The FutureGenproject was announced in 2003 as a near zero-emissions coal-fuelled demonstration power plant employing carbon capture and storage while generating electricity and producing hydrogen. In early 2008 the project was scrapped citing greater than expected costs, with forecasts blowing out from US$1 billion to $2.5 billion.

However, the Obama administration has restored the project in an increased effort by the US to tackle climate change, claiming earlier cost estimates were excessive and citing erroneous calculations. Obama emphasised his support for clean coal technologies in his state-of-the-union address after the Secretary for Energy, Steven Chu, had previously announced the revival of FutureGen.

The FutureGen idea is innovative in that it seeks to use Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology to generate electricity from hydrogen produced from coal, while also capturing and storing the carbon content of the coal. This is also known as pre-combustion carbon capture and storage. Each of the phases of this process has been demonstrated individually – the challenge is to economically unite them in a single seamless process.

In his press release announcing the revival of FutureGen, Secretary Chu said “The FutureGen project holds great promise as a flagship facility to demonstrate carbon capture and storage at commercial scale. Developing this technology is critically important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the US, and around the world.”

The project is a public-private joint enterprise with the FutureGen Alliance, a consortium of various companies including BHP, Rio Tinto and Xstrata who all have a massive presence in Australia. The governments of China, India, South Korea and Japan are involved while the Australian government recently withdrew its involvement, redirecting those resources to domestic carbon capture and storage projects.

Within Australia, the Zerogenproject most closely resembles FutureGen, aiming to introduce IGCC technology with carbon capture and storage in Australia.

Further announcements on the future of FutureGen were expected by April this year, including a confirmation on the location of the facility, with Mattoon, Illinois already the nominal site. However, the government has decided to continue the extended review of the project for another 60 days.
Source
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Geologic Storage