Childhood Visits to Coal Community Inspired NETL Engineer To Pursue a Career in Energy

When an autumn frost descends on southwestern Pennsylvania, NETL's Thomas Tarka can sometimes detect an aroma in the crisp fall air that can only mean one thing.

"It's typically faint, but it is an unmistakable odor telling me that someone near my house still uses bituminous coal to heat their home or business," said Tarka, who lives in the Carrick section of Pittsburgh.

For Tarka, that sweet, smoky scent that occasionally wafts through his neighborhood has special meaning because it evokes fond memories of boyhood vacations to see family in Cardale, a community near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he received his early education in energy production.

"Those childhood visits, which included cleaning out ashes from my grandmother's coal-burning furnace and hearing about the jobs my family had in the mining industry, were also significant because they influenced the energy-related career path I would follow," said Tarka, director and lead principal investigator of the Minerals to Materials Supply Chain Research Facility, also known as METALLIC.

An NETL-led initiative, METALLIC was launched this year to bring the expertise of nine national laboratories to bear on the nation's critical materials challenges.

"Critical minerals and materials (CMM), including rare earth elements (REEs), are needed to manufacture the computers and electronics we use every day as well as components for clean energy technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines, medical equipment and defense systems," Tarka said.

However, the United States imports nearly all its CMM from foreign sources, creating vulnerabilities in the supply chain. Establishing a secure, sustainable domestic supply of critical minerals from a broad range of sources is crucial to the nation's security and prosperity. "Plus, critical materials are the building blocks of technologies needed to fight climate change and for the transition to a net-zero clean energy future," said Tarka, who has worked at NETL for more than 20 years.

The purpose of METALLIC is to establish a CMM innovation ecosystem to validate and test technologies, connect technology developers to technology users (and vice versa), and identify pathways for CMM production from new feedstocks.

Those feedstocks include using wastes from mining activities. "For instance, acid mine drainage - water from abandoned coal mines and active mining that flows over or through sulfur-bearing materials, forming acidic solutions - is one of the mining-related wastes from which we can extract CMM and REEs. By advancing these technologies, METALLIC can help clean up the environment in mining communities near Cardale and across the nation and drive us forward to meet clean energy goals," Tarka said.

A self-professed "energy geek," Tarka's other areas of expertise are synthetic transportation fuels, novel energy systems and energy markets and policy, to name a few. Prior to joining NETL, Tarka earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware and spent the early part of his career as a software tester and programmer in California.

"I didn't think I was making a real difference, and I knew I could do that by moving back East and working in energy," Tarka said.

Since then, he has served in a number of key capacities at NETL, including assignments as acting senior fellow of the Strategic Systems Analysis & Engineering competency and acting deputy director for Science & Technology Strategic Plans & Programs.

For two years, Tarka also was a congressional fellow for U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and advised the West Virginia lawmaker on energy policy.

Away from work, Tarka enjoys ultra-marathons and marathons. Most recently, on Sept. 7, Tarka completed the Imogene Pass Run, a 17.1-mile trail race in the western San Juan mountains of Colorado, in 3:06:07. The run normally connects the towns of Ouray (elevation 7,810 feet) and Telluride (elevation 8,750 feet) by way of the 13,114-foot Imogene Pass, although this year it was rerouted due to a portion of the road being washed out a few weeks before the race.

"Such events are tough because lightning and other severe weather can move in suddenly. But I enjoy these races for the mental challenges and the opportunity to keep physically fit," Tarka said. "I was disappointed that the race was shortened to just 14.2 miles this year, but that speaks to the extremes of the environment in the San Juans. More than anything, it gives me an excuse to go back next year."

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers solutions for a clean and secure energy future. By leveraging its highly skilled innovators and state-of-the-art research facilities, NETL is advancing carbon management and resource sustainability technologies to enable environmental sustainability for all Americans.

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