U.S. Energy Department funds carbon capture projects for $44 million

Seven research and development projects aimed at capturing carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel-powered plants are collectively getting $44 million in support from the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding backs efforts to reduce energy consumption and capital costs of carbon capture systems, DOE said in a Feb. 16 announcement. Nearly $34 million of the funding will go to four engineering-scale projects that are testing CO₂ capture using solvents or membranes. Of these four, work on three will occur at the Technology Centre Mongstad in Norway, which claims to be the world’s largest facility for testing CO₂ capture technologies. DOE did not disclose a location for the fourth. The remaining three of the seven projects involve initial testing and design of commercial-scale postcombustion CO₂ capture systems. They will happen at coal-fired power plants in Kentucky, Nebraska, and North Dakota. All the projects have funding besides the DOE money, which comes through the department’s Office of Fossil Energy.