Carbon Capture Costs: FEED & pre-FEED Cost Reports

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.

Electricore Inc., with Svante Inc. and Kiewit Engineering Group Inc., is conducting a pre-FEED study for a 1 million tonnes/year VeloxoTherm™ carbon capture system at LafargeHolcim’s cement plant in Florence, Colorado. The system will capture CO₂ from both kiln flue gas (14% concentration) and a natural gas-fired steam generator (8.5% concentration), with storage options including saline formations, depleted oil reservoirs, and the Sheep Mountain CO₂ reservoir. The study will also evaluate expansion to 2 million tonnes/year and target DOE’s $30/tonne capture cost goal, progressing from design selection (FEL-1) to pre-FEED engineering (FEL-2).