ION and partners will contribute another $4 million in matching funds bringing the total to $19 million for the 45-month project. In addition to NPPD, partners include the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) and the University of Alabama Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
Previously, ION has received $5M from DOE-FE to develop its advanced solvent process. During the past year, working in collaboration with the EERC and using their coal- and natural gas-fired Combustion Test Facility. ION says it has demonstrated that its technology is capable of achieving greater CO2 capture rates using less power plant energy relative to other solvent systems currently in development.
"The results obtained at the EERC demonstrate that ION's advanced solvent has the potential to significantly reduce capital costs, operating costs and the parasitic load on an operating power plant that implements ION's technology. When combined with CO2 utilization opportunities such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), we can imagine a time when the incremental cost of carbon free fossil fuel electricity generation may be much less than previously considered," said ION Engineering CEO, Dr. Alfred "Buz" Brown. "By providing an affordable path to carbon free coal- and natural gas-generated power, we can have a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions worldwide."
"NPPD is interested in the project because our coal burning generating resources bring significant value to our customers," said NPPD Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Tom Kent. "We also want technologies that can capture CO2 in a cost-effective manner. Testing such technologies should be done on a larger scale to collect 'real world' data. We are pleased to be a participant in this project and hope to learn if the potential exists to capture carbon and advance the technologies in this area for the power industry."