanes.

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The tragic coal mining accidents in West Virginia last month have prompted the mining industry and federal government to take a new look at what role regulations and new technologies could play in reducing the risks of another underground mining disaster. And UMR professor Larry Grayson, chair of UMR's mining and nuclear engineering department, is leading one effort.

Last month, Grayson was picked to lead an independent commission to improve mine safety and prevent tragedies such as those at the Sago and Melville mines in West Virginia. As Grayson points out in this recent National Geographic story, technology -- from robotics to virtual reality training -- could be the key to reducing the risk of future mining accidents.

Continue reading "Robotic canaries in the coal mine" »

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Would you like Wi-Fi with your gas?

That's a question Nethercomm, a San Diego company, is asking consumers. The 1.2 million miles of natural gas distribution and transmission pipelines that crisscross the United States could be used to build wireless networks, according to a study by UMR researchers.

Continue reading "Wi-Fi goes underground" »

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Something strange is happening in Joel Lamson's back yard, where a black monolith, several stories high, has taken up residence. It could be the work of Arthur C. Clarke or Stanley Kubrick, but it's not. Here, Dr. Stuart Baur (sports jacket), graduate student Lamson and half of Lamson's dog, Sam (bottom, right), pose in front of their hybrid solar monolith.

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As the mercury soars during the hot summer months, so does the demand for electricity. If demand gets too high during those peak-demand periods utility companies warn us about, it stresses sections of the nation’s electrical power grid, resulting in brownouts and blackouts. But UMR researchers Mariesa Crow and Bruce McMillin hope to help the utility industry better cope with peak demands – and avoid "cascading failures" – by looking at the FACTS.

Continue reading "A Quick Look -- Just the FACTS, Ma'am" »

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Imagine a world where cars emit little more than water vapor into the environment and you never have to worry about recharging your cell phone or laptop computer. Imagine buildings powered so efficiently, they can reduce utility costs by 20 to 40 percent and use leftover energy to heat water. In a world powered by fuel cells, all of this is possible – and more.

In his January 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush proposed $1.2 billion in research funding to boost fuel cell development, specifically for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Studies estimate that by 2004, the market for fuel cells will double that figure – at $2.4 billion, with the two largest markets being electric power and automobiles. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, fuel cells can reduce air pollution, decrease dependence on foreign sources of fuel, reduce the deficit and create more jobs for Americans.

That’s not just some futuristic buzz. Fuel cell technology will revolutionize the way we power our world. This world is closer than we think, and some UMR researchers are helping to forge the way.

Continue reading "Eye on Research -- The lives of a cell" »

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Although we won’t be driving solar cars anytime soon, some UMR students are old pros when it comes to designing, building and racing solar-powered vehicles. These members of the UMR Solar Car Team are not only learning the ins and outs of solar technology, but they’re also gaining real-world lessons in the process.

Since 1993, the team has built six solar-powered cars, including the 1999 national champion and the runner-up in 2001. Later this month, the team will take its most recent model, Solar Miner IV, on the road. They will compete with about 35 to 40 corporate, university and private teams from all over the world in the 2003 American Solar Challenge, which begins July 13. The 2,300-mile race runs from Chicago to Los Angeles along the nation’s “mother road," old U.S. Route 66. UMR was the runner-up in the 2001 ASC, but the team has high hopes for their new car, which is the lightest solar-powered racer in the nation. Solar Miner IV weighs in at 334 pounds – or 510 pounds with a 176-pound driver.

Continue reading "The unbeatable lightness of (sun)beams" »

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UMR is all about the students, and giving them hands-on experience that will pay off in the future. That’s why Eric Showalter jumped at the chance to help lead the UMR-RTI Solar House Team to the first-ever 2002 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C.

Since the team’s return, Showalter, a team advisor and an assistant professor of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at UMR, has refocused his efforts to turn the solar house into a clean energy house. “I think it’s a good opportunity to go after some other things and not limit the house to solar power,” says Showalter. In a step toward clean energy, Showalter and another professor are working to obtain a fuel cell for the house.

Continue reading "Faculty View -- Cleaning solar house" »

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At UMR, it’s not unusual to find yourself putting your education to use long before you graduate. UMR architectural engineering major Corry Hailey was one of the architects behind UMR’s first solar-powered house. A member of the UMR-RTI Solar House Team, she helped build – and run – the energy-efficient cottage that competed in the Solar Decathlon last fall in Washington, D.C. This summer, she’s working with fellow team member Amy Schneider as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Faculty and Student Team (FaST) program at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Hanford, Washington. The students, along with UMR faculty member Stuart Baur of the civil, architectural and environmental engineering department, are involved in the creation of a toolkit for sustainable community design.

Continue reading "Student View -- Corry Hailey" »