Gas with carbon capture at Decatur

Construction of the power plant is expected to start in 2025 and be completed in 2028. The natural gas fuelled plant will provide both electricity and steam for ADM’s processing operations in Decatur, Illinois, which consist of three facilities across more than 1100 acres. The captured carbon dioxide will be transferred to ADM’s existing carbon storage wells.

ADM’s products include citric acid, lactic acid, xanthan gum, dextrose, sorbitol, corn syrup, and ethanol.

Warwick estimates that the facility will have the potential to permanently sequester underground more than two million tons of CO2 emissions per year.

It is expected to achieve a carbon dioxide capture efficiency of over 90%.

Broadwing says the plant will net roughly 350 MW of lower-emission power. ADM will buy about 95 MW of that power for its Decatur operations.

The Decatur project was announced in 2021, when the plan was to use Allam-Fetvedt supercritical CO2 cycle technology – anticipated to be one of the first projects to employ that concept. But it will now employ a “conventional” amine-based carbon dioxide scrubbing system using technology developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Mitsubishi Power will supply the power generation equipment, including an advanced gas turbine.

Mitsubishi capture technology was selected because “it is ready for widescale deployment and demonstrates the highest level of operational and technical performance”, says Jonathan Wiens, CEO, Warwick Carbon Solutions.

Warwick Carbon Solutions’ equity backer is London-based investment firm Warwick Capital Partners, which opened a Houston office last year. Founded in 2010, Warwick Capital has about $2.5 billion in assets under management.

The Broadwing project can be viewed as “a game changer in the development and the deployment of carbon capture and sequestration,” says Jonathan Wiens.

“ADM continues to lead in the decarbonisation of the industries in which we operate,” says Ian Pinner, ADM’s senior vice president of strategy and innovation.

In March 2023, Mitsubishi Power and Warwick Carbon Solutions announced that they had entered into a joint development agreement (JDA) which “leverages the expertise of both companies to advance decarbonisation projects among energy and industrial sectors.”

“As evidenced by the US IRA and other important initiatives directed at advancing clean energy, the time is now to collaboratively pursue new decarbonisation technologies & solutions,” said Bill Newsom, president & CEO, Mitsubishi Power Americas.

The two companies said they plan to “work together as strategic partners to identify and develop long-term viable projects that will help the North American region achieve net zero no later than 2050. Each company brings their own world-class products, services and design expertise to the JDA which will focus on the decarbonisation of companies operating in the oil & gas, industrial process, and power generation sectors.”