In an effort to make this technology more economically attractive, PNNL researchers have developed a smaller modular reactor that would pump one to two percent of the solvent from the carbon capture system into another smaller modular reactor and use it to make a product that companies can sell. Without strict government mandates or financial incentives, power plant or factory owner operators will have little reason to spend that money. These carbon capture systems are large and expensive: To tack one onto a power reactor would cost $750 million. Even so, the technique would ultimately translate to a net carbon dioxide reduction of 87 percent on a per-megawatt net power generation basis, Heldebrant and Jiang told CNBC. To get back to full energy capacity, the power plant would have to burn more energy. This is called the "parasitic load" of the carbon capture technology. That energy comes from the power plant where the carbon capture system is attached, Yuan Jiang, a chemical engineer at PNNL who works with Heldebrant, told CNBC.Īn installed carbon capture machine will use as much as 30 percent of the energy that a power plant generates to remove 90 percent of the carbon dioxide. So just think of it as we've replaced the water with essentially something like an oil."Įven with this innovation, a carbon capture system takes a lot of energy. "The oil gets to temperature much more quickly. "It's like heating oil on your pan versus boiling water," Heldebrant said. It takes a long time and a lot of energy to boil water, so by removing the water from the system, the carbon capture process becomes much cheaper. The PNNL system is cheaper than other carbon capture systems because its it operates with 2 percent water, as opposed to as much as 70 percent water, which is the upper boundary for previous and similar carbon capture technologies. It pumps 4 million liters of liquid per hour. The remaining liquid, with the CO2 gas removed, is cooled and sent back to the first stage of the process. The CO2 is compressed for transportation, where the majority of it will be stored. That liquid is heated until the CO2 is released as a gas. Treated gas leaves out of the top of the chamber and liquid containing the CO2 is siphoned away. The gas rises and the liquid falls and the two substances mix. At the same time, a liquid is sprayed down from the top of the chamber. The dirty gas comes out of the power plant or factory and is moved into a very large chamber. Heldebrant, a chief scientist at PNNL who is leading this research. PNNL's technique uses solvent chemistry, explained David J. And sitting around waiting for 20 years until we have the next-generation steel technology that doesn't generate carbon dioxide emissions doesn't make a lot of sense," Davidson told CNBC. "We have the technology to be able to capture carbon dioxide from those industrial point sources. Scientists and entrepreneurs are working on greener ways of making cement and steel, for example, but those are not at scale, Davidson told CNBC. Just as importantly, industrial processes such as making iron, steel, cement, fertilizer, pulp and paper, and bioenergy could all reduce their carbon dioxide emissions this new technique. It would be even cheaper if we could transition to 100% clean energy and didn't have to remove carbon dioxide at all, but that's not realistic in today's global economy, according to Casie Davidson, who manages carbon management work at PNNL.Įven if the electric grid were powered primarily by wind and solar, there would still need to be natural gas plants to maintain grid stability, or to provide backup when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining, Davidson said. For comparison, it costs $57 per metric ton to capture carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant using current state-of-the-art technology, PNNL says. The new technique discovered by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory costs $39 per metric ton and is the cheapest technique for this kind of carbon capture ever reported in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit
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