Sarunac helps fuel international coal conference

	Nenad Sarunac

Nenad Sarunac, the associate director of Lehigh’s Energy Research Center, chaired a technical session, taught tutorials, and presented three papers at the 32nd International Technical Conference on Coal Utilization and Fuel Systems held recently in Clearwater, Florida.
Sarunac, who is also a principal research engineer and scientist with the ERC, chaired a session on “Innovations in Existing Power Plants.” He joined Mark Ness from Great River Energy Co. (GRE) and Richard Weinstein from Falkirk Mining Co. to teach a tutorial on “Coal Beneficiation for Better Performance and Lower Emissions.”
Sarunac also co-taught a tutorial titled “Mercury Emissions” that was organized by TECO Energy of Tampa, Fla.
In addition to these activities, Sarunac took part in technical discussions and in the presentation of three papers that he co-authored with researchers from Italy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and ERC industrial partners.
Two papers—“Field Experience with Mercury Measurement–Part 1: Continuous and Semi-Continuous Monitors” and “Field Experience with Mercury Measurement–Part 2: Sorbent Traps”—were co-authored with Domenico Cipriani from CESI in Italy, John Schakenbach and Ruben Deza from EPA’s Clean Air Market Division, and Jeff Ryan from EPA’s Office of Research and Development.
These papers discussed the accuracy of mercury measurement obtained by various approaches, and compared reference methods developed in the U.S. and European Union.
The third technical paper, co-authored with Charles Bullinger and Mark Ness of GRE, was titled “One Year’s Operating Experience with a Prototype Fluidized Bed Coal Dryer at Coal Creek Generating Station.”
The dryer was designed by experts from the ERC, GRE and the Electric Power Research Institute. The team has received four awards for its innovative engineering design of the dryer. This project is one of eight selected for funding by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and is currently in commercial application at a cost of $100 million.
The International Technical Conference on Coal Utilization and Fuel Systems, informally known as the Clearwater Conference, is a clearinghouse for the power generation industry, especially for scientists, researchers, and engineers involved in coal utilization and the related areas of environmental regulation and energy economics.
The conference draws about 300 experts from the U.S. and abroad. It is organized by DOE, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Coal Technology Association, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory.
--Kurt Pfitzer