June 25, 2010

     According to the Wyoming Geological Survey, the Rock Springs Uplift contains sufficient capacity to handle all of the CO2 emissions Wyoming is going to generate for almost the next 100 years, Star-Tribune reported May 28. The technology to capture CO2 from existing coal-fired power plants remains both economically and technically challenging, however. According to the report, today's carbon capture technology would create a parasitic load of 20 percent of the power generation of a coal-fired plant. "There is not yet a commercially viable technology to capture CO2. You can't walk into a store and say, ‘I want to buy your carbon capture technology and plug it into my plant,'" said Daryl Hill, spokesman for Basin Electric Power Cooperative. The paper stated that while the feasibility of carbon capture for existing coal-fired power plants remains in question, the ability to capture carbon from coal gasification projects is certain, enabling state leaders to comfortably move legislation forward on carbon sequestration.

     "It may turn out that we figure out how to capture a lot more CO2 out of the existing flue gas streams. I don't want to say it won't happen, but that seems to be the least promising, and it also appears to be really expensive," said Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal. Even if CO2 capture does prove viable one day, without a place to put the CO2 it is of no use.

     Instead of diverting CO2 emissions from existing coal-fired power plants to Madison and Weber limestone formations in the Rock Springs Uplift, the area is more likely to serve as a hub for coal gasification projects, according to state geologist Ron Surdam. "What we're really doing is getting ready for the next generation of coal power plants. If we're going to burn coal in the next generation of plants, we're going to have to use sequestration," Surdam said.

     In the gasification of coal, CO2 can be separated at the front end of the process stream resulting in a variety of carbon-based feedstocks that can be used for low-emissions power generation, liquids and chemicals production. GE has recently partnered with the University of Wyoming to build the High Plains Gasification-Advanced Technology Center to refine GE's gasification technology using Wyoming's vast bituminous coal reserves in the Powder River Basin.

     Governor Freudenthal agrees that places like the Rock Springs Uplift could become a hub for coal gasification projects, but doubts that power generation will be the focus. Instead the Wyoming coal is likely to be converted into pipeline quality syngas or liquid fuels to ship via pipeline to urban markets in the west. "Right now there's enough gas coming on to fill pipelines. But in the future you can see an era in which coal would be converted to gas or liquids and be shoved in the same pipeline system for distribution. And that's why this work to find places to store CO2 in Wyoming is really important," Freudenthal said.

Source: Zeus Syngas Refining Report, June 11, 2010