The National Carbon Capture Center: Cost-effective test bed for carbon capture R&D

Abstract

The US Department of Energy (DOE) established the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) as part of its strategy to address the need for cost-effective CO2 capture technologies. The focus of the NCCC is to conduct research and development to advance emerging CO2 control technologies to commercial scale for effective integration into coal- based Integraged Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and combustion processes. To achieve this goal, the NCCC provides a test-bed for government, industrial, and university projects to conduct meaningful tests in an industrial setting.The NCCC test plan includes both post-combustion and pre-combustion CO2 capture development. A flexible post- combustion test facility, Post-combustion Carbo Plant E.C. Gaston, in Wilsonville, Alabama. The facility, which is managed by Southern Company Services, provides a platform for testing technologies at a wide-range of sizes and process conditions on coal-derived flue gas. Since completing commissioning and baseline testing in early 2011, several technologies have been tested.The PC4 facility includes multiple slipstreams with a range of flue gas throughputs to allow the evaluation of post- combustion CO2 capture technologies. It provides the capability to test modules from technology developers and to test solvents in an absorber/regenerator unit, the pilot solvent test unit (PSTU). In 2011, PSTU baseline tests were completed, using a reference solvent, monoethanol amine (MEA) to characterize its performance and verify the reliability of the data generated. The PSTU was later operated to test a potential commercial solvent developed by Babcock & Wilcox. Aker Carbon Solutions installed a mobile test unit at the site to test its commercial solvent, and Membrane Technology & Research installed and commissioned its 0.05-MW polymeric CO2-separation membrane, which will continue to be tested throughout 2012. Also in 2012, several other developers will test solvents in the PSTU and enzyme-based solvent systems in the bench scale area on coal-derived flue gas. Collaboration with additional developers for future test plans is on-going.The NCCC also generates coal derived syngas which is available for testing technologies related to pre-combustion CO2 capture. Several slipstreams are in place with a range of syngas throughputs. Technologies tested in 2011 include water gas shift catalysts, high-temperature mercury and CO2 sorbents, a hydrocarbon removal system, physical and chemical solvents for CO2 absorption, a polymeric CO2-separation membrane, and three hydrogen- separation membranes (carbon molecular sieve, polymeric, and palladium based). Several of these technologies will be tested further in 2012, and membranes and solvents from other developers will also be tested.Result from NCCC's testing have indicated the facility's usefulness in accelerating the commercialization of advanced CO2 capture technologies. This paper will detail the NCCC's capabilities, test results, and future plans.