UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 35, Page 3
June 24, 1993
2 chemical engineers receive $200,000 coal research grant

     Michael Klein, professor and chairperson, and William H. Calkins,
adjunct professor, in of the Department of Chemical Engineering, have
received a grant of $200,000 from the University Coal Research (UCR)
Program of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Pittsburgh Energy Technology
Center.
     Their project is one of 26 projects related to studies of coal and
coal-related topics that will be funded at 25 universities in 20 states by
UCR, now in its 14th year.
      The winning projects were selected from 227 proposals, following a
technical review by 64 academic, industrial and government coal experts.
     The University of Delaware project is entitled "Short Contact Time
Direct Coal Liquefaction Using a Novel Batch Reactor." Klein, Calkins and
pre-doctoral student He Huang have been conducting research on coal for
approximately seven years.
     "Coal is complicated to study, but the reactor we are using gives us
well-defined information. The reactor changes coal into a liquid form, a
kind of synthetic petroleum, which can be upgraded to use as a fuel or to
make other petroleum products. Through a better understanding of coal and
its properties, we are working on improving the process," Klein said.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure