Cooperative Agreement Between U.S. Department of Energy and Startech Environmental Corp. for Hydrogen Production Project
Contract Categories:
Business Finance
›
Funding Agreements
Summary
This agreement is between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Startech Environmental Corp. for the Startech Hydrogen Production Project. The DOE provides $496,000 in funding, with Startech contributing $124,000, for a total approved budget of $620,000. The project period runs from October 1, 2004, to September 30, 2005. The agreement outlines terms for cost sharing, payment procedures, reporting, and federal oversight. Attachments specify special terms, intellectual property provisions, budget, and reporting requirements. The agreement is a renewal and continues activities from a previous award.
EX-10.32 15 startechnsexh1032.txt AGREEMENT
Federal Assistance Reporting Instructions (12/04) I. MANAGEMENT REPORTING Progress Report The Progress Report must provide a concise narrative assessment of the status of work and include the following information and any other information identified under Special Instructions on the Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist: 1. The DOE award number and name of the recipient. 2. The project title and name of the project director/principal investigator. 3. Date of report and period covered by the report. 4. A comparison of the actual accomplishments with the goals and objectives established for the period and reasons why the established goals were not met. 5. A discussion of what was accomplished under these goals during this reporting period, including major activities, significant results, major findings or conclusions, key outcomes or other achievements. This section should not contain any proprietary data or other information not subject to public release. If such information is important to reporting progress, do not include the information, but include a note in the report advising the reader to contact the Principal Investigator or the Project Director for further information. 6. Cost Status. Show approved budget by budget period and actual costs incurred. If cost sharing is required break out by DOE share, recipient share, and total costs. 7. Schedule Status. List milestones, anticipated completion dates and actual completion dates. If you submitted a project management plan with your application, you must use this plan to report schedule and budget variance. You may use your own project management system to provide this information. 8. Any changes in approach or aims and reasons for change. Remember significant changes to the objectives and scope require prior approval by the contracting officer. 9. Actual or anticipated problems or delays and actions taken or planned to resolve them. 10. Any absence or changes of key personnel or changes in consortium/teaming arrangement. 11. A description of any product produced or technology transfer activities accomplished during this reporting period, such as: A. Publications (list journal name, volume, issue); conference papers; or other public releases of results. Attach or send copies of public releases to the DOE Project Officer identified in Block 11 of the Notice of Financial Assistance Award. 2 B. Web site or other Internet sites that reflect the results of this project. C. Networks or collaborations fostered. D. Technologies/Techniques. E. Inventions/Patent Applications. F. Other products, such as data or databases, physical collections, audio or video, software or netware, models, educational aid or curricula, instruments or equipment. Special Status Report The recipient must report the following events by e-mail as soon as possible after they occur: 1. Developments that have a significant favorable impact on the project. 2. Problems, delays, or adverse conditions which materially impair the recipient's ability to meet the objectives of the award or which may require DOE to respond to questions relating to such events from the public. For example, the recipient must report any of the following incidents and include the anticipated impact and remedial action to be taken to correct or resolve the problem/condition: a. Any single fatality or injuries requiring hospitalization of five or more individuals. b. Any significant environmental permit violation. c. Any verbal or written Notice of Violation of any Environmental, Safety, and Health statutes or regulations. d. Any incident which causes a significant process or hazard control system failure. e. Any event which is anticipated to cause a significant schedule slippage or cost increase. f. Any damage to Government-owned equipment in excess of $50,000. g. Any other incident that has the potential for high visibility in the media. 3 II. SCIENTIFIC/TECHNICAL REPORTS Final Scientific/Technical Report Content. The final scientific/technical report must include the following information and any other information identified under Special Instructions on the Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist: 1. Identify the DOE award number; name of recipient; project title; name of project director/principal investigator; and consortium/teaming members. 2. Display prominently on the cover of the report any authorized distribution limitation notices, such as patentable material or protected data. Reports delivered without such notices may be deemed to have been furnished with unlimited rights, and the Government assumes no liability for the disclosure, use or reproduction of such reports. 3. Provide an executive summary, which includes a discussion of 1) how the research adds to the understanding of the area investigated; 2) the technical effectiveness and economic feasibility of the methods or techniques investigated or demonstrated; or 3) how the project is otherwise of benefit to the public. The discussion should be a minimum of one paragraph and written in terms understandable by an educated layman. 4. Provide a comparison of the actual accomplishments with the goals and objectives of the project 5. Summarize project activities for the entire period of funding, including original hypotheses, approaches used, problems encountered and departure from planned methodology, and an assessment of their impact on the project results. Include, if applicable, facts, figures, analyses, and assumptions used during the life of the project to support the conclusions. 6. Identify products developed under the award and technology transfer activities, such as: a. Publications (list journal name, volume, issue), conference papers, or other public releases of results. If not provided previously, attach or send copies of any public releases to the DOE Project Officer identified in Block II of the Notice of Financial Assistance Award; b. Web site or other Internet sites that reflect the results of this project; c. Networks or collaborations fostered; d. Technologies/Techniques; e. Inventions/Patent Applications, licensing agreements; and 4 f. Other products, such as data or databases, physical collections, audio or video, software or netware, models, educational aid or curricula, instruments or equipment. 7. For projects involving computer modeling, provide the following information with the final report: a. Model description, key assumptions, version, source and intended use; b. Performance criteria for the model related to the intended use; c. Test results to demonstrate the model performance criteria were met (e.g., code verification/validation, sensitivity analyses, history matching with lab or field data, as appropriate); d. Theory behind the model, expressed in non-mathematical terms; e. Mathematics to be used, including formulas and calculation methods; f. Whether or not the theory and mathematical algorithms were peer reviewed, and, if so, include a summary of theoretical strengths and weaknesses; g. Hardware requirements; and h. Documentation (e.g., users guide, modle code). Electronic Submission. The final scientific/technical report must be submitted electronically via the DOE Energy Link System (E-Link) at http://www.osti.gov/elink-2413. Electronic Format. Reports must be submitted in the ADOBE PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF) and be one integrated PDF file that contains all text, tables, diagrams, photographs, schematic, graphs, and charts. Materials, such as prints, videos, and books, that are essential to the report but cannot be submitted electronically, should be sent to the DOE Award Administrator at the address listed in Block 12 of the Notice of Financial Assistance Award. Submittal Form. The report must be accompanied by a completed electronic version of DOE Form 241.3, "U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Announcement of Scientific and Technical Information (STI)." You can complete, upload, and submit the DOE F.241.3 online via E-Link. You are encouraged not to submit patentable material or protected data in these reports, but if there is such material or data in the report, you must: (1) clearly identify patentable or protected data on each page of the report; (2) identify such material on the cover of the report; and (3) mark the appropriate block in Section K of the DOE F 241.3. Reports must not contain any limited rights data (proprietary data), classified information, information subject to export control classification, or other information not subject to release. Protected data is specific 5 technical data, first produced in the performance of the award that is protected from public release for a period of time by the terms of the award agreement. Conference Papers/Proceedings Content. The recipient must submit a copy of any conference papers/proceedings, with the following information: (1) Name of conference; (2) Location of conference; (3) Date of conference; and (4) Conference sponsor. Electronic Submission. Scientific/technical conference paper/proceedings must be submitted electronically via the DOE Energy Link System (E-Link) at http://www.osti.g_ov/elink-2413. Non-scientific/technical conference papers/proceedings must be sent to the URL listed on the Reporting Checklist. Electronic Format. Conference papers/proceedings must be submitted in the ADOBE PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF) and be one integrated PDF file that contains all text, tables, diagrams, photographs, schematic, graphs, and charts. If the proceedings cannot be submitted electronically, they should be sent to the DOE Award Administrator at the address listed in Block 12 of the Notice of Financial Assistance Award. Submittal Form. Scientific/technical conference papers/proceedings must be accompanied by a completed DOE Form 241.3. The form and instructions are available on E-Link at http://www.osti.gov/elink-2413. This form is not required for non-scientific or non-technical conference papers or proceedings. Software/Manual Content. Unless otherwise specified in the award, the following must be delivered: source code, the executable object code and the minimum support documentation needed by a competent user to understand and use the software and to be able to modify the software in subsequent development efforts. Submission. Software/manual submissions must be sent to the DOE Award Administrator identified in Block 12 of the Notice of Financial Assistance Award. The submission must be sent on a CD-ROM, 3.5 "floppy disk", or zip disk. Submittal Form. Each software deliverable and its manual must be accompanied by a completed DOE Form 241.4 "Announcement of U.S. Department of Energy Computer Software." The form and instructions are available on E-Link at http://www.osti.gov/estsc/doe2414.pdf. III. FINANCIAL REPORTING Recipients must complete the financial reports identified on the Reporting Checklist in accordance with the report instructions. These standard forms are available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/index.html. Fillable forms are available at www.grants.pr.doe.gov. 6 IV. CLOSEOUT REPORTS Final Invention and Patent Report The recipient must provide a DOE Form 2050.11, "PATENT CERTIFICATION." This form is available at http://www.directives.doe.gov/pdfs/forms/2050-11.pdf and www.grants.pr.doe.gov. Property Certification The recipient must provide the Property Certification, including the required inventories of non-exempt property, located at www.grants.pr.doe.gov . 7 DE-FC36-04GO14233, A001 Attachment 5 Statement of Objectives Startech Hydrogen Production Project Project Summary: - ---------------- The purpose of this project is to evaluate viability of hydrogen production from waste materials using an integrated system consisting of a Plasma Converter and a StarCell(TM) multistage ceramic membrane hydrogen separation system. This is a renewal of DOE award DE-FC36-04GO14233. o Implement and test PCS design improvements; focus on improved thermal efficiency and clean synthesis gas production o Implement and test StarCell(TM) System improvements; focus on increased throughput and increased yield o Integrated system testing: o Characterize the performance of the integrated Plasma Converter and StarCell(TM) Systems for hydrogen production and purification from surrogate medical / municipal waste and coal. o Compare integrated hydrogen production performance to baseline data, conventional technologies, and DOE benchmarks. o Run parametric studies to evaluate design improvements made to the PCS and the StarCell(TM) separation system. o Determine the effect of process contaminants on the StarCell(TM) system. o Compare system test results with DOE targets for gasification and membrane separation. Tasks: - ------ Task 1- Management and Support Subtask 1.1 - Development Program Plan A program plan will be developed describing in detail the work required to fulfill the program Scope of work. Program plan information will include tasks to be completed in the scope of work, responsible parties, and a timeline for completion of program tasks. The Program plan will also serve as a tool for communicating the work breakdown structure and resource requirements to those who will work on or be affected by the test program. Subtask 1.2 - Develop Test Plan The Test Plan will describe test specific calibration procedures, methods for determining process parameters, test documentation requirements, sampling techniques and frequency, information required to perform the testing, and data to be taken before, during and after testing. The test plan will provide guidance in the gasification of all feedstocks tested under this program as well as evaluation of the hydrogen separation performance. Subtask 1.3 - Program Management Program management is an ongoing task whose ultimate output is the timely and cost effective completion of the program objectives. Program management is documented through reports that will be submitted at the end of each month of work. Each report will consist of a description of the work performed during that month and should correlate to the program schedule and work breakdown structure laid out in the Program Plan. Startech will notify the customer of deviation from the program plan and provide justification for that deviation via the monthly reports. Program reviews, Project meetings, and other administrative functions or documentation used to communicate program status are all considered to be part of the Program Management subtask. Task 2 - Perform System Modifications System modification encompasses changes to the Plasma Converter, Gas Handling Equipment, StarCell Hydrogen purification system, and instrumentation to facilitate hydrogen production and process evaluation. The intent of system modification is to optimize the overall system configuration for the efficient and reliable production of hydrogen product. StarCell modifications are expected to encompass additional membrane capacity and incorporation of membrane improvements. PCS modifications are expected to encompass novel Sulfur removal techniques, thermal system integration, and process analysis instrumentation improvements. Specific modifications will be described further in the Program Plan. Task 3 - Perform Testing Testing of the integrated Hydrogen production system encompasses all aspects of system characterization both on the feedstock gasification side of the process and on the hydrogen separation side of the process. Testing, data collection, and process analysis will be performed in accordance with the Test Plan completed in Subtask 1.2. Testing resources have been allocated to support 3 feedstocks tested in triplicate constituting a total of 9 test runs. Frequency of various sampling during each test run will be defined by the Test Plan. Data will be collected in several forms for each test run including online data logging, manual data logging, grab sample internal analysis, and independent laboratory sample analysis. The feedstocks proposed for testing are surrogate wastes composed to represent a medical / municipal waste feedstock, and coal as a basis for comparison with other gasification technologies. The exact feedstock composition is subject to change based on guidance from DOE targeting feedstocks that may better support a hydrogen economy. The deliverables for Task 3 will be the submittal of a written Test Report that will include a description of each test performed as well as data and analysis of each test run performed. Process feasibility will be determined by comparing performance and economic metrics of the Plasma Gasification System and the StarCell Hydrogen Purification system with DOE Targets and Barriers.