WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The projects focus on reducing the energy and efficiency penalties associated with applying currently available carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to existing and new power plants.  Two Colorado companies are participating in the program: ION Engineering in Boulder and Littleton-based ADA-ES, Inc.

By David A. Hill

The Obama Administration has made a goal of developing cost-effective deployment of CCS technologies within 10 years, with an objective of bringing 5 to 10 commercial demonstration projects online by 2016.

“Charting a path toward clean coal is essential to achieving our goals of providing clean energy, creating American jobs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will also help position the United States as a leader in the global clean energy race,” said Secretary Steven Chu.

Carbon dioxide power plant capture systems currently require large amounts of energy for their operation, resulting in decreased efficiency and reduced net power output when compared to plants without CCS technology.  The goal of this research is to reduce the energy “penalty” with carbon capture and sequestration technologies, thereby reducing costs and helping to move the technology closer to widespread use.

Post-combustion CO2 capture technology offers great near-term potential for reducing power sector CO2 emissions because it can be retrofited to existing plants. Today’s selections will focus on bench-scale and slipstream-scale development (0.5 to 5 MWe) and testing of advanced post-combustion CO2 capture technologies that include membranes, solvents, and solid sorbents. 

In a 15-month project, ION Engineering and partners will fabricate, install, and operate a bench-scale carbon capture unit to process flue gas at an operating power plant using amine-based solvents, which are highly effective for CO2 capture.  ION’s innovative approach to solvent formulation employs an ionic liquid instead of water as the physical solvent, greatly reducing the energy required to regenerate the amines and significantly lowering process water usage. In addition to a 60 percent reduction in energy requirement, ionic liquid-amine solvent mixtures offer higher CO2 capacities, reduced corrosion, reduced solvent losses, and other benefits when compared to traditional aqueous amine technologies.(DOE share: $2,999,614)

ADA-ES and partners will refine the conceptual design of a commercial solid sorbent-based, post-combustion CO2 capture technology through slipstream pilot testing and process modeling.  A pilot unit (1 MW) will be designed and constructed for operation at one of the cost-share participant’s power plant sites to demonstrate solid sorbent-based CO2 capture on actual flue gas for at least two continuous months.  The pilot tests and process modeling during the 39-month project will provide the information necessary to complete a techno-economic analysis of the technology.  (DOE share: $11,133,706)

Other projects and companies participating in the DOE program include:

American Air Liquide, Inc.(Newark, DE)— This two-year project will develop a cost-effective system for CO2 capture based on the performance achieved by the sub-ambient temperature operation of the Air Liquide hollow fiber membrane.  

Gas Technology Institute(Des Plaines, IL)— Partnering with PoroGen Corporation and Aker Process Systems, Gas Technology Institute proposes a three-year effort to develop cost-effective hybrid separation technology for CO2 capture from flue gases based on a combination of absorption and hollow fiber membrane technologies.  

3H Company, LLC (Lexington, KY)— 3H Company and partners will confirm experimentally and analytically the feasibility of 3H Company patented “Self-Concentrating Absorbent CO2 Capture Process.”  The process is based on amines in a non-aqueous solvent, which upon reaction with CO2, will separate into two distinct phases: a CO2-rich liquid phase and a dilute lean phase. 
 
Akermin, Inc.(St. Louis, MO)— Akermin proposes to demonstrate the ability to capture up to 90 percent of CO2 from a simulated flue gas using a solvent with significantly lower regeneration energy at rates comparable to those of conventional monoethanolamine. 
 
University of Illinois(Champaign, IL)— Collaborators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Parsons Corporation will investigate the use of a carbonate salt (potassium or sodium carbonate) as a solvent for absorption-based, post-combustion CO2 capture. 

URS Group(Austin, TX)— URS Group, Inc. and partners will investigate the use of concentrated piperazine (PZ) as a solvent for absorbing CO2 from coal-fired power plant flue gas. 

Membrane Technology and Research, Inc.(Joseph City, AZ) )— Membrane Technology and Research (MTR) and partners will construct a 1 MW membrane skid capable of 90 percent CO2 capture from a slipstream flow of 20 tons-of-CO2/day in coal-fired flue gas during a six-month field test at the Arizona Public Service Cholla Power Plant. 

Siemens Energy, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA)— Siemens Energy will design, install, and operate a pilot plant for treating a slipstream (1 MW equivalent) at the TECO Energy Big Bend Station to demonstrate POSTCAP technology for post-combustion CO2 gas capture.