US DOE offers $17.6m funding for technologies that reduce carbon capture costs

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has invested $17.6m in technologies that have the capability to reduce the cost of carbon capture.

The Department has selected five projects which will work on the development of such technologies.

The funding is expected to address the cost and operational challenges faced by the current CO2 capture technologies that are commercially available for industry.  

Some of the challenges that will be addressed include the need for improved reliability and operational flexibility, reduction in high capital costs and reduction in high energy penalty associated with the operation of the existing technology.

The selected projects will be managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). These projects will concentrate on transformational technologies that fall under two broad areas of interest.

The first area of interest focuses on the development of transformational materials and processes to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂), which will enable step-change reductions in the capital and energy cost.

The second area of Interest will focus on enabling technologies that help in improving the performance of transformational CO₂ capture processes to reduce capital cost and energy penalties and improve operational reliability and flexibility.

One of the first technologies to receive the funding is a new biphasic solvent-enabled absorption process for post-combustion carbon capture. The transformational biphasic CO₂ absorption process (BiCAP) technology project will be advanced by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

The second project is a graphene oxide-based membrane process for post-combustion CO2 capture. This project will be advanced by the Institute of Gas Technology dba Gas Technology Institute (GTI).  

The third project involves development of self-assembly isoporous supports enabling transformational membrane performance for cost-effective carbon capture. This project will be advanced by Membrane Technology and Research (MTR) and will develop composite membranes with transformational performance to reduce CO₂ capture cost.

The fourth project is a mixed-salt-based transformational solvent technology for co₂ capture, which will advanced by SRI International. It will develop a water-lean, mixed-salt-based transformational solvent technology that will offer a step-change reduction in the cost of CO₂ capture.

The fifth project is a process with decoupling absorber kinetics and solvent regeneration through membrane dewatering and in-column heat transfer. This project will be developed at the University of Kentucky Research Foundation and is claimed to be an intensified process to significantly reduce the capital and operational costs of CO2 capture.

Image: DOE advances $17.6m for development of carbon capture technologies. Photo: Courtesy of alex_ugalek/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.