Babcock & Wilcox (B&W; Akron, Ohio) announced that its B&W Environmental segment has been awarded a contract to study the application of B&W’s SolveBright solvent-based carbon dioxide (CO2) capture solution for CONSOL Energy’s advanced coal and biomass-based 21st Century Power Plant project, which is currently in development. B&W selected Honeywell UOP’s Advanced Solvent Carbon Capture (ASCC) process technology for the CO2 capture aspect of the project.
CONSOL Energy is evaluating post-combustion carbon capture technologies as part of a U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)’s 21st Century Power Plants initiative, which is intended to support the development of the coal and biomass plants of the future to provide secure, stable, and reliable power while utilizing otherwise unusable waste coal fines. The Worley Group is serving as lead contractor to CONSOL and is coordinating the technology evaluation.
The proposed 21st Century Power Plant will have four pressurized fluid bed boiler combustors, each with CO2 emission capture targets of approximately 781,000 metric tonnes per year. B&W’s SolveBright technology, which is part of its ClimateBrightTM suite of decarbonization and hydrogen technologies, is a post-combustion solution that would be used to treat the flue gas stream from a Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustor (PFBC) power plant to capture CO2 and generate clean energy with near-zero emissions.
“We are excited that B&W and Honeywell UOP have been selected for this study to determine how our advanced carbon capture technologies can be utilized on this ground-breaking clean energy project,” said B&W Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morgan. “B&W’s proven SolveBright technology, which includes our experience with the design and construction of large field-erected absorbers, scrubbing systems and our development history of amine-based solvent systems, combined with Honeywell UOP’s amine-based solvent system experience and their ASCC technology, give us the ability to deliver a truly innovative decarbonization solution.”
B&W’s SolveBright scrubbing system, which is highly flexible and can incorporate a variety of solvents and process technologies, absorbs CO2 directly from the plant’s flue gas using a regenerable solvent that is then recycled for re-use.
Barry Glickman, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions said, “We are excited to pair Honeywell UOP’s innovative ASCC technology with B&W’s SolveBright carbon capture solution for CONSOL. The combination of Honeywell’s process technology expertise and B&W’s capabilities in large-scale, energy equipment design and construction is particularly well-suited for CONSOL’s project requirements. Post-combustion carbon capture is a viable, ready now solution that can reduce the CO2 footprint of the power sector and we look forward to demonstrating this at CONSOL’s 21st Century Power Plant.”
Honeywell’s Advanced Solvent Carbon Capture technology utilizes a proprietary, second generation solvent, enabling efficient carbon capture from post-combustion flue gas sources. This point source CO2 removal technology can be retrofitted within existing plants or included as part of a new installation and can be used to reduce emissions in hard to abate industries including fossil fuel power, steel, cement, and other industry.