The Gazette

Report as inappropriate Your report has been received

Shared by: HC120727025531

Tags

Stats

views:: 8
posted:: 7/26/2012
language:
pages:: 6

Public Domain

Document Sample

The Pipeline
Volume 14 Issue 6 M Pahigianis and N McMillan, Co-Editors November 2007
NEWSLETTER OF THE EAST TENNESSEE SECTION OF AIChE
Local section website Local section mailing address
http://www.tnengineering.net/AICHE/ PO Box 3488 Kingsport, TN 37664-3488

November AIChE Meeting

What: “East Tennessee and Biofuels: Where are We Today and the
Road Ahead”
Who: Jonathan Overly, Executive Director of East Tennessee Clean
Fuels Coalition
When: Tuesday, November 13, 2007. 11:45 Lunch Available
(Please bring your own drink). Program begins at Noon
Where: Eastman Research Lecture Room, B-150C, Kingsport
PDH Credits: Available
RSVP: Pizza Lunch –
Please RSVP to Tim Nolen at tnolen@eastman.com or 423-229-8287 by
November 12th. If not a current Eastman employee, let us know so we
can meet you with a visitor's pass.

T he presentation will address:
 Basics of why alternative fuels need to be in the mix in the U.S.
 Petroleum dependence problems
 Alternative fuels 101
 How biodiesel and ethanol are made today, and the cellulosic ethanol production
process
 The life-cycle fuel efficiency of both of the biofuels
 Current and up-and-coming producers and production facilities in East Tennessee
 Current biodiesel and ethanol fleets in East TN
 Where are the public biofuel stations and which ones are coming to the Tri-Cities
area and when
2 The Pipeline
Biographical Sketch for Jonathan Overly
Mr. Overly is a life-long East Tennessean who received two degrees from the University
of Tennessee at Knoxville: a B.S. in Engineering Science and an M.S. in Environmental
Engineering.

Overly began his professional career with the Energy, Environment and Resources Center
working on projects where energy and environmental issues merged, using life-cycle
assessment as one of several evaluation tools. Most of the focus of his LCA work was on
advanced fuels and vehicles. This was a perfect backdrop to his founding the East
Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition in early 2002. The ETCFC is East Tennessee's arm of
the U.S. DOE Clean Cities program. With the help of many volunteers from the coalition,
he is working diligently to turn East Tennesseans into Actors for Change for their
community and country through diversifying our transportation sector away from
petroleum and improving air quality at the same time.

In May 2006, he was chosen from 90 coalition coordinators across the country as the
“Coordinator of the Year.”
Tim Nolen
Program Committee Chair

Message from the Chair
n the next year AIChE, will celebrate its 100th anniversary. This
I milestone gives us the opportunity to examine the past
accomplishments and unique features of the Institute. AIChE has
made several monumental contributions to the chemical industry and
the chemical engineering profession.

- The Center for Chemical Process Safety was formed by AIChE in
1985 in response to the Bhopal disaster. In almost 23 years, the
CCPS has become the industry leader in studying,
recommending, and documenting industry best practices in process safety, and they
currently have about 25 active projects on topics ranging from safety in chemical
engineering education to hazard identification.
- The Design Institute for Physical Properties (DIPPR®) will celebrate its 30 th
anniversary in 2008 and has the distinction of being the longest ongoing sponsored
research effort of the Institute. This cooperative effort of AIChE and industry is a
global leader in compiling, correlating, measuring, and documenting physical
property information for process engineering.
3 The Pipeline

Each of these efforts shows the importance of the national AIChE organization to the
chemical industry. The effect of just these two groups can be felt even at the Local
Section level as several East Tennessee Section members have served on them over the
years. Also, we have all most likely used the information generated by these projects at
some point in our careers. As we head into 2008, the East Tennessee Section will
continue to highlight some of the past contributions and future directions of AIChE and
the profession that it serves.

REMINDER: We will be issuing the ballot for Local Section Officer elections in the
next week. You will have until the end of November to return the ballots, and we will
announce the results at the December 10th lunch meeting. In these very busy times for
the chemical engineers, many thanks to those who have agreed to be considered for an
officer role in the Local Section next year!
Lauren Moyer
2007 East Tennessee Section Chair

Report on the October Meeting
CO2 Sequestration in Southwest Virginia

O n October 16, 2007, Dr. Michael Karmis of Virginia Tech gave a presentation to our
local section entitled “Deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Technologies: An Update on Carbon Sequestration and Enhanced Coalbed
Methane Recovery in Central Appalachia.” He stated the case that any credible
response to global warming would require CCS as one of the “wedges” that comprise a
reduction. A recent MIT study also concluded that coal would have to be a significant
part of the energy supply, but capture and sequestration is the critical enabling technology
to reduce CO2 emissions while allowing coal to meet the world’s energy needs. In order
to begin practical development of CO2 sequestration, environmental groups such as the
National Resources Defense Council and political bodies such as the Governor’s
Association agree that large-scale injection testing
needs to start as soon as possible. In Virginia, the
most promising sequestration option is to inject CO2
in unminable coal seams so as to effect enhanced coal
bed methane production.
4 The Pipeline

The state of Virginia currently participates in SECARB, a partnership managed by the
Southern States Energy Board. This partnership has already completed Phase I for
enhance coal bed methane in Appalachia. Phase I consists of geological characterization
and the initial feasibility study. Currently, the project has moved to Phase II, expected
completion 2009, which is to expand the study area, model reservoirs, pilot CO2 injection
(approx. 1000 tons), and evaluate storage potential from the data. Phase III would then
be the planning stage, which would involve a 1 million ton CO2 test injection with
monitoring, and would potentially be completed around 2017. Likely this would involve
a test site in Dickenson County, Virginia. For commercial sequestration, physical
infrastructure and regulatory structure would also be required. Thus, a realistic date for
full commercialization would be 2018-2020 even though all proposed legislation in
Congress assumes sequestration starting in 2012. This disconnect provides all the more
reason that the tasks are urgent.

Dr. Karmis’ presentation gives maps and technical data and summarizes the findings and
scale of storage of unminable coals seams as well as enhanced coal bed methane areas.
Data show that CO2 is preferentially adsorbed by the coal compared to methane. This
allows CO2 to increase the recovery and rate of methane production from unminable coal
seams thus realizing large economic potential and sequestering CO2 at the same time.
The total sequestration potential in Appalachia could be upwards of 1000 megatons of
CO2.

In conclusion, these projects provide an opportunity for a company like Eastman to
participate in creating an economic option for large-scale CO2 sequestration, thus
enabling continued beneficial use of coal in our region.

For more detail, please see Dr. Karmis’ presentation at
http://www.tnengineering.net/AICHE/karmis-16-oct-2007.pdf

Tim Nolen
Program Committee Chair

2007 AIChE Annual Meeting
AIChE Annual Meeting
November 4 -9, 2007
Salt Palace Convention Center
Salt Lake City, Utah
5 The Pipeline

2008 Officer Elections!
Ballots will be issued next week.
Please be sure to return the ballots by the end of November.

Results will be announced at the December 10th lunch meeting.

Keep Up With the Local Section Online

D id you know that as National AIChE celebrates 100 years, our Local Section
celebrates 63 years? If the TEC Junior Chemical Engineer's Club (organized
December 7, 1943) is included, the section is 65 years old!

Thanks to the hard work of our Webmaster Tim Nolen, everything from the history of the
local section to current meetings can be found on our website
(www.tnengineering.net/AICHE). The website includes the Local Section Bylaws, List of
Officers from 1945 to present, and an archive of Pipeline Newsletters - to mention only a
few aspects of the information covered. Photos from past events can be found, along with
contact information for the Local Board. Review the site occasionally and keep up with
the local section!

2007 Local Section Officers, Directors, & Support Staff
Chair: Lauren Moyer 229-2208
Chair-Elect and Program Committee Chair: Tim Nolen
229-8287
Secretary: Luke Stewart 229-5173
Treasurer: Megan Nelson 229-8210
Directors: Lee Partin 229-5716
Steve Miller 224-7350
Heather McNabb 229-3102
Local Section Webmaster: Tim Nolen 229-8287
Short-Course Coordinator: Mark Shelton 229-4753
Professional Development Coordinator: Joe Parker 229-3850
AIChE Pipeline Newsletter Editors: Melina Pahigianis 229-1422
Noah McMillan 229-8114
ETEAC Representative: Joey Watson 229-6486
Young Professionals Subcommittee Contacts:
Lauren Moyer lmoyer@eastman.com 229-2208
Melina Pahigianis mpahigianis@eastman.com 229-1422
6 The Pipeline

American Institute of Chemical Engineers
PO Box 3488
Kingsport, Tennessee 37664-3488