2007 G8 Summit Magazine - (Page 88) FutureGen Integrating and Advancing Near-Zero Emissions Technology By Michael J. Mudd, Chief Executive Officer, FutureGen Alliance A Technology-Based Approach to Climate Change As the issue of climate change sits at the top of the U.S. Congress’ domestic agenda, many in the U.S. government and industry recognize that advancements in technology are an essential part of any effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The flagship U.S. program to advance technology and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, called FutureGen, is moving forward at a rapid clip. This initiative will integrate and advance near-zero emissions from the nation’s most abundant fuel source — coal. The FutureGen project is integrating and advancing new technologies that combine coal gasification with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) to address climate change concerns while ensuring the continued supply of affordable electricity. No other project like FutureGen is underway in the United States or around the world. FutureGen is a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This project will design and build, in the United States, a first-of-its-kind, commercial-scale, coal-fueled power plant that will research and prove the capability of the technology to capture and permanently store 90 percent or more of the plant’s CO2 emissions. This capability will virtually eliminate coalrelated greenhouse gas concerns at a rate of greater than one million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Additionally, FutureGen will reduce conventional | -88- emissions, such as NOx and SOx, to near-zero levels. In addition to reducing emissions, FutureGen will integrate and advance Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) with CCS. The goal of the project is, through research and development, to improve the efficiency and reduce the costs of these technologies and make them economically viable for implementation in the United States and around the world. With the world’s need for electricity growing by 2.2 percent each year, the need for more electricity production is apparent; however, this need for electricity needs to balance with climate change concerns and energy supply issues. FutureGen balances those needs and issues through technological innovation, helping to fulfill the world’s appetite for affordable, clean energy. first facility of its kind to combine and test several cutting-edge technologies in a single plant, including coal gasification, emissions controls, hydrogen production, electricity generation and CCS. Coal gasification is the core technology behind FutureGen. A gasifier will be used to convert coal into a gas of mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide is reacted with steam to produce additional hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide will then be separated from the hydrogen and permanently stored in deep geologic formations thousands of feet below the earth’s surface. This technology is known as carbon sequestration. The hydrogen created from the gasification and carbon dioxide separation process will be used primarily to power a combustion turbine that will generate electricity. Steam heated by the combustion turbine exhaust drives a second turbine to generate additional electricity. This dual-turbine system used to create electricity from gasified coal is known as IGCC technology. The hydrogen can also be used to supply fuel cells, which can be used in a number of ways such as a fuel source for electricity production or for vehicles. One of DOE’s most ambitious goals for the FutureGen plant is to eliminate over 90 percent of the CO2 emissions. The FutureGen plant will sequester more than 1 million tons of CO2 per year, thus becoming the largest CCS test facility in the world using deep geologic saline formations. Advancing Near-Zero Emissions Technologies Researchers and industry have made great progress advancing technologies to support coal gasification, electricity generation, emissions control, CCS and hydrogen production. While these technologies exist today, they have yet to be integrated and tested at a commercialscale power plant, which is essential in proving technical and economic viability. The 275-MW FutureGen plant will produce electricity roughly equivalent to the electricity needs of about 150,000 average U.S. homes. FutureGen is the
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