Big changes are afoot as Alabama Power and Southern Company “move the needle” forward in using carbon capture technologies at company electric-generating plants.

In September, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced Southern Company Services (SCS) was among eight funding recipients for small- and large-scale carbon capture pilot programs. A team for Barry Electric Generating Plant in Mobile is devising best practices for reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and reducing costs for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

SCS Research and Technology Management Engineer Jerrad Thomas, who is principal investigator for the DOE project, said the grant will go a long way in helping the company preserve air quality while supplying customers with reliable, safe and affordable electricity. Plant Barry’s CCS project has been ongoing since 2011. The CO₂ is extracted from flue gas generated during power production, then stored underground in the Citronelle Dome, an oil field that is about 12 miles from the plant.

DOE project advances cutting edge carbon technology from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

“We knew the best path forward was getting funding through the DOE,” said Thomas, who earned degrees in chemical engineering and physics from the University of Alabama.

“One of our primary goals through this project is to develop technologies on the front end of CCS, removing CO₂ from the flue gas before it is sequestered,” he said. “We’re developing new CO₂ capture technologies that can be applied across the electric industry. Part of this development focuses on reduced costs and improved efficient of carbon capture, which will significantly benefit Southern Company in the future.”

As part of the DOE’s large-scale project, SCS and Alabama Power will test improvements to Plant Barry’s existing 25-megawatt, amine-based CO₂ capture process. The project will address key technical challenges of CCS technologies such as high-steam consumption, solvent degradation caused by flue gas contaminants and large process footprints.

Southern Company’s team, consisting of AECOM and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America Inc. (MHIA), aims to improve current state-of-the-art solvent-based processes. With assistance from MHIA and AECOM, Thomas worked throughout March to prepare the team’s winning 150-page funding proposal to the DOE. The project consists of two phases. During Phase I, the team will complete three goals:

• Provide a technoeconomic analysis that evaluates overall costs of carbon capture.
• Supply an environmental health and safety analysis along with preliminary engineering. Preliminary engineering will include design, process flows and engineering drawings.
• Southern Company and Alabama Power will submit a final proposal to DOE in June 2016 for approval to enter Phase II for engineering, construction and testing.

“We’re setting goals and firming up the projects to be undertaken in Phase I,” said Thomas, who is planning a team kick-off meeting for the last week of October. “The DOE will evaluate our final proposal next June and decide whether we proceed to Phase II.”

Thomas highlighted why Plant Barry was selected as the host site.

“Plant Barry’s staff and control operators have been instrumental in the technology development, and we couldn’t do this project without their support,” he said. “This relationship will be a significant advantage for us when we apply for Phase II next year.”

Thomas said that Southern Company is likely to receive notification from DOE in August or September 2016 about whether to proceed to Phase II.

“We expect a significant cost reduction through Barry’s carbon capture process, and we are extremely positive we’ll see the expected results during this timeline,” he said.

Barry Plant Manager Jay Burdette anticipates a positive outcome to the work.

“I’m certain that our team will obtain Phase II funding, and I’m very confident because of the fine team we have,” Burdette said. “The success in the experience we’ve had so far at Plant Barry is something that we will continue to build on, and we hope to expand this technology within the Southern Company electric system and across the industry.”

Other DOE recipients include Alstom Power Inc., Dresser-Rand Co., FuelCell Energy Inc., General Electric – GE Global Research Inc., NRG Energy Inc., the University of Kentucky Research Foundation and the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.