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ContactGrowing the future of coal power through technological innovation and integration
The Grow mission under the Power and Capture Program engineers the next-generation coal power and products facility — one that is highly efficient, economically robust, and operationally flexible. It involves developing and testing novel and emerging high-efficiency electric generation technologies, including oxygen-based combustion, chemical looping combustion (CLC), advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC), atmospheric and pressurized fluidized bed, supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles, and integrated gasification concepts, such as integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) and integrated gasification fuel cell cycle (IGFC). It also champions polygeneration designs that transform traditional power plants into versatile facilities capable of producing multiple high-value products. In addition, this next-generation facility will strive to improve operational flexibility and energy efficiency by integrating power plants with digital systems, leveraging waste heat and innovative thermal energy storage. Additional areas include repowering retired plants, focusing on boiler islands and power cycles.
The Coal Center of Excellence efforts focus on activities to grow coal via new materials and plant designs, including advanced materials systems analysis, advanced high-temperature materials development, advanced coal systems analysis, superstructure-based process concept screening, and evaluation of coal waste and/or waste coal to power data centers.
Oxy-Combustion
This technical area focuses on the combustion of fossil fuels in nearly pure oxygen, rather than air, to eliminate the introduction of nitrogen into the industrial process and generate gas streams composed only of water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and trace contaminants from coal. The high concentration of CO2 and absence of nitrogen in the gas streams simplifies separation of the CO2. An oxy-combustion system typically includes three major components: (1) oxygen (O2) production in an air separation unit (ASU); (2) the oxy-combustion reactor (fuel conversion unit); and (3) CO2 purification and compression. Based on different combinations of these components, oxy-combustion can have several process configurations with different energetic and economic performance.
Chemical Looping Combustion
CLC involves the use of a metal oxide or other compound as an O2 carrier to transfer O2 from air to the production process, avoiding direct contact with air. This is achieved by circulating the oxygen carrier between two separate reactors — one where it oxidizes by reacting with air and another where it is reduced by reacting with coal, producing a concentrated stream of CO2 ready for capture. This two-step process inherently separates the CO2, making it much easier and more efficient to capture than in traditional combustion systems. The metal oxide is recycled back to the oxidation chamber where it is regenerated by contact with air. CLC is distinct from oxy-combustion processes, in that, an ASU is not required, and CO2 separation is integrated into the production process.
Polygeneration
This technical area builds upon and expands the scope of coal facilities to serve many critical American needs while enabling multiple revenue streams and future-proofing the facility to adapt to changes over time. Polygeneration seeks to develop next-generation facilities that would not only produce power, but would integrate options to produce additional revenue streams, such as coal-based carbon products, waste-converted products, and alternative products from environmental control systems. Other potential revenue streams may include the recovery of rare earths elements and critical minerals, digital asset integration, and utilization of produced CO2 for enhanced hydrocarbon recovery.
Digital System Integration
The integration of coal electric power generation with digital systems, such as data centers, especially when coupled with carbon capture, is a developing strategy aimed at providing reliable and flexible "behind-the-meter" generation. This means that power is generated on-site, directly serving the data center, rather than relying solely on the main grid. The development of this model is gaining traction as data centers face exploding AI workloads and strained grid capacity. Instead of drawing all power from the electric grids, data centers can co-locate with or utilize power plants that are designed to meet their specific, high-reliability power demands. An additional benefit of co-locating power generation with data centers is the potential to utilize waste heat. Data centers themselves generate a significant amount of heat from their operations. Combined heat and power (CHP) systems can recover thermal energy, reducing the data center's cooling energy demand and increasing overall system efficiency.