Nov. 5, 2024
The UC Irvine SMART Industrial Training and Assessment Center has been busy this year. Here are a few noteworthy updates:
The SMART ITAC inaugural training session for the Kern Community College District was held October 11, 2024.
Kern Community College District ITAC Training
The Department of Energy ITAC program is expanding! The Kern Community College District was awarded a DOE grant for establishing a new ITAC in Central California. This project will contribute to America’s manufacturing and clean energy competitiveness in a high-unemployment, highly agricultural, oil-and-gas-transitioning, and largely underserved part of California. The UC Irvine SMART ITAC has partnered with KCCD to help start their new ITAC and train the staff and students to support the mission of the ITAC program.
The faculty and staff at the Irvine SMART ITAC kicked off the inaugural training cohort in October. The zoom-based training programs review ITAC concepts. The training culminates in a final in-person hands-on training session hosted at UCI. This interactive training session will include equipment training, a mock assessment and a tour of the UCI Central Plant.
ITAC Student Research Award – Hydrogen Blending
In 2022, the UC Irvine SMART ITAC was awarded a DOE ITAC Student Research Award for their project on hydrogen blending. This project included a MATLAB model that uses site-specific parameters to determine the best hydrogen blend, along with the resulting CO2 reduction and financial feasibility study.
The students created a poster highlighting the project and results, and in early 2024 the lead students presented their project to the national IAC program during a webinar. “Mathematical Modeling for Hydrogen Blending in Natural Gas Pipelines Moving Towards Industrial Decarbonization” was presented by Daniela Ruiz, the project’s student lead, and Jiadong Zhao, the project’s chief safety officer. Ruiz is a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering and Zhao is working on a master’s degree in electrical engineering.
The student-led team also published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Their paper is titled “Mathematical modeling for hydrogen blending in natural gas pipelines moving towards industrial decarbonization: Economic feasibility and CO2 reduction analysis”.
2024 CALIT2 Research Fellowship Program
Pictured above from left to right: Khine Myint, Jae Hee Lee, Gordon Ko, Chloe Lee, Ethan Vang, Ryan Maguire, along with Chelsea Choudhary, the program manager. Not pictured: Michael Jordan Berrios-Lopez and Brittany Nguyen.
Eight UC Irvine students were recognized for completing the 2024 CALIT2 Research Fellowship program during a final presentation session in October. The students are a part of the UCI SMART ITAC and spent the summer learning about energy efficiency techniques through specialized training. Each student selected a research topic to explore during the fellowship, and they presented their topics at the final event.
