The Wyoming Energy Authority has awarded Babcock & Wilcox and its utility partner Black Hills Energy $16 million in engineering funding to begin development of a hydrogen generation facility with carbon dioxide capture at the company’s 90 MW coal-fired plant in Gillette. It is one of six state energy demonstration projects with an investment of $157 million that will also leverage more than $120 million in federal funding and private capital, the agency said.
The project will include the company’s innovative chemical loop system known as BrightLoop that effectively separates CO2 while producing hydrogen, process steam, electricity or synthesis gas for the production of liquid fuel or methanol, the company said. A variety of solid and gaseous fuels can be used as feedstock, he noted.
The plant, which is expected to produce 15 tons of blue hydrogen per day, “would serve as the basis for expanded hydrogen production using coal from the Powder River Basin throughout Wyoming,” the authority said. Brandy Johnson, chief technology officer at Babcock & Wilcox, said in a statement that the installation would be commercial-scale. The Wyoming agency also funded the company’s technology feasibility study. “It is a new chemical loop process that is based on the oxidation and reduction of an oxygen-carrying particle,” the company said.
Full construction of a planned 200-metric-ton-per-day facility “would provide an economically favorable path to continue utilizing Wyoming’s coal reserves and allow the state to achieve an industry-leading hydrogen cost below ‘$1 per kg’, Babcock & Wilcox. and Black Hills Energy said in their funding application.
The cost of the plant and construction start date were not disclosed in the filing, and the companies did not comment on the status of the design firm and contractor selection.
Black Hills Energy said it is pioneering the use of air-cooled condensing technology and mercury emissions controls in coal-fired power plants.
But environmental groups say the state has been slow to tap federal funding sources to develop green hydrogen production using cleaner energy sources like solar and onshore wind, according to menside Climate news.
Meanwhile, in Texas, three specialist companies are combining expertise to develop a modular, scalable 500kg-per-day plant in Houston that will produce, store and dispense green hydrogen from water using a 1.25GW electrolyser.
HNO International, Element One Energy and Pneumatic and Hydraulic Co. said the system can be scaled to produce more than 5,000 kg of hydrogen per day with additional electrolysers.
HNO, based in Houston, designs and develops green hydrogen energy technologies, Element One Energy, Colorado Springs, Colo., designs and manufactures electrolyzers and hydrogen storage systems, and Pneumatic and Hydraulic Co. with offices in Louisiana and Texas, supplies hydraulic, filtration and motion control systems. products
The modular system requires less than 3,000 square feet and can be powered by the grid or renewable energy sources, HNO said.
The company would not disclose the estimated cost of the production plant or contractors, with construction expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.
