This landmark carbon capture facility at Plant Barry in Alabama —
owned by Southern Company subsidiary Alabama Power — is the world's
largest demonstration of carbon capture on a pulverized-coal power plant.
Approximately 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide — the equivalent of
emissions from 25 megawatts — are being captured annually. Permanent
underground storage in a deep saline geologic formation begins in the
Fall of 2011.
Carbon is captured using Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. technology KM-CDR™, which uses an advanced amine solvent. The process begins with coal combustion which generates electricity, leaving a flue gas. Carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flue gas reacts with the amine solvent before being captured from the flue gas. CO2 is then compressed, making it ready for pipeline transport.
Nick Irvin
Well this is really exciting at Plant Barry, we are here building a project to do carbon capture and sequestration for the first time at one of our coal fire power plants. It basically means we are going to take our flue gas and separate the CO2 into a very pure form, and then put into underground into formations where it can be stored safely for a very long time. So this plant is designed to capture five hundred metric tons of CO2 per day, and up to a hundred and fifty to two hundred metric tons per year.
We have a very strong technology partner in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. They've been developing this process for over twenty years. The key for them to be able to offer this technology commercially to the utility industry is this project.
Steve Holton
>It's the process with started to look into back in the 1980s, and we've progressed. We've done some pilot testing in Japan, we've done small demonstration testing, and now this is the culmination of all that. It's a large-scale capture project, which is the natural progression for our process development before we can go commercial.
We are very much aligned with Southern Company's philosophy in R and D. We like to prove things to our own satisfaction before we move to the next step, so it's a phased approach.
Nick Irvin
We don't want any surprises when we have to make large investments. So that when we say a technology is ready, we know that when we turn the key, it's going to run, and run safely and predictably.
Steve Holton
The potential is limitless. This process needs to be set in place, and that relates globally, not just to the USA.
Nick Irvin
Southern Company has an opportunity here, with this project, to lead the US Utility Industry in this technology development. If we're successful here, with our partner Mitsubishi being able to deploy it globally, we'll not only lead the US industry, but we'll also be leading the entire world in the development of CCS technology.
Beginning in the Fall of 2011, captured carbon dioxide will be supplied from the plant to the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB). They will transport the carbon dioxide by pipeline and inject it 9,500 feet underground at a site within the Citronelle Oil Field, operated by Denbury Resources about 11 miles from the plant. The carbon dioxide will remain below the surface, permanently stored.
Partners
Southern Company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., U.S. Department of Energy, Denbury Resources, Electric Power Research Institute, Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, Burlington Northern, Parker Towing, Norfolk Southern, Southern Natural Gas, National Energy Technology Laboratory
Climate change actions across the Southeast
Follow our actions on carbon dioxide capture and storage across our four-state service territory.
