Bowling Green, Ky. - Gov. Ernie Fletcher and representatives of Kentucky’s congressional delegation, federal agencies and utility companies are scheduled to attend Thursday’s grand opening of new facilities for Western Kentucky University’s Institute for Combustion Science and Environmental Technology.

The ceremony will begin at 11:30 a.m. at ICSET’s location in the Center for Research and Development, 2413 Nashville Road in Bowling Green. ISCET includes the Thermal Analysis Laboratory, Combustion Laboratory, and Mercury Emissions and Control Laboratory.

Dr. Wei-Ping Pan, ICSET director, and his team of researchers are working on numerous projects that would reduce mercury emissions at coal-fired power plants, provide alternatives to oil and gas, make coal combustion more efficient and more environmentally friendly, reduce energy costs and use animal waste as a fuel source.

“The projects under way at ICSET have huge implications for Kentucky and our economy,” said Dr. Blaine Ferrell, dean of WKU’s Ogden College of Science and Engineering.

During the grand opening, ICSET will offer tours of its state-of-the-art research facility including a new coal combuster. WKU was awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to establish an Environmental Control Technology Laboratory.

The grant to build the ECTL and a circulating fluidized bed combustion system was made through the Combustion Technology University Alliance, a program at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh. About 20 universities and 15 companies make up CTUA. Sen. Mitch McConnell was instrumental in obtaining congressional funding to establish CTUA, an applied research program to help coal-fired power plants deal with current problems of operation and help develop strategies to meet environmental requirements.

ICSET also is hosting a workshop Wednesday and Thursday to discuss mercury emission and control technologies for coal-fired power plants. More than 50 power plant engineers are expected to attend. WKU is one of five laboratories in North America capable of conducting Continuous Emission Monitoring and the Ontario-Hydro Method for mercury emissions in power plants. In the past three years, ICSET has helped more than 86 coal-fired power units to establish their mercury baseline levels.

For information about the ICSET events, contact Dr. Wei-Ping Pan at (270) 745-2220 or visit the ICSET website at http://www.wku.edu/ICSET/home.htm

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact ICSET at (270) 745-2220.

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