PITTSBURGH, PA - One of the "breakthroughs" singled out by President Bush and others that could
dramatically reduce the threat of global climate change
is carbon sequestration - the capture and storage of
greenhouse gases that otherwise would be expelled from
energy facilities.
Already, carbon sequestration is one of the fastest
growing areas of research in the U.S. Department of
Energy. Now, as part of this effort, the department is
preparing to add three new projects to its research
portfolio.
One project, if successful, will add a new option for
capturing carbon gases that could significant reduce the
high costs and severe energy penalties that have
hindered past approaches. The other two projects will
explore ways to store carbon dioxide safely and
essentially permanently, again without imposing
excessive costs on the energy consumer.
The three projects were selected in a broad
competition run by the Energy Department's National
Energy Technology Laboratory. They were submitted by:
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University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
Researchers is the University's Department of
Chemical Engineering will develop an alternative
solvent that captures more carbon dioxide while
using 25 to 50 percent less energy than
conventional, state-of-the-art MEA (monoethanol
amine) scrubbing, another CO2-removal method. Using
less energy allows coal plants to produce more
electricity while capturing and storing CO2. By
expanding on bench-scale system modeling and
pilot-scale experiments, the university will develop
and validate a process model to optimize solvent
rate, stripper pressure and other parameters.
Because gas/liquid contact and CO2 mass transfer
would be enhanced, capital costs may be reduced.
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Total project cost: $728,007; DOE share: $461,849;
applicant share: $266,158; project duration: 3
years. Contact: Gary T. Rochelle, 512-471-7230 |
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University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA,
which proposes to study in a laboratory a deep-ocean
CO2-sequestration method that blends liquid CO2,
water and finely ground limestone into an emulsion
that could be pumped into the ocean for long-term
storage. Because this emulsion would weigh more than
seawater, it would sink to the deep ocean. This
would make it possible to CO2 at shallower depths
than current directed-injection techniques. Soluble
calcium bicarbonate, food for aquatic organisms,
would be formed and stored in the ocean
indefinitely. The emulsion would be analyzed in-situ
through windows to study its structure, droplet size
and stability for one year. In the second year, an
emulsion of liquid CO2, water and a possibly a
surfactant will be investigated as it flows through
a pipe. The optimal mix of reagents to produce a
stable emulsion will be determined.
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Total project cost: $267,840; DOE share: $206,290;
applicant share: $61,550; project duration: 2 years.
Contact: Dr. Anastasios Angelopoulos, 978-934-3667 |
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- University of Kentucky Research Foundation,
Lexington, KY. The University proposes to
displace natural gas from black Devonian shales and
use these organic-rich rocks to store CO2. Studies
have shown that CO2 is preferentially adsorbed by
gaseous coals in deep, unminable coal seams in very
much the same manner that gas is naturally stored in
these coals. In fact, CO2 displaces methane
molecules two to one. The study will determine
whether a similar phenomena takes place in Devonian
black shales, which serve as both a source and a
trap for natural gas. This project will analyze CO2
adsorption along with natural gas production, and
determine which shales offer the best sequestration
potential. At the end of the project, data will be
available through publications and Web-based
systems.
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Total project cost: $532,966; DOE share: $364,453;
applicant share: $168,513; project duration: 2
years. Contact: Jeff Kurz, 859-257-4498 |
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