DOE selected seven projects to receive approximately $37 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development through DE-FOA-0002057, Critical Components for Coal FIRST Power Plants of the Future. The selected projects and their descriptions follow:

(1) Testing and Model-Based Optimization of Coal-Fired Primary Heater Design for Indirect Supercritical CO₂ Power Cycles – Brigham Young University (Provo, UT) seeks to integrate a novel supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) power cycle with a coal-fired primary heater. In the near-term, this effort plans to move the indirectly fired sCO₂ technology toward commercialization and advance a new approach to power generation that will be significantly more fuel efficient and cost effective.

DOE Funding: $4,618,646; Non-DOE Funding: $1,204,927; Total Value: $5,823,573

(2) High-Temperature Seals for Supercritical CO₂ Turbines – General Electric Company (Niskayuna, NY) plans to develop high-temperature dry gas seals component technology for application in a 100 megawatt electrical sCO₂ Coal FIRST turbine. The proposed effort will impact the sCO₂ axial turbines needed for Coal FIRST power plants and will improve efficiency through leakage reduction and improved turbine ramp rates.

DOE Funding: $999,763; Non-DOE Funding: $249,941; Total Value: $1,249,704

(3) Zero Emission Syngas Combustor Test – Parametric Solutions, Inc. (Jupiter, FL) seeks to design, build, and test the world’s first syngas-fueled sCO₂ combustor for the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle which has the potential to produce electricity at a lower cost than conventional fossil generation with high flexibility, inherent carbon capture, and near-zero air emissions and water use.

DOE Funding: $16,000,000; Non-DOE Funding: $4,975,564; Total Value: $20,975,564

(4) Development of Coal Syngas Oxy-Combustion Turbine for Use in Advanced sCO₂ Power Cycles – Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio, TX) seeks to develop a detailed design for a sCO₂, coal syngas, or natural gas-fired, oxy-fuel turbine in the 150-300 MWe size range capable of 1,150^oC turbine inlet temperature at 300 bar and exhaust temperatures in the 725–775^oC range for use in a Direct-fired sCO₂ Power Plant System. This project will execute test plans and take the key risk components in a coal syngas combustion turbine and advance them from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 to 5.

DOE Funding: $5,134,088; Non-DOE Funding: $1,283,522; Total Value: $6,417,610

(5) Critical Component/Technology Gap in Coal FIRST Gasification-Based Poly-generation: Advanced Ceramic Membranes/Modules for Ultra-Efficient H₂ Production/CO₂ Capture for Coal-Based Poly-generation Plants – Media and Process Technology Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) plans to extend its multiple-tube full ceramic “candle filter” to be a universal support for existing and emerging inorganic membrane technologies that presently lack a pathway out of the laboratory.

DOE Funding: $1,909,350; Non-DOE Funding: $477,338; Total Value: $2,386,688

(6) A High-Efficiency, Modular Pre-Combustion Capture System for Coal FIRST Poly-generation Process – TDA Research Inc. (Wheat Ridge, CO) seeks to demonstrate the capability of the entire warm gas cleanup and capture process, including the desulfurization system, high-temperature shift catalyst and a high-temperature trace contaminant control system. The proposed use of warm gas cleanup will improve the process efficiency by three percentage points by selectively removing CO₂ and other trace contaminants.

DOE Funding: $3,000,000; Non-DOE Funding: $750,000; Total Value: $3,750,000

(7) Development of Critical Components for the Modular Staged Pressurized Oxy-combustion Power Plant – The Washington University (St. Louis, MO) plans to develop two critical components that are not commercially available for a modular staged, pressurized oxy-combustion (SPOC) plant. The modular SPOC power plant has the potential to deliver near-zero-carbon power to the grid reliably and with high efficiency, low cost, and excellent flexibility.

DOE Funding: $5,336,420; Non-DOE Funding: $1,374,534; Total Value: $6,710,954

To learn more about the programs within the Office of Fossil Energy, visit the Office of Fossil Energy website or sign up for FE news announcements. More information about the National Energy Technology Laboratory is available on the NETL website.