Two carbon-capturing coal plants to open this year

MIT Technology Review : Two coal-fired power plants that are nearing completion in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Mississippi will be the first to include integrated carbon capture technology. The Saskatchewan plant is a refurbished 110-MW generator. Canada’s pollution restrictions limit the plant’s emissions to 420 tons of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, the same as a new natural gas plant. SaskPower, which will operate the plant, expects its carbon capture system to catch 90% of the CO₂ emissions, thereby releasing just 150 tons/day. The company will pipe most of the gas to an oil and gas company and sequester the rest in an aquifer several kilometers below the plant. The Mississippi plant, which will produce five times the energy produced by the Canadian plant, has a similar plan. The plant uses a less conventional, coal gasification system to turn coal into a mix of CO₂ and hydrogen, and a new carbon capture system removes 65% of the CO₂ before the coal gas is burned.