UND researcher to help improve efficiency for power-generation industry

A University of North Dakota researcher will lead a team that was recently awarded $400,000 to develop technology to boost the efficiency of fossil fuel use. Gautham Krishnamoorthy, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering in the UND College of Engineering and Mines and a member of the SUNRISE research program, will lead a joint UND-University of Utah collaboration with a co-principle investigator, Utah’s Jeremy Thornock, on the three-year project. The grant is from U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)-Managed University Coal Research (UCR) program. The goal of the project is to develop computer code that quickly for solves large, sparse matrix equations observed in advanced energy system simulations. This will enable power producers to conduct simulations of multiphase particle flows and is expected to lead to more efficient fossil energy-based power generation. The project will also be used to train undergraduate and graduate engineering students at both universities The project is one of six recently selected to receive funding through NETL’s UCR, administered by the Crosscutting Research Technology Program. UCR funds research and development at U.S. colleges and universities for coal conversion and utilization. Its goal is to improve our understanding of chemical and physical processes for environmentally friendly coal conversion and utilization, byproduct utilization and technological development. Through this funding, NETL enhances the education of the next generation of scientists and engineers, while upgrading the coal research capabilities and facilities of the academic environments in which they study