CCS Demonstration Plants needs more Investments - CER Reports

Coal will be the world’s biggest single source of electricity for decades to come. Yet the EU is doing far too little to encourage the take-up of CCS, says a report by the Centre for European Reform (CER). This failure threatens not only Europe’s leadership of global climate change policy, but also its ability to profit from the emergence of a huge global market for equipment and expertise, says the report.

Stephen Tindale and Simon Tilford argue that more public money is needed for the construction of demonstration projects, and that regulation and strong market signals will be required to ensure mass deployment of the technology.

The authors argue that the EU needs to do a host of things if it is to meet its targets of operating 12 large CCS demonstration plants by 2015, and ensuring the mass deployment of the technology by 2020.

The demonstration plants must cover the full range of CCS technologies and include gasfired as well as coal-fired industrial plants.

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Carbon Capture and Sequestration via CCS Clusters

Carbon Capture and Sequestration via CCS Clusters

E.ON has submitted environmental scoping reports outlining the company's plans for a CO2 pipeline for its proposed Kingsnorth cleaner coal-fired power station.

The plans are part of a vision for Kingsnorth to be the gateway to CCS development in the UK, enabling the future development of a ‘CCS Cluster' in the South East.

The scoping reports outline the steps the company will take towards developing final plans for the pipeline, which will go across the Hoo Peninsula and then be placed in a trench on the seabed taking it to the depleted North Sea gas fields which will be used for storage.

The pipeline would have sufficient capacity in the long term to allow a ‘Thames Cluster' of carbon capture projects to be developed, transporting 24 million tonnes of CO2 each year to storage sites under the North Sea. This equates to the emissions from around two supercritical Kingsnorth-sized coal-fired power stations and three Grain-sized gas-fired CHP power stations.
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Labels: Kingsnorth power station-CCS Cluster

http://pressreleases.eon-uk.com/blogs//eonukpressreleases/archive/2010/03/12/1504.aspx

CCS in Coal power plants funded by UK Gov

UK Funds Research on CCS in Coal Power plants

Funding was awarded to E.ON and ScottishPower for design and development studies as part of the UK's CCS demonstration competition.

This is one of the first set of studies of end-to-end commercial scale CCS on coal power plant in the world and will be used by project developers to examine and refine initial plans and reduce technical risk, so that more detailed project plans can be drawn-up and costed, said the government.

The funding is drawn from a pot of £90 million announced in the 2009 Budget. The precise amounts awarded to E.ON and ScottishPower are commercially confidential.

The UK has the most ambitious commitments on coal generation and CCS in the world. A Bill currently being considered by Parliament introduces a first-of-a-kind levy to support four CCS demonstrations in the UK. The Government will launch a competitive process for the three other projects by the end of 2010, provided the levy is passed.


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http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn10_041/pn10_041.aspx

Post combustion Carbon Sequestration made Profitable

Post combustion Carbon Sequestration made Prrofitable

Carbon capture from a coal fired power plant could be made profitable and hydrogen could be produced for 16-cents per kilogram using a process developed at Florida International University.

Surendra Saxena, a professor of mechanical and materials engineering at Florida International University, has patented a new method of creating cheap hydrogen from coal, reacting the carbon dioxide (produced from coal combustion) with (inexpensively available) sodium hydroxide to make sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, hydrogen, which can all be sold.

The carbon dioxide in the flue gas of the coal power plant is reacted with sodium hydroxide to form sodium carbonate. Carbon monoxide in the flue gas can be reacted with water and natural gas to form sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate.

Mr Saxena calculates that sodium hydroxide can be acquired for $100 to $200 per ton, and sodium carbonate can be sold for $100 per ton. This would enable hydrogen to be produced at under $0.16 per kg (not including energy costs).
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Labels: http://cesmec.fiu.edu/index.php?akc=research&akc2=hydrogenprod

Cut CO2 Emission via -Renewable soil

Cut CO2 Emission via -Renewable soil

Improved farming methods could quickly rebuild degraded land and store enough carbon to offset the emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. Thomas Blakeslee, President, The Clearlight Foundation, outlines some approaches to capturing CO2 in soils.

Poor farming practices have degraded the world's soils causing them to release carbon that should have stayed in the soil. In the past 150 years soils have released twice as much carbon as fuel burning. Dr Rattan Lal of Ohio State University, a leading expert on soil carbon, estimates that the potential of economical carbon sequestration in world soils may be .65 billion to 1.1 billion tons per year for the next 50 years. This is enough to draw down atmospheric CO2 by 50 ppm by 2100.

Many of our deserts started as forests which were cut or burned down to clear the land and then ruined by overgrazing. If we could reclaim these ruined lands we could restore the carbon balance of our planet.

One very encouraging project in China has restored a desert community and given them a source of revenue growing sand willow for making wood planks. This experiment was so successful that the restored area is growing rapidly as individuals plant sand willow as a source of income. Even more exciting, is the plan to build hybrid solar power plants in the area that will use the sand willow as biomass to feed boilers when the sun doesn't shine.

Carbon credits could drive this kind of renaissance even faster. It is very important that we develop inexpensive soil carbon monitoring systems so that such important changes in land use can be rewarded.

Restoration experiments in Australia found that conventional cropping practices had reduced soil carbon to half to one third of original levels.

Another promising approach to greening deserts is seawater farming. Coastal desert areas lacking fresh water can grow plants like Mangrove and Salicornia along with fish and shrimp that provide the fertilizer.

Carbon trading could be the driver for these projects if we can only develop sound verification protocols and measuring instruments.
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Labels: carbon credits- renewable soil

http://renewablesoil.com/increased-photosynthetic-capacity-reverses-global-warming.html

CO2 capture helped by nanomaterials

Nanomaterials Help CO2 Capture

Bureau De Recherches Geologiques Et Minieres (BRGM) inventors Alain Seron, Fabian Delorme and Christian Fouillac have detailed a low-cost method for CO2 capture using nanomaterials such as mesoporous silica and carbon nanotubes in a U.S. Patent Application.

The method enables CO2 trapping in a reversible manner without the need for methods that are energetically costly (large increase in temperature, evaporation of a liquid phase, solid/liquid separation, etc.) and without any handling of the suspension constituting the trap which remains in place in the capture/release reactor throughout the cycle.

In addition, the method is performed under conditions of ambient pressure and temperature or near ambient conditions, with a slightly higher temperature favoring CO2 release.



The technique includes first suspending in a liquid phase a solid absorbent capable of trapping the gaseous CO2; the gas mixture is then converted into the liquid phase at a temperature between 0 degree C. and 30 degrees C., a temperature ranging from the liquid phase solidification temperature to the evaporation temperature. The process is carried out at a pressure between atmospheric pressure and 3 bars.

The absorbent solid is selected equally among: a carbonaceous material such as activated carbon or carbon nanotubes; an oxide, for example silicates such as zeolites, clays, mesoporous silicas, manganese oxides, pumice, perlite or diatomite; a phosphate or a phosphonate; and a hydroxide such as the layered double hydroxides quintinite-3T or hydrotalcite. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) perform particularly well in absorbing CO2.

The method includes an additional step of recovering the captured gaseous CO2. The combination of the trapping steps and the recovery steps enable purification of the CO2.

The recovery step comprises a step of lowering the partial pressure of the gas to be trapped introduced into the liquid phase, this step being achieved either by lowering the partial pressure of CO2 (in particular by recirculating, in the reactor saturated with CO2, a stream of gas depleted of CO2 from a capture reactor in operation) or by use of a weak vacuum pressure at most equal to 0.2 bar with respect to the capture pressure, or by shutting off circulation of the gas containing CO2
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Labels: CO2 capture- nanotubes-nanomaterials-BRGM researchers

http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=2&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=81&f=G&l=50&co1=OR&d=PG01&s1=nano&s2=nanotubes&OS=nano+OR+nanotubes&RS=nano+OR+nanotubes

CCS to Enhance US Oil Production

CCS to Enhance US Oil Production

The US has an opportunity to increase its energy independence, slash foreign oil imports by as much as half by 2030, and cut carbon emissions through EOR with CCS, according to new analysis by Advanced Resources International (ARI).

EOR with CCS would help drive domestic economic growth and increase US oil reserves, says the report "U.S. Oil Production Potential from Accelerated Deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage".

Clean energy and climate legislation that is being considered in the U.S. Congress is projected to lead to large volumes of captured CO2 from power plants and other industrial sites, sufficient to fully develop oil recovery potential in existing U.S. oil fields.

The report finds that carbon capture stimulated by federal clean energy and climate legislation could boost U.S. oil production between 3 to 3.6 million barrels per day, cutting imports of crude oil up to 40 percent compared to today’s levels and up to 52 percent by 2030 (based on 2009 figures), depending on how much of the captured CO2 is used for enhanced oil recovery purposes.

This CO2-enhanced domestic oil production would help keep more than $700 billion in the U.S. economy, employing tens of thousands American workers, while increasing state and Federal revenues between $190 and $210 billion.
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Labels: EOR-CCS clean energy legislation

http://www.adv-res.com/pdf/ARI%20CCS-CO2-EOR%20whitepaper%20FINAL%203-10-10.pdf

Power Prices May Rise in Second Half, China Power’s Lu Says

Power Prices May Rise in Second Half, China Power’s Lu Says

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s second biggest energy user, may increase wholesale electricity prices for coal-fired power plants in the second half, China Power Investment Corp. President Lu Qizhou said.

Rising coal prices will likely result in losses for the nation’s coal-fired power plants in the first half and lead to an increase in power prices in the second half, Lu said in an interview after attending a meeting of the nation’s parliamentary advisory body. The price of coal for power stations gained 12.2 percent during the first two months of 2010 as compared with last year, Lu said.

The government, which controls electricity pricing, considers possible price increases by power producers such as Datang International Power Generation Co., Huaneng Power International Inc. and China Power Investment under a mechanism triggered when the price of coal rises more than 5 percent over a six-month period. China last adjusted its retail and wholesale power prices in November.

“Various heads of power groups have been actively lobbying for such an increase in the past two months,” said Dave Dai, an analyst at CLSA Ltd. “This is also in line with our forecast of a 5 percent tariff increase in the second half of this year.”

Power Generation Losses

Higher coal costs led to losses of about 300 million yuan ($43.9 million) at China Power Investment’s thermal power plants between January and February, Lu said. All of the company’s other businesses are profitable, he said. China Power Investment is one of the country’s five biggest power producers.

Higher power prices in the second half could help the company post a profit this year of about 5 billion yuan, Lu said. China Power Investment, which also operates hydroelectric dams, wind farms and nuclear power plants, had about 50 million yuan of profit in the first two months of this year, Lu said.

China sets wholesale and retail power prices to keep rates affordable. Electricity prices remain “unsatisfactory” because they don’t reflect fluctuations in coal costs, China Power Investment Vice President Li Xiaolin said in an interview today in Beijing. About 80 percent of China’s power stations are coal-fired.

“We’ve been fighting for a market-based system for electricity prices since 2002 and we haven’t given up,” Li said. “The power pricing reform isn’t complete.”

China Power Investment paid 10 percent to 15 percent more for coal supplies this year, Li said, without saying what it paid.

Benchmark spot prices at Qinhuangdao, China’s largest coal port, rose 8.5 percent to between 700 yuan and 710 yuan per ton on March 1, compared with mid-November when the government last adjusted electricity prices, according to data from the China Coal Transport & Distribution Association.

--Wang Ying, Baizhen Chua. Editors: John Liu, Greg Turk

To contact the reporter on this story: Ying Wang in Beijing at ywang30@bloomberg.net Baizhen Chua in Beijing at Bchua14@bloomberg.net

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CCS Coalition founded in California

CCS Coalition founded in California

Prompted by a study highlighting the importance of CCS to meet California's long-term target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, a group of energy companies with an interest in advancing CCS have launched the California CCS Coalition

The coalition was created to ensure CCS is an important part of any state carbon stabilization program with the goal being "to bring voices to the table throughout the state to demonstrate that CCS is practical, effective and safe," Montgomery adds.

The non-profit organization's mission is to represent the interests of CCS stakeholders in the legislative and regulatory arena and to educate key constituencies and organizations about facts regarding CCS. This includes increasing awareness of the history and safety of the technology, the realities surrounding geological storage and the critical importance of CCS to a comprehensive strategy of reducing emissions of carbon into the atmosphere.

The coalition will strive to increase awareness of CCS and to inform policy makers and the general public of CCS; encourage the deployment of CCS and incentives for low carbon power production; establish definitions for low-carbon power; encourage low-carbon power purchases by electric utilities, and more.

California CCS Coalition members to date include: Aera Energy, Chevron, Clean Energy Systems, Hydrogen Energy California, Sempra Energy Utilities, Southern California Edison, Shell and Western States Petroleum Association. The group hopes to attract other members, as well.

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http://www.ethree.com/California_2050.html

Obama & Senators on Climate bill

US President Obama this week met for the first time with Senators who are pushing the currently mothballed climate bill, meeting with a dozen crucial senators in a final surge to pass the legislation that is bound to be fraught with a number of compromised that will be less palatable to the environmental and international community, reports Charles Digges of Bellona.

The legislation also pushes for “clean coal” – a US term for CCS, one of Bellona’s signature climate abatement strategies. But, while clean coal is embraced by coal producing and dependent states, it is also the target of withering criticism from some of the world’s most powerful environmental groups like the National Resources Defence Council (NRDC).

Indiana Republican Lugar, for example, said he is drafting legislation that would fold together ideas on energy efficiency, a nationwide clean energy standard that promotes nuclear power and "clean coal" technologies and a stronger plan for automobile fuel efficiency standards. Lieberman also downplayed the use of the term "cap and trade" when it comes to limiting emissions, even though that is generally the plan with their bill.

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CCS under the North Sea

CCS under the North Sea

A major step forward is expected to be taken this week in a contest aimed at paving the way for the creation of thousands of jobs in the north-east storing carbon under the sea.

The UK Government is expected to formally designate a project involving the removal of CO from emissions generated by burning coal at Longannet power station in Fife as one of two likely to secure tens of millions of pounds of state support.

The project, under development by Scottish Power in partnership with Shell and National Grid, will involve the commercial-scale extraction of carbon from flue gases.

It would be pumped through pipelines to be permanently stored in aquifers – underground layers of permeable rock – or in exhausted oil or gas fields under the North Sea.If successful, it would breathe new life into coal mining and the use of coal for power generation and create a whole new carbon sequestration industry providing employment on and offshore, just as the oil and gas sectors wind down.

The sole other competitor in the contest is likely to be Eon, which is proposing to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.
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Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1636367/?UserKey=#ixzz0hvxCewKg

CCS Green Energy Revolution in Saudi Arabia-pioneering CCS

Green Energy Revolution in Saudi Arabia-pioneering CCS


Saudi Arabia and the Gulf signalled their intention to kick-start a renewable energy revolution in the region on Monday.

A panel of experts at the ongoing Gulf Environment Forum in Jeddah, chaired by Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, said measures were in place to improve the energy mix and finally reduce Middle East dependence on oil.

Saudi Arabia is actually trying to clean up its act where pollution is concerned, according to an environmental expert at Saudi Aramco.

Khalid Abuleif said $300 million had been injected into research and development for projects directly linked to energy and the environment.

He added that Saudi Arabia was one of four countries signed up to the “Four Kingdoms” initiative, which aims to explore the environmental viability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

The Kingdom is expected to be one of the pioneers of CCS, Abuleif said. When asked whether Saudi Arabia was considering incentives for businesses to go green in the Kingdom, particularly oil traders, Prince Abdul Aziz suggested that carbon trading could be the way forward.

This would allow businesses to buy and sell carbon according to an agreed reduction in emissions in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

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http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article27714.ece

Clean coal

World Bank split over controversial "clean coal" investmentUS and UK reportedly opposed to plans for World Bank-backed South African coal plant over fears about rising emissions
Cath Everett, BusinessGreen, 08 Mar 2010




In what could prove a precursor to future rows over climate funding for developing countries the UK and US have reportedly threatened to withhold support for a World Bank loan intended to help South Africa build a new coal-fired power station.

Around $3bn of the proposed $3.75bn loan to South African utility company Eskom would be used to fund the construction of the 4,800MW Medupi "clean coal" plant and accompanying carbon storage facilities. The rest of the funding is expected to be spent on renewable and energy efficiency projects.

The Medupi project, which will be based in the country's northern Limpopo region, is deemed critical to help ease the country's chronic power shortages, which have in the past resulted in rolling power cuts that have undermined the growth of Southern Africa's largest economy.

However, despite the plans to use relatively efficient technologies, Reuters reported that the UK and US are poised to oppose the loan on the grounds it will make it harder for South Africa to deliver emission cuts.

Their opposition to the funding proposal, which is still expected to be approved on April 6 by the World Bank, was prompted by guidance issued by the US Treasury to multi-national bodies in December.

The guidelines, which infuriated developing countries such as China and India, directed US representatives at international institutions to encourage the employment of "no or low carbon" energy options over coal-based alternatives.

As a result, a US Treasury official told Reuters that the country was reviewing the Eskom proposal and would develop a position "consistent with administration policy and with facts surrounding the project".

But Obiageli Ezekwesili, the World Bank's vice president for Africa, told the news agency that securing the country's energy supply through new coal plants was essential to the economic health of the wider continent.

"There is no viable alternative to safeguard Africa's energy security at this particular time," she said. "This is a transitional investment that they are making toward a green economy and that should count for something."

US and UK opposition to the proposals are bound to attract accusations of hypocrisy given both are pursuing clean coal and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects domestically.
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Peabody to invest in Calera

Peabody to invest in Calera

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Coal company Peabody Energy(BTU) is expected to announce its decision to invest in energy start-up company Calera this week, according to the New York Times.

Calera's claim to fame is that is has developed technology converting most of the carbon dioxide emission from a coal or gas-fired power plant into calcium carbonate, which can then be prepared for use in wall or highway construction.

If Calera can replicate this process on a grander scale, companies could ultimately do away with costly carbon-sequestration systems that would need to be built next to these power plants, "and it might actually make the heretofore specious notion of 'clean coal' a possibility," Times' columnist Thomas Friedman writes.

Calera is currently the pet project of Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Oracle's(ORCL) Sun Microsystems, and an avid supporter of clean energy start-up companies, the Times reports.

"If this works," Khosla said, "coal-fired power would become more than 100% clean. Not only would it not emit any CO2, but by producing clean water and cement as a byproduct, it would also be taking all of the CO2 that goes into making those products out of the atmosphere." Peabody stock is up 0.6% at $49.50 in pre-market trading.

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Carbon Capture Technology - ARPA-E Seeks Breakthrough

Carbon Capture Technology - ARPA-E Seeks Breakthrough

Every second, our bodies capture carbon dioxide in our tissues, transport it via the blood, and dump it in the lungs from where it is exhaled. This unconscious process is yet another way humans contribute to the accumulation of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere—albeit in a minuscule volume compared with burning fossil fuels. The key to this metabolic process is an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase and it's efficiency at capturing and releasing CO2 is what human engineers want to mimic at the power plant scale.

Research engineer Harry Cordatos and his colleagues at United Technologies Corp. (UTC) are working on just such a system—and have garnered funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's new ARPA-E program. After all, UTC subsidiary Hamilton Sundstrand has been making CO2 capture units for the space program since the 1960s with different technology. But carbonic anhydrase "captures 600 molecules every second," Cordatos said at the ARPA-E summit in Washington, D.C., last week. "To take this enzyme out of the body is challenging. Our bodies continuously regenerate the enzyme because it degrades."

So Cordatos and UTC's idea is not to use the enzyme itself, but to master its chemistry and "use it in the unnatural environment of power plant flue gas," Cordatos said. The key appears to be a single zinc atom that sits at the core of the enzyme, which resembles a pyramid in structure. That structure allows the carbonic anhydrase to grip the CO2 "not too loose and not too tight," Cordatos explained, which is critical for efficiently capturing and then releasing the greenhouse gas.

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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smokestash-industry-arpa-e-seeks-carbon-capture-breakthroughs

Carbon capture -Scottish Vision

Carbon capture -Scottish Vision

A plan to position Scotland as the world leader in carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been published.

The carbon capture and storage roadmap, produced by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, is a comprehensive set of actions to put Scotland at the forefront of CCS development. These include:

* Setting out a vision for CCS in Scotland including aiming to develop a number of demonstration projects

* Maximising EU and UK support for Scotland's ambitions

* Developing of an offshore carbon licensing regime

* Identification of the skills and training needs to match industry demand

"We now want to see a number of CCS demonstration projects developed in Scotland," said Scottish Energy Minister Jim Mather. "Today's plan takes us further down that road by setting out our ambitions and the actions needed if our vision of CCS playing a part in our future energy supply is to be realised."

"The Scottish Government will work with our partners in industry, academia and in the UK Government and Europe to ensure that Scotland can deliver on the opportunities that CCS provides. more

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2010/03/10132422

CIUDEN’s Integrated CCS Technology

CIUDEN’s Integrated CCS Technology

Foster Wheeler has been awarded a circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) boiler contract for a CO2 capture development plant Ponferrada, Spain.

Fundación Ciudad de la Energía (CIUDEN), an institution created by the Spanish Government, will use the boiler to test Foster Wheeler's Flexi-Burn carbon capturing CFB technology.

The unit will be part of CIUDEN's Integrated CCS Technology Development Plant (TDP) located near Endesa's Compostilla power plant in Ponferrada, Spain.

Flexi-BurnTM is Foster Wheeler's version of carbon capture technology based on oxygen combustion (commonly referred to as "oxy-combustion" or "oxy-fuel") for coal plants. Unlike, pre-combustion (IGCC plant) or post-combustion technologies (amine CO2 scrubber placed behind conventional coal boilers), oxygen combustion technologies allow the boiler to produce a CO2 rich flue gas, thus reducing the need for expensive and energy-intensive CO2 gas separation equipment.

The CIUDEN unit will be designed to test burn a wide range of domestic (anthracite) and imported coals, as well as biomass. One of the objectives of the incorporation of this unit into the TDP is to validate Foster Wheeler's Flexi-BurnTM CFB technology at the required scale before proceeding to a possible full-scale demonstration plant.

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http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=80422&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1399351&highlig

Drax talks on CO2 capture and storage

Drax talks on CO2 capture and storage

A report in the Yorkshire Post says that Drax is conducting feasibility studies into the application of CCS at the UK's largest coal fired power plant.

Drax is looking into how it might join the Humber Cluster concept promoted by Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency.

The Humber cluster sits around a corridor parallel to the M62 and includes Drax, Eggborough, Ferrybridge, Killingholme, Immingham and Keadby power stations and Scunthorpe steel works.

The pipeline would stretch from Ferrybridge, at the junction of the M62 and the A1, to Theddlethorpe, on the south bank of the Humber, where it would be taken to depleted oil and gas fields or large deep saline aquifers.

CO2 Sense Yorkshire, a business development company owned by Yorkshire Forward, said the technology for the project is proven.

A briefing note said: "Instead of being released into the atmosphere, CO2 is captured and compressed. The compressed CO2 is pumped through a network of pipelines, some new and some formerly used for natural gas, to a suitable well previously used for gas extraction.

"The CO2 is pumped down through the well into impermeable porous rock which previously held gas deep beneath the sea bed.

"The CO2 filters into the porous sandstone reservoir filling the tiny spaces which once held natural gas. It is trapped from escaping by layers of solid impermeable rock above, just as the gas was trapped for millions of years."


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Labels: Drax-Humber Cluster- CO2 capture

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/businessnews/Drax-joins-talks-over-carbon.6133953.jp

CO2 capture viability

CO2 capture viability

DOE awards SRI $4.5 M to evaluate viability of CO2 Capture

SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development institute, has been awarded a $4.5M Department of Energy (DOE) project to evaluate the technical and economic viability of CO2 capture using an ammonium carbonate-ammonium bicarbonate (AC-ABC) process at gasification plants, including IGCC power plants.

This new project is one of several projects at SRI aimed at finding cost-effective ways to recover carbon dioxide from power plants so it can be sequestered.

One of the advantages of the AC-ABC process is that it removes CO2 and hydrogen sulfide at pressure, resulting in less energy needed to capture the CO2. In addition, the AC-ABC approach has the potential to be commercialized at a low cost and in a relatively short amount of time because it does not require the development of novel materials, solvents, or reactor configurations.

A variety of approaches to carbon capture is needed to address both current and future power plant designs. Results from this DOE-funded project can also be applied to other types of power plants that require carbon dioxide removal pre-combustion, such as hydromethanation plants.

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http://www.sri.com/news/releases/030310.html

ERP Report shows next 10 yrs critical

ERP Report shows next 10 yrs critical

The report, “Innovation Milestones to 2050”, identifies a pressing need for investment in energy technologies with the greatest potential, such as CCS, increasing the chances of early deployment.

The Energy Research Partnership (ERP) is a high level forum co-chaired by David Mackay, DECC’s Chief Scientific Advisor and Nick Winser, Executive Director of the National Grid.

It brings together key players from industry, government and other organisation to advise on the strategic direction of UK energy research, development and demonstration to increase the level of investment in innovation and commercialisation.

The report says that in the move to meet climate change 2050 targets, the UK can risk locking the energy system and the public into an undesirable future if the long-term whole energy system is not considered when making choices.

It shows that the next 10 years is critical, with key technologies needing demonstration before making policy and investment decisions that will affect where our energy comes from and how we use it.

Labels: energy research partnership-UK energy research



http://www.energyresearchpartnership.org.uk/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=18

B and W and Fluor Strategic Alliance to sell CO2 capture Systems

B&W and Fluor Strategic Alliance to sell CO2 capture Systems

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group and Fluor's Power Group have formed a strategic alliance with to market and sell CO2 capture systems for existing coal-fired power plants in the US and Canada.
Fluor and B&W will jointly market and provide project execution for Fluor's Econamine FG PlusSM technology - an advanced version of an established Fluor process that has been successfully used in 23 commercial plants for the recovery of CO2 from flue gas for more than 20 years. The process uses an advanced amine-based solvent to capture CO2, which then can be permanently stored or used in other industrial applications.

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http://investor.fluor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=124955&p=newsarticle&id=1400377

Carbon capture

Carbon capture

DOE Funds NRG Energy for Carbon Capture

NRG Energy has been selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to receive up to $154 million to build a post-combustion carbon capture demonstration unit at NRG’s WA Parish plant southwest of Houston.

The proposed project was submitted under the Clean Coal Power Initiative Program (CCPI), a cost-shared collaboration between the federal government and private industry to demonstrate low-emission carbon capture and storage technologies in advanced coal-based, power generation.

The goal of CCPI is to accelerate the readiness of advanced coal technologies for commercial deployment, ensuring that the United States has clean, reliable, and affordable electricity and power.

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Labels: CCS-NRG Energy-DOE

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzU2NDF8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM=&t=1

Innovative CCS Technology by Cansolv

Innovative CCS Technology by Cansolv

SaskPower has chosen SNC Lavalin-Cansolv to provide the carbon dioxide (CO2) capture system for the Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Sequestration Demonstration Project.

Should it proceed, the carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project would transform an aging unit at Boundary Dam Power Station near Estevan into a reliable, long-term producer of 115 megawatts of clean baseload electricity, while enhancing provincial oil production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Cansolv, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shell Global Solutions, will supply the carbon capture process design for the project. Cansolv has developed an innovative system of capturing sulphur dioxide at coal-fired power plants, which has been adopted by three facilities in China.

If the business case indicates that the project should proceed, this technology would be used to meet two requirements of the demonstration project - the capture of both carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. A key aspect of this unique system is the recovery of waste energy between the two processes, which will reduce the operating cost of the project.

Plans call for the carbon dioxide captured at Boundary Dam to be sold to the oil and gas industry for enhanced oil recovery. The system also has the potential to produce a marketable byproduct - sulphuric acid.

Labels; SaskPower-SNC Lavalin-Cansolv-Boundary Dam

http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=ffeaca54-7dda-41bc-989d-b0db37ad0dd3

CFB Technolgy for Carbon Capturing

CFB Technolgy for Carbon Capturing

Foster Wheeler AG announced today that a subsidiary of its Global Power Group has been awarded a contract by Fundación Ciudad de la Energía , an institution created by the Spanish Government, for the design and supply of a circulating fluidized-bed unit for testing Foster Wheeler’s Flexi-BurnTM carbon capturing CFB technology.

Flexi-BurnTM is Foster Wheeler’s version of carbon capture technology based on oxygen combustion (commonly referred to as “oxy-combustion” or “oxy-fuel”) for coal plants. Unlike, pre-combustion (IGCC plant) or post-combustion technologies (amine CO2 scrubber placed behind conventional coal boilers), oxygen combustion technologies allow the boiler to produce a CO2 rich flue gas, thus reducing the need for expensive and energy-intensive CO2 gas separation equipment.

The CIUDEN unit will be designed to test burn a wide range of domestic (anthracite) and imported coals, as well as biomass. One of the objectives of the incorporation of this unit into the TDP is to validate Foster Wheeler’s Flexi-BurnTM CFB technology at the required scale before proceeding to a possible full-scale demonstration plant.







More: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Foster-Wheeler-Awarded-CFB-bw-3034997829.html?x=0&.v=1

Marine CCS takes a Leap in Britain

Marine CCS takes a Leap in Britain



BRITAIN’s £9.5 billion plan to bury power station pollution under the sea will move a step closer this week.

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, is ready to give tens of millions of pounds to Eon and Scottish Power, the utility groups, to finish designs for so-called carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment that would be fitted to coal-fired power stations.

CCS catches carbon dioxide generated by burning fossil fuels, liquefies it and pumps it into underground storage caverns.

The government sees it as a key element of its plans to slash Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, it introduced a carbon levy to raise £9.5 billion to fund up to four of the experimental plants.

Miliband will also supply fresh details of the government’s vision to build “carbon clusters” in regions where heavy industry and power plants are located. Moving millions of tonnes of carbon from plants to spent oil and gas fields in the North Sea will require a large new pipeline network.

Labels: CCS-Ed Miliband-Britain

More: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7052568.ece

CO2 Capture & Algae Growth

UOP, a Honeywell company announced today that it has been awarded a $1.5 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project to demonstrate technology to capture carbon dioxide and produce algae for use in biofuel and energy production.

The funding will be used for the design of a demonstration system that will capture carbon dioxide from exhaust stacks at Honeywell’s manufacturing facility in Hopewell and deliver the captured CO2 to a cultivation system for algae.

Algal oil can then be extracted from the algae for conversion to biofuels and the algae residual can be converted to pyrolysis oil, which can be burned to generate renewable electricity.

The project, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, will realize further environmental benefit because wastewater from the manufacturing facility will be used in the algae cultivation system, allowing the algae to consume nitrogen in the wastewater.

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California Boosts Clean energy

California’s Energy Commission yesterday announced a $90 million investment in clean energy manufacturing.

The Clean Energy Manufacturing Program will provide financing to manufacturers in the form of grants, loans, loan guarantees, tax-exempt financing, production incentives, sales tax incentives and credit enhancements.

Using the state’s remaining American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds, $30.6 million will be made available for businesses improving or expanding their energy efficiency or renewable energy manufacturing facilities in the state.

A further $59.5 million in state funding will be open for companies developing alternative and renewable fuels and advanced transportation technologies under the Energy Commission’s existing Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.

The fuel and vehicle programme is focused on four areas – biomethane ($21.5 million), ethanol ($6 million), vehicle and components ($19 million) and advanced biofuels ($13 million).

More: http://bit.ly/9TMYWd

DOE Funds Demo of CO2 Capture Technology

Cemex USA has been awarded $1.1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate a dry sorbent CO2 capture technology at one of its cement plants in the U.S. The commercial-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) demonstration project is expected to store up to 1 million tons of CO2.

Cemex, in partnership with RTI International, will design and construct a dry sorbent CO2 capture and compression system, an injection station, and pipeline, if needed. The company will fund 20 percent of Phase I of the CCS project.

More: http://bit.ly/dogi2b

Carbon Capture falls prey to Recession

Many are skeptical that Carbon Capture and Sequestration is a solution to climate change. The argument goes that coal can never be clean, and the costs and risks of storing carbon pollution deep underground makes CCS a false solution. The skeptics may now be joined by Southern Co., which is pulling out of an almost $700 million dollar CCS project in Alabama.

The demonstration project was to be cited at Southern's Plant Barry, and it was earmarked for about $295 million in federal stimulus funding through the Energy Department's Clean Coal Power Initiative. Had it been built, it would have captured 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from a 160-megawatt flue gas stream and then store in underground rock formations.

Southern spokesman Steve Higginbottom told EE News: "The current economic conditions also factored into the decision."

More: http://bit.ly/clXczK

Carbon Capture debate goes up in Smoke

The new Energy Bill, of UK, will block the introduction of an emissions performance standard.

“Our ambition is that any new coal plant constructed from 2020 will be fully carbon capture and storage from day one, said Joan Ruddock, Minister for Energy and Climate Change and that coal-fired power stations will retrofit to carbon capture storage 2025.”

The debate over coal-fired power stations rumbles on, with coal-fired power plants not committed to emissions targets until as late as 2025.

More: http://bit.ly/clCznq

Anyone there! To design Sorbents for Carbon capture

Two PhD studentships (2009-) are available in Chemistry at St Andrews University on the EPSRC-funded project (EP/G062129). Their aim is to design and optimise sorbents for carbon capture technologies based on microporous framework solids. This will build on work in the research group at St Andrews University that has prepared materials with improved thermal stability and adsorption site types and monitored their properties as sorbents. The work will be closely integrated with a consortium that aims to optimise carbon capture technologies, so that the materials will be tested in other laboratories, including Chemical Engineering at Edinburgh and University College London.

Novel MOF structure types will be prepared by the design and synthesis of ligands and the hydrothermal and solvothermal reaction of these ligands with metal cations under pH and oxidation state control. Novel zeolitic and mesoporous structures will be prepared by designed templating approaches. The structures will be solved via X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy and further characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. The adsorption behaviour will be measured by automated gravimetric and volumetric equipment available in the department and using advanced spectoscopic and diffraction measurements at central facilities and international laboratories.

More: http://bit.ly/9DiGoN