DOE TO INVEST $84 MILLION IN CCS PROJECTS

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
11/08/13

The Department of Energy said it is investing nearly $84 million in carbon capture and storage projects across the U.S. this week. The agency said it is making the new project investments as part of efforts to drive down the costs of CCS for new and existing coal-fired plants. The bulk of the projects are combustion-based power plants, where research will focus on making capture of emissions more efficient. DOE said it will provide a total of approximately $72 million for 15 such projects. In addition, three gasification-based electric power plants will receive a total of approximately $12 million for research into making pre-combustion more efficient and cost-effective.

Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz announced the investments on the sidelines of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum Ministerial in Washington this week. He said that all of the new investment projects are at early stages, but DOE is looking to further explore the technologies in hopes of making carbon capture and storage less costly. “These are the kinds of technologies that hopefully will have some major breakthroughs in the next wave of commercial projects,” he told reporters at a press conference, in which he stressed the importance of CCS as part of an all-of-an-above strategy for reducing carbon emissions.

The DOE is providing:

• $10.5 million for an SRI International project in Menlo Park, Calif., that will “test a CO2 sorbent capture process and conduct pilot-scale testing of the sorbent under realistic conditions to validate affordability and opportunities for CO2 use in commercial applications such as enhanced oil recovery or chemical operations.”
• $1.7 million for an SRI International project in Menlo Park, Calif., that will “develop and test a low-cost, solvent-based technology to extract CO2 from existing or new pulverized coal power plants by combining the benefits of two different solvents.”
• $3 million for a Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., project in Newark, Calif., that will “develop and evaluate a hybrid membrane-absorption CO2 capture system that could lower the energy required for regeneration in CO2 capture processes.”
• $15 million for an ION Engineering project in Boulder, Colo., that will “test an advanced CO2 capture solvent under realistic slipstream conditions during continuous long-term operation to further the goal of smaller, more efficient CO2 capture processes.”
• $1 million for an ADA-ES, Inc., project in Highlands Ranch, Colo., that will “advance carbon capture technologies with solid sorbents by reducing the energy penalty and overall cost for CO2 capture by recovering heat generated by the sorbent during the capture process.”
• $5 million for a TDA Research, Inc., project in Wheat Ridge, Colo., that will “design, build, operate, and evaluate a pilot-scale unit for slipstream testing using real flue gas to verify the technical and economic feasibility of this technology, collecting the data necessary for further scale up and economic analysis.”
• $4 million for an American Air Liquide, Inc., project in Newark, Del., that will “validate a CO2 capture process that combines cold-temperature membrane operation with partial CO2 liquefaction.”
• $10 million for a Gas Technology Institute project in Des Plaines, Ill., that will “conduct a pilot-scale test of a nanoporous, super-hydrophobic membrane combined with a solvent to provide a cost-effective solution for CO2 capture from coal-fired flue gas.”
• $3 million for a University of Kentucky Research Foundation project in Lexington, Ky., that will “test an advanced solvent and membrane to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of post-combustion CO2 capture.”
• $3 million for an Aspen Aerogels, Inc., project in Northborough, Mass., that will “develop, test, and optimize novel aerogel sorbents to make carbon capture more effective by reducing energy penalties and costs through increased thermal efficiency.”
• $3 million for an Akermin, Inc., project in St. Louis, Mo., that will “reduce the energy requirements and cost of capturing CO2 using solvents from coal-based power systems will be tested at the bench scale.”
• $3 million for an Alliant Techsystems Operations, LLC, project in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., that will “further develop a new method for CO2 capture that utilizes a unique device derived from aerospace applications,” using “bench-scale testing conducted with simulated flue gas.”
• $4.5 million for a GE Global Research project in Niskayuna, N.Y., that will “design, construct, and operate a pilot-scale unit to determine key scale-up parameters of a low-cost CO2 capture process toward practical development at commercial scale,” using “a novel silicone solvent.”
• $2.4 million for a GE Global Research project in Niskayuna, N.Y., that will “design and optimize a new process for a novel silicone CO2 capture solvent, leading to commercialization of post-combustion capture of CO2 from coal-fired power plants.”
• $2.4 million for a Research Triangle Institute project in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that will “conduct bench-scale testing using simulated coal-derived flue gas to address and overcome specific challenges of the non-aqueous solvent CO2 capture process and demonstrate its feasibility and very low energy use.”
• $2.3 million for an SRI International project in Menlo Park, Calif., that “aims to validate a technically and economically viable CO2 capture system based on a high-temperature polymer membrane separation system, and to optimize integration of that system into an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant.”
• $8 million for a TDA Research, Inc., project in Wheat Ridge, Colo., that will “develop a new sorbent-based pre-combustion carbon capture technology for IGCC power plants that will significantly improve the plant’s efficiency and economic production of power from coals.”
• $2 million for a Media and Process Technology, Inc., project in Pittsburgh, Pa., that will “focus on an innovative process to capture CO2 from coal-based IGCC power plants. Through this process, a high degree of hydrogen (and consequently CO2) recovery can be achieved.”