CO2 capture from gas and coal power

From 2010, Norway will capture 100 000 tonnes of CO₂ a year from a gas-fired power station and an oil refinery at the Mongstad Technology Centre. It is expensive, slow, and the CO₂ that is captured will initially be released again. Is it worth it? Definitely.

The Mongstad Technology Centre is one of dozens of demonstration projects now being planned or built. Despite delays it looks like Mongstad will be among the first. Every year, 100 000 tonnes of CO₂ will be removed with Aker Clean Carbon’s amine technology and Alstom’s carbonate technology (based on chilled ammonia). There is great international anticipation for the Mongstad project. Not without reason. Coal and gas-fired power stations currently represent half of the world’s power supply and a quarter of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. In China alone, the government is planning to increase coal production by as much as 30 percent by the year 2015.

Coal is cheap and abundant. Like it or not, fossil fuels form a part of our immediate energy future. But there is a glimmer of hope. As much as a third of the world’s total CO₂ emissions can be removed by means of CO₂ capture and storage (CCS). In Europe the potential is even greater – half of emissions can be removed with CCS.  But developing new technology is expensive. This is why it is important that Norway and other countries are moving ahead with demonstrating CO₂ capture technologies. In order to make the technology more efficient and less expensive, it is important to demonstrate it on a large scale. There are over 8000 major sources of emissions in the world suitable for CO₂ capture. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated a goal of making CCS commercially available from 2020, and has called for the construction of a 100 CCS projects globally by 2020.

FACTS: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a generic term covering the capture, transport and storage of CO₂. First, CO₂ is isolated from the other gases emerging from the chimneys of a power station or factory , so-called CO₂ capture. Then the CO₂ is transported in pipelines or ships to a suitable storage location. CO₂ can then be injected in porous rocks deep below the earth’s crust, on land or offshore. Over time, the injected CO₂ will react with the rock minerals and form solid limestone. There are thousands of natural CO₂ reservoirs throughout the world.