ThermoEnergy and ITEA S.p.A. Partner to Construct Clean Coal Power Plants in the United States


06/19/2012

ThermoEnergy Corp. and ITEA S.p.A. announced that they will work together to promote, finance, design and construct a 50 Megawatt (MW) pilot plant and a 320 MW commercial facility in the United States using a clean coal technology called pressurized oxy-combustion.
According to a release, the goal is to accelerate the development of coal-fired emissions-free electricity generation. These clean coal power plants could enable utilities to continue burning inexpensive and abundant coal, while virtually eliminating both the traditional pollution (such as sulfur dioxide) from coal plants and the emissions of carbon dioxide that cause climate change. Moreover, the technology can be retrofitted to existing coal plants. By converting to pressurized oxy-combustion, the power industry could avoid shutting down scores of aging coal-fired facilities now threatened by tough new EPA pollution regulations, saving thousands of jobs and billions of taxpayer dollars.
The clean coal technology will be developed and marketed by Unity Power Alliance LLC, a joint venture between ITEA and ThermoEnergy.
Typical existing coal plants burn coal in air at normal atmospheric pressure. The key advance in the patented ThermoEnergy and ITEA technology is burning the fuel in high-pressure oxygen instead of in regular air. One advantage is that the coal burns more cleanly, producing more electricity for a given amount of fuel. The high pressure makes it possible to condense - or turn into liquid-the gasses that are normally emitted through the smokestack. As a result, nearly 100 percent of conventional pollutants such as NOx, SO2, SO3 and mercury, along with carbon dioxide, can be captured and then safely disposed of, sequestered or recycled. In addition, the extracted water can be recycled, lowering water consumption.
"We believe our collaboration with ThermoEnergy through Unity Power Alliance will lead to faster commercialization of pressurized oxy-combustion technology in the power industry," said Alvise Bassignano, Managing Director of ITEA. "We look forward to starting work on our 50 MW plant next year."
"ITEA with support from its parent company, the Sofinter Group, has done exceptional work in demonstrating and deploying pressurized oxy-combustion. We are proud to have them as a partner in the Unity Power Alliance," said Cary Bullock, Chairman and CEO of ThermoEnergy.
Unity Power Alliance Managing Director, Robert Marrs, said: "Our strategy is to form alliances with engineering companies, utilities, independent power producers, air separators, service companies, CO2 pipeline companies, transportation companies, and other key industry stakeholders who believe near zero emissions fossil fuel power production is a desirable and achievable near-term goal. Over the next few weeks and months, we expect to announce the names of major power industry participants that will be joining the Unity Power Alliance to lend their support. "
Unity Power Alliance noted that it expects to begin building a 50 MW pressurized oxy-combustion power plant next year in the United States that will serve as the gateway to a 320 MW electricity-producing commercial power plant.
Thermo Energy is a diversified technologies company engaged in the worldwide development, sales and commercialization of patented and/or proprietary municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and power generation technologies.
ITEA S.p.A is an Italian engineering and technology company that has been acquired by Sofinter Group, a provider of high technology, energy-recovery solutions.

http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/06/19/thermoenergy-and-itea-s-p-a-partner-to-...


Both Liberals and Labor support clean coal so what is the timetable for clean coal to be rolled out across Australia, so no one will have to pay a carbon levy on electricity.

Can China create the solutions to our energy problems?

A new plant places the world’s biggest polluter at the forefront of global efforts to produce clean coal power. But Gaia Vince thinks China needs to be bolder.

It may look like a jumble of pipes and towers, but as I stand on a nondescript industrial estate 150 kilometres (93 miles) south east of Beijing, I cannot help feeling a bit like an awestruck pilgrim in the presence of what may be the world's best hope for a workable solution to our energy troubles. The newly opened GreenGen energy plant in Tianjin is the most advanced clean coal power station – and if that sounds like an oxymoron, well suspend your disbelief a little longer.

This Tianjin plant places China at the vanguard of global efforts to use coal resources without releasing carbon dioxide. In 2008, the G8 group of nations supported the launch of 20 large-scale projects demonstrating technologies for carbon capture and storage by 2010. But delays and cancellations have meant most countries have made heavy work of enforcing the plan.

Which is why I have travelled to Tianjin. China uses more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan combined to fuel its economic boom. With coal supplies providing more than two-thirds of the country’s electricity needs, power stations have been opening at a rate of one a week for the past several years. Reports say vast swathes of northern China have been mined to satisfy the unceasing demand for coal, leaving millions of people living precariously on the land above. So it’s perhaps the last place you would expect to see what is in front of my eyes.

But here it is: China's first self-developed integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power station. This plant produces 250MW of electricity by converting coal to ‘syngas’ – a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen – which is then be used to drive turbines.

It's a far cleaner and more efficient way of using coal.

For a start, the sulphurous pollutants that stain the sky and obscure the sun over Chinese cities are almost entirely scrubbed by the IGCC process for recycling. So too are nitrous emissions and other impurities, including mercury and soot. This efficient method produces just one-tenth of the usual carbon dioxide emissions – and the best bit is the greenhouse gas is streamed out in an almost pure form, making it easy to capture and store. However, it is more expensive to produce electricity this way – a cost of around 80 cents per hour, compared to 50 cents per hour for regular plants – although the company intends to slash costs through further efficiency innovations.

Currently, the 3,000 tonnes of CO2 produced by the facility is being sold at a profit to beverage companies to make fizzy drinks, but GreenGen's owner, the state electricity giant Huaneng Group, plans to sequester the gas – as much as 3 million tonnes a year – in off-shore oil wells in the nearby Bohai Sea to aid oil recovery there.

Yes, oil recovery – another greenhouse-gas emitting fossil fuel... China may well be forging ahead of the pack in carbon capture technology – it is already licensing its IGCC technology to a US gasification company – but curbing carbon dioxide emissions still falls some way behind economic development priorities, as is the case elsewhere. A couple of months ago, Huaneng opened the world's largest post-combustion carbon dioxide capture facility at Shidongkou outside Shanghai. The plant captures an impressive 100,000 tonnes of CO2, ostensibly to sell to the beverage industry. But, this quantity of gas far exceeds the requirements of the soft drinks industry – the rest of the carbon dioxide is simply released into the atmosphere.

Fuelling the problem

One solution for storing the excess CO2 may lie in the country's desert north. In the dry steppes of Inner Mongolia and the Gobi desert, scientists are experimenting with storing CO2 in deep saline aquifers. These vast, stable spots should be able to accommodate hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2, although rather than profiting from the sale of CO2, energy companies will have to pay to transport and store the gas.

more @

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120518-chinas-clean-coal-goal/2


Abbott and Gillard are falling behind.

And if Abbott can retrofit all power stations with clean coal technology, then no one will pay a carbon tax on our electricity.

Come on Gillard and Abbott, tell us about your roll out of your clean coal revolution.

Why do the old parties refuse to discuss their clean coal policy.

Since this will slash the carbon tax on electricity ... and slash Australia's carbon pollution ... and the tech could earn export dollars.

Well Lib Labs ... don't be shy and talk up your clean coal policies.