University of Utah researchers have secured a $300,000 federal grant to develop sensors that will improve the efficiency of coal-fired electrical plants.

Under the Department of Energy’s 30-year-old energy-research program, the U. was among eight universities that won grants to investigate ways to better harness the heat stored in coal, the department announced Tuesday.

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The U.’s contribution will be to develop measurement methods to improve the management of refractory materials, which maintain their strength at high temperatures and are used to line furnaces. When these materials break down, plants can hemorrhage heat, so finding ways to preserve them can advance a plant’s efficiency and prolong its life.

Brian Maffly