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Show BYU receives energy grant Researchers at Brigham Young University's coal combustion com-bustion laboratory may soon be burning pulverized oil shale, tar sands or even garbage in the search for new energy sources. Funded by a $291,000 U.S. Department of Energy contract, BYU scientists will be entering a new area of study-solid study-solid synthetic fuels, according to Dr. L. Douglas Smoot, a chemical engineer and dean of the College of Engineering Sciences and Technology. "This is the first grant received by the BYU combustion laboratory for the study of fossil fuels other than coal," said Dr. Smoot, who is the director of the project. "The work is of particular par-ticular interest to the potential development of the vast solid fossil fuel resources in Utah and in the Intermountain area, including coal, tar sands and oil shale." Dr. Smoot said the grant would also fund the construction of a new laboratory-scale com-bustor com-bustor designed to study how pulverized solid fuels, like solvent refined coal, char (the residue alter coal has been gasified) and organic municipal waste, burn and what pollutants are formed in the process. Three of the possible solid fuels will be selected lor the research, Dr. Smoot said. "The results of this study will lead to an improved understanding of the physical process involved in burning such fuels and will contribute to the design, construction con-struction and operation of electrical generation plants in an efficient and pollution-free manner," the dean said. Also working on the research will be Dr. GeoTfery Germane, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at BYU and principal investigator for the project, as well as Dr. Paul (). Hedman and Dr. Phillip J. Smith, chemical engineers, and Dr. Angus Blackham, a professor of chemistry. The grant brings the total for new research income received by the combustion laboratory during the past 14 months to over $1 million, making it one of the largest research programs |