FutureGen Zero-Emissions Project Now Has Site Set for CO2 Storage

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--After going through a shaky period when its future seemed murky and on the edge, the FutureGen Alliance (FG) (Jacksonville, Illinois) project has sorted out its internal structures and is ready to move ahead with the confirmation of its preferred site for CO2 storage.

For related information, see December 8, 2011, article - FutureGen to Move Forward Without Ameren's Participation.

This week, FG affirmed that Morgan County will remain the preferred location and that it will no longer maintain alternate sites in Christian and Douglas counties. Recent geologic and engineering studies have confirmed that the Morgan County site is an excellent location for the CO2 storage facility.

FG CEO Ken Humphreys said that the decision was a significant step forward for FG 2.0 and thanked all three counties for their support. He also thanked the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois State Geological Survey for their invaluable support in the site selection process.

The Morgan County site was initially selected in February 2011, and since that time geologic conditions at the proposed storage site have been tested and have been found to be geologically stable. The site features a regionally extensive primary caprock formation and secondary caprock formations, and it has a reservoir capacity sufficient to permanently store the CO2 that will be generated by the project. Confident that the site meets regulatory requirements, the Alliance is proceeding with a site application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The underground pore space necessary for the storage site also has been acquired. Desktop and field environmental studies have been conducted to confirm the absence of any sensitive environmental resources that could be adversely affected by the project.

FG 2.0 has been planned as a pioneering near-zero emissions power plant and involves upgrading the Meredosia Energy Center with oxy-combustion technology to capture more than 90% of the plant's carbon emissions. Using safe, proven pipeline technology, the CO2 will be transported and permanently stored underground. The project's technologies have the potential to repower the global fleet of coal-fuelled power plants in a manner that achieves near-zero emissions of all regulated pollutant, spurring job creation and substantially advancing clean energy technology around the globe.

The FG Alliance is a non-profit membership organization created to further the development and demonstration of near-zero-emission coal technology. The program is supported by $1 billion in federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

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