EEI Exhibits at Offshore Technology Conference

Pappas to Serve on National Academies Committee

John Pappas, Associate Director of EEI and Director of the Wind Energy Center, will serve on The National Academies Emerging Workforce Trends in the U.S. Energy and Mining Industries Committee.  The ad hoc committee was convened to conduct a meta-study of the availability of skilled workers to meet the energy and mineral security requirements of the United States, define a consensus set of specific issues and suggest specific solutions to the near- and long-term problems facing the U.S. workforce.  Ultimately, the goal of the committee is to help inform policy-makers as they address the skills-gap problem.

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Texas A&M Energy Club Gains Momentum

Early in the fall of 2010, a group of determined students in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU) came together with an interest in energy-related issues.  With the aid and inspiration of Assistant Professor Le Xie, the group's advisor, and the Energy Engineering Institute, the TAMU Energy Club was officially established as a recognized university-wide student group later that semester.  The purpose of the Energy Club is to bring together the science, technology, policy and business communities on campus that deal with the energy industry.

Since this initial effort, the constituency continues to be diverse in its composition, facilitating topic discussion and idea generation from multiple points of view.  The club is undertaking several initiatives focused on understanding the global energy challenges and possible solutions through discussion and education.

For more about the Energy Club, follow this link.

Straight Vegetable Oils Show Potential as Energy Fuel

A group of graduate students from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University was able to disperse methanol in canola oil in an effort to make and combust a low-viscosity fuel blend.  The blend, which consists of 90% canola oil, 10% methanol, and some surfactants, exhibited adequate stability and desirable viscosity.   The oil emulsion was combusted in a 30 kW furnace facility equipped with a twin fluid atomizer and an adjustable radial vane swirler.   

Combustion data suggest that adding methanol to vegetable oil results in lower NOx emissions and more complete combustion.  "A new blend of methanol-in-canola oil combusts cleanly, proving that slightly processed vegetable oil can be used as energy fuel," said the group's advisor, Associate Professor Jorge L. Alvarado.  

Future studies will consider the use of methane as atomizing gas which should enhance combustion and lead to fewer emissions.

The Energy Engineering Institute (EEI) is addressing the world's energy challenges through research, development and deployment. The Institute matches researchers and world-class facilities with internal and external partners to define and solve energy problems and turn those solutions into useful global products.