Jul 31, 2008 -- Energy Department Documents and Publications/ContentWorks
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that it will provide $36
million for 15 projects aimed at furthering the development of new and
cost-effective technologies for the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the
existing fleet of coal-fired power plants.
"Currently, the existing U.S. coal fleet accounts for over half of all
electricity generated in this country," U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W.
Bodman said. "The projects announced today will combat climate change and
help meet current and future energy needs by curbing CO2 emissions from
existing coal-fired plants."
Capture and storage of CO2 is a key component of President Bush's vision for
a cleaner, more secure energy future. Since 2001, the Administration has
invested more than $2.5 billion in clean coal research and development.
Today's 15 projects will focus on five areas of interest for CO2 capture:
membranes, solvents, sorbents, oxycombustion (flue gas purification and
boiler development), and chemical looping. Projects and research areas are
detailed below:
MEMBRANES
Membrane-based CO2 capture uses permeable or semi-permeable materials that
allow for the selective transport and separation of CO2 from flue gas.
Research projects in this area will address key technical challenges to the
use of membrane-based systems such as large flue gas volume, relatively low
CO2 concentration, low flue gas pressure, flue gas contaminants, and the
need for high membrane surface area.
. Membrane Technology and Research Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.)-Researchers
will prepare commercial-scale membrane modules that meet low pressure-drop
and high packing-density performance targets using CO2 capture membranes
developed under a previous agreement with NETL. The new research will
involve the construction of an approximately 1-ton-of-CO2-per-day membrane
skid for use in a 6 month pilot-scale field test with real coal-fired flue
gas.
(DOE share: $3,437,119; recipient share: $957,630; duration: 24 months)
. Research Triangle Institute (Research Triangle Park, N.C.)-Research
Triangle Institute (RTI) will research novel fluorinated polymer membranes
with a focus on total process design and integration of the membrane-based
CO2 separation technology into an existing coal-fired power plant. RTI
researchers will focus on novel high-performance membrane materials,
improved hollow-fiber membrane module design, and process development for
efficient integration of the CO2-capture system into an existing coal-fired
power plant.
(DOE share: $1,944,821; recipient share: $486,205; duration: 24 months)
SOLVENTS
Solvent-based CO2 capture involves chemical or physical sorption of CO2 from
flue gas into a liquid carrier. Solvent-based systems are in commercial use
today scrubbing CO2 from industrial flue gases and process gases; however,
they have not been applied to removing large volumes of CO2, as would be
encountered in the flue gas from a coal-fired utility boiler. Projects in
this area will address technical challenges to solvent-based CO2 capture
such as large flue gas volume, relatively low CO2 concentration, flue gas
contaminants, and high parasitic power demand for solvent recovery.
. Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Atlanta, Ga.)- The objective of this
project is to develop a novel class of solvents, called "reversible ionic
liquids," to capture CO2 from coal-fired power plant flue gas. Reversible
ionic liquids are essentially "smart" molecules that change properties
abruptly in response to some stimulus. Investigators will focus on the
synthesis, characterization, and testing of novel reversible ionic liquids,
and then use structure/property relationships to optimize their physical and
thermodynamic properties for CO2 capture.
(DOE share: $1,620,479; recipient share: $413,072; duration: 36 months)
. GE Global Research (Niskayuna, N.Y.)-In this project, researchers will use
both computational and laboratory methods to identify and produce novel
oligomeric solvents for post-combustion capture of CO2 from coal-fired power
plants. An oligomer is a polymer with relatively few structural units.
Molecular and system modeling, advanced synthetic methods, and laboratory
testing will be used to identify oligomeric solvents having potential for
high CO2 capture capacity under low energy-use conditions.
(DOE share: $2,546,303; recipient share: $636,575; duration: 24 months)
. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Illinois State Geological
Survey (Champaign, Ill.)-The Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) plans
to develop an integrated vacuum carbonate absorption process (IVCAP) for
post-combustion CO2 capture. This process employs potassium carbonate as an
absolvent and can be uniquely integrated with the power plant steam cycle by
using the waste steam or low-quality steam from the power plant. Researchers
aim to confirm IVCAP process parameters through laboratory testing, identify
an effective catalyst for accelerating CO2 absorption rates, and develop an
additive for reducing the stripping heat. (DOE share: $691,191; recipient
share: $339,259; duration: 36 months)
SOLID SORBENTS
Solid particles can be used to capture CO2 from flue gas through chemical
absorption, physical adsorption, or a combination of the two. Possible
configurations for contacting the flue gas with the solid particles include
fixed, moving, and fluidized beds. The projects selected in this area of
interest will address key technical challenges to sorbent-based systems such
as large flue gas volume, relatively low CO2 concentration, flue gas
contaminants, and high parasitic power demand for sorbent recovery.
. ADA-ES, Inc. (Littleton, Colo.)-The objective of this project is to assess
the viability and accelerate development and scale-up of sorbent-based CO2
capture. Investigators will evaluate sorbents at laboratory- to bench scale
for their performance in a CO2 capture process. Criteria for optimal
sorbents will include availability of raw material, ability to manage
disposal costs, CO2 working capacity, interaction with flue gas constituents
and sufficient hardness to mitigate attrition. Test results will aid in the
development of the conceptual design for integration of the sorbent system
into a coal-fired power plant.
(DOE share: $2,000,000; recipient share: $500,000; duration: 36 months)
. SRI International (Menlo Park, Calif.)-SRI International will develop a
novel, high-capacity carbon sorbent with moderate thermal requirements for
regeneration. Specific objectives are to validate the performance of the
sorbent concept on a bench-scale system, to perform parametric experiments
to determine optimum operating conditions, and to evaluate the technical and
economic viability of the technology.
(DOE share: $1,799,962; recipient share: $450,000; duration: 36 months)
. TDA Research Inc. (Wheat Ridge, Colo.)-In this project, TDA Research Inc.
will produce and evaluate its low-cost solid sorbent developed in prior
laboratory testing. A bench-scale CO2 capture unit will be designed and
constructed using the developed sorbent, and it will be tested on a
coal-derived flue gas. Mass and energy balances for a commercial-scale
coal-fired power plant retrofit with the CO2 capture system will also be
determined.
(DOE share: $1,097,839; recipient share: $276,541; duration: 36 months)
OXYCOMBUSTION, FLUE GAS PURIFICATION
Oxycombustion systems combust a fuel in pure or nearly pure oxygen,
producing a flue gas that has high CO2 concentration but may also include
water, excess oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and
other contaminants. Projects in this research area will develop methods to
reduce the levels of these unwanted compounds in the flue gas.
. Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (Allentown, Pa.)-Researchers in this
project will demonstrate the feasibility of purifying the CO2 derived from
an actual oxycombustion flue gas. Special attention will be paid to acidic
impurities within the captured CO2 product such as sulfur oxides, hydrogen
chloride and nitrogen oxides. In commercial application, it may be necessary
to remove these acidic impurities from the CO2 stream before the purified
CO2 is introduced into a pipeline in order to prevent corrosion or problems
at the geologic sequestration site.
(DOE share: $1,003,995; recipient share: $251,000; duration: 24 months)
. Praxair Inc. (Tonawanda, N.Y.)- Praxair will develop a near-zero emissions
flue gas purification technology for existing pulverized-coal power plants
retrofitted with oxycombustion technology. Goals of this project are to
cost-effectively capture more than 95 percent of CO2 emissions from a boiler
with high air ingress. Atmospheric emissions of sulfur oxides and mercury
will be reduced by at least 99 percent, and emissions of nitrogen oxides
will be reduced by greater than 90 percent without the need for wet flue gas
desulfurization and selective catalytic reduction.
(DOE share: $3,241,989; recipient share: $2,161,326; duration: 36 months)
OXYCOMBUSTION BOILER DEVELOPMENT
The characteristics of oxycombustion have not yet been fully developed.
Oxycombustion flame characteristics, burner and coal-feed design, and
analyses of the interaction of oxycombustion products with boiler materials
are all areas needing further work. The research projects selected in this
area of interest will conduct laboratory- and bench-scale research into
oxycombustion boiler characteristics and innovative oxy-burner design.
. Alstom Power Inc. (Windsor, Conn).-A test program to develop an
oxycombustion system for tangentially fired (T-fired) coal boiler units will
be conducted in this project by Alstom. T-fired boilers make up 44 percent
of the installed base of utility boilers in the world and 41 percent in the
United States. The project aims to develop an innovative oxycombustion
system for existing T-fired boiler units that minimizes overall capital
investment and operating costs by measuring the performance of these systems
in pilot-scale tests at Alstom's 15 megawatt T-Fired Boiler Simulation
Facility and its 15 megawatt Industrial Scale Burner Facility.
(DOE share: $5,000,000; recipient share: $2,229,966; duration: 24 months)
. Foster Wheeler North America Corp. (Livingston, N.J.) -Foster Wheeler will
conduct an in-depth test program to determine how oxycombustion will affect
the life of electric utility boiler tube materials. The program will involve
computational fluid dynamics modeling to predict the gas compositions that
will exist throughout and along the walls of oxycombustion boilers,
laboratory testing to determine the effects of oxycombustion conditions on
conventional boiler tube materials and coverings, and laboratory testing the
determine the effects of oxycombustion on alternative higher-alloy tube
materials and coverings.
(DOE share: $1,593,437; recipient share: $398,357; duration: 36 months)
. Reaction Engineering International (Salt Lake City, Utah)-In this project,
investigators will conduct multi-scale experiments, coupled with mechanism
development and computational fluid dynamics modeling, to elucidate the
impacts of retrofitting existing coal-fired utility boilers for
oxycombustion. Test data will be obtained from oxycombustion experiments at
0.1 kilowatt, 100 kilowatt and 1.2 megawatt scale.
(DOE share: $2,376,443; recipient share: $617,767; duration: 36 months)
CHEMICAL LOOPING COMBUSTION
Chemical looping involves the use of a solid oxygen carrier particle in the
combustion of fuels. The oxygen carrier particle is oxidized in one reactor
and is used to combust the fuel in another reactor. Projects in this area of
interest will advance the development of chemical looping systems by
addressing key issues such as solids handling and oxygen carrier capacity,
reactivity, and attrition.
. Alstom Power Inc. (Windsor, Conn.)-This project will further development
of Alstom's chemical looping technology for CO2 capture and separation. The
technology uses a limestone-based oxygen carrier to create power from coal
while creating a concentrated CO2 flue gas. Researchers will design,
construct, and operate a prototype facility that includes all of the
equipment required to operate the chemical looping plant in a fully
integrated manner, with all major systems in service.
(DOE share: $4,999,614; recipient share: $1,249,900; duration: 24 months)
. The Ohio State University Research Foundation (Columbus, Ohio)-Coal direct
chemical looping (CDCL) technology will be further developed under this
project. CDCL technology can be retrofitted to existing pulverized-coal
power plants to efficiently convert coal while capturing CO2 through the
assistance of a patented iron oxide-based composite oxygen carrier particle.
Development of the CDCL system will be conducted through experimental
testing under bench and sub-pilot scales.
(DOE share: $2,860,141; recipient share: $1,126,513; duration: 36 months)
Today's announcement is part of DOE's Office of Fossil Energy's Innovations
for Existing Plants (IEP) program, which is managed by the National Energy
Technology Laboratory (NETL). The IEP program maintains a portfolio of
research projects to address these and other environmental challenges faced
by America's existing fleet of coal-fired power plants.
For more information on DOE's advanced clean coal efforts visit:
www.fossil.energy.gov http://www.fossil.energy.gov/
Angela Hill, (202) 586-4940
-DOE-
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