Carbon Clean Solutions says the results of its pilot project show that its carbon capture and storage technology could cut the cost of carbon capture by at least 50 percent.
Carbon capture could prevent up to 90 percent of fossil power plants’ CO2 emissions, according to some estimates. But conventional carbon capture technology remains expensive and unproven. It requires massive amounts of energy to capture and store CO2, thus reducing the power plant’s output and making the electricity produced more expensive.
The UK-based company’s pilot project at Technology Centre Mongstad in Norway ran from November 2015 through March. It involved a drop-in solvent test using Carbon Clean Solutions’ patented “APBS” chemical, and was designed to measure emissions, corrosion and energy efficiency.
Carbon Clean Solutions says the test results were “highly successful,” with plant availability levels of 100 percent and no loss of run time due to solvent issues. The technology captured more than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide and demonstrated parts per billion solvent emissions compared to parts per million for traditional solvents. Additionally, aerosol emissions were 80 times lower than the permissible HSE limit, the company says.
Carbon Clean Solutions solvent degradation was also negligible over the test campaign run, which the company says shows a “far superior solvent stability.”
The company says the project’s corrosion testing confirmed that with APBS, it is possible to construct 50 percent of a plant using carbon steel rather than stainless steel. Traditional solvents require stainless steel, which is at least four times more expensive than carbon steel. This can reduce the capital expenditure for commercial scale plants by more than 25 percent, according to Carbon Clean Solutions.
Energy consumption at the pilot is still being analyzed, but the company says a separate independent test at the University of Kentucky confirmed a 50 percent reduction in energy consumption over conventional solvents.
CEO Aniruddha Sharma says the pilot project demonstrates a “breakthrough” in terms of the carbon capture technology’s ability to “reduce corrosion, energy demand and solvent emissions. This translates to cost savings, both operational and upfront, which we believe will make carbon capture storage and reuse economically viable in the near future.”
Carbon Clean Solutions’ test results follows an announcement earlier this month from ExxonMobil and FuelCell Energy. The two companies are working together to advance a carbon capture technology that they say could “substantially reduce costs” associated with carbon capture.
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