For the past five years, USTAR has helped the University of Utah enhance its already strong capacity in biomedical engineering. USTAR has facilitated the recruitment of more than 30 nationally prominent researchers, most of whom will be moving into the state-of-the-art $130 million USTAR molecular biotechnology facility near Central Campus Drive.

In September, you can meet these faculty and their high-powered peers and students. The Bioengineering Department at the University of Utah is showcasing its basic and applied research discoveries at a one-day conference September 10, 2011. The conference is open to industry participation at no cost.

Now in its seventh year, the Utah Biomedical Engineering Conference will provide Utah medical device and other life science companies an opportunity to make contacts with leading experts and future employees. The conference also seeks to promote research and development collaborations between the university and industry.

To be held at the Tower at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, the conference will highlight the work of department faculty and students.

“I expect all of our faculty to attend, and will be available to answer questions about their present and future research projects,” department chair Patrick A. Tresco, PhD, says. “In addition, I expect all of our 130 graduate students to participate in the poster session. There’s no better way for local companies to see what’s happening at the cutting edge of our field and to talk directly to the people engaged in the work.”

In past years, the conference has charged a registration fee. This year, thanks to such sponsors as USTAR, attendance is free for local companies, university professors and their students. In addition, local companies may exhibit at the conference for $1,000, as long as space is available.

For more information, visit www.ubec.bioen.utah.edu or contact Liz Porter at 801-581-8528, liz.porter@utah.edu.

Once or twice a month, we publish a synopsis of important events and news in Utah’s innovation “ecosystem.” The email publication is called e-Connections, and it’s available here.

In this issue, read about Steve Roy’s new appointment at UVU, a new MRI USTAR funded at the U of U, and several events, including the nanotechnology “Innovation Idol” contest slated for nanoUtah 2011. As always, there’s a “USTAR in the news” recap.

If you want to receive e-Connections by email, click on the “Subscribe” tab on the right side of the newmedia.innovationutah.com home page.

 Featured in the July/August 2011 issue of Zions Bank’s Community magazine. Reprinted with permission.

A long-time oilfield technology may help geothermal energy take a larger role in our nation’s energy production, according to University of Utah USTAR researcher John McLennan, associate professor of chemical engineering.

With his peers at the Energy & Geoscience Institute, McLennan is looking at ways to deploy hydraulic fracturing to enhance or stimulate geothermal energy production.

John McLennan

Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping substantial volumes of fluid (usually water) at high pressure down a well into rock layers thousands of feet below the surface. The fluid creates and forces open networks of cracks in the rock layers, much like the spider-web patterns in broken windshields. The fractures allow hydrocarbons to more readily move up the wellhead and into an energy grid.

Hydraulic fracturing has been used in the oil and gas industry since the 1940s. An estimated 90 percent of natural gas wells in the United States use the technique to increase production.

Geothermal energy production may likewise benefit from fracturing, McLennan says. Most geothermal power plants today exploit naturally occurring sources of hot water, such as geologic formations that support hot springs. Developers tap underground reservoirs of hot water for electric generation or direct uses.

The trouble, McLennan says, is that most of these naturally occurring geologic environments are geographically sparse and far from centers of population where electrical use is highest.

“Enhanced hydraulic fracturing may open up other geologic formations to geothermal. If you drill deep enough — possibly 5,000 to 10,000 feet or more — you’re going to find a wide range of rocks all over the country that are 240C or hotter.”

By inducing cracks in target formations, an artificially stimulated reservoir can be produced. Water injected into these cracks in the hot rocks can then be produced and used for electric generation or direct use. Thus, these resources could be tapped over a broad geographic area.

Hydraulic fracturing is not without critics. News stories describe fracturing fluid entering drinking water aquifers, though, McLennan stresses those particular problems have been caused by inadequate well construction, not fracturing itself. Those projects also differ in the composition of the fluid. In contrast, geothermal projects use clean water without resins, other polymers or material called proppant.

“Our research is investigating clean ways to use cold water at lower pressure to create cracks,” McLennan says. “That doesn’t require a lot of horsepower up front, or a lot of infrastructure on the surface, or a lot of complex additives in the fluid. We think we can sustainably increase the geothermal footprint underground while reducing the footprint above ground.”

With researchers such as Joe Moore and Peter Rose at the Energy & Geoscience Institute; and Phil Smith and Milind Deo in chemical engineering, the U of U is a hotbed of knowledge. “The university has a long track record in geothermal energy extraction and in developing sophisticated mathematical models to predict the behavior of rock formations undergoing fracturing,” McLennan says. “Our geologists, mathematicians and computer scientists have created simulations that are in use around the world.”

“USTAR’s investment is helping us transfer knowledge from the oil and gas industry to the geothermal industry at a faster pace,” McLennan adds. “With fracturing technologies, Utah companies will be able to develop environmentally sustainable geothermal production in more places more economically.”

In an August 5 article, Utah Business Magazine says The Leonardo is ”not a musty museum.” Having collaborated with the Salt Lake City science/technology/art center on some exciting events, we couldn’t agree more. Read the article at http://tinyurl.com/3g2bd8x

Look for news on next Leonardo After Hours event soon. Leonardo After Hours is a series of quarterly evening discussions that explore science and technology in society through the lens of local innovation. Each event focuses on a specific topic, and includes scientists, educators, business and political leaders, ethicists, and others who are researching, teaching and probing the issues—as well as new and innovative solutions.

Leonardo After Hours is a collaboration between USTAR and The Leonardo, with generous support from CH2MHill. Other supporters include the Association for Corporate growth, Mountain West Capital Network, Utah Technology Council and the Women Tech Council.