Project captures carbon dioxide at
FirstEnergy site
Dec 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bob Downing The Akron Beacon
Journal, Ohio
Testing at a FirstEnergy Corp. coal-burning power plant in eastern Ohio
shows that carbon dioxide can successfully be captured, a New
Hampshire-based company announced today.
Powerspan Corp. said its one-megawatt post-combustion pilot unit at the
R.E. Burger Power Plant at Shadyside in Belmont County captured 90
percent of the carbon dioxide, a key global warming gas.
The pilot project handled about 20 tons of carbon dioxide per day from
the flue gases generated by the Burger plant.
The project was a success and the company intends to move toward
commercial-scale demonstration systems for existing coal-fired power
plants, the firm said in a statement.
In early 2010, Powerspan intends to publish an independent review of the
Burger test, along with an independent assessment of commercial costs.
Commercial cost estimates based on pilot performance data are less than
$50 per ton for capture and compression of the carbon dioxide, said
Powerspan, based in Portsmouth.
"Our goal with the pilot unit has been to demonstrate performance that
results in lower energy costs than other post-combustion CO2-capture
technologies," said Christopher R. McLarnon, Powerspan's senior vice
president of engineering and research and development.
"The pilot performance data we have gathered shows that we have achieved
this goal and we are continuing to optimize the system," McLarnon said.
FirstEnergy is pleased to have been involved in the Burger test, said
Morgan Jones, staff environmental specialist at FirstEnergy.
"We continue to believe that technology development is the best approach
for cost effectively reducing CO2 emissions from existing power plants,"
he said.
How to successfully and economically capture carbon dioxide from
existing coal-fired plants has been a major concern for utilities like
FirstEnergy.
The gas was captured and purified to meet pipeline standards and was
made ready for sequestration or storage in underground rock formations,
said Powerspan spokeswoman Stephanie Procopis. The gas was then vented
into the air, she said.
The Burger tests -- jointly funded by Powerspan and FirstEnergy -- began
in late 2008.
FirstEnergy is converting two boilers at the 312-megawatt Burger plant
from coal to largely wood by Dec. 31, 2012. The $200 million conversion
is designed to reduce air pollution from burning coal under a consent
decree with the U.S. Justice Department.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or
bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
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