Powerspan Corp

Founded in 1994, Powerspan Corp. has developed proprietary, multi-pollutant control and carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology for electric power plants.

Our technologies enable new and existing power plants to meet environmental requirements in a cost-effective manner. Our patented Electro-Catalytic Oxidation (ECO®) multi-pollutant technology provides high removal of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), oxidized mercury, and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) from coal-fired power plants, while our ECO-SO2 scrubbing technology provides equivalent multi-emissions control, but without NOx removal. Our ECO2 carbon capture technology is designed as an add-on system that can be deployed when needed.

Powerspan’s history dates back to 1994 when co-founders S. Edward Neister, a physicist; Nathaniel M. Johnson, an electrical engineer; and Frank Alix, a nuclear engineer with experience in venture investing, founded Zero Emission Technology Inc. The company’s initial product was designed to improve the performance of a power plant’s existing particulate control equipment.

As we grew, our technology evolved into an integrated multi-pollutant control process, in anticipation of requirements related to the Clean Air Act. Reflecting our focus on next generation clean energy technology for the electric power industry, Zero Emissions Technology became Powerspan Corp. in 2000.

Since then we have field tested our multi-pollutant control technology, which we now offer commercially. Since 2004, we have been developing and testing a carbon capture process for power plants and today, we are considered a leading provider of carbon capture technology.

The timeline below chronicles our history and highlights significant company, technology, and partner milestones.

Carbon Capture-Ready Multi-Pollutant Control and Carbon Capture Solutions to Meet Requirements Today and in the Future

Powerspan offers advanced, air pollution control solutions for existing and new coal-fired power plants and large, industrial applications that rely on coal for their operation or electricity generation. Our solutions offer lower cost, higher performance, and are aimed at future requirements, not those of the past.

We provide proprietary multi-pollutant control technology, with or without nitrogen oxide (NOX) control, and carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology with the following solutions:

• ECO^® (Electro-Catalytic Oxidation) — Multi-pollutant control system for coal-fired power plants(NOX, SO2, oxidized mercury, and fine particulate matter)
• ECO-SO2 — Sulfur dioxide (SO2) scrubber, including oxidized mercury and fine particulate matter control
• ECO2^® — Post-combustion CO2 capture technology (can be used in conjunction with ECO, ECO-SO2, or other SO2 scrubbing systems)

Key advantages of our ECO and ECO-SO2 multi-pollutant control solutions are:

• Reduced cost
• Higher performance
• Reduced water usage
• Produces valuable fertilizer co-product that is sold in agricultural markets, instead of flue gas desulfurization waste requiring landfill disposal
• Potential to add our CO2 capture system when needed

Key advantages of our ECO2 carbon dioxide capture process are:

• Suitability for existing and new pulverized coal-fired power plants
• Can be installed following conventional SO2 scrubbing technology, such as a limestone forced-oxidation SO2 scrubber, or following Powerspan’s ECO or ECO-SO2 multi-pollutant control technologies
• 90% capture
• Reduced cost
• Reduced energy requirements
• Generates pipeline quality CO2
• ECO2 process and equipment have been successfully demonstrated on an existing coal-fired power plant, one of the few technologies to have achieved this significant milestone

At Powerspan we invest considerably in Research and Development, and we work in close COLLABORATION  with our customers to ensure our development efforts result in scalable, reliable, cost-effective solutions.

Services Overview

In addition to offering our proprietary technology for capturing CO₂, Powerspan supplies integrated, process-based systems for use in laboratories, field testing, and commercial environments.  We have designed, built, commissioned, and operated units from small bench-top research systems to small-scale field units to full-size commercial demonstration units located in some of the most demanding environments—flue gas cleaning at commercial power plants.  Powerspan  has more than 15 years experience designing, building, and operating integrated process-based systems that are heavily instrumented, automated, and built for some of the harshest operating environments.  The following highlights our Services Offered, Industries Served, and Areas of Expertise.

Services Offered:

• Integration services for process-based equipment
• System Design/Build/Commission
• Process Engineering support
• Analytical Testing
• Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CEM) and Analytical Instrument rentals
• Instrument set-up service, training, and turnkey operation available
• Process scale-up support, including pilot system design, build, operation, validation

See Engineering and Design Services and Analytical Services for additional information on our service offerings.  See Featured Project Overview for highlights of sample projects.

Industries Served:

• Power
• Industrial, including Wastewater
• Chemical and Petrochemical
• Academia
• Paper and Pulp

Areas of Expertise:

• CO₂ systems
• Boiler flue gas systems, including gas treatment
• Gas-to-liquid mass transfer systems, including designing testing to establish system parameters (heat transfer unit (HTU), liquid flux, etc.) for process scale-up and optimization
• Complex laboratory systems
• Packed towers
• Liquid processing, reclaim, and filtering systems
• Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS)
• Analytical method development
• Scale up of laboratory systems, including design/fabricate/operate pilot systems
• Analytical system design
• Proof of concept studies