Coal plant to test CO2 capture

[xcel]

By capturing CO2 after it is produced, Alstom's technology can be used with hundreds of today's traditional pulverized coal plants.

Paul Davidson - USA TODAY - Feb. 27, 2008

Train cars full of coal headed toward a power plant.

Alstom’s CO2 capture technology has been reported previously but its practical use in an actual US based coal powered generating station is a milestone! Carbon captured in this test will be re-released -- Ed.

It may not have the panache of a Toyota Prius or the sizzle of the Academy Awards bid to "go green."

But the USA is quietly opening a more significant front this week in the battle against global warming by targeting its biggest source: power plants.

A Wisconsin coal-fired power plant operated by We Energies is scheduled to launch a pilot project to capture a portion of the carbon dioxide produced as the coal is burned. It will be the first time a U.S. power plant has corralled CO2, the main greenhouse gas, before it floats out of the smokestack.

Power plants produce nearly 40% of U.S. carbon emissions; the bulk of that is from coal plants.

The project is a small step on a long road. Alstom, the technology provider, will capture just 3% of the carbon and will immediately release it rather than storing it underground. Carbon storage is widely deemed the biggest hurdle in the worldwide effort to reduce power plant CO2 emissions… [Read More]

[Vooch]

The difficulty w/ Alstom's process is that it uses about 17% of the plant's energy output just to separate the C02. It is a highly inefficent process.


Altsom plants represent some 40% of the worldwide installed base of Coal burners. A huge percentage of its cash flow comes from Aftermarket servces sold to this installed base. Altsom also has the leading market share of new Coal plants.


Alstom is desperate to do something to save this business, but a 17% reduction in power just isn't going to cut it.

[xcel]

Hi Vooch:

___Right now, that is about the best there is! The Coal gasification and CO2 capture plants cost 10X’s what a std. plant does so that is definitely out. MIT has been running a pilot scale system using a type of algae to scrub the CO2 out of the flue gas but it has never made it out into the real world just yet. I am sure there are other ideas but none have been placed into a working plant just yet and King Coal is running out of options quickly of CO2 capture and sequestration is mandated in a big way!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[Vooch]

Wayne - agreed CO2 capture needs to happen, just commenting on the specific technology that Alstom is using. There are essentially 4 paths, Alstom's happens to be the one that is quickest to bring to market, but the least efficient.

[owlmaster08]

Wait, a 17% reduction in power to cut 3% of the emissions? That can't be right. That means you end up burning more coal to make up for that 17%, of which only 3% can only be captured, therefore creating more CO2 emissions? I must be missing something.

[Vooch]

they are only using a tiny part of the plant's flue gas stream - it is a test project.

But the projections are a 17% cost.

[worthywads]

A 17% loss could still make Coal the fuel of the future.

[Dan]

Did a bit of research on coal. Considering how much coal is used here in TX to produce electricity, CO2 recapture is way past due. Hope the trend catches the politico's and become the way to do it in the future.

A bit off topic, but as far as liquification goes, here's some good links:

Bit on Coal Chemistry:
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genche...anic/coal.html

Bit on Coal to Diesel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch_synthesis

Bit on Coal to Petroleum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karrick_process

Given the price trend on Oil, and the domestic deposits of Coal, I honestly think we will start seeing coal-petrol and coal-diesels eventually. I'd imagine they'd be marketed as "Freedom Gas" or some other catchy phraseology.

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