Carnegie Mellon Chemical Engineering Professor Andrew Gellman has been appointed research director for the consortium. Under his direction, the university teams will engage in a portfolio of research programs aimed at developing new technologies for fossil fuel utilization, reducing the environmental impact of fossil energy use, and optimizing the efficiency of energy production from fossil fuel sources.

We need to develop improved turbine generators and new fuel cell technologies that use coal-derived synthetic fuels, along with new ways to capture and store greenhouse gases instead of releasing them into the atmosphere.

—Andrew Gellman

The consortium will focus its research within eight program areas:

• Materials for energy technologies;

• Process and dynamic systems modeling;

• Catalyst and reactor development;

• Carbon management;

• Sensor systems and diagnostics;

• Energy conversion devices;

• Gas hydrates; and

• Ultradeep and unconventional oil and gas production technology.

The partnership, called CWP Inc., will receive the funding through a subcontract with RDS Inc., an onsite contractor at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). NETL is the national laboratory for the US Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy with facilities in five states, including Pennsylvania and West Virginia. More than 75 scientists—with student researchers&madsh;at the three universities will work with more than 150 NETL scientists and researchers to address key areas of fossil fuel research.