The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has joined with American Electric Power (AEP) and Alstom in a validation of advanced carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies at AEP's Mountaineer Plant in New Haven, West Virginia.
EPRI will conduct independent evaluations of the carbon dioxide (CO2) capture process and manage a collaborative of utility participants. The project is said to be the first to both capture CO2 from a pulverized coal-fired power plant and inject it into a permanent storage site more than 7,800 feet underground.
The data collected and analyzed by the collaborative will support efforts to advance CCS technologies to commercial scale and provide information to the public and industry on future coal generation options.
A 20MW electric capture system has been installed at AEP’s 1,300MW Mountaineer Plant, where it will remove approximately 100,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually from the flue gas stream of the plant.
The captured CO2 will be compressed and injected into two saline reservoirs located beneath the plant site. An event to formally recognize the start up of the AEP-Alstom CO2 capture and storage facility will be held on October 30.
Mike Howard, senior vice president, research and development, EPRI, said: “This is a major step in the effort to demonstrate commercially viable technologies that capture, transport and sequester carbon from a working power plant. Through this effort, we will help move the industry towards a low-carbon and more sustainable future.”
The Mountaineer project will operate for up to five years and help validate the effectiveness of the Alstom’s patented chilled ammonia process for carbon dioxide capture and the viability of storage in the local geology. The project will provide information necessary to scale up capture and storage technologies for new power plants and for retrofit on existing facilities, EPRI said.
Battelle Memorial Institute, a science and technology enterprise, is serving as the consultant for AEP on geological storage. RWE, a power producer, is collaborating with AEP and Alstom on the project.
The chilled ammonia process is expected to reduce parasitic loads on electric generators compared to other types of capture processes, resulting in lower carbon dioxide capture costs. A pilot-scale version is being tested by Alstom and EPRI with favorable results at We Energies on a 1.7-megawatt slipstream from the utility’s Pleasant Prairie plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin.