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Start-up of the largest installation in the world to capture CO2 in the flue gases of a coal-fired power station - Denmark - European Castor Project
16 March 2006
On 15 March, the CO2-capture industrial pilot unit of the Castor project, coordinated by IFP and financed by the European Commission (FP6), was inaugurated at the Esbjerg power plant (Denmark), operated by Elsam. It is the largest installation in the world that captures CO2 in the flue gases of a coal-fired power station.
The most promising approach to reducing the volume of CO2 emitted by large industrial facilities (cement works, power stations, refineries, etc.), which account for more than 60% of world emissions, is "capture and geological storage", which consists of recovering the gas generated in large quantities and injecting it into the subsoil.
From an economic point of view, there is a high priority need for significant advances in capture technologies. This step, which accounts for approximately 70% of the total cost of the capture/storage approach, requires a significant input of energy, resulting in high costs and secondary emissions of CO2.
The Castor project pilot is expected to improve considerably the effectiveness and economic performance of the process of extracting dilute CO2 from industrial flue gases. To separate the CO2 - at a low concentration in the flue gases - from the other gases (oxygen, water vapor, and nitrogen) at atmospheric pressure, several solvents belonging to the amines family are being tested and optimized. The pilot also includes a solvent regeneration system that uses a limited amount of energy. As a result of this, substantial cost savings can be expected. Estimated costs of conventional processes for CO2 capture in the flue gases of large industrial facilities range from 50 to 60 Euros per tonne of CO2. The Elsam industrial pilot is expected to have the cost per tonne of CO2 avoided, to between 20 and 30 Euros.
The implementation of the Castor pilot is a big step towards demonstrating the feasibility of the new CO2 capture/storage technologies. The process, which enables one tonne of CO2 to be captured per hour, is being tested on a large enough scale to ensure reliable industrial extrapolation.
IFP is a research and industrial development, training, and information services center active in the fields of oil and gas, their uses, in particular by vehicles, and the new energy and environmental technologies (production of fuels from biomass, biofuels, hydrogen, capture and storage of CO2, etc.). IFP is coordinating the European Castor program, started up in 2004, which brings together 30 partners working to develop, by 2008, technologies allowing the capture and storage of 10% of the CO2 emitted in Europe - i.e. 30% of the emissions of large industrial facilities (mainly conventional power stations).
ELSAM is a Danish energy company with activities in both Denmark and abroad. Elsam trades electricity and heat on the wholesale market. Elsam builds, owns and operates power plants and combined heat & power plants and transmission grids. In addition, Elsam provides consultancy services in all fields of sustainable energy technologies. Elsam implements sustainability in all of its activities in relation to owners, customers, staff and the environment.Through research and development Elsam has reached a leading position with regard to knowledge and experience in the production and distribution of electricity and heat. This position is used to develop energy facilities that uses the energy resources optimally and with least possible impacts on the environment.
In the near future Elsam becomes part of a large Danish energy group, formed through the merger of six Danish energy companies. These are: Elsam, Energi E2, Nesa, Københavns Energi, Frederiksberg Forsyning and Dansk Olie og Naturgas (DONG). The new company will cover the entire value chain from the exploration and production of oil, natural gas and electricity to the trading of these products to consumers. The merger will be implemented over the summer of 2006.
ENERGI E2 is a leading, Danish production and energy trading company supplying competitive electricity and heat services in selected countries in Europe. E2 owns and operates seven large and ten small power stations and CHP plants in Eastern Denmark and has a share in a number of hydropower plants in Sweden and Norway. In addition to this E2 owns wind turbines in Sweden, Greece and Spain and is involved in the development of the UK offshore wind energy sector as well as a huge wind energy project in the German part of the North Sea.
Contact presse IFP
Anne-Laure de Marignan
Phone : 01 47 52 62 07
Fax : 01 47 52 70 96
presse@ifp.fr
Contact Presse EnergiE2
Marianne Grydgaard
Phone : + 45 4480 6380
Fax : + 45 2333 0880
mae@e2.dk
Contact Presse Elsam
Jørgen Broen
Phone : + 45 9954 5460
Fax : + 45 2142 2498
jbr@elsam.com
