Technology Developers
“You can’t move to the final commercial stage without such a test…if not for this site, we would have had to turn to the private sector. So this really improves the commercialization and de-risking of the technology.”
– Brice Freeman, Membrane Technology and Research
The ITC can host multiple research teams at any given time. The facility was designed to accommodate projects of varying sizes and power needs. Each individual test bay is fed with flue gas directly from Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station. The ITC is one of a few facilities in the world where researchers can pull power directly from a coal-fired power plant for testing. This allows tenants to test real-world applications of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology.
Prospective developers should review the ITC Project Management Guide for details on testing technologies at the ITC. To get the process started, prospective developers should then contact Will Morris.
Tenants
TDA Research
The Wyoming ITC welcomed TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) to the facility in the fall of 2019. TDA develops cutting-edge chemical processes, materials, and hardware for customers in the defense, aerospace, energy, and chemical industries.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, TDA will test a novel hybrid carbon capture system, which incorporates membrane and solid sorbent technologies to remove carbon dioxide from flue gas. TDA’s system is sized to capture carbon dioxide from flue gas at about the emission rate from a plant generating 50 kilowatts of electricity, or about a ton of carbon dioxide per day. “Our solid sorbent technology has been tested and proven on a smaller scale, as has the membrane technology proved by MTR. Our two technologies have also been tested as a hybrid model successfully as well,” said David Gribble, TDA senior scientist. “Through our testing at Dry Fork Station, we hope to show improvements in operational cost and efficiencies.”
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) is slated to test their solid sorbent capture technology at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center. The State of Wyoming and Japan have been working together since 2016, when Governor Mead and Osamu Tsukamoto, President of JCOAL, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) committing to cooperation in coal research and development of technologies and coal trade. JCOAL operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and is supported by more than 120 member coal-related businesses. The organization works to promote overall coal activities, from coal mining to the field of coal utilization, toward a stable energy supply, sustainable economic growth and the reduction of the global environment emissions.
Gas Technology Institute
Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and partners, The Ohio State University and Trimeric Corporation, are planning to bring a carbon capture system to the ITC to advance Ohio State’s transformational membrane technology to provide step-out reductions in CO2 capture cost and energy penalties.
Membrane Technology & Research
Wyoming’s ITC will host one of two projects selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for Phase III funding of a large-scale pilot carbon capture project. DOE has awarded $99 million to two projects for Phase III of their Demonstration of Large-Scale Pilot Carbon Capture Technologies funding opportunity. Membrane Technology and Research (MTR) was awarded $51,699,939 from DOE and will build and operate a large pilot membrane carbon capture system.
GreenOre
GreenOre Clean Tech, employing a carbon utilization and carbon recycling technology under license from Columbia University, will utilize testing space at the ITC in Gillette, Wyoming. Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL), GreenOre Clean Tech LLC and Columbia University are partnering on this research project. The test is to be funded by JCOAL with additional support from project partners.
Wyoming’s ITC will host a new $2.5 million project with Colorado State University, the University of Wyoming and Living Ink Technologies to convert an industrial source of carbon dioxide into high-value materials through an algae-based carbon transfer process. The project, also supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, began its initial phase in 2023. The research will run for three years, with approximately six months of testing at the facility.
Previous Research Partners
Finalists for the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE tested their technologies at the ITC. The $20 million Carbon XPRIZE was a global competition to develop breakthrough technologies that converted CO2 emissions from power plants and industrial facilities into valuable products like building materials, alternative fuels, and over items that we use every day. The competition announced its two winners, CarbonBuilt and Carbon Cure in April 2021.