Dr. Kevin O’Brien, Director of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center at the University of Illinois, talked to electric co-op directors and managers at the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives’ annual meeting about how the center is working to create a sustainable market for captured CO2 from coal plants.
The AIEC has already provided in-kind support for the research project being conducted at the university’s Abbott Power Plant, and O’Brien thanked the co-op leaders for their letter of support for the second phase of the project. He said they hope to receive Department of Energy funding for the second phase so that a market can be developed making reuse of captured CO2 a viable and sustainable option. Coal ash from power plants is already an example of this concept and is used in concrete and dry wall production. 
