Overview of the U.S. Doe Carbon Capture Research and Development Program

The Department of Energy’s Carbon Capture Program –managed within the Office of Fossil Energy and implemented by the National Energy Technology Laboratory– has been developing both second generation and transformational technologies that will enable carbon capture and storage (CCS) to become an effective and cost effective option for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel based power plants. Successful research and development will enable CCS technologies to overcome the various technical, economic, and social challenges associated with this technology.  The research being supported by the program leverages public and private partnerships to support the goal of broad, cost-effective carbon capture deployment.  Fossil Energy is targeting demonstration of 2^nd generation technologies that result in a captured cost of CO₂ less than $40/tonne in the 2020-2025 timeframe. Fossil Energy is also committed to extending R&D support to even more advanced transformational carbon capture technologies that will further increase competitiveness of fossil based energy systems beyond 2035. The program is supporting a portfolio of over 50 research projects form the laboratory to pilot scale which are designed to achieve these goals.  These projects use a combination of developments in process chemistry, new chemical production methods, novel process equipment designs, new equipment manufacturing methods, and optimization of the process integration with other power plant systems (e.g., the steam cycle, cooling water system, carbon dioxide compression, etc.).  This presentation will summarize the U.S. DOE’s efforts to support the development of these carbon capture technologies and have them ready for commercial demonstration by 2020.