Coal Research Center Proposes Test of Carbon Capture Technology

A demonstration project to remove carbon dioxide from coal-fired smokestack emissions has been proposed for a controversial power plant under construction in Wise County, Va., and the project could be partially funded with federal stimulus dollars.

The Virginia Tech Center for Coal and Energy Research and Dominion Power announced plans Tuesday to establish a $580 million demonstration center at Dominion’s Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County. Last week, the coalition applied for federal stimulus money to offset as much as half of that cost.

“This is something a lot of people are working on – getting carbon dioxide out of the emissions stream and addressing concerns about CO2,” Dominion spokesman Greg Edwards said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re excited to be part of it.”

Under the plan, as much as 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide would be removed from the power plant’s emissions each day. The carbon dioxide would be converted into a liquid, transported as far as 25 miles by underground pipeline to other sites, and stored underground in “thin” coal seams that can’t be mined or in saline formations.

The coalition, which includes Virginia Tech, Dominion, the Southern States Energy Board and others, has applied for funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, under the federal recovery act’s clean coal power initiative.

Federal officials are expected to review the funding request by November and – if approved – planning could begin on the project by mid-2010, Edwards said.

Work could begin on the carbon-capture demonstration center by 2013 and be completed by 2015, he said.

Neither Edwards nor Virginia Tech officials would speculate about the project’s future if the funding request is denied.

“This project will be a significant step forward in funding a viable means of controlling carbon emissions from power stations,” Michael Karmis, a Virginia Tech professor who is director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, said in a written statement. “We are fortunate that Virginia has an advanced power plant and suitable injection sites in close proximity.”

Nino Ripepi, a research associate with the center, said there are no comparable projects.

“Capture is being done, but nothing has been done at this scale. And injecting the liquid, nothing has been done to this extent,” Ripepi said in a phone interview.

The identified underground storage areas represent “thousands of years” of capacity, Ripepi said.

Virginia Tech is currently conducting smaller scale carbon storage experiments in Russell County.

“The carbon storage trials show a lot of promise,” Edwards said. “They have been able to sequester about 95 percent of the carbon.”

One goal of the project is to remove and capture a minimum of 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

The project also could produce substantial amounts of coal-bed methane, a form of natural gas that can be used as an energy source.

The demonstration project would create 36 full-time jobs, while the Virginia City power plant is expected to employ about 80. The power plant is scheduled to begin operations in 2012.

The 585 megawatt plant is designed to burn coal, waste coal and biomass. A number of environmental groups have opposed it since the beginning, claiming it will further pollute the region’s environment.

Earlier this month, a Circuit Court judge in Richmond ruled that one of two air permits issued for the plant is invalid. However, company officials said they expect the permit matter to be resolved so the plant can be completed on schedule.

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