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A large, coal-burning utility in the U.S. and another in China have agreed to cooperate to develop methods to more cleanly burn coal, including so-called carbon capture and storage technology. Duke Energy will partner with China's Huaneng Group to further develop and build technologies to gasify coal and strip it of its impurities, including the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere from coal burning. As it stands, Huaneng releases some 285 million metric tons of CO2 per year while Duke emits 112 million metric tons, according to data from the Center for Global Development, a Washington, D.C.-based thinktank.

"We find ourselves at a pivotal point in world history," said Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers in a statement announcing the partnership. "China has committed to rapidly developing clean-energy technologies, as has the U.S.… Working together, the U.S. and China can commercialize and drive down the cost of these technologies for the benefit of the entire world."

The key stumbling block for both gasification technology (known as integrated gasification combined cycle or IGCC) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) is cost. IGCC plants can cost as much as three times a conventional coal plant while adding CCS technology can double the cost of the electricity produced.

Both Duke and Huaneng currently have potential carbon capture and storage projects in the works: Duke may add CCS to the new IGCC power plant being constructed in Edwardsport, Ind., and Huaneng has a demonstration project at a power plant in Beijing as well as being a partner in the so-called "GreenGen" project outside near Tianjin, which will demonstrate both gasification and CCS technology when completed over the next decade.

The announcement follows a visit to China by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other government officials, in part to work on partnering around CCS technology for the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases. "To prevent the worst effects of climate change, we must accelerate our efforts to capture and store carbon in a safe and cost-effective way," said Chu, in announcing $2.4 billion in money for U.S. CCS projects in May.

As it stands, the U.S. gets roughly 50 percent of its electricity from coal, while China gets more than 70 percent of its power from coal—billowing into the atmosphere. The countries combine to emit some 5.5 billion metric tons of CO2 per year from electricity generation alone.

Image: New plant under construction at Edwardsport, Ind. could become one of the first in commercial operation to undertake carbon capture and storage. Courtesy of Duke Energy

2 Comments

1. 1. scientific earthling 08:39 PM 8/10/09

   Oxidation reduction reactions occur all around us, including in our bodies, we oxidise carbon to carbon dioxide and generate energy from the reaction.
   
   The reverse reaction takes place in photosynthesising tissues of plants, fungus and similar life forms. It takes a lot more energy to reduce Carbon dioxide than is obtained from oxidising carbon. This leaves generators of massive amounts of CO2 with few choices but to dump CO2 in some form somewhere on the planet, changing it to a stable compound makes the energy gain from oxidation negligible.
   
   Consider that we only convert 28% (in highly efficient plants) of the energy in coal to electricity. Coal plants cannot adjust to the electricity demand and keep burning coal when no demand exists. Transportation of coal consumes an equivalent of a third of the electrical energy generated. Habitat for forests and wildlife is destroyed for centuries after mining takes place. Ground water is polluted by coal mining. Water tables are drained, killing off mature trees (CO2 to C converters) for miles around a coal pit.
   
   The environmental impacts of coal need to be considered as a whole and then asses the benefits of coal fired power plants.
   
   Yes we have them, yes they pay handsome salaries to their executives, so would a decriminalised drug industry or a trade in human organs. Best of all reintroduce slavery - very efficient.
   
   

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2. 2. Rome0001 12:17 PM 3/15/11

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