ION Engineering, LLC (ION), has teamed with Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), Sargent & Lundy, LLC, and Koch Modular Process Systems to develop a detailed design and cost estimate for a commercial-scale (300 MWe) slipstream carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture facility for NPPD’s Gerald Gentleman Station (GGS). The team will produce a comprehensive overview of the costs associated with retrofitting the GSS coal-fired power generating Unit 2 to use ION’s solvent-based capture process for removing CO₂ from flue gas. ION’s water-lean solvent exhibits significant reductions in regeneration energy requirements and significantly higher CO₂ loading capacities when compared with the commercially available and most widely used amine-based solvent, monoethanolamine (MEA). The solvent’s properties result in reduced parasitic loads, liquid solvent flow rates, corrosion, maintenance, and equipment sizes when scaled-up for commercial systems, leading to reductions in both capital and operating expenses. During a recent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project, the advanced CO₂capture solvent was tested at pilot scale (12 MWe) at the CO₂ Technology Centre in Mongstad, Norway. The campaign included 2,750 hours of testing with capture of more than 14,000 tonnes of CO₂ with greater than 98 percent purity, outperforming MEA with a greater than 30 percent energy savings. The team will include the following process improvements in the design for the GSS Unit 2: solvent split-stream integration, flue gas heat recovery, and water use minimization. In addition to the design of the capture system, a capital cost estimate, encompassing both engineering design and construction for the carbon capture process and balance of plant systems, and a techno-economic analysis will be prepared.

Predecessor Projects: FE0005799, FE0013303