Companies developing carbon capture technologies to sweep the CO2 out of coal and natural gas power plant emissions reported Friday progress with the complex technology.
Alstom reports clean 90 percent of the CO2 out of the emissions from a West Virginia coal plant
Cost efficiencies need to improve. But the ability of capture technologies to clean escaping plumes has risen considerably. This achievement comes as carbon-capture is gaining support among lawmakers but drawing snipes from conservatives opposed to government spending and regulation.
According to Patrick Fragman, vice president at power-plant equipment maker Alstom, the technologies are now proving themselves and moving toward “large-scale demonstration projects that allow us to focus on improving the efficiencies and economics.”
The company, which has 11 early-stage projects underway, reported the results of several, including one at a Wisconsin plant run by We Energies. The plant is using a chilled-ammonia system Alstom developed jointly with Dow Chemical.
According to independently confirmed results, the system captured 90 percent of CO2 and delivered that CO2 with a high, 99.5 percent purity for reuse. Only 10 parts per million of ammonia were released in 7,000 hours of testing, Alstom said.
The results paralleled those at a larger coal-fired plant in West Virginia – a pilot project that has been closely watched since it was announced last year. The pilot is testing an amine technology, also developed with Dow Chemical, and according to a preliminary report, sifted out 90 percent of CO2 emissions and generated CO2 of equal purity. The amine system has operated for 4,500 hours.
While carbon capture is improving, it is clear the technologies are at an early stage and costs are still high. One National Energy Technology Laboratory study projected operating a carbon capture system at a large refinery will cost $100 million a year – adding considerably to the cost of power.
In an op-ed published this week in The New York Times, the conservative Manhattan Institute jumped on the issue of cost by arguing energy-hungry carbon capture soaks up 28 percent of the power a plant produces.
So far, the Department of Energy has allocated $3.4 billion of stimulus funds for capture and storage projects. Another $2 billion is included in the Senate climate bill introduced earlier this week.
Obviously further technological progress is needed. But it is good to see progress being made since about 40 percent of U.S. electricity still comes from coal plants.
Posted by Mark Boslet 
