SUNRISE awarded $1.95 million grant to study impurity impacts for advanced power systems An interdisciplinary team of SUNRISE researchers from UND and NDSU has been awarded a $1.95 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and an additional $527,000 from the North Dakota EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) program to study the impacts of particulate and trace element impurities on emerging advanced coal power systems. This three-year program, titled “Performance Impacts of Impurities in Clean Coal Systems Equipped with Carbon Capture Technologies,” consists of an interrelated set of experimental and modeling projects focused on improving our understanding of the fundamental chemistry that determines the formation and partitioning of particulate matter and trace elements during oxy-coal combustion and coal gasification. This DOE grant serves as a foundation project to continue the development of SUNRISE’s capabilities into a nationally recognized, highly funded center for research in sustainable energy. The research team comprises Principle Investigator Wayne Seames, SUNRISE director from UND chemical engineering, co-PIs Mark Hoffmann of UND chemistry and Steven Benson of UND chemical engineering, Evguenii Kozliak and David Pierce of UND chemistry, Brian Tande of UND chemical engineering, Uwe Burghaus of North Dakota State University chemistry and Dean Webster of NDSU’s coatings and polymeric materials department. Additional elements of the program include a faculty seed grant program and funding to facilitate collaboration of North Dakota researchers with colleagues at DOE national laboratories. Three SUNRISE outreach programs will also receive support: the SUNRISE summer research experience for undergraduates, the Native American freshman research experience, and the California non-doctoral student outreach through research program. Founded in 2005, SUNRISE is a student-centered, faculty-led research program at UND, North Dakota State University and other North Dakota Universities. The mission of SUNRISE is to conduct research that contributes to solving complex energy-related problems, investigate the development of sustainable energy options and spur economic development and job-creation for North Dakota, increase UND and NDSU research competitiveness in sustainable energy, and finally, produce graduates to develop and promote sustainable energy in North Dakota, the region, and the nation. All this is done within a unified, interdisciplinary program that translates fundamental research into commercial solutions.