Carbon capture technology company Ion Engineering says it has completed the first pilot scale testing of its proprietary solvent and process technology for the removal of carbon dioxide from large-point sources including natural gas and coal-fired power plants.
Throughout testing, Ion captured more than 99 percent of the incoming CO2 from the coal-fired facility’s flue gas, while maintaining stable process operation and meeting project objectives.
The project, managed and partially funded by the DOE Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) entailed about 1,200 hours of continuous testing at the 0.6 MWe Pilot Solvent Test Unit. The PSTU is located at the National Carbon Capture Center, a test center owned by Southern Company and funded by DOE, in Wilsonville, Alabama.
Under this project, Ion has developed process modeling capabilities to further predict how Ion’s technology will perform under different process and operating conditions. One of the most important outcomes of the testing at NCCC was validation of the process model. Model validation provides Ion the ability to accurately predict how their technology will perform at other facilities in the future.
Pilot testing was completed in August 2015 and a full analysis and report will be completed in early 2016, the company says.
Ion plans to initiate the next phase of project testing in mid-2016. It will test its solvent and technology process at the next scale, moving from a 0.6 MWe facility to the >10 MWe scale at an existing international test facility. Testing is expected to run through the end of 2016.
