Tampa Electric to Capture and Sequester Carbon Dioxide at Its Polk Power Station as Part of a U.S. Department of Energy Funded Demonstration Project

The Project, a Partnership with the Research Triangle Institute (RTI), Could Lead to the Development of Technologies to Capture and Store Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants on a Large Scale

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tampa Electric today announced that the company intends to partner with RTI International to construct a pilot project to demonstrate the technology to remove sulfur and capture and sequester CO₂ from the Tampa Electric Polk Power Station’s 250-megawatt integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) unit.

“We are pleased to partner with RTI on the development of these innovative technologies and to continue to be on the forefront of tomorrow’s clean coal technology.”

Tampa Electric plans to work with RTI over the next six months to finalize the project details. Upon completion of the final agreements, RTI will design, construct and operate the pilot plant that will capture a portion of the plant’s CO₂ emissions to demonstrate the technology. Construction of the pilot plant, which is designed to capture the CO₂ from a 30 percent side stream of the coal-fired plant’s syngas, would be completed in 2013. The syngas, a synthetic gas generated by the gasification of coal and petroleum coke, is used as a fuel in the plant’s combustion turbine to create electricity. The CO₂ capture and sequestration demonstration phase would take place over a one-year period. The project is expected to sequester approximately 300,000 tons of CO₂ more than 5,000 feet below the Polk Power Station in a saline formation.

“Tampa Electric has been an industry leader in reducing carbon dioxide emissions since 1998,” said Vice President Tom Hernandez. “We are pleased to partner with RTI on the development of these innovative technologies and to continue to be on the forefront of tomorrow’s clean coal technology.”

RTI, working with the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, has also awarded a contract to the Shaw Group to design and build a sulfur removal demonstration unit at the Polk Power Station. The demonstration sulfur removal unit is expected to significantly reduce the capital and operating costs of an integrated gasification combined cycle plant equipped with carbon capture technology.

“RTI is excited to be leading this effort to demonstrate the readiness of our warm syngas clean-up technology for full commercial deployment,” said Raghubir Gupta, Ph.D., senior director at RTI International’s Center for Energy Technology and technical leader of the project. “Overall, this is an important technical step in developing commercial-scale technologies that more efficiently produce clean energy for our nation from domestic resources.”

The DOE federal grant of approximately $168 million will fund the design, construction and testing of a warm gas cleanup system combined with carbon capture at a pre-commercial scale of approximately 50 megawatt electric equivalent.

The Polk Power Station occupies 4,300 acres on State Road 37 in Polk County, Florida. It is located approximately 40 miles southeast of Tampa and about 60 miles southwest of Orlando and is a world leader in the production of electricity using IGCC technology. The plant has previously been named as the cleanest coal-fired power plant in North America. It is also one of two operating IGCC units in the United States.

The plant is a first-of-its-kind combination of two leading technologies. The first technology is called "coal gasification," which uses coal to create a clean-burning synthesis gas. The plant combines coal with oxygen in the gasifier to produce the gaseous fuel. After processing for the removal of sulfur, the synthesis gas is used in the combustion turbine to produce electricity.

The second is a combined-cycle design that consists of a combustion turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, and a steam turbine. The exhaust heat from the combustion turbine is recovered in the heat-recovery steam generator to produce steam. This steam then passes through a steam turbine to produce more electricity.

Tampa Electric Company is the principal subsidiary of TECO Energy, Inc. (NYSE: TE), an integrated energy-related holding company, with regulated utility businesses, complemented by a family of unregulated businesses. Tampa Electric Company is a regulated utility with both electric and gas divisions (Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas System). Other subsidiaries are engaged in coal, and electric generation and distribution in Guatemala.