With a $1 billion budget supplied by the US Department of Energy, FirstGen is out to build the next generation of Coal Fired Power Plant that promises to have near-zero emissions. The first plant is designed to run on a 275MW capacity and will be available by 2012.
It works by grinding coal to a fine powder then heating it in a high-pressure, pure-oxygen environment. The liberated hydrogen will be burned in a turbine and will be used to generate electricity. The more dangerous CO2 by product will be pumped underground to a saltwater reservoir or even to depleted oil well.
Hmmmm?… basically what they’re doing is storing the CO2 underground. I don’t think they should really say that it is a zero emission process unless they can guarantee that it won’t ever leak out. Or at least figure out how to make it inert by converting it to something else.
Schematic here
Article here
Category: Misc, Coal
