Jul 14 2010
ADA-ES, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADES) (“ADA”) today announced that it has been selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to negotiate a new contract for a clean coal technology project to capture carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants.
ADA will be the prime contractor for the $14 million project that will be administered by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) which is providing $11.1 million of the funding. ADA expects $3 million in co-funding and support to be provided by several major utility companies including Southern Company (NYSE: SO), Luminant, and DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE).
The project team includes KBR (NYSE: KBR) which is expected to provide engineering and equipment design expertise to develop the full-scale process engineering. This concept will be pilot tested during the project at the 1 megawatt scale. KBR is a leading global engineering, construction, and services company.
The project will provide funding to advance ADA’s commercialization plan for regenerable solid-sorbent technology, which is designed to capture carbon dioxide generated by coal-fired power plants. This year ADA began the first field tests of this technology on a $3.2 million program co-funded by DOE, as well as several major forward-thinking utility companies, and the initial results confirmed the promising performance ADA had demonstrated in the laboratory. Once captured, the carbon dioxide could be either stored underground (sequestration) or beneficially used in processes such as enhanced oil recovery. This technology appears to offer potential cost and energy advantages over competing liquid-solvent-based technologies.
Dr. Michael Durham, President and CEO of ADA, commented, “We and our team of co-funders are excited about this project that is expected to give power companies more options for controlling greenhouse gas emissions.” Dr. Durham continued, “ADA has an established track record of engaging in collaborative partnerships with DOE-NETL and our power generating customers to develop and commercialize innovative solutions to reduce emissions. Our team is dedicated to advancing technologies that make coal, a low-cost, abundant and secure fuel that supplies at least half of the nation’s electric power needs, clean and safe.”