CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming’s U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis said on Tuesday that a project that is slated to bring over $64 million in research dollars to Wyoming “is a huge development for the Wyoming energy industry.”
Wyoming’s Integrated Test Center 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.
The Department of Energy announced on April 30 that it was awarded $99 million to two projects for the third phase 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 with additional non-federal funding, this project will bring over $64 million in research dollars into Wyoming,” the Wyoming Integrated Test Center said.
“I am delighted that Membrane Technology and Research (MTR) has been selected to move forward in this process, and that Wyoming has been chosen to host this important demonstration of cutting edge carbon capture technology,” Governor Mark Gordon said in the Wyoming Integrated Test Center’s announcement. “This is exactly the type of research that was envisioned when the ITC was developed and Wyoming will continue to support these efforts.”
“Membrane technology is a most promising version of carbon capture, and now it can move forward to the pilot project phase. This is also an example of technology that, if commercially successful, can be exported for carbon capture projects at home or abroad. The more carbon capture technologies that are available, the more likely it is that Wyoming coal will be an important part of our future electricity supply.”
The Wyoming Integrated Test Center say they have been working with Membrane Technology and Research since 2018. The company selected the center as their testing location for Phase II tasks under the research project during that year.
“We could not be more thrilled for MTR and we are excited to welcome them onsite as they start working on this next phase of testing,” said Wyoming Integrated Test Center Managing Director Jason Begger. “At this scale, we will be able to demonstrate carbon capture technology at a sufficient level to demonstrate to utilities the next step can be a commercial version.”
Membrane Technology and Research will be conducting research at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center’s large test bay and will use about 10MWe of flue gas from Dry Fork Station.
“More information on this project is available on the DOE website,” the Wyoming Integrated Test Center said. “Learn more about the Wyoming Integrated Test Center here.”
