The US Department of Energy has announced $36 million in funding to develop new and cost-effective technologies of carbon capture from existing coal-fired power plants.

The 15 projects will focus on five key areas: membranes, solvents, oxycombustion (flue gas purification and boiler development) and chemical looping. These include:

• Membrane Technology and Research will develop commercial-scale membranes, while the Research Triangle Institute will research novel fluorinated polymer membranes.
• Georgia Tech, GE Global Research and Illinois State Geological Survey will investigate different aspects of solvent-based CO₂ capture from flue gases. The technology is currently used for scrubbing industrial flue and process gases, but has not been applied to large volumes of CO₂ until now.
• ADA-ES, SRI International and TDA Research will investigate using solid particles to capture CO₂ from flue gases.
• Air Products and Chemicals and Praxair will investigate oxycombustion, with Alstom Power, Foster Wheeler North America and Reaction Engineering International focusing on boiler technology.
• Alstom Power and Ohio State University Research Foundation will look at chemical looping, where a solid oxygen carrier particle is used.

The projects are part of an ongoing effort of the Bush Administration to clean up coal-fired power plants, which generate half of the country's electricity.

For further information:
www.energy.gov