Project Selections for Notice of Funding Opportunity DE-FOA-0003606, Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants (Phase 1 - Pre-FEED)
Topic Area 1 — Development and Implementation of Advanced Wastewater Systems
Demonstration of Innovative Wastewater Treatment Solutions in Coal Power Plants and Address Reliability Emergency, to Uniquely Position for Data Centers (Project DISRUPT) — Baker Hughes Energy Transition, LLC (Houston, Texas)
This project will support the adaptation and demonstration of automated wastewater treatment and conversion technologies at coal-fired power plants to address critical environmental concerns and support the rapid growth of the digital infrastructure sector. Managed by Baker Hughes in collaboration with Pennsylvania State University, the project—known as DISRUPT—focuses on removing heavy metals (such as selenium, arsenic, and mercury) from complex flue gas desulfurization wastewater. By purifying this wastewater to meet stringent environmental standards while recovering valuable metals, the project creates a sustainable, circular economy loop. The purified water can then be recycled to provide clean, low-cost cooling water for power-hungry artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud data centers, positioning abated coal-fired power plants as highly reliable, water-resource-optimized energy solutions.
The project will be executed across three distinct phases to scale and validate these integrated technologies. Phase 1 centers on benchtop testing and utilizing Baker Hughes’ commercial (TRL-9) oil and gas wastewater treatment chemistry to treat power plant water samples, aiming for a minimum heavy metal conversion efficiency of , alongside completing preliminary front-end engineering designs (pre-FEED) for carbon capture integration. Phase 2 extends these efforts into full FEED studies and tests patented technologies to convert captured carbon dioxide (CO2) into high-value cyclic organic carbonates. Phase 3 concludes with the construction of a scaled-down mobile test rig and a full-scale integrated pilot validation of the wastewater treatment, metal recovery, and CO2 utilization system directly at a host coal-fired power plant.
Modernization of these systems will provide a scalable, modular solution that can be retrofitted into existing power infrastructure with minimal capital investment. By transforming traditional waste management into a system of resource recovery, the project supports regulatory compliance, mitigates health risks associated with water contamination, and reduces freshwater withdrawal. Ultimately, this operational synergy between the energy and technology sectors preserves utility jobs, minimizes environmental liabilities, and establishes robust, clean-energy hosting sites for next-generation data centers.
DOE Funding: $396,667
Non-DOE Funding: $100,442
Total Value: $497,109
Waste-Heat-Powered Thermal Evaporation of Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater Project — Heartland Water Technology, Inc. (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
This project will demonstrate a 200,000 gallons per day, waste-heat-powered thermal evaporation system integrated with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The system enables uniquely efficient zero liquid discharge (ZLD) treatment of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater at an operating coal-fired power plant. Led by Heartland Water Technology, Inc., with the Electric Power Research Institute as a key partner, this initiative will establish the technical, environmental, and execution foundation needed for a potential full-scale demonstration.
Phase I of the project focuses on a preliminary front-end engineering design for the thermal evaporation system, wastewater and residuals characterization, site integration studies, and an evaluation of candidate post-combustion CCUS configurations. A key objective is to demonstrate the reduction of the FGD wastewater stream while recovering clean distilled water for beneficial reuse on-site. Additionally, the project will characterize the concentrated residuals from the process to reduce disposal volumes and assess pathways for their beneficial use.
This integrated approach represents a lower-energy, lower-risk, and more economically attractive path for ZLD deployment at coal-fired power plants. Key benefits include eliminating liquid effluent discharge, efficiently using available waste heat, recovering reusable distilled water, and potentially creating value from residual byproducts. A successful demonstration will de-risk the technology, paving the way for near-term commercial deployment across other coal plants and advancing Department of Energy objectives.
DOE Funding: $400,000
Non-DOE Funding: $108,010
Total Value: $508,010
Advanced Acoustic–Crystallization Technology for High-Purity Magnesium Hydroxide Production and Mercury Stabilization — University of Kentucky Research Foundation (Lexington, Kentucky)
This project supports the development and deployment of an integrated, advanced wastewater treatment and resource recovery system at coal- and gas-fired power plants. Traditionally, treating wastewater from wet flue gas desulfurization and wet electrostatic precipitators using conventional zero-liquid-discharge processes co-precipitates magnesium hydroxide () and gypsum (). This cross-contamination limits the purity of recovered to under 86 wt%, rendering it low-value waste. Furthermore, flexible coal/gas co-firing reduces flue gas halogen content, disrupting mercury chemistry and increasing the risk of elemental mercury re-emission.
To address these challenges, the University of Kentucky Research Foundation—on behalf of the University of Kentucky Institute for Decarbonization and Energy Advancement—is developing a three-phase, staged-pH adjustment and acoustically enhanced purification technology. By utilizing precise, Pitzer-based chemical modeling, the process establishes two distinct precipitation windows: a first stage () that selectively crystallizes and removes high-purity gypsum, and a second stage () to precipitate the remaining . The resulting slurry is then treated with ResonantAcoustic® Mixing to break apart composite aggregates, liberate entrapped impurities, and expel chloride-rich porewater. Trapped mercury is subsequently stabilized into highly insoluble cinnabar via sulfidation chemistry.
The recovered, mercury-free achieves purity, yielding an industrial-grade byproduct. This recovered material can either be sold commercially into established chemical markets ( to dollars per dry tonne) or reused internally as an air pollution control agent to significantly offset plant operating costs. Additionally, the project will deliver a conceptual, solvent-agnostic post-combustion carbon capture, utilization, and storage design to transport and utilize captured CO2 for enhanced oil and gas recovery in unconventional wells.
DOE Funding: $400,000
Non-DOE Funding: $100,000
Total Value: $500,000
Thermal Bottom Ash Drying and Critical Mineral Recovery Project — University of Wyoming (Laramie and Wheatland, Wyoming)
This project, led by the University of Wyoming, will demonstrate an advanced water-management solution to support the modernization of coal-fired power plants. Coal power facilities that use wet systems to handle bottom ash face significant operational and environmental challenges, including high water consumption and the generation of large wastewater streams. These wet processes also create burdens for the long-term management of coal combustion residuals and complicate the potential recovery of valuable critical minerals contained in the ash.
The project will evaluate and design a system to apply a horizontal thin-film thermal drying technology to bottom ash transport water at Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Laramie River Station. This process is designed to convert wet bottom ash slurry into two primary outputs: a dewatered, solid ash stream and a clarified water stream. The dewatered solids are suitable for dry handling and disposal or for use as a feedstock for critical mineral recovery, while the recovered water can be reused within the plant, including as potential make-up water for carbon capture, utilization, and storage systems.
By turning a waste stream into a potential resource, this project aims to create a pathway to reduce freshwater withdrawals, minimize wastewater generation, and decrease long-term environmental liabilities for coal power plants. This Phase I effort will produce a preliminary engineering design and a business case analysis to position the technology for a future demonstration, supporting both the economic viability of the existing coal fleet and the domestic supply of critical minerals.
DOE Funding: $399,931
Non-DOE Funding: $99,983
Total Value: $499,914
Topic Area 2 – Engineering and Implementation of Dual Firing Retrofits
Modernizing the Merom Coal-Fired Power Station: Dual-Firing Project — Hallador Power Company, LLC (Sullivan, Indiana)
This project will support the engineering, design, and commercial-scale demonstration of a rapid, premium-efficiency dual-firing retrofit of Unit 1 at the Merom Generating Station. By enabling 0–100% natural gas dual-firing capabilities while fully preserving existing coal-firing capabilities, the project delivers critical near-term resource adequacy, operational flexibility, fuel arbitrage benefits, and near-term emissions reductions to the U.S. electricity grid.
The project leverages field-proven, utility-scale components, featuring advanced low- center gas gun burners with patented direct spark ignition—eliminating separate gas igniters, simplifying burner management system logic, and dramatically lowering operating and maintenance costs. Fully integrated with distributed control system architectures, the retrofit delivers a rapid, cost-effective, and automatically controlled fuel-switching capability that enables the station to achieve 100% of its original maximum continuous rating steam flow of approximately 1,080 megawatts on either fuel individually or interchangeably.
Phase I will complete the pre-front-end engineering and design study to prepare for Phase II design finalization and procurement and Phase III construction and commissioning. Phase I will also develop multi-discipline 50% design packages to support construction bidding invitations, develop a preliminary business case analysis, and formulate an Environmental Information Volume to support National Environmental Policy Act reviews. Simultaneously, Phase I will develop a conceptual design for post-combustion carbon capture, utilization, and storage sized to process the full plant's flue gas streams, ensuring a clear technical and economic pathway toward deep future decarbonization.
Modernization of this critical baseload node will directly preserve high-wage operations and maintenance jobs in southwest Indiana, support domestic manufacturing through Build America, Buy America compliant sourcing, and deliver reliable, lower-emissions capacity to rural communities and high-growth data center loads across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator grid.
DOE Funding: $399,420
Non-DOE Funding: $100,000
Total value: $499,420
Topic Area 3 – Development and Testing of Natural Gas Cofiring Systems
Understanding and Mitigation of Natural Gas Co-firing Impact on FGD and ZLD Operation Performance — East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Inc. (Winchester, Kentucky)
This project will support the engineering, design, and pilot-scale experimental evaluation of natural gas co-firing at existing coal-fired electricity generating units to optimize air pollution control devices and environmental compliance. The project couples advanced burner adaptations with systematic data collection and experimental testing of wet flue gas desulfurization and zero-liquid discharge systems. By assessing chemistry changes under high flue gas temperatures and low sulfur dioxide concentrations, this project will establish optimal control strategies to transition traditionally coal-only units into highly flexible, dual-fueled resources.
The project will address critical design, permitting, and operational challenges in Phase I, transitioning through detailed front-end engineering design, burner procurement, and environmental compliance preparation in Phase II, to a comprehensive on-site installation, commissioning, and field demonstration in Phase III. Under simulated and actual operational conditions at the Spurlock Generating Station, the system will evaluate stable, continuous co-firing utilizing a natural gas heat input of 20% to 50% of the total boiler thermal input. This optimization aims to maintain high efficiency while supporting potential reductions in , , mercury, and CO2 emissions under peak co-firing scenarios relative to the coal-only baseline. In addition, Phase I will develop a conceptual design for a post-combustion carbon capture, utilization, and storage system utilizing a solvent-agnostic technology sized to process the host site's flue gas stream, establishing a viable pathway for barge and rail transport of carbon to support regional enhanced oil recovery.
Upgrading the target facility will directly preserve high-wage operations and maintenance jobs at the host site in Maysville, Kentucky, bolster research opportunities at the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, and generate vital, publicly available performance datasets to resolve critical information gaps for other utilities retrofitting coal-fired plants for natural gas co-firing.
DOE Funding: $400,000
Non-DOE Funding: $120,493
Total value: $520,493
Modernizing the Merom Coal-Fired Power Station: Co-FiringProject — Hallador Power Company, LLC (Sullivan, Indiana)
This project will support the Phase I engineering, design, and planning to enable Unit 2 at the Merom Generating Station to achieve stable, continuous natural gas co-firing. The project integrates local transmission-level gas supply and upgrades Unit 2’s existing boiler utilizing proven, low- center gas gun burner systems with patented direct spark ignition and an optimized fuel train. This technology preserves existing coal-firing capabilities with oil ignition while delivering a safe, modern, and code-compliant retrofit that minimizes control complexity and operating costs by eliminating separate gas igniters.
The project will address critical Phase I technical, environmental, and business design challenges to prepare for Phase II front-end engineering and design and Phase III factory procurement, field installation, and commissioning. Under peak operational conditions, the integrated system will demonstrate stable co-firing utilizing a natural gas heat input of 20% to 50% of the total boiler thermal input. This optimization maintains the plant's maximum continuous rating and ensures high boiler efficiency while enabling a 20% to 50% reduction in , , mercury, and CO2 emissions relative to the pre-retrofit, coal-only baseline. Additionally, Phase I will develop a conceptual design for post-combustion carbon capture, utilization, and storage sized to process the generating station’s flue gas stream, advancing a credible pathway for future deep decarbonization.
Modernization of the target facility will directly support grid reliability and resource adequacy in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator grid, providing a highly dispatchable, flexible power supply to meet regional load growth and emerging large utility demands. The project will preserve high-wage operations and maintenance jobs in rural Sullivan County, Indiana, while delivering measurable environmental and economic benefits to local cooperative and municipal utilities.
DOE Funding: $302,736
Non-DOE Funding: $75,684
Total value: $378,420
Retrofitting City Water, Light & Power with a Coal and Natural Gas Co-Firing System — University of Illinois (Champaign and Springfield, Illinois)
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in partnership with City Water, Light & Power (CWLP), will lead a project to implement a simple and cost-effective technology to retrofit the coal-fired Dallman Unit 4 power plant in Springfield, Illinois, and develop a design for a full-scale, integrated carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) system. The retrofit will enable the plant to co-fire up to 40% natural gas heat input through hardware modifications to the burners and the development of innovative controls. Execution of this project will enable the municipally owned utility to remain operational and economically competitive, retain local jobs, and meet the growing electricity demands of the area.
The project aims to improve the plant’s ability to respond to fluctuations in market demand and increase its economic resilience. By enabling faster ramping and better control, the retrofit will allow CWLP to capture additional revenue from ancillary services within the Midcontinent Independent System Operator market. This enhances the economic viability of the plant while providing a pathway to keep essential coal-fired power plants online throughout the United States, supporting national energy security.
This effort leverages a 2024 feasibility study which demonstrated that co-firing would reduce emissions and improve efficiency. The project will also demonstrate the interaction between a co-firing unit and carbon capture, as the Dallman plant hosts an active, DOE-supported large-scale carbon capture pilot. This project creates a valuable opportunity to demonstrate how co-firing and CCUS technologies can be integrated, ultimately reducing the environmental footprint of coal power generation while enhancing its economic viability and contribution to grid stability.
DOE Funding: $400,000
Non-DOE Funding: $100,000
Total value: $500,000
Enhancing U.S. Grid Reliability and Fuel Flexibility through Co-Fired Burner Retrofits with Zolo’s Multi-Zone In-Furnace Monitoring and Supervisor Combustion Control — Zolo Carbon Smartech, Inc. (Louisville, Colorado)
This project will support the engineering, design, and commercial-scale demonstration of an integrated coal-natural gas co-firing system to provide near-term resource adequacy, fuel flexibility, and emissions reductions for the U.S. electricity grid. The project couples host-appropriate multi-fuel burner retrofits with Zolo’s advanced, real-time in-furnace laser sensing platform (ZoloSCAN2) and a closed-loop supervisory optimization layer. By providing fast, spatially resolved observability of species and temperature fields, this technology converts traditional open-loop, conservative co-firing into a closed-loop, constraint-managed operating envelope.
The project will address critical design and integration challenges in Phase I, transitioning through detailed engineering and assembly in Phase II, to a comprehensive field demonstration in Phase III. Under actual operational conditions, the integrated system will demonstrate stable, continuous co-firing utilizing a natural gas heat input of 20% to 50% of the total boiler thermal input. This optimization minimizes efficiency penalties to ≤1.5% compared to a coal-only baseline while enabling a 20% to 50% reduction in SOx, NOx, mercury, and emissions under peak co-firing scenarios. Minimized CO2 through co-firing control will additionally enable effective carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). A conceptual design for CCUS will be presented sized to the host site flue gas stream establishing a credible engineering foundation for future deep decarbonization.
Modernization of the target facility will directly preserve high-wage operations and maintenance jobs at the selected host utility, support engineering positions at Zolo Carbon Smartech, Inc., and generate valuable, transferable performance datasets to accelerate fleet-wide replication across U.S. cycling coal plants.
DOE Funding: $400,000
Non-DOE Funding: $319,317
Total value: $719,317