Carbon Management Strategies and Technologies - Hot Topic June 24, 2010

The Hot Topic Hour yesterday yielded a lot of discussion, particularly related to fuel switching to natural gas, gas prices and the uncertainty associated with shale fracturing.

Theresa Pugh, Director of Environmental Services at American Public Power Association (APPA), said many member utilities will be facing very difficult decisions in coming years, about whether to retrofit or replace existing facilities to comply with new regulations for PM_2.5 and mercury. She said carbon storage will be the most difficult part of carbon capture and storage (CCS) due to issues such as the availability of underground storage sites, permitting, legal liability, long-term monitoring and potential impacts on drinking water. Ms. Pugh also discussed switching to natural gas on a large scale as a carbon management option.

Floyd Robb, Vice President of Communications & Marketing Support for Basin Electric Power Cooperative, discussed the carbon capture and storage demonstration project at Basin Electric’s Antelope Valley power station. Currently the project is conducting the front end engineering and design (FEED) study scheduled for completion in September. The project would capture CO₂ from a 120-MW slipstream, then pipe it 200 miles through an existing pipeline for enhanced oil recovery in Saskatchewan. If the Cooperative’s board votes to move forward after reviewing the FEED study, construction would begin in July 2011, with operation scheduled for late 2014.

Jim Sutton, Director of the Burner and Fabricated Parts Division of Alstom Power, discussed the age and heat rate efficiency of the US coal-fired power fleet.  He believes that CO₂ emissions per kW-hr can be reduced by approximately five percent by improving the heat rate and employing combustion optimization techniques.

Phil Boyle, President and COO of Powerspan Corp, reviewed the company’s pilot testing experience with its post-combustion carbon capture technology. A 1-MW pilot at FirstEnergy’s R.E. Burger Plant in Ohio was designed to be able to scale up to 200-MW. An independent review conducted by Worley Parsons confirmed the ability to scale up the results. Their economic analysis concluded that the cost of carbon capture at 200-MW would be $36.61/ton of CO₂ captured.

Michael Sandell, Vice President Technology of Siemens Environmental Systems & Services, provided conclusions from a CO₂ captive pilot plant.

• Promising properties of the Siemens POSTCAP CO₂ capture process using Amino Acid Salt (AAS) were confirmed from actual pilot plant operation.
• A CO₂ capture rate of 90 percent and above was achieved.
• The existing AAS process simulation model was validated.
• No crystallization effects appeared.
• Applicability of stainless steel 1.4571 (316L) as preferred construction material was confirmed.
• An efficiency drop of only 8.5 percentage points (including CO₂ compression to 200 bar and auxiliary power demand) can be achieved.
• The Amino Acid Salt is stable against thermal stress and oxygen environments which appear under real operation conditions.
• Solvent stability and low emissions have been experimentally confirmed.
• No mentionable amounts of emissions could be found.

The BIOS, ABSTRACTS AND PHOTOS can be viewed as follows:

BIOS, ABSTRACTS, PHOTOS - June 24, 2010.doc

The Individual slides can be viewed in the Universal Decision Tree as follows:

JIM SUTTON – ALSTOM POWER

THERESA PUGH – AMERICAN PUBLIC POWER ASSOCIATION

MICHAEL SANDELL - SIEMENS

FLOYD ROBB – BASIN ELECTRIC

PHIL BOYLE - POWERSPAN