ThermoEnergy Corporation (OTCBB:TMEN) has received recent funding, through the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), of a US$1.5 million grant by the US EPA to design, build and operate an initial prototype of the company's patented zero air emission power plant design known as the ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System, or TIPS. This prototype plant, which will be housed at the Canadian energy laboratory (CANMET) in Ottawa, will provide the process data the company needs for the design and construction of a commercial scale multi-megawatt demonstration facility in 2009.
"A successful TIPS development program could significantly change the way in which coal-rich countries such as the US, China and India generates power from their vast resources," said Dennis C. Cossey, CEO of ThermoEnergy Corporation. "Excessive airborne emissions of NOx, SOx, mercury, particulates and CO2 from coal-fired power plants will become a thing of the past."
According to ThermoEnergy:
TIPS, based on well known and reliable oxyfuel chemistry, combines the combustion of carbonaceous fuels - coal, natural gas, oil and biomass - with essentially complete recovery of all by-products; including CO2 in pressurized liquid form for sequestration or beneficial reuse. The evolutionary part of TIPS involves elevating the pressure at which conventional oxyfuel process systems work - in fact, virtually all of its process components are off-the-shelf items. The revolutionary part is the resulting process efficiencies and environmental performance. Whether as a retrofit or new construction, TIPS promises to provide industrialized nations with a seamless and economically stable pathway from almost total dependence on fossil fuels to renewable and green energy technologies of the future. (See previous post for more details and flow schematic)
A recent study by CANMET, entitled "Feasibility Study of the ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System (TIPS) Process," described TIPS as a new generation power cycle that appears to have many technical and economic advantages over existing clean coal technologies currently identified in both Canada and the USA (a copy of the full report will soon be available on ThermoEnergy's website). While public utilities represents a key market, TIPS also provides a unique solution to high energy costs for many infrastructure industries such as chemical processing, oil refineries, and pulp & paper among others due to their high energy requirements.
Those joining ThermoEnergy, the US EPA and AEA on the TIPS development 'Team' include Reaction Systems Engineering (RSE) of Kent, UK, University of Nevada (UNR), Professor Gregory McRae (of MIT) and CANMET. AEA, representing the US EPA, is Project Manager and ThermoEnergy is the lead contractor for the project.
I wonder if the solid oxide fuel cell developers have thought of using high pressure to increase efficiency? Could the operating temperature be reduced by this design change?
That could maybe increase efficiency enough to dispense with the microturbine generator, instead using exhaust gas energy to boost pressure in the cell with a simpler turbocharger system.
If it helps regular conmbustion get higher efficiencies, it might just do that for the electrochemical reaction in the fuel cell?
Posted by: amazingdrx | December 16, 2006 at 11:08 AM
We would like to discuss the possibility to represent and develop your new technologies in Brazil
Posted by: Carlo Barbieri | February 01, 2007 at 11:33 AM
We would like to discuss the possibility to represent and develop your new technologies in Brazil
Posted by: Carlo Barbieri | February 01, 2007 at 11:33 AM
is it all possabull to have a very big thermoenergy greem house in alaska that would feed 44.000.0000 mouths
Posted by: robert ford | November 22, 2011 at 05:43 PM