Good article on CO₂ sequestration and Clean Coal.

See also Capturing carbon - We have the technology, why aren't we doing it?

quote:

Originally posted by DIT:
Good article on CO₂ sequestration and Clean Coal.

See also Capturing carbon - We have the technology, why aren't we doing it?

Thanks!
A taxi driver (the best-informed people around here) told me he heard on the news that Mitsubishi have what we need for the gas-fired power plants here right now.

quote:

Originally posted by Aisha:
Thanks!
A taxi driver (the best-informed people around here) told me he heard on the news that Mitsubishi have what we need for the gas-fired power plants here right now.

Followed up on your taxi driver's tip and found this article on Mitsubishi's technology
Gas turbine combined-cycle (GTCC) generation can effectively use natural gas to provide high generation efficiency. The reason for this is because the GTCC system has two stages of power generation. GTCC systems produce electricity not only by running a gas turbine that burns natural gas but also by turning a steam turbine that utilizes the hot exhaust from the gas turbine. The newest GTCC system with a high-efficiency gas turbine developed by MHI can convert more than 50% of the fuel gas energy into electric energy. Thus, the system provides higher generation efficiency by about 20% and reduces CO2 emissions by as much as 20% compared to conventional generation with gas turbines alone.

Capturing Carbon with Enzymes
A new process turns the greenhouse gas into useful materials.

A CO2 Solution bioreactor, like the one shown in the diagram, contains an enzyme-bonded packing material that interacts with a water solution pumped in from the top and smokestack emissions that enter and bubble up through the bottom. The carbon dioxide in the emissions stream is captured by the enzymes on the surface of the packing material and converted into bicarbonate ions. Cleaned-up air then escapes from the top while the bicarbonate solution exits the bottom. The bicarbonate, in a separate process, can be extracted from the solution and made into compounds, such as limestone, for use by industry.
Credit: CO2 Solution Inc.
 
Aluminum giant Alcoa tested CO2 Solution's lab prototype in 2004 by attaching it to an air outlet from a smelter's emissions-scrubbing system. Michel Lepage, Alcoa's director of laboratories and environment, says the technology worked well. "The system removed 80 percent of the CO2, which is quite large," says Lepage, emphasizing that it was a small-scale test. "But it told us it has a high potential."
...
Langley emphasizes that CO2 Solution's technology is still very much at an embryonic stage of development and that there are major economic and technical hurdles to overcome. "There's not any technology today that's really down to where we need to be," he says.


The company's techniques for reproducing the enzyme have already led to a significant drop in enzyme production costs. Perhaps the biggest challenge will be to produce enough of the enzymes to process the enormous quantity of carbon dioxide that would be emitted from a coal- or gas-fired power plant. CO2 Solution is determined to do it, particularly given the heightened profile of climate change and the likelihood that carbon regulation is around the corner.

Mayor plans greener London. More subsidies for home insulation, conversion of bus fleet to diesel-electric (not sure why they have rejected the fuel cell vehicles they were trialling, perhaps lack of hydrogen infrastructure), energy capture from Tube brakes, tighter new build controls, "carbon neutral" housing development planned, 25% of London's electricity supply to be from local combined heat and power systems.

More information in a bloated PDF format.

New World Record Achieved in Solar Cell Technology: 40.7% Sunlight-to-Electricity Conversion Effiency

PYRON SOLAR INC., in cooperation with Boeing-Spectrolab has developed a highly cost-effective concentrating solar technology to convert sunlight into electricity.

It's system is a low-profile circular array of with short-focal-length lenses concentrating direct sunlight by 400X onto photovoltaic cells. The basic idea is that the 23' diameter circular array of solar concentrators floats, and is rotated by a small motor in order to track the position of the sun. Placing the units close together allows a common motor to drive three arrays at the same time, and captures 75% of the sunlight falling on the land. Since the unit is supposed to be deployed in sunny desert environments, evaporation of the water used to float the array is an issue. An evaporation barrier is used to help address this.

Video of the tracking system in operation (5-second time lapse photography)

The solar concentrators are what allow the unit to achieve such high conversion efficiency. (see the brochure for details). The design features low material requirements (it's only 12" high) and large 'acceptance angle'. Each circular array can generate 6.6kW peak.

Interesting to read about the different technologies for CO2 capture-- and more are to be developed.
See also Zeng.


Here are some very recent (and naturally coloured) views of the current Norwegian government, with facts-- a presentation by the State Secretary (Minister's right hand) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

And here is what I know:
The problem in Norway is that the previous Government granted a concession to build Kårstø gas-fired power plant without CO2 handling (CCS: CO2 Capture and Storage). It will be ready this coming autumn, so the current red-green coalition obviously needed to and has decided to sponsor CO2 handling there.

The question is when can the technology be in place?
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and American Fluor have technology that is operative (based on not exactly harmless amines), but would need to scale up considerably from 3 per thousand and 10% to handle the exhaust from Kårstø.
They can be ready by 2011/2012. (The Government had assumed and hoped for CO2 handling of whatever kind by 2009.)

Hardly in keeping with its promises, the current government has granted a concession to build Mongstad, a combined heat and power plant, with the permission to start operations without CO2 capture (in 2010)-- with CO2 handling possibly at best from 2014.

Add to this that Aker Kvaerner, a major Norwegian corporation, are developing new technology (see p. 12 in the link), possibly better -- however, they naturally lag behind the old, but practicable technology of the foreign competition, by a year at best.

AkerKvaerner can build a test facility to handle 10 % of the CO2 exhaust at Kårstø by 2009. And a full-scale plant (with better technology than the ocmpetition) by 2013.

Meanwhile, we add to global warming (and have to buy our climate quotas elsewhere)to produce the energy Norwegian industry craves, as does the rest of the world.

(Largely based on a three-page spread today in Klassekampen -- the paper edition.)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Aisha,

did you know that livestock create more greenhouse gases than vehicles

I don't know if this is true.

I think writing sci fi like this is a global warming initiative

the main character builds his house on land abandoned by others because the sea washed over it...

BBC Ethical Man's top 10 tips for ethical living.

quote:

Originally posted by Kradlum:
BBC Ethical Man's top 10 tips for ethical living.

Wow-- this man tries hard!

And then you could find the answer blowing in the wind

quote:

Originally posted by greendreams:
did you know that livestock create more greenhouse gases than vehicles

I don't know if this is true.

That's what I was talking about when I mentioned the creation of the Sahara desert being a result of over-farming and large human-raised cattle herds in the Middle East/North Africa. More reason for us not to eat too much meat or mass-produce it. Keep in mind that this still makes the problem our fault.

This is why I say overpopulation is the root cause of global warming.

Without all these gaping mouths to cram full, without the swarming exhalations at every moment, this place would be fine. As it will when we've extinguished our collective little flame.

EU initiatives

US extends Daylight Saving by 4 weeks, with possible savings of 10.8 million tons of CO2 over the next 13 years, plus other benefits. A simple, non-technical initiative.

What's wrong with ethanol from corn.

quote:

In the end, even the most generous analysts estimate that it takes the energy equivalent of three gallons of ethanol to make four gallons of the stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Kradlum:
US extends Daylight Saving by 4 weeks, with possible savings of 10.8 million tons of CO2 over the next 13 years, plus other benefits. A simple, non-technical initiative.

For some reason I hadn't realized that was why.
In Norway, we always htought of it as a health-promoting measure-- long light evenings after work to be outdoors and catch up after the dark season.
Probably just me not keeping up with the times (the EU have similar reasons now, I suppose.)

quote:

That's what I was talking about when I mentioned the creation of the Sahara desert being a result of over-farming and large human-raised cattle herds in the Middle East/North Africa. More reason for us not to eat too much meat or mass-produce it. Keep in mind that this still makes the problem our fault.

I crossed the sahara by thumb and goat bus a while back, and I came upon some huge petrified stumps. Cedar trees, really big.

quote:

What's wrong with ethanol from corn.

what's wrong is that an acre of algae produced 100 times more ethanol than an acre of corn.