Gas institute steps on it, with zero emissions in sight
Dr. Devinder Mahajan is on a steady low-carbon diet.
The chemical engineering professor keeps busy in Stony Brook University’s Materials Science & Chemical Engineering Department, where he’s the graduate program director for the Chemical and Molecular Engineering Graduate Program.
And while his 14-year joint appointment with the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) officially ended in 2015, he’s still a frequent collaborator with colleagues in BNL’s chemistry and energy science/technology divisions.
All of this work keeps Dr. Mahajan focused on energy-policy issues – specifically, low-carbon energy technology development and implementation. But none of it hones his senses quite like his newest gig, as director of the Institute for Gas Innovation and Technology (IGIT).
Established in February 2018 by the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) and National Grid, the university-industry partnership is focused on decarbonization – addressing current and future power needs through increasingly low-carbon means, with a zero-emission endgame.
The institute champions hydrogen and renewable natural gas (RNG) technologies, the “forward-looking and futuristic approach” to energy distribution, according to Dr. Mahajan. It also tracks current (and needed) gas-system infrastructure – a critical component of the work, the director notes.
Renewable natural gas, also known as sustainable natural gas, is a methane biogas upgraded to a quality similar to natural gas, which is obtained from non-renewable fossil fuels. It works – and it can be delivered to commercial and residential customers via existing gas-grid systems.
There are, of course, challenges. Among them: dangerous gas leaks, “the biggest problem in the industry” and one of IGIT’s primary research avenues, Dr. Mahajan notes.
“We are looking at better communication sensors for leak detection,” he says. “That is an important part of the infrastructure.
“And we are also looking at better communication, which is important,” the professor adds. “For that, we are collaborating with researchers in the [Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology].”
IGIT’s solid science is conducted largely inside AERTC laboratories – “no question about it, a great resource,” according to Dr. Mahajan. And the institute boasts a heavy-hitting lineup of energy-industry veterans, including founding member and National Grid President John Bruckner and advisor Bob Catell, the former KeySpan and National Grid chairman now chairing the AERTC, among other high-profile regional gigs.
“Both have a very strong background in gas issues,” Dr. Mahajan notes. “They are a very great asset.”
Barely into its second year, the loaded-for-bear institute is focusing its cutting-edge technology and topflight brain trust in three primary directions.
The first involves a statewide coalition – featuring IGIT, Cornell University, Attica-based Sustainable Dairy Technologies Digester LLC and other private companies – that will “interact with the State to see how we can promote RNG,” Dr. Mahajan notes.
The second involves energy storage – specifically, storing energy generated by renewable sources like solar power and offshore wind.
“It’s a three-step process where you take surplus energy and use it to produce hydrogen from water,” Dr. Mahajan says. “The hydrogen is stored in metal hydride tubes, and used as needed.”
Known as P2G2P – “power to gas to power” – the process requires high efficiency all around, and “for that, we are actually looking at fuel cells,” the professor adds.
The institute is aiming to build a hydrogen-generation “demonstration plant” on Long Island, capable of juicing two 5-kilowatt fuel cells, by the end of the summer.
“This is huge,” Dr. Majahan notes.
Meanwhile, IGIT is also pursuing new technologies related to “waste wood” –branches and trunks left over when utilities clear rights-of-way or local public works crews trim around power lines, among other sources.
The big picture: small-scale, self-contained, emission-free generators that produce off-the-grid power by burning wood and repurposing the smoke.
“You burn wood, it produces gas, and then you burn the gas to make power,” Dr. Mahajan says. “The idea would be that you can have a couple of these units and in case of a big storm you could produce a megawatt of power.”
Working with All Power Labs in Berkeley, Calif., IGIT is attempting to form another regional consortium – this focused on the wonders of waste-wood – and is poking around Long Island for potential development sites.
“We’re hoping this one also will be operational by the end of this year,” Dr. Mahajan adds.
It’s an ambitious agenda for the 14-month old institute. But with the clock ticking on a critical carbon-neutral mission, IGIT and its busy director are ready.
“When you replace natural gas with RNG, you basically decarbonize electricity,” Dr. Mahajan says. “The overall goal is 80 percent of all electricity from decarbonized renewable sources by 2050. And after just one year of existence, the gas institute is really honing in.”