How an Old Power Plant is Being Refitted for the Hydrogen Economy

Source: Ken Silverstein · FORBES · | June 6, 2021

Source: In this July 27, 2018, file photo, the Dave Johnston coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyo. Wyoming's governor is promoting a Trump administration study that says capturing carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants would be an economical way to curtail the pollution — findings questioned by a utility that owns the plants and wants to shift away from the fossil fuel in favor of wind and solar energy. Supporters say carbon capture would save coal by pumping carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas emitted by power plants — underground instead of into the atmosphere. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File) ASSOCIATED PRESS

Talk about changing times. An old gasification plant in West Terre Haute, Indiana is getting a new life. It will use petroleum coke and biomass to produce hydrogen for power. It will also capture and sequester the resulting CO2. Just how realistic is this pursuit and just how clean is the process?

The developers say that it is viable. The hydrogen will be separated and the resulting energy is expected to be sold to power generators and chemical makers. Using a proprietary process, the CO2 will be captured and buried. It is a cost effective endeavor, they add, because it is repurposing an existing asset. It has also received both federal funding and federal tax credits. 

"For all of those reasons this is a clean energy project that is likely to move forward,” says Beth Carter, senior business manager for clean hydrogen at Honeywell, in a Zoom conversation with this reporter. “These projects are commercially available today. The energy transition is not something that will happen in a decade or two. We are showing the world it is happening now and that it is important.”