Oak Ridge Today

‘Fracking,’ the environment to be discussed Monday

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Joanna McFarlane

Joanna McFarlane

A manager in the Fossil Energy Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will discuss the environment and hydraulic fracturing, often referred to as “fracking,” during a Monday meeting.

Joanna McFarlane, who has a doctorate, is a manager for the RPSEA (Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America) and Environmentally Friendly Drilling in the Fossil Energy Program at ORNL.

She will give a presentation on “Hydraulic Fracturing and the Environment” during a meeting at 11:30 a.m. Monday, January 26. It’s a luncheon meeting of the AAUW Oak Ridge Branch. The group will meet in the Activities Building of First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Lafayette Drive. [Read more…]

Vertimass licenses ORNL biofuel-to-hydrocarbon conversion technology

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Vertimass LLC and ORNL Ethanol Fuel

Vertimass LLC has licensed an ORNL technology that converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels. ORNL inventors (from left) Chaitanya Narula, Brian Davison, and Martin Keller display the technology with Vertimass chairman William Shopoff.

Vertimass LLC, a California-based start-up company, has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology that directly converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels.

The ORNL technology offers a new pathway to biomass-derived renewable fuels that can lower greenhouse gas emissions and decrease U.S. reliance on foreign sources of oil.

“Vertimass is very pleased to be partnering with ORNL to commercialize this revolutionary technology that can broaden the market for alternative fuels, ” said Vertimass chairman William Shopoff. “We have assembled a team of industry and technology leaders, including Dr. Charles Wyman, our president and CEO, who will take this novel catalyst from the lab to the marketplace. We see this technology as a significant step in moving the United States toward energy independence.”

The technology developed by ORNL’s Chaitanya Narula, Brian Davison and Associate Laboratory Director Martin Keller uses an inexpensive zeolite catalyst to transform ethanol into hydrocarbon blend-stock. The resulting liquid can be blended at various concentrations into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels without negatively affecting engine performance. After mixing with petroleum-derived fuels, the blend-stock does not require modifications to the existing distribution infrastructure. [Read more…]

Fire starts with cooking oil, ends with baking flour

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A fire that started in a pan of hot oil in a West Outer Drive home Thursday and spread to an artificial plant on top of kitchen cabinets ended when a neighbor dumped baking flour on the plant, extinguishing the flames, a fire report said.

A West Outer Drive man told firefighters he had been heating oil to cook frozen chicken nuggets earlier in the day and left the oil unattended, an Oak Ridge Fire Department report said. When the man returned to the stove, the oil was on fire.

The man picked up the pot and headed for the front door but decided the fire in the pan was too large, the report said. So, he placed the pan in the sink and turned on the water.

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