ARPA-E award for flexible carbon capture and storage

Atlanta, GA

November 14, 2020

An ARPA-E FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS) award has been given to Matthew Realff (PI), Chris Jones, Ryan Lively, Joe Scott and Fani Boukouvala to develop a modular direct air capture (DAC) process to be integrated with flexible natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC) power plants. This approach couples CO2 emissions capture from the natural gas plant using conventional technology with a novel design based on materials capable of removing CO2 from the air. The NGCC plant will run continuously, and the conventional technology will perform at its most efficient level. In times of low demand, steam and power from the natural gas plant are directed to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. The modular nature of the direct air capture system allows for partial operation, making it highly flexible and allowing power generators to respond to variable renewable energy production. This project involves Trimeric Inc. to examine the integration with conventional carbon capture and an independent consulting engineer, Howard Hendrix, who will work on the power plant integration with DAC. Southern Co. has also joined the project to provide feedback on the viability of the approach. The project will begin in October for the first phase that will last for 15 months.