CASPER, Wyo — Carbon technology firm Ramaco Carbon, based in Sheridan, Wy, today announced it has entered into a partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the nation’s largest U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) science and energy laboratory, to explore innovations for the conversion of coal to high-value advanced carbon products and materials.
The new projects aim to use coal as “a manufacturing feedstock for carbon fibers, building products and composites, as well as electrodes for energy storage devices and new materials for additive manufacturing, including large-scale 3D printing,” according to the release.
Ramaco Carbon and ORNL and to work together under a five-year umbrella cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA). The research will be funded by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Ramaco Carbon, the release said.
From the release:
The agreement brings together ORNL’s chemical and materials science and engineering, computational science and advanced manufacturing expertise with Ramaco Carbon’s coalbased research, manufacturing and 3D printing facilities being developed near Sheridan, Wyoming.
“We are deeply honored to be partnered with the DOE’s leading innovator in advanced carbon materials and additive manufacturing,” said Ramaco Carbon Chairman and CEO Randall Atkins. “We look forward to working alongside them to develop cutting-edge research into how we can utilize our nation’s most abundant resource — coal — to manufacture and commercialize high value advanced products and new carbon materials.”
“We hope that by working with ORNL and the other national labs, we can create novel ways to use coal to both stimulate the economy and help ensure our national security,” Atkins said.
