Pilot power plant reuses waste CO2

Abstract

Carbon dioxide will play a critical role in generating electricity at a privately funded pilot project at La Porte, Texas. NET Power, the project’s developer, says that at the 50-MW demonstration power plant, CO2 will turn a turbine rather than merely being a difficult-to-handle waste product. The facility uses an oxy-fuel technology, which burns natural gas in a pure oxygen environment, creating heat and CO2 as a combustion by-product. This CO2 is then concentrated and pressurized in the combustion system to a supercritical state. This pressurized CO2 runs a turbine and generates electricity. The used CO2 could be recycled into the pressurizing system, used for enhanced oil recovery, or sequestered deep underground, NET Power spokesman Walker Dimming says. The facility will cost about $140 million, which is being provided by international energy, technology, and construction firms, Dimming says. If the project is successful, it will be followed by a 295-MW