Expansion of Michigan EOR Operations Using Advanced Amine Technology at a 600 MW Project Wolverine Carbon Capture and Storage Project

Abstract

Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative Inc, a member owned cooperative utility based in Cadillac Michigan, proposes to demonstrate the capture, beneficial utilization and storage of CO{sub 2} in the expansion of existing Enhanced Oil Recovery operations. This project is being proposed in response to the US Department of Energy Solicitation DE-FOA-0000015 Section III D, 'Large Scale Industrial CCS projects from Industrial Sources' Technology Area 1. The project will remove 1,000 metric tons per day of CO{sub 2} from the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture 600 MW CFB power plant owned and operated by WPC. CO{sub 2} from the flue gas will be captured using Hitachi's CO{sub 2} capture system and advanced amine technology. The capture system with the advanced amine-based solvent supplied by Hitachi is expected to significantly reduce the cost and energy requirements of CO{sub 2} capture compared to current technologies. The captured CO{sub 2} will be compressed and transported for Enhanced Oil Recovery and CO{sub 2} storage purposes. Enhanced Oil Recovery is a proven concept, widely used to recover otherwise inaccessible petroleum reserves. While post-combustion CO{sub 2} capture technologies have been tested at the pilot scale on coal power plant flue gas, they have not yet been demonstrated at a commercial scale and integrated with EOR and storage operations. Amine-based CO{sub 2} capture is the leading technology expected to be available commercially within this decade to enable CCS for utility and industrial facilities firing coal and waste fuels such as petroleum coke. However, traditional CO{sub 2} capture process utilizing commercial amine solvents is very energy intensive for regeneration and is also susceptible to solvent degradation by oxygen as well as SOx and NO{sub 2} in the flue gas, resulting in large operating costs. The large volume of combustion flue gas with its low CO{sub 2} concentration requires large equipment sizes, which together with the highly corrosive nature of the typical amine-based separation process leads to high plant capital investment. According to recent DOE-NETL studies, MEA-based CCS will increase the cost of electricity of a new pulverized coal plant by 80-85% and reduce the net plant efficiency by about 30%. Non-power industrial facilities will incur similar production output and efficiency penalties when implementing conventional carbon capture systems. The proposed large scale demonstration project combining advanced amine CO{sub 2} capture integrated with commercial EOR operations significantly advances post-combustion technology development toward the DOE objectives of reducing the cost of energy production and improving the efficiency of CO{sub 2} Capture technologies. WPC has assembled a strong multidisciplinary team to meet the objectives of this project. WPC will provide the host site and Hitachi will provide the carbon capture technology and advanced solvent. Burns and Roe bring expertise in overall engineering integration and plant design to the team. Core Energy, an active EOR producer/operator in the State of Michigan, is committed to support the detailed design, construction and operation of the CO{sub 2} pipeline and storage component of the project. This team has developed a Front End Engineering Design and Cost Estimate as part of Phase 1 of DOE Award DE-FE0002477.