South Charleston, WV - March 30, 2009
Alstom, a world leader in power generation, and The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), a global gas treating industry leader, announce the design and construction of a pilot plant to capture carbon dioxide (CO²) from the flue gas of a coal-fired boiler at the Dow-owned facility in South Charleston, West Virginia, USA.
Alstom will design, construct and operate the pilot plant, which is expected to capture approximately 1,800 tons per year of CO² from flue gas using Alstom's and Dow's advanced amine technology. Dow will provide the site and utilities, as well as the chemicals and its amine technology expertise for this project. The pilot plant is expected to be operational by 3Q 09.
"We are thrilled to be part of this groundbreaking project in CO² capture," said Janet Giesselman, President and General Manager of Dow Oil & Gas. "This technology has immense potential-for the local community, industry, environment and our business. Developing advanced amine technology will provide sustainable energy solutions now and into the future."
"Coal, which represents over two thirds of the world's power generation, is and will continue to be an essential part of the world's energy mix," said Philippe Joubert, Alstom Executive Vice President and President of Alstom Power. "But only by reducing its CO² output can coal remain a viable source of power generation. Our cooperation with Dow further demonstrates our leadership and commitment in this field, as well as providing the validation we need to launch our amine-based CO² capture technology on a commercial scale."
All the coal used in the pilot will be sourced locally in West Virginia. By constructing a facility capable of capturing CO², Alstom and Dow will help assure that coal remains an important and sustainable part of the United States' energy security.
This project is an important element of Dow's 2015 sustainability goals. According to Vice President of Sustainability, Neil Hawkins, "Dow is committed to providing solutions that improve energy efficiency, promote renewable energy, improve the environmental performance of our existing energy sources, and enable carbon capture and sequestration. Dow is a leader in bringing these solutions forward."
In 2008, Dow and Alstom entered into a Joint Development Agreement to develop advanced amine technology for CO² capture. Currently, Alstom is working with Dow to develop a commercial offering of an advanced amine-based scrubbing technology for industrial sources that produce exhaust or flue gases containing CO² and high levels of oxygen. The new process will significantly reduce the amount of energy required for CO² separation and capture. The West Virginia pilot plant will validate this new technology.
About Dow
About Dow Oil & Gas
Dow Oil & Gas serves customers across the global oil and gas industry, addressing changing operations and business needs with a growing range of integrated technology and specialty chemical and material solutions. Backed by the proven resources of Dow, this growing team of experienced professionals works collaboratively with customers to leverage Dow's unmatched molecular expertise and global footprint to offer meaningful answers to today's oil and gas industry challenges. More information can be found at www.dowoilandgas.com.
About Alstom
Alstom is at the forefront of carbon capture technology development. In 2007 and 2008, as part of its multi-product strategy, Alstom announced agreements with AEP, Statoil, Vattenfall, E.ON and PGE Elektrownia to test CO² capture technologies in the U.S. and Europe. To date, Alstom has started operation at three CO² capture pilot projects, with EPRI and We Energies in Wisconsin, USA, E.ON in Sweden and Vattenfall in Germany. This year, Alstom plans to recruit between 60 and 100 staff to work on the CCS demonstration projects in which it will be involved.
Alstom (www.alstom.com) is a global leader in the world of power generation and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world, and provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions, equipment and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind. The Group employs 76,000 people in 70 countries, and had orders of €23.5 billion in 2007/08.
For Editorial Information:
Eric Kosmider
The Dow Chemical Company
(989) 636-0626
Tim Brown
Alstom
(202) 495-4968—Office
timothy.s.brown@power.alstom.com
