Mike Holmes

VP – Research and Development

Lignite Energy Council

Enhancing lignite to be

the fuel of tomorrow

6/11/2018

New Power Plant

If you were asked to design a new power plant, what would be most important?

1. Less coal per megawatt-hour (efficiency)

2. Near zero emissions (environment)

3. Low cost electricity (economics)

1

2

3

33.3%

33.3%

33.3%

Founding Premise

• There is no challenge regarding the use of coal as a clean, efficient fuel that has not been met by technology – nearly 90 percent of criteria pollutants from U.S. coal-based power plants are now captured or reduced through the use of technology

Over the last 2 years coal use

world wide has ??

1. Decreased by 20%

2. Decreased by 50%

3. Remained Constant

4. Increased

1

2

3

4

25.0%

25.0%

25.0%

25.0%

Projected Coal use

Worldwide

Reality Today

• “Energy may very well be the single most critical challenge facing humanity in this century.“ -- Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley

The Challenge

• 10 terawatts (TW) of clean power on a sustainable basis and do this cheaply

• Who will make the necessary scientific and engineering breakthroughs?

• Can it be cheap enough to bring 10 billion people to a reasonable standard of living?

• State-industry R&D partnership

• Lignite resource

• Current R&D challenges

– Improving efficiencies

– Reducing nitrogen oxides

– Capturing and storing CO2

• Summary

• Lignite Jeopardy Game

Agenda

Glossary

• Clean Coal Technologies:

– Defined by Congress in mid-1980s as technologies to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (30 years later often refers to reduction of CO2)

– Technologies that increase efficiencies and reduce emissions on a per unit energy basis are also clean coal technologies

Lignite Research Council’s

R&D Program

Public / Private Partnership

Lignite

Energy

Council

State of

North

Dakota

http://www.lignite.com/ResDev/index.htmhttp://www.nd.gov/ndic/lrc-infopage.htm

An Industry/Government Partnership

Leveraging State Dollars

For every state dollar,

six dollars is

invested from

industry & other

sources in lignite-

related R&D projects

=

Active Lignite Research ProjectsQuick Review of Active and Recently Completed Projects (23)• 1 LEC Enhance, Preserve & Protect Program• 3 Separate LV21P projects • 1 Mercury-related projects • 2 NOx-related project• 4 Lignite gasification-related projects• 5 CO2 Carbon Capture & Storage-related projects • 1 Regional marketing project • 2 Air toxic metals project • 1 Curriculum Development Project• 1 Beneficial Use of CO2• Use of Nano materials to improve options for reuse of

coal ash

Future of Lignite

• The resource: 800-year supply of lignite

From a physicist’s perspective:

• High ash, low BTU, one-third water, high sodium

• Highly reactive for gasification purposes

• Low cost source of carbon

146/11/2018

A Look at Lignite

Organic Matter

C, H, O, S, N

Inorganic Matter

SiO2, Al2O3 -Clays, FeS2

Lignite

Water

55%

10%35%

Electric Power

Generation - 79%

Synthetic Natural

Gas - 13.5%

Specialty Products

7.5%

ND Lignite Consumption

Coal Drying Activity

• As mined, lignite is approximately one-third moisture. This makes it uneconomical to transport by rail. However, a coal drying facility is now operational at Coal Creek Station has may make transporting lignite a more economical proposition.

• The coal drying project has its roots in a simple experiment that you can simulate in the classroom.

Coal Drying Procedure

• Weigh about 100 grams of lignite on a paper plate

• Place the coal onto a cookie sheet and place it in an oven set at its lowest temperature – 100 or 120F for four hours

• Reweigh the coal to determine the weight loss due to moisture and calculate the percent of moisture

Coal Drying Procedure

Alternative Drying Methods

• Dry the lignite using the “waste” heat from a light bulb. This method will model Coal Creek’s use of waste heat from its boiler.

• Simply place the lignite in a sunny window and let it dry. Weigh the sample each day until the weight is constant for two days.

Coal Drying Activity (Cont.)

• Coal Creek pulverizes the coal prior to drying, so students can compare the rate of moisture loss and total amount of moisture lost between crushed and uncrushed coal

• Pulverized coal has greater surface area and should dry faster than coal in larger pieces

Coal Dryer Development

Prototype model built

adjacent to the plant (1/06)

Used waste heat to dry the

coal after it was pulverized

Tests showed how much heat

& time needed

Eight coal dryers have been

installed to dry all of the coal

(operational 12/09)

Current Energy Conversion

Technologies

Pulverized Coal-Fired Boilers

2400 PSI Steam;

1000ºF

Up to 600 MW/unit in

ND

30-32% Efficient

Current Energy Conversion

Technologies

Pulverized Coal-Fired Boilers

Antelope Valley Station Coal Creek StationM.R. Young Station

Current Energy Conversion

Technologies

Pulverized Coal-Fired Boilers

Coyote Station Leland Olds Station

Stanton Station

Current Energy Conversion

Technologies

• Fluidized bed boiler technology

Heskett Station Spiritwood Station

Future Generating Technologies

Advanced Pulverized Coal

Oxy-fuel Combustion

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC)

Poly-generation

Chemical Looping

Allam Cycle

Supercritical Pulverized Coal

Power Plant

3500 PSI Steam; 1050ºF

Up to 1300 MW/Unit

35-40% Efficient

Future Generating Technologies

Future Generating Technologies

Oxy-combustion

Technology

consideration to

capture CO2

Energy penalty ~ 1/3

(450 MW Gross

yields 300 MW Net)

First demonstrations

underway in US and

Europe

Future Generating Technologies

IGCC

Up to 300 MW/Unit

40-45% Efficient

Cost, availability &

lack of lignite

experience are

issues

Kemper County

Products

Electric Power

Synthetic Natural Gas

Liquid Transportation Fuels

Hydrogen

Chemicals

Gasification

306/11/2018

Chemical Looping – LCL-C™

ProcessAdvanced oxy combustion technology without ASUs

Advanced oxy-combustion system without Air Separation Unit

• No cryogenic Air Separation Unit

• Two interconnected boilers

• Limestone as oxygen carrier

Fuel reactor Air reactor

(Reducer) (Oxidizer)

Ash

Particulate

control

Desulfurization/

Particulate

control

FGC, Flue gas

condenser

GPU, Gas

processing unit

To storage

CO2

Water

CO2

Purification

Allam Cycle

• Converts Coal to Syngas

• Uses supercritical CO2 as working fluid

• Very high pressure oxycombustion

Overall Technology

Development Road

Map

32

Overview 33 | Allam Cycle

Allam Cycle achieves

clean, low-cost

electricity competitive

with all state-of-the-art

systems

Note:• LCOE calculated using EPRI methodology• Assumes $6.50/MMBtu natural gas and $2.00/MMBtu coal• Cost ranges represent data from several sources: EIA (2013); Parsons Brinkerhoff (2013); NETL (2012); Black & Veatch (2012)

33

The Allam Cycle Video

Emission Control Technologies

Particulate Matter (PM) reduction >99.99%

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) reduction >97%

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) reduction 50% → > 90% goal

Mercury (Hg) reduction 50%-90% → > 90% goal

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) ??? %

• New plants

• Existing plants

376/11/2018

Wet

Scrubber

Boiler

Stack

Baghouse

Coal

Overfire Air,

low NOxburners, injection of ammonia

Emission Control Technologies

Electrostatic

Precipitator

Stack

Dry Scrubber

Carbon Capture Technologies

• 2010 Study of Carbon Capture Options for the existing fleet

– Examined all existing lignite-based power plants in ND

– Examined technical and economic issues for the individual plants

– Determines the cost and parasitic power losses for each plant

Antelope Valley FEED

Study

• Examined 125 MWe slip stream

• Considered amine based system

• Received support from LRC

• Cost and availability of “Commercially viable” options

DOE CCS Program Goals

• By 2020, have available for commercial deployment technologies and best practices for achieving:

– 90% CO2 capture

– 99%+ storage permanence

– < 10% increase in COE (pre-combustion capture)

– < 35% increase in COE (post- and oxy-combustion)

416/11/2018

CO2 Capture Technology R&D Timeline

20102008 20162012 2020 2024

Large-Scale Field Testing

Laboratory-Bench-Pilot Scale R&D

Full-Scale Demos

Commercial Deployment

NDIC Funding Commitment• Carbon capture-related projects:

– Carbozyme membrane technology $ 260,000– Partnership for CO2 Capture 300,000– Canadian Clean Power Coalition 130,000– AVS Carbon Capture FEED 2,700,000– Partnership for CO2 Capture II 150,000– Partnership for CO2 Capture III 500,000– Oxy-firing Alstom 550,000– Evaluation of Novel CO2 Capture 50,000– CACHYS 350,000

$4,990,000

• Carbon storage-related projects: – PCOR Phase II $ 720,000– PCOR Phase III 2,400,000

$3,120,000

Total CCS commitment $8,110,000

Carbon Management Initiatives NDIC Investment

• Partnership for CO2 Capture

– EERC project approved by LRC/NDIC – May 2008

– Develop & demonstrate a range of CO2 capture technologies to include pre-combustion, post-combustion & oxy-combustion technologies

– $3.4 million project (DOE/EERC $2.4 M; Industry $750 K; NDIC $300 K)

– Start date: 6/08; Completion date: 06/10

– Phase II, ~$2M, Started 7/10

– Builds on findings from Phase I

Carbon Management Initiatives

• Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction Partnership (PCOR)

– Phase I – Characterization of sources & sinks (2003-2005)

– Phase II – Small-scale field validation tests (2005-2009)

– Phase III – Large volume carbon storage test (2008-2017)

Carbon Management Initiatives

• PCOR Phase III (2008-2017)

– Large-scale demo projects over 10 years

– Capturing CO2 from AVS & storage in geological formations

– CO2 storage to include enhanced oil recovery & deep saline aquifer storage

– DOE committed $67 million

– NDIC committed $2.4 million – 2/08

– Total Project Cost (capture & storage) >$300 M

Carbon Management Initiatives

Glossary

• Carbon Capture: The process of separating relatively pure carbon dioxide gas as a by-product of industrial processes and electricity generated from fossil fuels

Mississippi Power

Kemper County:

Mississippi Power is

currently in construction of

a ~$6 billion IGCC plant

Will consume Mississippi

lignite to produce

electricity

Near zero emissions

Power block operational in

2014 on Natural Gas, On

syngas in late 2016

Carbon Sequestration

• SaskPower CO2 capture & storage project

– $1.24 billion, 7-year demonstration project announced 2/27/08

– Partnership: Gov. of Canada, Gov. of Sask., SaskPower & industry

– Project at Boundary Dam - 150 MW Unit III (existing unit)

– Designed to capture ~ 1 million tons CO2 / year

– CO2 capture technology & vendor is Cansolv

– CO2 to be used for EOR

– Began operation in October 2014

Retrofit Project

U.S. needs more sources of

energy & needs to lessen

dependence on foreign

sources

Lignite is a valuable source of

energy & chemical products

R&D is critical in the wise

use of this abundant resource

Summary

Questions?

Activity

LIGNITE JEOPARDY

GAME

Thanks for Listening!

6/11/2018

6/11/2018