Innovation & Infrastructure

After stumbling a bit in August, SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture and storage project in Saskatchewan, Canada, operated throughout the month of September, the company announced late last week. The plant was offline for almost half of August due to a minor electrical failure and later for planned maintenance. “In September, the process […]

The Department of Energy last week issued two grants worth nearly $3 million for further research into deploying robots in hazardous nuclear cleanup operations. The grants to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the University of Massachusetts Lowell were provided under a program solicitation for the National Science Foundation’s National Robotics Initiative, which aims to […]

With three large-scale projects months from operation in the U.S. and a recent reprioritization in the Department of Energy’s coal office, carbon capture utilization and storage is about to have its moment, David Mohler, deputy assistant secretary for clean coal and carbon management within the DOE Office of Fossil Energy, said Thursday. “I think we’re […]

The government of Norway will provide 360 million Norwegian kroner ($44.7 million) for the development of concept studies for a full-scale carbon capture and storage project in the nation. “CCS is one of the Government’s five prioritized areas for enhanced national climate action. In order to reach the Government’s ambition to realize a full-scale demonstration […]

The infrastructure decisions nations make today will set the stage for development for years into the future, which is why it is important to make sustainable, climate-friendly decisions now, according to a report Thursday by The New Climate Economy. “The challenge is urgent: the investment choices we make even over the next 2-3 years will […]

By “carbonizing” wheat flour, researchers at Purdue University have developed a porous substance that can capture carbon dioxide from flue gas, the Indiana institution announced Wednesday. Working with researchers at Korea University in Seoul, the scientists used potassium hydroxide to generate numerous small pores in wheat floor at a high temperature. Carbon dioxide can then […]

The state of Wyoming is now accepting applications for teams interested in conducting research at the new Integrated Test Center for carbon utilization technologies, Gov. Matt Mead (R) announced Wednesday. “Every day, scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs around the world are making advancements in carbon utilization and storage technologies,” Mead said in a press release. “There […]

Microorganisms can react quickly to changes in their environment, making them useful tools in identifying potential leaks from underground carbon storage sites, according to a report published Monday in the journal Trends in Biotechnology. “The ubiquitous presence of microorganisms in all environments on Earth, combined with their ability to respond rapidly to environmental changes and […]

The Kemper County Energy Facility will not reach full operation by the end of October, as project owner Mississippi Power had anticipated in the last few months. The carbon capture and storage project is now expected to reach that milestone by the end of November, a delay that will cost the company $33.2 million, according […]

The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) engineering program at the Y-12 National Security Complex is sound and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is adequately operating the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC), the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) said in separate assessments released Tuesday. Bechtel National is building the UPF at the Y-12 […]

Three carbon capture and storage projects in the United States are on schedule to come online in the next few months, Andrew Hlasko, senior project manager at the U.S. Department of Energy, said Thursday during a presentation at a Washington, D.C., technology showcase hosted by the Coal Utilization Research Center. The three projects – the […]

The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) engineering program at the Y-12 National Security Complex is sound and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is adequately operating the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC), the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) said in separate assessments released Tuesday. The UPF is being built at the Y-12 National […]

Carbon capture technology developed by the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory has been adopted for use in building HVAC systems. The carbon removal sorbent is used to capture the carbon that accumulates in buildings so that the HVAC system doesn’t need to pull fresh air from outside as often, making the systems more […]

The carbon intensity of the world’s energy production systems is getting lower, but not low enough, the International Energy Agency said Friday. In order to reach the climate goal of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the average carbon intensity of the world’s energy systems needs to be 100 kilograms of CO2 […]

SHINE Medical Technologies announced Wednesday that its headquarters will later this year be relocated from Monona, Wis., to Janesville, Wis., where the company is preparing to build a medical radioisotope production facility. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February approved SHINE’s construction permit to build the its $100 million plant. The company is vying to become the first […]

Federation University Australia said Tuesday it is the home of a new carbon capture and storage laboratory. The new laboratory, which will be a member of the Australian CCS Research Laboratories Network, is funded by a $2.3 million (AUD) partnership between the Australian government’s Education Infrastructure Fund and CO2CRC Limited. “The new laboratory will conduct […]

Focusing only on the innovation or the deployment of clean energy technology will not be enough to meet the world’s climate goals, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Monday at a Climate Week presentation in New York. “The way we look at it is deployment and innovation are actually completely synergistic and complementary,” he […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it would provide more than $10 million in funding to eight projects for advanced combustion systems research. The projects, funded by the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, encompass research in oxy-combustion and chemical looping–based power systems. “By developing efficient and economically viable combustion systems that generate […]

The Kemper County Energy Facility carbon capture and storage project is one step closer to full operation following the successful production of syngas from its second gasifier, project owner Mississippi Power said Friday. “This is another exciting step toward commercial operation of Kemper,” Mississippi Power Chairman, President, and CEO Anthony Wilson said in a press […]

Congress’ rush to pass a spending bill to avert a government shutdown raises questions about National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) funding needs – particularly those for infrastructure and operations – that may or may not be met should the agency’s spending levels be frozen at the currently enacted $12.5 billion, in light of its fiscal […]

Quebec-based carbon capture technology developer CO2 Solutions said Wednesday it began pilot-scale testing of its Rotating Packed Bed (RPB) carbon capture system at North Dakota’a Energy and Environmental Research Center Monday. “The objective of these tests is to confirm earlier bench-scale test findings that indicated the potential of replacing significantly larger (20 to 50 times) […]

In its first year of operation, Shell Canada’s Quest CCS project exceeded its goal of capturing and storing 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, Shell announced Wednesday. “The Government of Canada congratulates Shell and all partners involved in this project. This milestone further demonstrates that Canada continues to be a leader in the area […]

Researchers at Rice University in Texas have improved upon a material developed by their lab that has the potential to remove carbon from natural gas at wellheads. The material, carbon capturing asphalt, has been under development at the lab over the last couple years. “The new, improved asphalt sorbent is made in two steps from […]

Scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology on Thursday announced the development of a new technology that will make the mass production of carbon dioxide absorbents easier. The new technology is intended to solve a continuing issue for amine absorbents used in post-combustion carbon capture: the substance is not efficient in the […]

It was a good month for Southern Company’s Kemper Country Energy Facility carbon capture and storage project. After years of cost estimate increases and delays, Southern Co. reported neither in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “The July 2016 [Public Service Commission] report was a good report for our customers and our […]

Scheduled maintenance and a surprise electrical failure resulted in a rough August for SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture and storage project in Saskatchewan, Canada. BD3 was offline for several days early in the month due to a minor electrical failure. “This is not unusual for power units, but it did impact monthly capture […]

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is continuing testing of smartphone-sized nuclear material detectors with an eye toward deployment in 2018. The agency’s 2-year-old SIGMA program aims to develop more effective, less expensive devices for detecting even minute amounts of nuclear and radiological materials that might be used in a terrorist attack against the […]

Researchers from the Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico have teamed up to develop a new liquid membrane that uses enzymes to capture carbon dioxide 100 times faster than traditional polymer-based CO2 capture membranes. The new substance, a “memzyme,” combines a silica-based membrane support and carbonic anhydrase to create a membrane 10 […]

U.S. Department of Energy officials on Wednesday briefed Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (R) on potential carbon capture utilization and storage options for unit 3 of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant. “We will leave no stone unturned as we continue to find ways to support the workers and community of Colstrip,” Bullock said in a press release. […]

Stanford University said Wednesday that its research into carbon capture and storage’s place in California’s energy mix will get a boost under a seed grant awarded by the institution’s Precourt Institute for Energy. The Precourt Institute awarded nine seed grants including one for a case study into California’s energy mix and how to balance energy […]