Petra Nova, pioneering power plant carbon capture unit, is up and running again, says JX Nippon

AI generated summary

Petra Nova, one of only two commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in the world, has resumed operations after being shut down since May 2020. The project, located at the W.A. Parish generating station in Texas, is designed to remove over 90% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) from a flue gas slipstream from a coal-fired unit. The captured CO2 is then transported via a pipeline and injected for enhanced oil recovery. The project, which cost $1 billion and was named POWER's Plant of the Year in 2017, was jointly developed by NRG Energy and JX Nippon and uses the Kansai Mitsubishi Carbon Dioxide Recovery Process.

The Department of Energy supported the project's three-year demonstration period, during which it captured 3,904,978 short tons of CO2, representing 92.4% of the processed flue gas slipstream. However, economic conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to the project being placed in reserve shutdown in May 2020. JX Nippon, which acquired NRG Energy's share in the project, announced that Petra Nova would resume year-round service in June 2023. The facility is regarded as one of the largest carbon capture facilities in the world and plays a key role in JX Nippon's efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.