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ExxonMobil Extends Deal for Fuel Cell Carbon Capture Project

November 12, 2019

The post ExxonMobil Extends Deal for Fuel Cell Carbon Capture Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

ExxonMobil and FuelCell Energy announced a new joint-development agreement to enhance carbon capture fuel cell technology, as the groups work on a process to capture combustion exhaust from power plants and other industrial facilities.

The two-year deal, announced Nov. 6 and an extension of an earlier agreement, is aimed at optimizing core technology, process integration, and large-scale deployment of carbon capture. FuelCell Energy’s technology uses carbonate fuel cells to capture and concentrate carbon dioxide (CO₂), with the CO₂sent to the fuel cell. The fuel cell produces power and captures and concentrates the CO₂for storage.

“We have a great opportunity to scale and commercialize our unique carbon capture solution, one that captures about 90 percent of carbon dioxide from various exhaust streams, while generating additional power, unlike traditional carbon capture technologies which consume significant power,” FuelCell CEO Jason Few said in a statement.…

New Jersey’s First Offshore Wind Farm Will Be a Mammoth 1.1-GW Ørsted Project

June 23, 2019

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Danish renewables firm Ørsted’s 1.1-GW Ocean Wind project is the winner of New Jersey’s first award for offshore wind, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) said on June 21.

Ørsted, with support from Public Service Enterprise Group’s (PSEG) non-utility affiliate, vied for the award with two other offshore wind developers that submitted bids between September and December 2018 in response to the state’s first offshore wind solicitation. Other bidders included Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a partnership between EDF Renewables and Shell New Energies, and Boardwalk Wind, which was sponsored by Norwegian multinational company Equinor.

NJBPU unanimously granted the award to Ørsted after evaluating wide criteria, including offshore wind renewable energy certificates (OREC) purchase price, economic impact, ratepayer impact, environmental impact, the strength of guarantees for economic impact, and the likelihood of successful commercial operation.

The agency said Ørsted’s economic development plans were the most detailed and could result in net economic benefits of $ 1.17 billion to the state.…

Hitachi May Scuttle UK Nuclear Project

January 14, 2019

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Hitachi may cancel its plans for a $ 20.5 billion nuclear power project in Wales, according to several media reports from the UK and Japan. The Japanese company is expected to determine the fate of the project at a board meeting this week.

The Guardian newspaper was among those that in recent days reported an impasse in talks among Hitachi, UK officials, and the Japanese government regarding financing for the plant would likely lead to a cancellation. Hitachi already has spent about $ 2.6 billion on the project.

The Nikkei Asian Review on Jan. 11 reported that Hitachi’s board this week would likely move to suspend all work on the Wylfa Newydd plant. The power station on Anglesey island, on the north coast of Wales, was first proposed in 2009 as a 3,000-MW plant with two advanced boiling water reactors. Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture of E.ON and RWE, was behind the project. Hitachi bought the venture in 2012.

Two earlier 490-MW reactors at the Wylfa site, known as Reactor 1 and Reactor 2, became operational in 1971.…

Select Boiler Chemistry in the Design Phase of Project Life

September 2, 2018

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On many combined cycle projects, the major decisions about boiler chemistry are left until after the plant has been designed, equipment is procured, and construction is well underway. However, the best time to make these chemistry decisions is in the design phase of the project. That enables the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor to design the plant that best fits the selected chemistry program (Figure 1).

1. Water treatment decisions. The EPC contractors should design the plant that best fits the users’ selected chemistry program. Courtesy: Colleen Scholl, HDR Inc.

Phosphate Versus Oxidizing, All-Volatile Treatment

For example, consider the selection of a phosphate program versus an oxidizing, all-volatile treatment (AVT-O) program. Of these two, the phosphate program requires more-responsive instrumentation and controls, because of the potential problems of phosphate carryover and hideout. If the EPC contractor has a priori knowledge that phosphates will be used, its engineers can specify highly responsive pH and phosphate instruments, and can ensure those instrument signals are transmitted to automated chemical-injection pumps that feed into multiple injection points (Figure 2).…

Regulators Back Settlement for Costs of Failed Kemper IGCC Project

February 7, 2018

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Shareholders of Mississippi Power will have to absorb the majority of outstanding costs resulting from the scuttled Kemper County coal gasification project, as the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) on February 6 approved a settlement for the remaining liabilities associated with the much-touted “clean coal” plant.

Mississippi Power in a statement said it “is pleased with this final order from the Public Service Commission, which effectively settles all costs associated with the Kemper County energy facility.” Anthony Wilson, the company’s CEO, in a statement after today’s vote said, “The economics really didn’t work out and the technology was hard to perfect.”

The PSC in 2017 told Atlanta-based Southern Co. to end construction at Kemper. The gasification project, touted as the future of coal, never was operational, as costs ballooned from an original price tag of $ 2.9 billion to about $ 7.5 billion. The settlement agreement, which was reached last year pending approval, means Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co.,…

Clean Coal Test Project Set for Wyoming

December 18, 2017

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A test plant that will be part of research into producing cleaner-burning coal for power plants is set to begin operation next year in Wyoming, with the company behind the project saying global demand for coal makes the project viable even as the U.S. reduces its reliance on coal for electricity production.

Clean Coal Technologies Inc. (CCTI) is building the test facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and plans to move it to northeast Wyoming near the end of January 2018. The New York-based company has been developing what it calls “the world’s first commercially viable and scalable coal dehydration technology,” designed to upgrade the Btu content of lower-ranking coal “through the extraction of volatile material in liquid form,” ultimately producing a “cleaner burning, dry coal.”

The facility would dry Powder River Basin (PRB) coal, making it burn hotter with lower emissions, and increasing its value on the global market, according to CCTI. The company did not immediately respond to requests from POWER for comment on the cost of building and transporting the plant, although the company in June 2017 said a group of investors was seeking $ 80 million to build a facility in the PRB.…