7th September 2014 The first coal plant in the U.S. to capture and store CO2 underground This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved permits allowing the FutureGen Industrial Alliance to capture and store CO2 deep underground near Jacksonville, Illinois – the first project of its kind in the U.S.
Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) currently stand at nearly 400ppm, the highest concentration for millions of years. This is largely a result of human industrial activity, the evidence for which is overwhelming. A new study published in Climate Risk Management finds there is a 99.999% certainty that humans are driving global warming, while a paper earlier this year revealed a similar figure of 99.9%. Claims of a "pause" in warming are refuted when accounting for missing heat data in the Arctic, and in any case, 93% of heat is found in the oceans rather than surface temperatures. Worldwide, coal provides about 30% of energy, accounting for 44% of CO2 emissions. In the United States, its use has declined in recent years, but still represents nearly a quarter of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Plans are underway to reduce carbon pollution from U.S. coal plants by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030 – through efficiency measures, shifting from coal to gas, investing in clean energy and making power plant upgrades. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) will form part of this strategy. The trapping of CO2 in deep geological formations has been proposed, with studies having identified regions where centuries' worth of emissions could be safely sequestered. Industry forecasts indicate that CCS will achieve widespread adoption by the late 2020s, by which time sequestered coal-based electricity may cost less than unsequestered coal-based power today. The IPCC estimates that the economic potential of CCS could be up to 55% of the total carbon mitigation effort until the year 2100.
Since 2003, a non-profit group known as the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, has been seeking to develop a first-of-its-kind, near-zero emissions coal plant. A new oxy-coal system using an innovative purification method has shown potential as a way of separating, compressing and storing over 90% of CO2 generated from the combustion process. After successful testing at 30 MW scale, the project was relaunched as FutureGen 2.0, with plans for commercial-scale validation at an existing 200 MW coal plant in Meredosia, Illinois. Retrofitting this old power station (seen in the photo above) would enable the capturing of 1.1 million tons of CO2 each year – equivalent to emissions from 232,000 cars. The project has faced a number of setbacks and cost overruns. This week, however, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally approved permits allowing CO2 to be captured at Meredosia, transported along a 30 mi (48 km) pipeline and stored 4,000 ft (1.2 km) underground at a site in Jacksonville. Drilling of the four wells containing liquefied gas could begin as soon as next month, according to the EPA's press release. The project will also include a visitors, research and training centre. A total of 22 million metric tons of CO2 are expected to be captured over the 20 year life of the project. This appears miniscule when compared to the almost 5.5 billion tons of annual emissions in the U.S. – not to mention the 1,400 gigatons of global CO2 output since the Industrial Revolution, something which is going to need resolving later in this century. Nevertheless, FutureGen 2.0 represents an important milestone in CCS technology and a vital early step on the long road to decarbonisation. For more information, visit FutureGenAlliance.org.
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