Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)  and NETL have announced up to $30 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) for front-end engineering design (FEED) studies for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture systems. The projects, funded by the Office of Fossil Energy’s Carbon Capture program will support FEED studies for CO2 systems on both coal and natural gas power plants.  “With the Department’s ongoing investment in advanced carbon capture technologies, we will ensure that we can continue using our abundant domestic resources to power the Nation in a way that’s environmentally sound,” said Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes. “Carbon capture plays an integral role in reducing emissions and safeguarding the environment, while simultaneously protecting our energy security.”

Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced the selection of eight projects to receive nearly $24 million in federal funds for cost-shared research and development (R&D) for Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies. The selected projects will focus on the development of solvent, sorbent, and membrane technologies to address scientific challenges and knowledge gaps associated with reducing the cost of carbon capture. Secretary Perry announced these projects today at a joint press conference with International Energy Agency Executive Director, Dr. Fatih Birol. “By 2040 the world will still rely on fossil fuels for 77% of its energy use. Our goal is to produce them in a cleaner way,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. “These projects will allow America, and the world for that matter, to use both coal and natural gas with near-zero emissions.”

Experts from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) — the only U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory dedicated to fossil energy research — will offer research input when the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) holds its Winter Policy Summit in the Nation’s Capital today through Wednesday to consider potential policy initiatives. NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., said participation in external events like the NARUC Winter Summit is important for the Laboratory because it offers the opportunity to provide important data and research results to individuals who can use that information to develop policy in the energy arena.

NETL’s 2018 Compendium of Carbon Capture Technology, which provides a technical summary of its Carbon Capture program, is now available. The comprehensive document assembles carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology research and development descriptions into a single document, allowing stakeholders in corporations, small businesses, universities, nonprofit organizations, other national laboratories and government agencies to examine the technology progress and activities of the Carbon Capture program. The successful development of advanced CO2 capture technologies is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and maintaining the cost-effectiveness of fossil energy-based power generation and other industrial processes. Research and development (R&D) efforts featured in the 2018 Compendium of Carbon Capture Technology include the development of advanced solvents, sorbents, membranes and novel concepts for both post- and pre-combustion CO2 capture, along with R&D collaborations.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) and NETL have issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) for a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to complete at least two front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for commercial-scale carbon capture systems on coal and natural gas power plants. DE-FOA-0002058, Front-End Engineering and Design Studies for Carbon Capture Systems on Coal and Natural Gas Power Plants, will support FE’s Carbon Capture Program. FE anticipates that the FOA will support at least two projects. The objective of the planned FOA is to competitively solicit and award research and development (R&D) projects for FEED studies of at least two commercial-scale carbon capture power projects for retrofit at an existing domestic coal-fired power plant and for a coal or natural gas plant that generates carbon dioxide suitable for utilization or storage.   

An ambitious computational modeling project led by NETL identified membrane materials that will make carbon capture more affordable for coal-fired power plants, reducing the cost to less than $50 per metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) removed. NETL’s Jan Steckel, Ph.D., worked with Chris Wilmer, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and NETL colleagues Olukayode Ajayi, Ph.D., and Samir Budhathoki to model the cost of carbon capture for more than 1 million hypothetical mixed matrix membrane (MMM) materials using powerful computational tools. Their work is highlighted in the latest edition of the high-impact journal Energy and Environmental Science.

ClearPath Foundation, a non-profit organization that specializes in developing policies and research that supports clean energy initiatives through small government, free markets, and American innovation will visit NETL in Morgantown, West Virginia, Tuesday, Dec. 4 to learn about the Laboratory’s work on carbon capture and storage, solid oxide fuel cells, systems engineering analysis, chemical looping, and hybrid performance – technology research areas with potential for advancing clean energy innovations. According to NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., in addition to advancing public policy initiatives in support of clean energy initiatives including carbon capture and storage research, ClearPath has helped fund the National Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville, Alabama, which works to accelerate the commercialization of advanced technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from both natural gas and coal power generation. NETL has a history of working with the Center to install and evaluate promising carbon capture technologies for scale-up and future commercial deployment.

An ambitious NETL project aimed at making membrane-based carbon capture more affordable for power plants is highlighted in the latest edition of the high-impact journal Energy and Environmental Science. Power plants are a major source of greenhouse gases, sometimes requiring costly carbon-capture technologies to meet federal emissions requirements and ensure responsible stewardship of the environment. The development of highly permeable membranes selective enough to easily separate carbon dioxide ( CO2) from gas streams at a low cost offers the potential to facilitate affordable carbon capture.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing up to $30 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) under the second closing of the Office of Fossil Energy’s (FE’s) Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies funding opportunity announcement. Selected projects will support the development of solvent, sorbent, and membrane technologies to address scientific challenges and knowledge gaps associated with reducing the cost of carbon capture, supporting DOE’s goal to develop technologies that can significantly reduce the cost of CO2capture from coal fired power plants. Specifically, projects must address one area of interest, Development of Novel Transformational Materials and Processes, with the following three subtopics: Subtopic 1A: Novel Solvents for Lab-Scale R&D

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected five additional projects to receive approximately $11.3 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development. These projects are supported through the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001792, Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies. Selected projects will support DOE’s Carbon Capture Program, which is developing transformational, step-change, low-cost capture processes and enabling technologies that will maximize the efficiency of our nation's fossil-based power generation infrastructure. The selected projects will join six other projects under this FOA chosen by FE to receive approximately $17.6 million in February 2018. The National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage these additional projects, and descriptions follow.