Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
9/5/2014
The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy is seeking information regarding advanced post-combustion carbon capture technologies that are ready to be tested at a large pilot scale, according to a request for information issued early this week. Information obtained in response to the RFI will be used in the drafting of a Nation Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) anticipated to be issued next year, the document says. “This RFI is seeking feedback on DOE’s plan to issue a FOA in FY2015 which will support the development and testing of at least one post-combustion CO2 capture system at the large pilot scale (10MWe+),” the document says.
Projects which would be considered under the planned FOA would have to capture a minimum of 90 percent of CO2 from a pilot plant’s flue gas, make progress toward the DOE goal of developing capture technology which can operate at a cost of $40 per tonne of CO2 or less and “complete parametric testing and long-term testing which would provide adequate information for the technology to be scaled for future demonstration at commercial scale.” Working toward meeting these goals will address issues currently slowing the deployment of CCS technology, according to the RFI. “The energy consumption and capital cost associated with state-of-the-art carbon capture systems is currently a deterrent to wide-spread deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Considering that carbon capture systems can represent over 75% of the total cost of CCS, research and development on carbon capture technology is essential to reduce both technical and economic risks,” according to the document.
The RFI lays out several questions which respondents are asked to address, including how “large pilot scale” should be defined, what types of parametric testing should be performed and for how long, what technical and financial barriers are likely to be encountered and how to overcome them and if such testing should occur at new-build or existing facilities. Responses are requested by Oct. 3 and should be submitted to NETL.
