On April 30, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) announced it was selecting the University of Illinois’ Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) at Prairie Research Institute (PRI) to conduct large-scale pilot testing of a carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology at City Water, Light and Power’s (CWLP’s) Dallman Unit 4. DOE is allocating $47 million for this final phase to complete the project, which will build a 10 megawatt (MWe) Linde-BASF advanced post-combustion CO2 capture system to process the Dallman Unit 4 flue gas. The State of Illinois has committed an additional $20 million, bringing the total cost of this phase to $67 million.
PRI’s project, “Large Pilot Testing of Linde-BASF Advanced Post-Combustion CO2 Capture Technology at a Coal-Fired Power Plant,” made it through the rigorous DOE down-selection process and was selected for Phase III (construction/operation). A second project for carbon capture membrane testing was awarded to a project underway by Membrane Technology and Research Inc. in Newark, California. The Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage the selected projects.
DOE cited the successful construction and operation of the Dallman Unit 4 test plant as a means to demonstrate economic carbon capture technology and help enable commercialization of the technology. In benefits to the community, PRI projects the construction and operation of the Dallman Unit 4 carbon capture facility will have a regional economic impact of $47.1 million and will generate tax revenue of $5.6 million.
“I’m extremely proud of the University of Illinois’ partnership on this initiative and grateful to the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Illinois’ recognition of this important research,” said then-Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder. “As a publicly-owned utility, this new construction and innovative initiative will be a boost to our local economy while the energy industry as a whole will also be watching CWLP to see how this technology performs.”
Kevin OBrien, principal investigator for the project and director of PRI’s Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), agrees on the project’s impact. “As a large research pilot of this type, we are anticipating very high interest in the project at Dallman 4,” he said. “The success of this project would be a model and foundation for more accessible, attainable carbon capture systems at facilities around the world.”
Other ISTC research projects are underway with CWLP in addition to the carbon capture testing at Dallman Unit 4, including utilizing CO2 as feedstock for algae; scrubber wastewater treatment technology; beneficial reuse of coal fly ash in plastics; and advancing the design of a hybrid power plant and energy storage system.
Doug Brown, CWLP Chief Utility Engineer, said the projects are very timely for the energy industry. “We are very fortunate to have the University of Illinois undertake this important project at CWLP Dallman Unit 4 and at an opportune time when the energy industry is seeking to move to a zero-carbon future,” he said. “A proven and cost-effective carbon capture solution is what plants need to be able to demonstrate and transition to if a balanced, resilient and reliable energy grid is the goal. Further, I’m pleased the University is planning spinoff projects from this work in beneficial reuse and a study into a hybrid power plant, along with energy storage research.”
With this award for carbon capture testing at Dallman Unit 4, ISTC will move the project to the next step, “Phase III,” which is the finalized design and construction phase. Phase III, slated to begin in June 2021, includes finalizing a detailed engineering plan, acquiring equipment and modules needed for the new system. Building the 10 MWe system is slated to begin June 2022. The testing phase is anticipated to take place beginning in March 2024 with the testing to occur from March 2024 thru May 2026 for project completion.
In May 2023, DOE selected ISTC at PRI for two more projects. The first, a project to conduct an integrated capture, transport, and geological storage study of CO2 emissions at Dallman Unit 4. DOE is allocating $4.7 million for this front-end engineering design (FEED) study, which will explore the feasibility of building a 200-megawatt (MW) Linde-BASF advanced post-combustion CO2 capture system to process the Dallman Unit 4 flue gas and transferring the captured CO2 to be geologically stored in the Illinois Storage Corridor. The project design is estimated to capture two million tons of CO2 per year.
This FEED study will leverage the existing DOE-funded 10 MWe large pilot at Dallman Unit 4. DOE cited the successful construction and operation of the Dallman Unit 4 pilot plant to demonstrate economic carbon capture technology and help enable commercialization of the technology.
For the second project, DOE announced an award of $17,736,972 million to ISTC at PRI under its CO2 Transport and Storage investments to complete site characterization efforts for the Cambrian Mt. Simon Sandstone/Eau Claire Formation storage complex, for storage of CO2 from the Dallman Power Generation Plant and about 50 million metric tons of total CO2 storage capacity.
Other ISTC research projects are underway with CWLP in addition to the carbon capture testing and studies associated with Dallman Unit 4, include using CO2 as feedstock for algae; scrubber wastewater treatment technology; beneficial reuse of coal fly ash in plastics; and advancing the design of a hybrid power plant and energy storage system.
Learn more about ISTC's carbon capture projects: https://www.istc.illinois.edu/research/energy/carbon_capture/large_pilot-scale_projects/
Read the DOE Large-Scale CO2 Capture Pilot Projects announcement: https://netl.doe.gov/node/10683
Read the DOE FEED funding announcement: https://www.energy.gov/oced/carbon-capture-demonstration-projects-program-front-end-engineering-design-feed-studies
Read the DOE CO2 Transport and Storage announcement: https://netl.doe.gov/node/12542