News Briefs - July/August 2013

Issue 24

July/August 2013

Howdy!

Welcome to the July/August 2013 issue of News Briefs, the Texas A&M Energy Institute's e-newsletter. News Briefs is intended to keep you informed about all the good things going on in energy research at EI and Texas A&M University as well as state, national and international energy-related news that affects all of us.

We encourage you to forward News Briefs on to your friends and colleagues. If you aren't already a subscriber and would like to receive our monthly e-newsletter, please click the "Join our Mailing List" button on the lower right.

We also invite you to visit the Energy Institute's web site at http://energy.tamu.edu.

If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future issues, please contact Lisa Groce at 979.458.1644 or tamuenergy@pe.tamu.edu.

Thank you,

John A. Pappas

Interim Director, EI

In This Issue

Energy Institute to Co-Sponsor MSC Student Conference on National Affairs (SCONA)

Visit the Energy Institute Booth at the Turbomachinery Symposium

Energy Institute Supporting Partner for Defense Energy Summit November 11-13, 2013

TAMU Students Participate in ANGA Collegiate Energy Challenge

DOE Study: Fracking Chemicals Didn't Taint Water

Focus on the Fellows

Energy Institute to Co-Sponsor MSC Student Conference on National Affairs (SCONA)

On September 10, 2013, the Memorial Student Center (MSC) Student Conference on National Affairs (SCONA) and the Texas A&M Energy Institute will host "Severing the Pipeline: American Energy Independence" at the Texas A&M Memorial Student Center (MSC) Gates Ballroom (MSC 2400). The focus of this program will be the ever increasing need for the United States to promote domestic energy independence.

The evening's events will include a discussion between Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter and Dr. Stephen Holditch, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute. The discussion will address the possibility of American energy independence in the next 20 years and the impact such a development would have on the nation's economy and environment.

Event information will be posted on the EI web site and on the SCONA web site as it becomes available.

Visit the Energy Institute Booth at the Turbomachinery Symposium

The Texas A&M Energy Institute will be exhibiting again this year (booth #802) at the 42nd Turbomachinery Symposium, September 30 - October 3, 2013. As in year's past, the event will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

The Turbomachinery Laboratory sponsors two annual symposia (the Turbomachinery Symposium and the Pump Symposium), held in the fall of each year, to promote professional development, technology transfer, peer networking, and information exchange among industry professionals.

These two events are led by engineers with vast experience in the petrochemical, process, chemical, utility, contractor, and consulting fields, along with manufacturers of rotating equipment and fluid-handling equipment from around the world.

Both symposia feature lectures, tutorials, case studies, discussion groups and short courses, as well as exhibits of the latest services and full-size equipment. These international meetings emphasize the technology and troubleshooting that users need in today's challenging workplace.

The Turbomachinery Symposium continues to be the only meeting organized by users for users. The members of the Advisory Committee, who provide overall guidance, are recognized leaders in the rotating equipment and power generation community.

More information, including registration and hotel recommendations, is available at the Symposium web site.

Energy Institute Supporting Partner for Defense Energy Summit November 11-13, 2013

Join the Nation's energy, business and defense leadership as they accelerate the development and deployment of new energy and infrastructure solutions and projects.

The Defense Energy Summit delivers the entire defense energy ecosystem, focusing on the needs and solutions of energy providers, project financiers, early and growth-state companies, defense contractors, military installations and purchasing agents. This unique event brings together the business of the energy industry with the urgent needs of the defense community, convening National stakeholders in the building of a Defense Energy Center of Excellence.

For further information about the Defense Energy Summit, please visit www.defenseenergy.com. Information about the Defense Energy Center of Excellence may be found at www.defenseenergy.org.

The Energy Institute is a supporting partner of the 2013 Defense Energy Summit. Use the code 13TAME10 for a 10% registration discount.

TAMU Students Participate in ANGA Collegiate Energy Challenge

A team of graduate students from Texas A&M University were invited to participate in the spring 2013 America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) Collegiate Energy Challenge. As part of the Challenge, students had a rare opportunity to put their education to work in the real world for a national organization. Students created and implemented an integrated marketing campaign for their client, using research surveys and other tools to learn more about ANGA's target audiences.

After the students analyzed their research findings, they created and implemented their strategy to raise awareness of the benefits of natural gas. Students received a $3,000 budget to assist in their efforts. At the end of the term, students measured their success through follow-up research and a formal presentation to the client summarizing their campaign and results.

The students, who were enrolled in a graduate-level marketing consulting course, created an in-class working marketing agency, Lonestar Natural, which was responsible for researching, implementing and evaluating an integrated marketing campaign aimed at educating and informing their local campus and community about the benefits of natural gas as an energy source with a chance to present their creative ideas to ANGA industry leaders at the project's end.

Team member Kailah Gonzalez noted that "Working on this campaign was a fun challenge. We're not just sending a message but really working to educate people about something important to Texas - natural gas."

The campaign consisted of a series of educational events including a career panel, a natural gas vehicle display, an expert lecture by Dr. Stephen A. Holditch (former director of the TAMU Energy Institute and professor emeritus of petroleum engineering) and a trivia night. The team was invited to present as finalists in Washington, D.C. on May 29 and placed 3rd overall.

"Going into this project, I expected to learn a great deal about the Texas natural gas industry. I never imagined I would receive the amount of personal development and real-world experience that I got from this project. I look forward to the fall semester project and delving deeper into the industry and working from a different area of concentration," said team member Katelyn Duecker.

Summarizing her experiences as part of the team, Candace Robinson said "The ANGA Collegiate Energy Challenge was just that - a challenge, but it was also rewarding. Not only was it eye opening to actually work with a client on a project, but it's been a lot of fun!"

Team members included Rob Calvin, Dave Diddell, Katelyn Duecker, Sheila de Guzman, Kailah Gonzalez and Candace Robinson.

ANGA exists to promote the economic, environmental and national security benefits from the greater use of clean, abundant, domestic natural gas.

DOE Study: Fracking Chemicals Didn't Taint Water

by The Associated Press, Kevin Begos

Friday, July 19, 2013

PITTSBURGH - A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press.

After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.

Although the results are preliminary - the study is still ongoing - they are a boost to a natural gas industry that has fought complaints from environmental groups and property owners who call fracking dangerous.

Drilling fluids tagged with unique markers were injected more than 8,000 feet below the surface but were not detected in a monitoring zone 3,000 feet higher. That means the potentially dangerous substances stayed about a mile away from drinking water supplies.

"This is good news," said Duke University scientist Rob Jackson, who was not involved with the study. He called it a "useful and important approach" to monitoring fracking, but he cautioned that the single study doesn't prove that fracking can't pollute, since geology and industry practices vary widely in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

The boom in gas drilling has led to tens of thousands of new wells being drilled in recent years, many in the Marcellus Shale formation that lies under parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia. That's led to major economic benefits but also fears that the chemicals used in the drilling process could spread to water supplies.

Focus on the Fellows

With a generous donation of $40,000 from ConocoPhillips, the Energy Institute awarded eight fellowships to support outstanding graduate students doing energy research. Over 60 applicants from numerous departments were nominated for this competitive award. The award recipients are known as "Energy Institute Fellows."

Each month, a Fellow will be featured in the highlights section of News Briefs. This month's featured Fellow is Pallab Barai, a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Pallab's research project is entitled "Modeling of Mechano-Electrochemical Behavior of Battery Materials." For a brief abstract of Pallab's research, click here.

To see the complete listing of EI Fellows, visit our web site at http://energy.tamu.edu/.

The Energy Institute (EI) 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.