The EERC: Partnering with the world for answers on responsible energy use

As the demand for energy escalates, so does the environmental threat to the world’s resources, making their protection more critical than ever. The Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota is ideally positioned to develop and deploy innovative energy and environmental technologies to make the world a better place to live.

The EERC is a research, development, demonstration, and commercialization facility recognized as one of the world’s leading developers of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies as well as environmental technologies to protect and clean our air, water, and soil.

Environmental technologies are among the fastest-growing industry sectors. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the global market for environmental technologies will reach nearly $600 billion by 2008. It’s a market in which the EERC figures to be a significant player.

“The fundamental underpinning of successful commercialization of EERC technologies is partnerships with the private sector,” said Gerald Groenewold, the Center’s director. “Opportunities for technology commercialization are dramatically enhanced if these private sector partnerships begin with the initiation of a research and development program.”

Partnerships with private-sector entities from the beginning of a project also greatly enhance federal co-funding opportunities, he added.

“Private sector support is a critical ‘peer review’ for EERC research and development activities,” Groenewold said. “Through their involvement, a company votes with its dollars, euros, or yen for the activity and is well positioned to evaluate the commercial potential of EERC-developed technology and participate in its commercialization.

“A primary product, then, from much of the EERC’s research, development, demonstration, and commercialization activities is regional economic development and job evolution. Jobs evolve — they are not created.”

Operating as a high-tech business within UND, the EERC employs more than 260 people from more than 70 different disciplines, including numerous specialized fields. The EERC currently houses 169,000 square feet of offices, technology demonstration facilities, laboratories, and some of the most advanced, cutting-edge equipment and instrumentation in the world. An additional 47,000 square feet of office and meeting space is currently under construction.

The Center was founded as a U.S. Bureau of Mines lignite research laboratory in 1951 and became a U.S. Department of Energy technology center in 1977 before being de-federalized in 1983.

It then became a part of the University, with the stipulation that it would not receive state-appropriated dollars. Today, the EERC masters the art of leveraging and enhancing government research dollars by developing working partnerships with industry, government, and the research community.

The EERC has spent years perfecting this philosophy and has evolved to a position where it conducts research, development, and demonstration activities involving all fossil, renewable, and alternative fuels; advanced power systems; waste management and utilization; water management; environmental cleanup technologies; and pollution prevention.

As an example, the EERC’s Center for Air Toxic Metals (CATM) is designated a Center of Excellence by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and recognized internationally as a leader in understanding and developing solutions for trace element emissions in coal-fired power systems. Since 1993, the EERC has received over $12 million in direct funding for the program and has leveraged those dollars into more than $54 million of co-funded and related projects.

“Through CATM, the EERC has become internationally renowned for the research, development, demonstration, and commercialization of technologies to understand and control mercury and other air toxic metals,” said EERC Associate Director for Research Tom Erickson.

The CATM program received rave reviews from members of the EPA Peer Review Committee. In an evaluation report, the committee stated that, “Overall, the Center appears to be among the best of those funded by EPA.”

A number of other EERC programs are recognized as the best in the nation by numerous agencies, including the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Center for Biomass Utilization, for example, is leading the nation in addressing technical barriers to the utilization of biomass in energy production. Within the last three years, it has performed and directed $14 million in research.

“Biomass is a critical domestic resource in the United States for meeting future electrical demand, reducing dependence on foreign oil, and achieving the numerous ‘greening’ initiatives launched by federal and state government,” said EERC Senior Research Manager Chris Zygarlicke.

Another national leader, the EERC’s Red River Water Management Consortium, is providing breakthrough technical answers to water resource issues in the northern Great Plains, especially the Red River Basin. As part of that effort, the EERC’s “Waffle” project is, for the first time, providing an evaluation of a realistic method to mitigate flooding throughout the entire basin in a nonstructural, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly manner.

“The Red River Basin is among the most disaster-prone regions in the United States according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” noted EERC Senior Research Manager Bethany Bolles. “The disasters have all been water-related, mostly by flooding or drought. The Waffle project will not only provide disaster mitigation but also numerous benefits to agricultural interests by providing landowners with a better way to manage water on their property during periods of both flooding and drought.”

Other premier efforts include the Plains Organization for Wind Energy Resources, the National Alternative Fuels Laboratory, the Coal Ash Resources Research Consortium, and the Supercritical and Subcritical Extraction Technologies group.

Because of the magnitude and success of these programs, the EERC has seen tremendous growth. It has formed partnerships with more than 740 clients in all 50 states and 47 countries throughout the world. In fiscal year 2002, contract revenues exceeded $20 million, and 85 percent of active contracts were with nonfederal clients. The client list includes hundreds of national and international entities.

“EERC growth is attributed to careful strategic positioning done in concert with the indispensable work of building solid partnerships with Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, federal agencies, and the North Dakota Congressional delegation,” Groenewold observed.

Other partnerships include state agencies, local government, and regional economic development organizations. In addition to corporate clients, the EERC works with scores of domestic and international academic institutions.

While the EERC is making major strides on an international level, its impact on a regional level is significant as well. Many EERC initiatives, particularly those involving basinwide water management, renewable energy technologies, and clean coal technologies, offer ample opportunities for economic development in North Dakota. The regional economic impact of the EERC last fiscal year was an estimated $70 million.

Partnerships with numerous regional firms such as Otter Tail Power Company and American Crystal Sugar Company have led to the development of new technologies at the EERC.
The ability to launch new technologies into the commercial market is the key to success at the EERC.

“We are committed to aggressively moving technologies out of the laboratory and into the marketplace,” Groenewold said. “The amazing outcome of market-driven, partnership-based growth is the enormous potential for spinoff companies and quality job evolution.”

“A technology that sits idle on the shelf or is merely described in a report will not produce more efficient energy or result in a cleaner environment,” observed Michael Jones, EERC associate director for industrial relations and technology commercialization. “Only through demonstration and commercialization can the world benefit from research and development efforts.”

Technology commercialization is facilitated through the EERC Foundation (EERCF), a nonprofit corporation formed in 1992 that provides the Center with a dedicated infrastructure to support its commercialization activities. The foundation holds U.S. patents, service marks, and license rights to a number of EERC-developed technologies.

One example of the EERC’s success in commercializing technology is the Advanced Hybrid Filter. This pollution control technology eliminates harmful microscopic dust (fine particulate) emissions from exhaust gases in coal-fired power plants, incinerators, and cement production facilities. Developed through a partnership with W.L. Gore & Associates (known for its GORE-TEX membrane fabrics) and DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Advanced Hybrid Filter combines two existing emission control technologies: electrostatic precipitators and GORE-TEX membrane filter bags.

“Control of fine particulates from industrial plants around the world represents a $5 billion market annually, which is a huge opportunity for this technology,” Jones said.

But the Advanced Hybrid Filter could not have become a reality without partnerships between key organizations. The EERCF has patented the Advanced Hybrid Filter and licensed it exclusively to W.L. Gore & Associates. Other partners include ELEX, AG, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland; and Procedair Industries Corp., a French company with offices in Louisville, Ky. Both have sublicenses from W.L. Gore for the technology.

The technology is currently being demonstrated at Otter Tail Power Company’s Big Stone power plant in Milbank, S.D., and in Cagnano, Italy, at the Sacci Cement Company. Operating since September 2002 in Italy and October 2002 in South Dakota, both units have achieved control of more than 99.99 percent of fine particulates.

“The Advanced Hybrid Filter is so efficient that the air leaving the smokestack is actually cleaner than the air entering the power plant, with respect to particulate matter,” said Stan Miller, EERC senior research manager and inventor of the technology.

New EERC expansion boasts environmentally friendly features

The EERC will continue to build on its success to commercialize technology as well as further its research. Work is nearly complete on an $8 million expansion and renovation project scheduled to open this fall.

The 47,000-square-foot project includes two three-story buildings that will accommodate 90 additional staff and a one-level structure for meeting rooms. The overall construction project also includes extensive remodeling of existing office facilities, including mechanical systems, new lighting, and window replacement.

Some of the EERC’s own research is incorporated into the new facility’s environmentally friendly design. The building’s concrete is made with fly ash, a byproduct from coal combustion that enhances the quality of concrete in construction, improving its strength and durability and reducing permeability. Another key ingredient is gypsum wallboard made with a combustion byproduct from power plant scrubbers. Geothermal wells, utilizing the earth’s natural thermal energy, will efficiently heat and cool the buildings.

The EERC at a glance

The Energy and Environmental Research Center is a self-supporting research, development, demonstration, and commercialization facility associated with the University of North Dakota. It has developed partnerships with both private industry and government agencies, and lists clients from 50 states and 47 foreign nations.

Annual operating budget: $18.4 million

Total employees: 266, including 20 full-time equivalent positions supported elsewhere on the UND campus.

Contracts: 241 in Fiscal Year 2002; 297 in Fiscal Year 2003

Location: Southeast corner of the UND campus, housing 216,000 square feet of laboratories, technology demonstration facilities, and offices.