Tri-State-backed carbon capture project proves successful

A unique Tri-State-supported Wisconsin R&D pilot project aimed at demonstrating the viability of capturing 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from a coal-based power plant utilizing a chilled ammonia process has proved successful after more than one year of testing.

Tri-State’s connection to the project is through its membership in the Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, Calif.), an independent, non-profit company performing research, development and design for the electricity sector. EPRI has been working with Alstom, a global company that developed the chilled ammonia process, and WE Energies, the host utility, for this 1.7-megawatt system that captures 90 percent of the CO2 delivered from WE Energies’ 1,210-megawatt Pleasant Prairie Power Plant near Prairie, Wis.

In support of this EPRI project, Tri-State joins about 35 utilities from the United States, Germany, Australia and France that have been helping to fund approximately $7 million toward the cost of the first pilot project that uses chilled ammonia to capture CO2 from a portion of the coal-fired boiler flue gas at the plant.

“The WE Energies demonstration project is an important component of Tri-State’s comprehensive effort to examine how we can manage carbon dioxide emissions from coal-based power plants,” said Tim Driver, Tri-State’s generation technical project manager. “Tri-State’s participation in this project gives us access to the information and data that will help us to better understand how we could incorporate carbon capture technology into our generation fleet.”

The WE Energies project success has paved the way for a larger demonstration project using the chilled ammonia process to move forward in West Virginia. This fall, American Electric Power (Columbus, Ohio) will utilize Alstom’s proven carbon capture process at its Mountaineer Plant in West Virginia in a 20-megawatt carbon capture facility.

Updated: September 16, 2009