Koch Modular Launches New Carbon Capture System

Koch Modular announced the launch of Project Enterprise, its new carbon capture demonstration scale designed to reduce carbon emissions by 95%.

Project Enterprise is a collaboration between Koch Modular and Colorado-based ION Clean Energy, which developed ICE-31, the carbon capture solvent used in the process.

Project Enterprise was recently installed at Calpine's Los Medanos Energy Center in Pittsburg, California, a power plant that uses natural gas as its primary fuel source to generate electricity. Traditionally flue gases that contain CO₂ are produced during natural gas combustion and released directly into the atmosphere. To assess the efficiency of carbon capture with ION Clean Energy’s proprietary solvent, a portion of Calpine's flue gas will be diverted to the new system. This provides ION with invaluable data regarding its solvent.

A three-step process is employed to achieve the desired results. Initially, the hot flue gases are cooled, causing the subsequent absorption of CO₂ from the flue gas using ION’s solvent. Next, the solvent is regenerated in a distillation column, allowing the captured CO₂ to be stripped from the solvent, which is then collected as a distilled product.

Jointly funded by the Department of Energy, ION Clean Energy and Calpine, Project Enterprise highlights capture efficiency, stability and efficient energy consumption and promises to provide insights that will contribute to the advancement of carbon capture technologies across different fuel sources.