Up to $408 million in Recovery Act funding will be used for technologies to advance carbon capture and storage. The two projects selected - an existing power plant in North Dakota and a new facility in California - will incorporate advanced technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative will partner with Powerspan and Burns & McDonnell to demonstrate the removal of CO2 from the flue gas of a lignite-based boiler by adding CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) to Basin Electric's existing Antelope Valley Station, located near Beulah, N.D.
Photo courtesy of Basin Electric Power Cooperative


Up to $408 million in Recovery Act funding will be used for technologies to advance carbon capture and storage. The two projects selected - an existing power plant in North Dakota and a new facility in California - will incorporate advanced technologies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Selection of the two projects is part of the third round of the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). The Department of Energy will provide up to $408 million in federal funds - $100 million to Basin Electric Power Cooperative and $308 million to Hydrogen Energy International LLC - to support technology demonstrations. The CCPI is a cost-shared collaboration between the federal government and private industry to increase investment in low-emission coal technology by demonstrating advanced coal-based, power generation technologies.

The sites will employ different technological concepts to achieve a goal of at least 90 percent CO2capture efficiency.
  • Basin Electric Power Cooperative will partner with Powerspan and Burns & McDonnell to demonstrate the removal of CO2 from the flue gas of a lignite-based boiler by adding CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) to Basin Electric's existing Antelope Valley Station, located near Beulah, N.D. Powerspan's ammonia-based technology will be used to capture CO2 on a 120-MW electric-equivalent gas stream from the 450 MW Antelope Valley Station Unit 1. The net result will be 90 percent removal of CO2 from the treated flue gas, yielding 3,000 short tons per day (1,000,000 tons per year) of pipeline-quality CO2. The ammonia based SO2scrubbing system also will also produce a liquid stream of ammonium sulfate that will be processed into a fertilizer byproduct.

  • Hydrogen Energy International LLC, a joint venture owned by BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto, will design, construct and operate an integrated gasification combined-cycle power plant that will take blends of coal and petroleum coke, combine them with non-potable water, and convert them into hydrogen and CO2. The CO2 will be separated from the hydrogen using the methanol-based Rectisol process. The hydrogen gas will be used to fuel a power station, and the CO2 will be transported by pipeline to nearby oil reservoirs, where it will be injected for storage and used for enhanced oil recovery. The project, which will be located in Kern County, Calif., will capture more than 2,000,000 tons per year CO2.


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