Texas IGCC Project with Carbon Capture to Get Federal Cost-Shared Funding

The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a Record of Decision (ROD) that could allow $450 million of federal funding to be used to help build Summit Texas Clean Eneryg’s 400-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant planned for construction just west of Midland-Odessa,Texas.

The project—a “first-of-a-kind” facility that combines IGCC power generation, urea production, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology—will be managed by the DOE’s  National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The ROD and cooperative agreement signed on Tuesday between DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Summit Texas sets in motion continued federal cost-shared funding for the Summit Texas Clean Energy Project

It will be partially funded with $450 million from DOE’s Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). Of this, $211 million will come from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for CCPI. “NETL will administer the federal co-funding to the project as well as ensure adherence to programmatic goals and objectives embodied in the CCPI,” the DOE said.

The DOE’s action to issue the ROD complies with the National Environmental Policy Act, and was reached after considering the project’s potential environmental impacts (presented in the Environmental Impact Statement), the practicable options for mitigation of the impacts, and the importance of achieving the objectives of programmatic and legislative mandates, the DOE said.

"The integration of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies planned for this flagship project are vitally important to America and the world," said Chuck McConnell, FE’s Chief Operating Officer. "The Texas Clean Energy Project is a significant step forward that demonstrates the Administration’s commitment to developing clean energy technologies, creating jobs, and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases."

The plant will produce power by converting subbituminous coal into hydrogen-rich synthesis gas (syngas) and CO2. The syngas and high-quality steam will be fed to the combined-cycle combustion and steam turbine generator to produce electricity. The facility will integrate Siemens IGCC technology and Linde Rectisol acid-gas capture technology to capture 90% of the CO2 from the plant’s syngas—about 3 million tons per year.

A portion of the captured CO2 will be used to produce urea for fertilizer while most of it will be used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with monitoring, verification, and accounting to demonstrate the permanence of geologic storage. The CO2 will be transported through existing regional pipelines to the oilfields of the west Texas Permian Basin, the largest CO2-EOR region in the world. About 200 megawatts of electricity will be put on the power grid. The plant will also produce sulfuric acid, argon, and inert slag as minor products for sale in commercial markets.

One aspect of the project that will be watched is its ability to use recycling, deep-well injection, and evaporation ponds to eliminate the release of process and brine water to surface waters.

Source: DOE