U.S. Carbon Capture Projects Selected for Further Development

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected four projects for continued research into developing carbon capture technologies, with the goal of achieving 90 percent carbon dioxide removal. While existing carbon capture technologies require enormous amounts of energy — adding as much as 80 percent to the cost of electricity for a new coal plant and significantly reducing the efficiency of the operation — federal officials hope new advancements will reduce that to no more than 35 percent. According to the department’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE), the $67 million commitment over four years will focus on advanced solvent-based, post-combustion carbon capture technologies, which could provide the most near-term benefits since they can be added to existing power plants. The projects, managed by the FE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, include a pilot project that uses an amine-based process being developed by Linde LLC; carbon absorber retrofit equipment being tested at a Colorado Springs power plant by the Neumann Systems Group, Inc.; and waste heat integration methods being developed by Southern Company and the University of Kentucky Research Foundation.