DOE Fossil Energy Newsalert

The Department of Energy has announced that it will provide $36 million for 15 projects aimed at furthering the development of new and cost-effective technologies for the capture of carbon dioxide from the existing fleet of coal-fired power plants. For more details, link to the Energy Department's Fossil Energy Web site at: http://www.fossil.energy.gov/

Clean Air Task Force Director Comments on FutureGen

Statement of John Thompson, Clean Air Task Force Director of Coal Transition Project, on DOE Secretary Bodman’s Decision Not To Fund FutureGen

“It is short-sighted for the Bush Administration to retreat on FutureGen now. This project is important because it would be among the first power plants in the nation to capture large quantities of carbon dioxide. By mid-century, virtually all the nation’s coal, oil and natural gas fueled power plants must capture carbon dioxide if we’re to prevent global warming. President Bush needs to stick by what he started.

This unfortunate decision makes it more important than ever that the Midwest’s other proposed clean coal plants move forward and become “NowGen” projects that capture a portion of their carbon dioxide.

Two large proposed 630 MW commercial coal plants—one near Edwardsport, Indiana and one near Taylorville, Illinois— will use similar gasification technology as FutureGen. Neither plant has firm carbon capture plans, but with support from the states of Illinois and Indiana, both of these plants could capture 20% of their carbon emissions and remain economically competitive.

By building a plant like FutureGen that captures 90% of its carbon dioxide emissions, and flanking it with two commercial-sized plants that capture 20% carbon dioxide, it would be possible to create a trio of plants that could truly change the path of coal world-wide.

Indiana economic regulators gave the Duke Edwardsport plant permission to build in November 2007. As part of the decision, Duke must return with plans for studies to capture and store 20% carbon dioxide within 6 months. Last week, the plant received its air permit.

Yesterday, the USEPA’s Environmental Appeals Board finalized the air permit for the Taylorville, Illinois plant. Legislation enabling Taylorville to move forward with construction unanimously passed the Illinois Senate. The company now needs action from the Illinois House to facilitate construction. The legislature should move forward with this legislation, and also include provisions to fund partial carbon capture.”

About the Clean Air Task Force
The Clean Air Task Force is a national environmental organization that is dedicated to restoring clean air through scientific research, public education, and legal advocacy. The Clean Air Task Force is comprised of twenty professionals with backgrounds in science, engineering, law, economics and public outreach headquartered in Boston but located throughout the United States. CATF is recognized as one of the nation’s leading environmental organizations addressing air quality and atmospheric protection issues, and its work is widely respected in government and industry. For more information about the Clean Air Task Force, see http://www.catf.us/.

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Business Wire

clean coal

FutureGen Scrapped

On Wednesday the DOE announced a restructuring of the FutureGen project. The initial goal of the project is to demonstrate cutting-edge carbon capture and storage technology in order to advance clean coal power plants. Last year the Department of Energy agreed to spend $950 million to develop the project with FutureGen Alliance, a coalition of coal and oil companies. But this week's announcement cancelled this agreement and issued a new direction requesting a 2009 budget of $648 million for clean coal research.

According to Deputy Secretary Clay Sell, a projected increase of $1.8 billion in the original plan was the reason for the restructuring. The new plan "protects the government's exposure and ensures that it is financially and politically viable," stated Sell.

For the FutureGen Alliance this was a disappointing outcome, as they had lobbied hard for the project demonstration site to be located in Illinois.

According to the Associated Press, Wyoming Gov. Freudenthal, "It's kind of like they invited all of us to go to the prom, picked the date, and then canceled the dance. It seems to me - the absurdity of it - it could only be the federal government that would do this."

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DOE - Fossil Energy Techline
The Wall Street Journal - Environmental Capital
C/Net - Green Tech Blog

Find out:
How selective catalytic reduction reduces NOx emissions from coal fired power plants, lean burn engines and gas turbines.

clean coal

DOE OKs OUC Plant Under the CCPI

April 3, 2007 – The DOE announced the signing of a Record of Decision under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) which clears the way for construction of a clean coal-fired power plant co-owned by Southern Power Co., the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), and Kellogg, Brown and Root, utilizing innovative and efficient technology to reduce air pollution emissions. The DOE will provide $235 million in funding towards the construction of the $569-million, 285-megawatt coal gasification plant near Orlando, FL.

The Florida plant will use an integrated approach of coal gasification-combined cycle technology along with state-of-the-art emissions controls technology to reduce emissions, particularly mercury and CO2 and produce clean energy.

See the Source:
Fossil Energy Techline

Find out:
How coal-fired power plants can substantially reduce NOx emissions using selective catalytic reduction.

DOE Funds Projects Geared Toward Near-Zero Emissions Power Production

Washington, DC - The Department of Energy announced in December the selection of five projects totaling nearly $12 million targeting cost-effective technologies to improve the performance and economics of near-zero emission, coal-based power generation systems.

Developed for the Office of Fossil Energy's Advanced Research program, the projects focus on identifying technologies that address physical, chemical, biological and thermodynamic constraints in the cross cutting technology areas of instrumentation, sensors and control systems, materials, and computational energy sciences. DOE is providing more than $9.3 million in funding while industry is contributing more than $2.3 million. The projects range from 24 to 36 months in duration.

The research will continue to emphasize many of President Bush's energy goals of addressing global climate change, enhancing energy security, ushering in a hydrogen economy, and building the FutureGen plant. Cumulatively, the results will meet the efforts to develop the power generation systems of the future.
The projects are described below:

ALSTOM Power, Inc. (Windsor, Conn.) will develop computational process models and a process dynamic simulator to investigate and develop advanced sensing and control systems for hybrid combustion-gasification chemical looping. Their work hopes to achieve a more reliable, economical and emissions-optimized future plant process. (DOE share: $1,198,998; industry share: $299,750; duration: 24 months)

Babcock & Wilcox Company (Barberton, Ohio) will develop comprehensive modeling focused on predicting the corrosion rates of boiler tubes under low-NOx corrosion. Eight common coals will be tested and the intention is to accurately estimate the corrosion rates of boiler tubes using different variables including chemicals and temperature. (DOE share: $2,103,543; industry share: $525,884; duration: 36 months)

General Electric (Niskayuna, N.Y.) will perform computer modeling research focused specifically on coal gasification plants and will install and develop a harsh environment sensor package at the Tampa Electric Company Polk Power Station. The collected temperature data will be used for model validation. (DOE share: $2,427,588; industry share: $606,897; duration: 36 months)

Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, Calif.) will develop advanced nanostructure coatings to significantly improve corrosion and erosion performance of tubing used in boiler applications. The coatings will undergo testing in simulated boiler environments using coals from three different regions. EPRI's partners include the Southwest Research Institute, Foster Wheeler North America Corp. and Applied Films. (DOE share: $1,994,828; industry share: $498,708; duration: 36 months)

University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, Colo.) will develop a gas-solid model, using new methodologies tailored to polydisperse systems, targeted specifically at materials with differences in size and/or density. Novel aspects include incorporating the effects of random particle motion between systems. (DOE share: $1,594,175; industry share: $402,995; duration: 36 months)

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Department of Energy

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About new low-temperature selective catalytic reduction technology from CleanAIR Systems to lower NOx emissions from power plants.