The country's first "clean coal" facility has also been described as "the world's largest post-combustion carbon capture system."
"The first large scale U.S. 'clean coal' facility was declared operational," earlier in January, reports Chris Mooney.
NRG Energy and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. built the Petra Nova project outside Houston. The facility "captured carbon dioxide from the process of coal combustion for the first time in September, and has now piped 100,000 tons of it from the plant to the West Ranch oil field 80 miles away, where the carbon dioxide is used to force additional oil from the ground."
"The companies say that the plant can capture over 90 percent of the carbon dioxide released from the equivalent of a 240 megawatt, or million watt, coal unit, which translates into 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide per day or over 1 million tons per year," adds Mooney.
According to Mooney, the "post-combustion" process used at Petra Nova is distinct from the process of burning syngas. The Kemper Plant in Mississippi, expected to be operational by the end of this month, uses a syngas process.
Planetizen correspondent wrote a detailed background on the Petra Nova facility when it broke ground in July 2014.
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