Powerspan Releases Results Of Carbon Capture Technology Assessment

Powerspan, a clean energy technology company, has provided the results of an independent review of its ECO2 post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology, conducted by global engineering firm WorleyParsons Group.

WorleyParsons conducted a detailed assessment of Powerspan’s CO2 capture pilot test facility and evaluated the technology’s readiness for commercial deployment on existing coal-fired electric power plants.

Phillip Boyle, president and chief operating officer of Powerspan, said: “The WorleyParsons evaluation provides three important conclusions for power plant owners as they evaluate carbon capture technologies for their existing plants.”

The WorleyParsons report said that the 1MW equivalent slipstream ECO2 pilot test facility (approximately 20 tons per day of CO2 capture) operating at FirstEnergy Generation’s RE Burger Plant near Shadyside, Ohio, is well-designed and instrumented, with testing results that can be reliably used to design, build, and predict performance of a larger, commercial size plant.

Using design information based on the pilot results, the report concludes that a retrofit project could be implemented at less than $40 per ton of CO2 captured and compressed for a project size of 220MWe net.

The WorleyParsons cost estimate is based on data derived from the ECO2 pilot for 90% CO2 capture with steam extraction for regeneration of less than 1,000 Btu/lb of CO2. This energy requirement is an improvement over previously reported values and results from optimization of the pilot facility process.

In addition, WorleyParsons assessed the performance and cost implications of commercial scale-up and retrofit of the ECO2 technology to a 220MWe net coal-fired power plant based on operating conditions provided by Powerspan, and confirmed by the ECO2 pilot facility operation.

The study also includes the sizing of the ECO2 process equipment required for scale-up, the impacts of the ECO2 process and CO2 compression on the plant’s net generation, and an overview of the reliability and maintenance considerations based on the current status of the process design.

Powerspan said that its ECO2 technology is a post-combustion CO2 capture process that uses a proprietary solvent to capture 90% of CO2 from the flue gas of coal-fired power plants. Once the CO2 is captured, it is dried and compressed and is ready for pipeline transport and sequestration.