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WVU Tech receives $17,000 grant from PPG Foundation for research in clean coal technology

MONTGOMERY, W.V. – The West Virginia University Institute of Technology has received $17,000 in a grant from PPG Industries Foundation for research on clean coal technology.

The PPG award is another grant in the on-going campaign to raise $1.7 million for the construction of a new Biochemistry Teaching and Research Laboratory. These grants will continue the institution’s research on utilizing coal as a cleaner energy resource.

“This grant will provide vital instrumentation needed in our lab as WVU Tech students continue their ground breaking research,” said Richard Schoening, chair of the WVU Tech’s chemistry department.

Schoening added, “We’ve already been awarded patents on our process for removing mercury from the by-products of coal production, and this award will continue the development of this technology and research in renewable resources.

It will also benefit students in WVU Tech’s new renewable energy research efforts. Students will make a variety of bio-diesel fuels and test their composition in order to yield greater amounts of energy from renewable resources.

The grant was facilitated by and made to Tech Foundation Inc., a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to raise, manage and disburse funds on behalf of WVU Tech.

Pittsburgh-based PPG is a global supplier of paints, coatings, chemicals, optical products, specialty materials, glass and fiber glass. The company has more than 150 manufacturing facilities and equity affiliates and operates in more than 60 countries.

This is the second grant from PPG to forward these research efforts. PPG previously awarded WVU Tech’s chemistry department $25,000.