About 37% of U.S. electric power generation is from coal-fired power plants.  New EPA regulations scheduled to come into effect July 1, 2015 will restrict CO2 emissions from power plants.  Coal-fired power plants will have to implement some form of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) , convert to natural gas or some other cleaner fuel, or shut down.   CCS takes two forms, pre-combustion or post-combustion.  I blogged about a pre-combustion commercial CCS implementation in Kentucky that began operation earlier this year.

Construction of the first U.S. commercial-scale post-combustion carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) retrofit has begun.  Post-combustion CCS technology will be installed at the coal-fired 240 MW Parish Generating Station in Houston, Texas.

The Petra Nova project will capture 90 % of the plant’s CO2 emissions through an advanced amine-based process.  The process was piloted in a three-year project in Alabama.  The CO2 capture rate will result in lower greenhouse gas emissions than from a traditional natural gas-fired power plant.   The process involves scrubbing the flue gases with an amine solution, to form an amine–CO₂ complex, which is then decomposed by heat to release high purity CO₂. The regenerated amine is recycled to be reused in the capture process. The CO₂ capture and compression system will be powered by a cogeneration plant comprised of a combustion turbine and heat recovery boiler.  The oil field will be monitored to verify that the CO₂ remains underground.

The captured CO2 will be compressed and transported via an 80-mile pipeline to increase oil output from an oil field with declining production.   After sseparation from the oil, the CO2 will be injected underground for permanent sequestration.