B&W, Kiewit partner to develop biomass power plant for Fidelis’ renewable diesel, SAF project
Babcock & Wilcox announced March 31 that it is partnering with Kiewit Industrial to deliver Fidelis New Energy’s planned net-negative carbon impact biomass power plant at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The 200-megawatt electric plant will be the largest of its kind in the world. The planned facility, called Project Cyclus, will provide power for Fidelis’ Grön Fuels facility, which will produce more than 3 million gallons per day of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel, green hydrogen, and bio-plastic feedstock with a net-negative carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint. Fidelis will sequester the biogenic CO2 in a carbon sink developed and secured by its subsidiary Capio Sequestration pursuant to an operating agreement between Capio and the state of Louisiana.
B&W will provide engineering, design, equipment, and technology services to support development of the biomass-fueled plant. The company’s B&W renewable business segment will design and supply a 200-megawatt electric, biomass-fueled bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) boiler, while its B&W environmental segment will provide its OxyBright™ oxy-combustion technology to isolate and capture CO2 for long-term sequestration, as well as a full suite of environmental technologies to control other emissions, including nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, particulate and volatile organic compounds. The plant will utilize these technologies to produce clean energy with a net-negative carbon impact of more than 2 million tons per year.
“We are also in discussions with Fidelis on the creation of green hydrogen from biomass utilizing our Brightloop™ chemical-looping process, which will revolutionize hydrogen production globally,” said Kenny Young, B&W chairman and CEO.
Bengt Jarlsjo, co-founder and chief operating officer of Fidelis, added, “Babcock & Wilcox, Kiewit and Fidelis through our RACER™ framework bring the optimal combination of cultures, proven technology, ESG-driven design and execution capacity to deliver carbon-negative power as the third component to the Fidelis flagship Climate GigaSystem™—Grön Fuels.”
Byron Best, senior vice president and chief engineer of Fidelis, said the company believes that biomass energy with carbon capture and sequestration is a transformative approach to greenhouse gas reduction through carbon negativity. “Our partnership with B&W and Kiewit offers us technologies and services that are efficient, flexible, and highly scalable,” he said. “OxyBright will enable Cyclus and the Grön Fuels ecosystem to achieve carbon negative operation at unprecedented scale with proven technology.”
B&W’s OxyBright technology is part of the company’s ClimateBright™ suite of decarbonization and hydrogen technologies. This oxy-combustion process, which uses pure oxygen for combustion, can be used with a broad range of fuels to produce a concentrated stream of CO2 ready for sequestration or beneficial use. For the Cyclus project, the OxyBright process will use biomass fuel—including wood chips, wood waste, bagasse or other opportunity fuels—while captured CO2 will be sequestered underground.
B&W said its BFB boilers are well-suited to integrate with the oxy-combustion process and are designed to operate using a wide range of fuels, separately or in combination. The ability to utilize various fuel sources and types provides owners with the flexibility to take advantage of opportunity fuels and control fuel costs.
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