Valley City State University wants to issue $22.5 million in revenue bonds to build a new integrated carbon plant – with an eye toward selling a by-product.
It would replace the current power plant.
The plant would use lignite coal. It would capture the carbon, turn it into “activated carbon,” and sell it – using that money to pay off the bond.
"The plant doesn't use carbon as a fuel," said North Dakota University System director of facilities planning Rick Tonder. "The goal is to pull carbon away from the the lignite, and then sell the carbon as a cleaning product, and for other uses such as carbon fiber production."
"The water purifiers you in your home have carbon filters," said VCSU president Tisa Mason. "That's one of many examples."
The University would partner with the Energy and Environmental Research Center at UND to build the plant.
A bill allowing VCSU to do this is pending in the Legislature.
