Mississippi Power's Kemper plant was intended to be an
integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility, utilizing a technology known as "transport integrated gasification" (TRIG) to convert
lignite coal—mined on the Kemper site—into
syngas. The natural gas would then have been used to power turbines to generate electricity. Mississippi Power stated that, by adding coal to its sources of power, it wished to add balance to its fuel-source choices, and be less reliant on any one form of energy. There is an estimated four billion tons of lignite available to be used.
Southern Company stated that TRIG is a superior coal-gasification method with low impacts to the environment. TRIG technology can utilize lignite, which accounts for more than half of the world's coal reserves and drove global interest in the plant.
Power Magazine posted an article in April 2013, walking through the technology in technical detail. They say, "Commercial TRIG units can be designed to achieve high environmental standards for , NOx, dust emissions, mercury, and . Cost analysis based on extensive design has shown that the economic benefits offered by the air-blown transport gasifier relative to other systems are preserved even when capture and sequestration are incorporated into the design."
Clean coal If the
carbon, capture and sequestration technology used at the Kemper Project had been successful, it would have been the United States’ first clean coal plant. In 2013, the United States' coal use was 40%, dominating all other energy sources. Realizing the demand for coal was not decreasing, Mississippi Power, Southern Company, KBR, and the Department of Energy invested in technology to capture emissions from burning fossil fuels. The investing bodies argued the type of clean coal technology they claim are found at the Kemper Project will be adopted worldwide; bringing profits back to Mississippi customers. Environmentalists state that clean coal is not a possibility, as some emissions will still be emitted into the atmosphere.
Carbon capture and sequestration Carbon capture and sequestration, also referred to as
carbon capture and storage (CCS), is a technology that can capture up to 90% of the carbon dioxide () emissions. CCS uses a combination of technologies to capture the released in the combustion process, transport it to a suitable storage location and finally store it (typically deep underground) where it cannot enter the atmosphere and thus contribute to climate change. sequestration options include saline formations and oil wells, where captured can be utilized in enhanced oil recovery. Due to rising global demand for energy, the consumption of fossil fuels is expected to rise until 2035, leading to greater emissions.
Carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery Carbon dioxide
enhanced oil recovery or -EOR increases the amount of oil recovered from an underground
oil reservoir. By pumping into an oil reservoir, previously unrecoverable oil is pushed up to where the oil can be reached. The
US Department of Energy states that this can produce an additional 30 to 60 percent of the original amount of recoverable oil. Once all of the recoverable oil has been reached, the depleted
reservoir can act as a storage site for the . The Kemper Plant was planned to have 60 miles of pipeline to carry its captured to neighboring oil reserves for
enhanced oil recovery. Each year, the plant will capture 3 million tons of . ==Research and development==