The effort seeks “to advance point-source carbon capture and storage technologies that can capture at least 95% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from natural gas power [plants] and industrial facilities that produce commodities like cement and steel,” the Energy Department said in a press release.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in the release that the projects put the United States on a path to decarbonize existing infrastructure.
Projects in the $45 million earmark include a carbon capture process being developed by Sustainable Energy Solutions in the state of Utah to process 30 tons of CO2 per day and to demonstrate CO2 capture of more than 95% of carbon in industrial or power plant exhaust, the release said.
Another $5 million will allow a foundation at the University of Kentucky to test a CO2 capture system that treats gas from an electric arc furnace used in steel production, the release said.
An additional $1.5 million is being awarded to General Electric’s research unit in New York State to design a system to capture 95 percent of carbon from exhausted emitted by gas-fired power plants, the release added.
The efforts reflect a Biden administration goal of making US electricity generation carbon neutral by 2035 and extending those emission reductions to the entire US economy by 2050, according to the release.