Carbon Capture Costs: FEED & pre-FEED Cost Reports

Membrane Technology and Research Inc., with Technology Centre Mongstad, Dresser-Rand, Trimeric Corporation, and WorleyParsons/Advisian, is scaling up its advanced Polaris™ membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture and testing them at engineering scale at TCM in Norway. The Polaris membranes, about 20 times more permeable than prior commercial versions, use a patented selective recycle design to boost CO₂ concentration in flue gas and lower capture costs. The project will design, build, and operate a modular membrane system for a six-month field test, including performance verification, steady-state operation, techno-economic updates, and integration studies with advanced compression technology.

A Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study was undertaken to design an advanced CO2 Capture Unit (CCU) to produce 1000 tonnes per day of CO2 from the exhaust of three Once-Through Steam Generators (OTSG’s) at Devon Energy’s Jackfish 1 thermal in-situ operations and estimate the capital expenditure for the facilities within +/-15% accuracy. The process utilizes HTC Purenergy Carbon Capture Technology to capture CO2 from the OTSG exhaust gas using an aqueous chemical solvent in an absorber tower, after which the CO2-loaded solvent is passed to a stripper tower where the CO2 is released and the solvent regenerated. The study excludes downstream CO2 compression, dehydration, transportation and storage.

The Red Trail Energy (RTE) ethanol facility in Richardton, North Dakota, is implementing a CO₂ capture and liquefaction system designed by Trimeric. The system captures CO₂ from fermentation, compresses it to ~350 psig, dehydrates and liquefies it using an ammonia refrigeration loop, and purifies it via distillation to remove oxygen and other gases. The liquid CO₂ can be stored for sale or geologic sequestration. The facility is designed to process 587 tonnes/day (scalable to 675 tonnes/day), with nearly complete CO₂ recovery.