Department of Energy Announces Up to $408 million for New Technologies to Advance Carbon Capture and Storage

The U.S. Department of Energy announced yesterday that two projects have been selected for up to $408 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The two projects -- an existing power plant in North Dakota and a new facility in California -- "will incorporate advanced technologies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions".

The two projects are part of the third round of the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). According to the Department of Energy "the CCPI is a cost-shared collaboration between the federal government and private industry to increase investment in low-emission coal technology by demonstrating advanced coal-based, power generation technologies. The goal of CCPI is to accelerate the readiness of advanced coal technologies for commercial deployment, ensuring that the United States has clean, reliable, and affordable electricity and power."

Both of the selected projects will employ different technological concepts to achieve a goal of at least 90 percent CO2 capture efficiency. Descriptions of the selected proposals include:

Basin Electric Power Cooperative --- $100 million
Beulah, N.D.

    * Post Combustion CO2 Capture Project—Basin Electric Power Cooperative will partner with Powerspan and Burns & McDonnell to demonstrate the removal of CO2 from the flue gas of a lignite-based boiler by adding CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) to Basin Electric’s existing Antelope Valley Station, located near Beulah, N.D. Powerspan’s ECO2® ammonia-based technology will be used to capture CO2 on a 120-megawatt electric-equivalent gas stream from the 450 megawatt Antelope Valley Station Unit 1. The net result will be 90 percent removal of CO2 from the treated flue gas, yielding 3,000 short tons per day (1,000,000 tons per year) of pipeline-quality CO2. The ammonia based SO2 scrubbing system will also produce a liquid stream of ammonium sulfate that will be processed into a fertilizer by-product.

Hydrogen Energy International LLC --- $308 million
Kern County, California

    * Hydrogen Energy California Project: Commercial Demonstration of Advanced IGCC with Full Carbon Capture—Hydrogen Energy International LLC, a joint venture owned by BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto, will design, construct, and operate an integrated gasification combined cycle power plant that will take blends of coal and petroleum coke, combined with non-potable water, and convert them into hydrogen and CO2. The CO2 will be separated from the hydrogen using the methanol-based Rectisol process. The hydrogen gas will be used to fuel a power station, and the CO2 will be transported by pipeline to nearby oil reservoirs where it will be injected for storage and used for enhanced oil recovery. The project, which will be located in Kern County, California, will capture more than 2,000,000 tons per year of CO2.