Feds Announce $40 Million for Carbon Capture Research

Posted Thursday, September 9, 2010 ; 10:32 AM

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announces $40 million will be available to create models for how to capture carbon and store it underground.

CHARLESTON -- U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced Wednesday that the federal government will spend up to $40 million to create models for how carbon from power plant emissions could be stored underground.
The Carbon Capture and Storage Simulation Initiative – paid for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – will bring together national laboratories and regional university alliances to collaborate on advancing the science and research related to carbon capture and storage, according to a Department of Energy news release.

West Virginia University will be among the institutions taking part in the initiative.

Carbon capture and storage is the term given to technologies that can extract carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plant emissions and bury them underground. The technology has yet to prove useful on a scale that would help combat global warming.

Still, President Barack Obama is pressing to have widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS in 10 years.

"By harnessing the power of science and technology, we can reduce carbon emissions from industrial sources," Chu said in the release. "… This partnership will not only help fight climate change, it will create new jobs and position the U.S. as a leader in carbon capture and storage technologies for years to come.”

Using advanced modeling and simulation, researchers will develop science-based methods aimed at lowering the cost of carbon capture while reducing risks associated with its storage.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory and NETL’s Regional University Alliance (Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and WVU) are partnering with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, Pacific Northwest National Lab and Lawrence Livermore National Lab to develop CCS simulation tools.