Since its creation in 1951, the EERC has always focused on moving technologies from the research and development stage through demonstration and on to commercialization. Demonstration can often be the most trying component of any new technology and is sometimes referred to as the valley of death. The EERC has significant expertise in moving technologies into, and through, the demonstration phase with great success.

The EERC's success in developing and conducting demonstrations is due to its extensive experience, capabilities, facilities, and industrial partnerships. The EERC understands that demonstration projects require coordination among all stakeholders if they are going to be successful.

Facilities
The EERC has over 54,000 square feet of demonstration facilities. These facilities contain a variety of demonstration venues for a variety of technologies as well as space for construction of new pilot-scale components to fit client needs. Additionally, the EERC has been involved in many projects which are demonstrated off-site but require its technical and field sampling expertise.

Much of the design and creation of equipment and machinery for our demonstration facilities is done on-site in our in-house machine shop. This allows the EERC to demonstrate technologies in a more rapid, cost-effective way.

Demonstration Facility I
Demonstration Facility I is a 6000-square-foot facility containing seven pilot-scale units to demonstrate the combustion of solid and liquid fuels such as coal, biomass (rice hulls, switchgrass, sunflower hulls), sewage sludge, and oil slurries. The units focus on operational issues and environmental emission controls. These units serve as a cost-effective way of testing fuels and system components prior to full-scale testing.

Lorne "Mack" McEwen Demonstration Facility II
The Lorne "Mack" McEwen Demonstration Facility II is a 4000-square-foot high-bay area. This area contains systems including the slagging furnace system/high-temperature air furnace (HITAF), the continuous emission process simulator, and state-of-the art SO₃ removal systems. The small-scale systems allow us to study the fundamentals of combustion, while the larger systems focus on scale-up and practical issues. The HITAF has been used extensively in the demonstration of a variety of emission control systems for a variety of clients.

Process Tower
The process tower is a four-story complex housing two advanced power systems. The transport reactor development unit (TRDU) is an advanced power system that meets the future needs of the U.S. Department of Energy's FutureGen Program, which promotes energy technologies of the future. The transport reactor has been shown to produce high levels of hydrogen, and testing has been conducted on new hydrogen separation membranes. The EERC conducts studies in support of the Wilsonville scale-up facility as well as other industrial clients. The atmospheric circulating fluid-bed reactor has also been used extensively for economical testing of fuels and operational issues.

Process Development Facility (high-pressure fuel processing)
The process development facility houses the EERC-patented 6-ton/day process development unit (PDU) that can turn lower-quality solid fuels into higher-quality slurries. Through a process called hot-water-drying, the PDU removes the moisture inside of solid fuels, seals their pores, and slurries the fuel for ease of use. This system has shown great promise for use with low-rank coals, biomass, and sewage sludge.

Fuel Preparation and Testing
The EERC has extensive capabilities to grind, pulverize, shred, size-classify, and store a variety of solid fuels. The Fuel Preparation and Testing facility can accept up to a semiload of fuel at a time. It can handle fuels such as coal, biomass, and virtually any material that can be handled like coal. In addition to supporting internal EERC activities, this equipment is occasionally utilized to produce fuels for outside clients conducting limited pilot-scale tests.