CO2 capture and transport

IFP is fully committed to researching new technologies in the field of CO₂ capture, transport and storage; the expertise required to develop these areas is the same expertise employed in oil production.

Today, IFP is a prominent leader in this field at European level.

Post-combustion capture
Capture through oxycombustion
Chemical looping combustion
Cogeneration from biomass
Transporting & injecting CO₂

Post-combustion capture

Post-combustion capture consists in separating CO₂ from the other constituents of flue gases (water vapor, nitrogen, etc.). In this field, IFP is focusing its attention on capture processes using chemical solvents. The cost reduction potential of these processes is significant and they can be deployed in existing power plants, as long as their initial efficiency (without capture) is high enough, i.e. around 45%.

This technological avenue consists in adapting processes already developed by IFP for the deacidification of natural gas, and it is this type of capture that was the focus of the European Castor project, coordinated by IFP and selected by the European Commission as one of the six success stories of the 6th Framework Program for Research and Development (FP6). Buoyed by its experience, IFP has developed an optimized amine-based capture process which in particular uses highly efficient anti-solvent-degradation additives.

A second avenue being explored is aimed at identifying new solvents that require less regeneration energy and are also economical to produce and compatible with environmental requirements.

Thus, IFP is working on breakthrough processes designed to very significantly cut the cost of capture, such as demixing amines, a process that has been patented. With controlled demixing, only the amine having reacted needs to be regenerated, considerably reducing the heat energy required to regenerate it. In addition, following separation, this amine is outside the zone of thermodynamic equilibrium and, as a result, releases some of the CO₂ it captures. This natural effect further reduces the quantity of heat required for regeneration.

Capture through oxycombustion

Another CO₂ capture technology consists in combustion in the presence of oxygen instead of air. In the absence of nitrogen, combustion products mainly consist of water and CO₂, and flue gases with a 90% CO₂ concentration can then be obtained by simple water condensation. The technical difficulties principally reside in the implementation of combustion in the presence of oxygen.

As part of the ANR TACoMA project being run in collaboration with GDF-Suez, LCSR, LGP-UTC and Total, IFP is developing a flameless internal-recycling oxycombustion pilot unit for the combustion of heavy fuels. The work will lead to the validation of computing tools to design an industrial unit based on a combustion cell concept patented by IFP.

Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC)

In order to avoid the separation of oxygen from air at an upstream stage, which is particularly costly in terms of energy consumption, IFP is also working on Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) technology. The oxygen is supplied via a metal oxide, alternately oxidized by air and reduced by the fuel, which is converted directly into CO₂ and H₂O.

In this field, IFP is working on an ambitious project to develop a pilot unit as a precursor to a demonstration unit operating with various feeds, in partnership with Total Gaz & Énergies Nouvelles.

In partnership with Cirimat, the École des Mines de Nantes, GDF-Suez, Marion Technologies and Total, IFP has also been coordinating the ANR CLCMAT project, the objective of which is to develop optimized metal oxides as oxygen carriers for the CLC process.

The ability to produce oxygen cheaply is a challenge that IFP is trying to overcome by developing a new rotary reactor concept using chemical adsorbents to separate oxygen from air. Work was launched in 2008 as part of the European Decarbit project, aimed at developing IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) cycles without CO₂ emissions and conducted in partnership with Air Liquide, Corning and Sintef.

Cogeneration from biomass

As part of the Cogebio spin-off project, IFP is developing an innovative technology for cogeneration from biomass. This patented concept, based on an external-combustion gas turbine, significantly increases the electric efficiency of this type of installation thanks to very high operating temperatures.

Transporting & injecting CO₂

Currently, for the needs of the oil industry, CO₂ is transported in gas pipelines, in a supercritical state. Given the cost of the necessary compression installations, IFP is developing a patented alternative solution to compress the mixture of CO₂ and related gases (oxygen and nitrogen mainly) using a multiphase pump. The studies conducted by IFP in this field also concern the impact of impurities resulting from capture on the thermodynamic properties of the fluid transported.