U.S. Department of Energy has selected projects by Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Hydrogen Energy International, for a federal funding of approximately $408m under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, announced Steven Chu, the secretary of DOE.
The DOE’s selection of the two projects is part of the third round of the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). These two projects, which would incorporate advanced technologies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, include a new facility in California and an existing power plant in North Dakota.
Of the total funding of $408m from the Department of Energy to support the demonstrations, $100m would be provided to Basin Electric Power Cooperative and $308m to Hydrogen Energy International. The selected projects would employ different technological concepts to reach the goal of at least 90% CO2 capture efficiency.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative in partnership with Powerspan and Burns & McDonnell would demonstrate the elimination of CO2 from the flue gas of a lignite-based boiler by adding CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) to its existing Antelope Valley plant, situated near Beulah, North Dakota.
Powerspan’s ECO2 ammonia-based technology would be used to collect CO2 on a 120MW electric-equivalent gas stream from the 450MW Antelope Valley Station Unit 1. The result would be 90% elimination of CO2 from the treated flue gas, yielding 3,000 short tons per day (1,000,000 tons per year) of pipeline-quality CO2.
Hydrogen Energy International, a joint venture owned by BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto, would design, construct, and operate an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant with full carbon capture. The IGCC would take blends of coal and petroleum coke, combined with non-potable water, and converts them into hydrogen and CO2. From the hydrogen using the methanol-based Rectisol process, carbon dioxide would be separated.
The carbon separated would be transported to oil reservoirs to be injected for storage and used for enhanced oil recoveries, and the hydrogen gas to fuel power station. The project would be built in Kern County, California, and is expected to collect approximately 2,000,000 tons of CO2 annually.
Secretary Chu, said: “Today’s announcement represents a major step forward in the fight to reduce CO2emissions from coal-based power plants. These new technologies will not only help fight climate change, they will also create new jobs and position the United States as a leader in carbon capture and storage technologies for many years.”