Advanced Air Separation Unit (ASU) for Low-Cost H2 Production Via Modular Gasification

 
 

Contract Number : DE-FE0032328

Project Description

The goal for this project is to develop a modular, novel, sorbent-based, advanced air separation unit (ASU) for oxygen production to support low-cost hydrogen production from the gasification of biomass and/or wastes. You can find more info here.

CBP Summary

In this project, our CBP goal is to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) at TDA and in the workforce. As part of this program, we will employ and mentor college and high school interns, hold seminars at local schools, support early-career underrepresented engineers and scientists and institute DEIA training for project members.

Our Partners

  • University of Alberta (UOA)

    Dr. Arvind Rajendran, of the University Alberta, is a well-known expert in pressure swing adsorption (PSA) cycle optimization. TDA will work with him to develop and demonstrate the new two-stage high purity oxygen generation process.

Milestones

SMART Goal # Brief Description Metric Success
1 High School Seminar # of attendees At least 10 students attend each seminar
2 High School Intern # of underrepresented candidates in applicant pool Increase # of underrepresented candidates in applicant pool compared to previous intern pools
3 College Seminars # of Attendees At least 10 students attend each seminar
4 College Intern # of underrepresented candidates in applicant pool Increase # of underrepresented candidates in applicant pool compared to previous intern pools
5 Society Meeting # of meetings attended At least 1 meeting attended
6 DEIA Training at TDA # of employees trained At least 5 employees trained
7 Institute DEIA Tracking & Reporting % of staff that is underrepresented and budget >5% of project funds spent on DEIA

See each goal bellow for more specific description, as well as the current progress of the goal.

Goal Description

A project member presented a seminar at a local high school.

Current Progress

  • Arvada West High School Seminar

    We selected Arvada West High School in nearby Arvada which is located in a disadvantaged community. The community is disadvantaged due to low income, traffic proximity and volume, proximity to a superfund site, wastewater discharge and lack of high school education.

    We contacted 2 STEM teachers at Arvada West by email and began corresponding with Serrano Elsa, the STEM teacher at Arvada West. We initially planned that she would bring 100 students to visit TDA in early April but due to scheduling difficulties we have delayed these seminars to September.

Goal Description

Increase the diversity of the high school intern applicant pool.

Goal Description

A project member organized at least one seminar to share the results of the project, to students at a college or university.

Goal Description

Increase the diversity of the intern applicant pool.

Current Progress

  • Job Postings

    We listed job postings for several interns:

    1. Summer Engineering Intern (college)
    2. Summer CAD Intern (college)

    To increase the diversity of the applicant pool, we posted the Summer Engineering Intern on the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) website found here in addition to our standard websites where we post our job openings..

Goal Description

Results of this project and its DEIA efforts were shared at a meeting of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), or the National Society of Black Engineers annual convention.

Goal Description

Project members engaged in a DEIA training seminar sponsored by a nearby DEIA organization.

Goal Description

TDA tracked numbers of underrepresented staff members (as a percentage of staff) and funds spent on DEIA
training and activities.