EU launches DECARBit project to research advanced pre-combustion CO2 capture from power plants
The EU kicks off a major research effort to study advanced pre-combustion carbon capture technologies for coal and gas-fired power plants. The DECARBit project [*.pdf] will be coordinated by Norway's SINTEF Energy Research, will last for four years, and has a total budget of €15 million (NOK 120 million), of which €5.6 milion (NOK 45 million) will go to research at SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (NTNU). The project involves 14 partners from eight different countries.
Biopact tracks the latest developments in carbon capture technologies, because they can be applied to biomass to yield negative emissions electricity and fuels. The economics and carbon reduction potential of pre-combustion capture (and consequent storage of CO2) has been studied for biomass by different researchers. In one study, for the Interntional Energy Agency's Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, scientists found the technique, when coupled to biomass (eucalyptus/acacia) used in Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants, could result in electricity with a negative carbon balance of -1030 grams of CO2 per kWh. In short, each time you were to use this electricity, you would be taking CO2 out of the atmosphere. Such negative emissions systems, also called 'bio-energy with carbon storage' (BECS) are the only concept that can achieve this. All other renewables and energy sources (nuclear, solar, wind, etc) are all 'carbon-neutral' at best, that is, they do not add new emissions (0 emissions per kWh). BECS on the contrary goes much further and effectively takes emissions from the past out of the atmosphere.
Ultimately, the commercial feasibility of BECS depends on fossil fuel and carbon prices, and on the emergence of a global carbon market. Obviously, the higher the market price for CO2 emissions and fossil fuels, the bigger a winner bio-based negative emissions energy becomes. Many different projections have been made but they date from before the recent surge in fossil energy prices.
The EU's DECARBit project will deal with next-generation technology for CO2 capture in IGCC plants and will contribute to making future technology very much cheaper than the technology that is available for use today. The most mature technology for CO2 capture at coal- and gas-fired power stations utilises scrubbing of the flue-gases by means of chemicals to separate CO2 - socalled 'post-combustion' capture.
DECARBit deals with the challenges that arise from techniques to remove the carbon in carbonaceous fuels before they are sent to the power plant. If this 'decarbonisation' fuel route is chosen, the coal, natural gas or biomass will go to the processing plant, where it will be gasified into syngas, a hydrogen and carbon monoxide rich gas. The carbon monoxide is traditionally turned into CO2 via the water gas shift reaction (WGS), so that it can be captured and stored. The hydrogen rich fuel is then sent to the power plant and used as the fuel to generate electricity. The EU project will allow the SINTEF and NTNU scientists to contribute to new technologies that will cut the costs of separating out these components of the gas mixture (schematic, click to enlarge).
DECARBit consists of five stages:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: coal :: natural gas :: IGCC :: gasification :: carbon capture and storage :: pre-combustion :: EU ::
The news about the EU contract for SINTEF arrived just a week after a proposal for next year’s Norwegian national budget was presented to the country's parliament. The proposal made it clear that the Norwegian government intends to freeze funding for research on CO2 handling at NOK 48.5 million. DECARBit's funds are three times as large - a major boost to SINTEF.
In the course of the next six years, the EU will invest no less than €390 million (about NOK 3 billion) in research and development on CO2 capture and storage – so called CCS technologies.
The Norwegian success within the EU research in this topic can partly be attributed to a “national team” spirit. The co-operation with StatoilHydro - which has developed large experience with carbon-capture from natural gas - is important, as is the CCS track-record of Norway - most recently added to this is the Snøhvit CCS operation.
Biopact wishes to add in this context that there is a much simpler way of capturing carbon dioxide from biomass, without the need to make the detour via gasification and complex high-temperature gas shifting and separation. The concept consists of capturing CO2 from biogas obtained from anaerobic digestion of biomass. Contrary to the gasification route, which involves high temperatures and the need for complex shift reactions and robust gas separation technologies that withstand the high temperatures (e.g. new membranes), CO2 capture from biogas is basically a 'cold process' and can rely on a range of existing gas separation technologies (add that new, highly efficient membranes have meanwhile been developed that would allow such a cold process - more here).
So why hasn't this 'cold' separation technique been used to capture CO2 from raw natural gas? The answer is simple: natural gas only contains small amounts of CO2, making pre-combustion capture from the raw gas futile. Biogas on the contrary contains up to 40% of CO2. The rest is methane and trace gases. Because of this large amount of CO2, cold carbon capture would be feasible, provided a large stream of biomass is available that can easily be digested in ultra-large facilities. Mind you, this concept is new and has not received much research yet.
Alternatively, carbon can be captured from ethanol production, which yields a pure stream of CO2 during the fermentation stage. But this CO2 makes up only a fraction of the carbon contained in the initial biomass feedstock. This means one would not obtain a carbon-negative fuel, but only an ethanol with a lower carbon footprint. And here again, coupling CCS to ethanol production would require ultra-large production facilities to legitimize the investment in carbon capture technologies for a relatively small stream of CO2.
Finally, and this concept has received much more attention, biomass and coal can be co-fed as feedstocks to produce synthetic liquid fuels with a zero-emissions footprint. Depending on the ratio of biomass versus coal, such 'coal+biomass-to-liquids' fuels coupled to CCS could once again become carbon-negative. On these ultra-clean, low carbon fuels, see a recent study conducted by the USAF and NET.
In the future, carbon-negative hydrogen from decarbonized biomass will be used in the hydrogen economy. Biomass is gasified, the CO2 captured and stored, and hydrogen with a negative emissions footprint is obtained that can be used in fuel cells and power plants.
References:
European Commission, DG Research: DECARBit project.
SINTEF: SINTEF to lead major EU project on the CO2 technology of the future - November 19, 2007.
On carbon-negative electricity from biomass used in a IGCC coupled to CCS, see:
H. Audus and P. Freund, "Climate Change Mitigation by Biomass Gasificiation Combined with CO2 Capture and Storage", IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme.
James S. Rhodesa and David W. Keithb, "Engineering economic analysis of biomass IGCC with carbon capture and storage", Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 29, Issue 6, December 2005, Pages 440-450.
Noim Uddin and Leonardo Barreto, "Biomass-fired cogeneration systems with CO2 capture and storage", Renewable Energy, Volume 32, Issue 6, May 2007, Pages 1006-1019, doi:10.1016/j.renene.2006.04.009
Christian Azar, Kristian Lindgren, Eric Larson and Kenneth Möllersten, "Carbon Capture and Storage From Fossil Fuels and Biomass – Costs and Potential Role in Stabilizing the Atmosphere", Climatic Change, Volume 74, Numbers 1-3 / January, 2006, DOI 10.1007/s10584-005-3484-7
Further reading on negative emissions bioenergy and biofuels:
Peter Read and Jonathan Lermit, "Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage (BECS): a Sequential Decision Approach to the threat of Abrupt Climate Change", Energy, Volume 30, Issue 14, November 2005, Pages 2654-2671.
Stefan Grönkvist, Kenneth Möllersten, Kim Pingoud, "Equal Opportunity for Biomass in Greenhouse Gas Accounting of CO2 Capture and Storage: A Step Towards More Cost-Effective Climate Change Mitigation Regimes", Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Volume 11, Numbers 5-6 / September, 2006, DOI 10.1007/s11027-006-9034-9
Biopact: Pre-combustion CO2 capture from biogas - the way forward? - March 31, 2007
Biopact: "A closer look at the revolutionary coal+biomass-to-liquids with carbon storage project" - September 13, 2007
Biopact: New plastic-based, nano-engineered CO2 capturing membrane developed - September 19, 2007
Biopact: Plastic membrane to bring down cost of carbon capture - August 15, 2007
Biopact: Pre-combustion CO2 capture from biogas - the way forward? - March 31, 2007
Article continues
Biopact tracks the latest developments in carbon capture technologies, because they can be applied to biomass to yield negative emissions electricity and fuels. The economics and carbon reduction potential of pre-combustion capture (and consequent storage of CO2) has been studied for biomass by different researchers. In one study, for the Interntional Energy Agency's Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, scientists found the technique, when coupled to biomass (eucalyptus/acacia) used in Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants, could result in electricity with a negative carbon balance of -1030 grams of CO2 per kWh. In short, each time you were to use this electricity, you would be taking CO2 out of the atmosphere. Such negative emissions systems, also called 'bio-energy with carbon storage' (BECS) are the only concept that can achieve this. All other renewables and energy sources (nuclear, solar, wind, etc) are all 'carbon-neutral' at best, that is, they do not add new emissions (0 emissions per kWh). BECS on the contrary goes much further and effectively takes emissions from the past out of the atmosphere.
Ultimately, the commercial feasibility of BECS depends on fossil fuel and carbon prices, and on the emergence of a global carbon market. Obviously, the higher the market price for CO2 emissions and fossil fuels, the bigger a winner bio-based negative emissions energy becomes. Many different projections have been made but they date from before the recent surge in fossil energy prices.
The EU's DECARBit project will deal with next-generation technology for CO2 capture in IGCC plants and will contribute to making future technology very much cheaper than the technology that is available for use today. The most mature technology for CO2 capture at coal- and gas-fired power stations utilises scrubbing of the flue-gases by means of chemicals to separate CO2 - socalled 'post-combustion' capture.
DECARBit deals with the challenges that arise from techniques to remove the carbon in carbonaceous fuels before they are sent to the power plant. If this 'decarbonisation' fuel route is chosen, the coal, natural gas or biomass will go to the processing plant, where it will be gasified into syngas, a hydrogen and carbon monoxide rich gas. The carbon monoxide is traditionally turned into CO2 via the water gas shift reaction (WGS), so that it can be captured and stored. The hydrogen rich fuel is then sent to the power plant and used as the fuel to generate electricity. The EU project will allow the SINTEF and NTNU scientists to contribute to new technologies that will cut the costs of separating out these components of the gas mixture (schematic, click to enlarge).
DECARBit consists of five stages:
- In a first phase of the project, system integration and a techno-economic analysis will be carried out, alongside an assessment of operational requirements.
- The second phase consists of developing advanced pre-combustion technologies on the basis of membranes, CO2 sorbents and novel sorbent systems.
- Thirdly, advanced oxygen separation technologies will be created, further developing oxygen transfer membranes, hybrid membranes and advanced sorbent based technologies.
- In the next phase, the other enabling processes will be tested to make pre-combustion capture a reality: H2-combustion itself (which delivers the energy for electricity), CO2 processing and compression, and fuel system integration. Handling and combusting hydrogen rich 'decarbonised' fuels is the key to zero emissions IGCCs
- The final phase of the project consists of testing the technology in a pilot plant.
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: coal :: natural gas :: IGCC :: gasification :: carbon capture and storage :: pre-combustion :: EU ::
The news about the EU contract for SINTEF arrived just a week after a proposal for next year’s Norwegian national budget was presented to the country's parliament. The proposal made it clear that the Norwegian government intends to freeze funding for research on CO2 handling at NOK 48.5 million. DECARBit's funds are three times as large - a major boost to SINTEF.
In the course of the next six years, the EU will invest no less than €390 million (about NOK 3 billion) in research and development on CO2 capture and storage – so called CCS technologies.
The initiative for this project came from us and this shows that we enjoy the confidence of Europe and confirms that SINTEF and NTNU are among the world’s leading centres of research in CO2 handling. - Nils A. Røkke, SINTEF’s director of gas technology research and Professor Olav Bolland, NTNUDECARBit is the latest in a long series of EU projects that SINTEF and NTNU have joined during the past few years in the field of CO2 handling. SINTEF and NTNU lead five of these projects.
The Norwegian success within the EU research in this topic can partly be attributed to a “national team” spirit. The co-operation with StatoilHydro - which has developed large experience with carbon-capture from natural gas - is important, as is the CCS track-record of Norway - most recently added to this is the Snøhvit CCS operation.
Biopact wishes to add in this context that there is a much simpler way of capturing carbon dioxide from biomass, without the need to make the detour via gasification and complex high-temperature gas shifting and separation. The concept consists of capturing CO2 from biogas obtained from anaerobic digestion of biomass. Contrary to the gasification route, which involves high temperatures and the need for complex shift reactions and robust gas separation technologies that withstand the high temperatures (e.g. new membranes), CO2 capture from biogas is basically a 'cold process' and can rely on a range of existing gas separation technologies (add that new, highly efficient membranes have meanwhile been developed that would allow such a cold process - more here).
So why hasn't this 'cold' separation technique been used to capture CO2 from raw natural gas? The answer is simple: natural gas only contains small amounts of CO2, making pre-combustion capture from the raw gas futile. Biogas on the contrary contains up to 40% of CO2. The rest is methane and trace gases. Because of this large amount of CO2, cold carbon capture would be feasible, provided a large stream of biomass is available that can easily be digested in ultra-large facilities. Mind you, this concept is new and has not received much research yet.
Alternatively, carbon can be captured from ethanol production, which yields a pure stream of CO2 during the fermentation stage. But this CO2 makes up only a fraction of the carbon contained in the initial biomass feedstock. This means one would not obtain a carbon-negative fuel, but only an ethanol with a lower carbon footprint. And here again, coupling CCS to ethanol production would require ultra-large production facilities to legitimize the investment in carbon capture technologies for a relatively small stream of CO2.
Finally, and this concept has received much more attention, biomass and coal can be co-fed as feedstocks to produce synthetic liquid fuels with a zero-emissions footprint. Depending on the ratio of biomass versus coal, such 'coal+biomass-to-liquids' fuels coupled to CCS could once again become carbon-negative. On these ultra-clean, low carbon fuels, see a recent study conducted by the USAF and NET.
In the future, carbon-negative hydrogen from decarbonized biomass will be used in the hydrogen economy. Biomass is gasified, the CO2 captured and stored, and hydrogen with a negative emissions footprint is obtained that can be used in fuel cells and power plants.
References:
European Commission, DG Research: DECARBit project.
SINTEF: SINTEF to lead major EU project on the CO2 technology of the future - November 19, 2007.
On carbon-negative electricity from biomass used in a IGCC coupled to CCS, see:
H. Audus and P. Freund, "Climate Change Mitigation by Biomass Gasificiation Combined with CO2 Capture and Storage", IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme.
James S. Rhodesa and David W. Keithb, "Engineering economic analysis of biomass IGCC with carbon capture and storage", Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 29, Issue 6, December 2005, Pages 440-450.
Noim Uddin and Leonardo Barreto, "Biomass-fired cogeneration systems with CO2 capture and storage", Renewable Energy, Volume 32, Issue 6, May 2007, Pages 1006-1019, doi:10.1016/j.renene.2006.04.009
Christian Azar, Kristian Lindgren, Eric Larson and Kenneth Möllersten, "Carbon Capture and Storage From Fossil Fuels and Biomass – Costs and Potential Role in Stabilizing the Atmosphere", Climatic Change, Volume 74, Numbers 1-3 / January, 2006, DOI 10.1007/s10584-005-3484-7
Further reading on negative emissions bioenergy and biofuels:
Peter Read and Jonathan Lermit, "Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage (BECS): a Sequential Decision Approach to the threat of Abrupt Climate Change", Energy, Volume 30, Issue 14, November 2005, Pages 2654-2671.
Stefan Grönkvist, Kenneth Möllersten, Kim Pingoud, "Equal Opportunity for Biomass in Greenhouse Gas Accounting of CO2 Capture and Storage: A Step Towards More Cost-Effective Climate Change Mitigation Regimes", Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Volume 11, Numbers 5-6 / September, 2006, DOI 10.1007/s11027-006-9034-9
Biopact: Pre-combustion CO2 capture from biogas - the way forward? - March 31, 2007
Biopact: "A closer look at the revolutionary coal+biomass-to-liquids with carbon storage project" - September 13, 2007
Biopact: New plastic-based, nano-engineered CO2 capturing membrane developed - September 19, 2007
Biopact: Plastic membrane to bring down cost of carbon capture - August 15, 2007
Biopact: Pre-combustion CO2 capture from biogas - the way forward? - March 31, 2007
Article continues
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
UK approves world's biggest (350MW) biomass plant: will power half of all homes in Wales
London-based Prenergy Power Ltd will build the plant in the Port Talbot's docks area after being given the go-ahead by Business Secretary John Hutton of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Port Talbot is an industrial town with a deep water harbor in the traditional county of Glamorgan, south Wales, with a population of approximately 50,000. The project will generate 150 permanent jobs and stimulate the region's economy indirectly.
The renewable energy station will burn about 3 million tonnes of woody biomass shipped in each year from overseas (mainly from the United States and Canada), for the production of certified carbon-neutral electricity. Feedstock production - tree replanting and harvesting - is monitored to happen in a sustainable way. The plant in Port Talbot thus gives a major impulse to the already rapidly growing international biomass market.
The biomass plant has significant advantages compared to the majority of other renewable technologies such as wind power, solar and photovoltaic, which, whilst valuable contributors to combat climate change, are intermittent and can often only operate for 25% to 30% of the year. This requires back-up by other sources, which currently are obtained from fossil fuels. The biofuelled plant on the contrary offers a robust continuous baseload for more than 90% of the year. As such, the forecasting of energy generated by the renewable energy plant is more reliable. Because of this, the UK's national grid can better balance electricity supply with demand and maintain the integrity of the national electricity transmission system.
The proposed biomass plant will run via the following process:
- Clean (virgin, unused) wood chip will be delivered to the development site in ‘Panamax’ vessels. Each vessel will hold approximately 45,000 tonnes of wood chip and will unload at the existing jetty. New cranes will discharge onto a new conveyor system which will move the wood chip to the fuel storage area.
- The biofuel from the fuel storage area will be transferred to a Circulating Fluidised Bed (CFB) boiler by means of an enclosed conveyor belt system from one of three fuel blending silos. The CFB boiler will raise steam for a single 350 MW (electrical) steam turbine. Exhaust steam from this turbine will be condensed by means of a dry air cooled condenser and will therefore require no water for cooling purposes. Condensed steam will then be recirculated back into the CFB boiler.
- After combustion, the flue gasses will pass through a fabric filter to remove 99.99% of the entrained dust, and will then flow up a 100 m tall stack designed for optimal flue gas dispersion.
- There will be no need for sulphur or chlorine control as the wood fuel does not contain significant quantities of these components. Furthermore, wood ash is inherently alkaline in composition and will capture trace amounts of chlorine, fluorine and sulphur from the exhaust gas. The wood will also have minimal ash content, producing less than 150,000 tonnes per year of ash which will be sold to the cement and fertiliser industry and transported from the Renewable Energy Plant by sea and/or road.
- Electricity generated from the Renewable Power Plant will be exported via a new 275 kV underground electrical line to the existing 275 kV electrical substation at Margam around 2 km away.
Construction of the renewable energy plant is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2007 and last around 36 months, with full operation in the first quarter of 2010. It will operate for 25 years as a baseload (full-time) plant, 24 hours per day and 8,000 hours per annum:energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: renewables :: wood chips :: biomass trade :: climate change :: Wales :: UK ::
Despite the many advantages over intermitten renewables, running biomass plants is a balancing act in itself because the feedstocks used are still carbonaceous biofuels which yield local emissions (carbon is taken back up by new tree growth, though) and they have to be physically transported which may affect the local environment.
Different impact assessments were therefor conducted checking the environmental, social and cultural impacts. The air quality impact assessment showed that emissions from the plant will not have a significant effect on air quality for surrounding areas. The PM10 contributions within the Air Quality Management Area (0.08 μg/m3) are considered to be insignificant based on current criteria. A number of mitigation measures have been identified to reduce or remove potential impacts. The model used predicted that cold weather will cause a visible moisture plume at the top of the stack for 14% of the year but his was predicted to be of minor impact.
Prenergy will receive the biofuel for the plant by sea only (or potentially in the future by rail), which is a key transport impact mitigation measure. Furthermore, all operational impacts dealing with the plant have been assessed as 'insignificant'.
Other assessments included a an analysis of impacts on the terrestrial ecology of the region, a flood consequence assessment, an investigation into possible noise pollution coming from the plant and its operations, effects on ground and surface water, and on cultural heritage and communications.
On all fronts, the results published in the Environmental Statement (the formal written statement of the findings of the development's environmental impact assessment) met the criteria and was therefor approved.
Just a week ago, the UK opened its first 'large' biomass power plant, a 30MW station that would run on domestically sourced waste wood and biomass from energy crops. The power station generates electricity for 30,000 homes (previous pots). Another large biomass plant is being built in Lockerbie, Scotland, that will be fuelled by short rotation coppice energy crops. The £90 (€133/US$178) million E.ON facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year and will generate enough electricity to power 70,000 homes, provides over 300 jobs in the forestry and energy farming sector, and displaces the emission of 140,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year (more here).
According to the UK's recently published Biomass Strategy, there is a large potential for both domestically and internationally sourced bioenergy. Biomass, biofuels and bioproducts are therefor set to play a major role in the UK's bid to meet the EU target of producing 20 percent of energy from renewables by 2020. The country's long-term strategy was expresed in the Climate Change Bill, published in draft in March 2007, which sets out a proposed UK target of at least 60% cuts in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 and a strong new system of carbon budgeting.
References:
Prenergy Power: Port Talbot Renewable Energy Plant website.
Prenergy Power: Port Talbot Renewable Energy Plant, non-technical summary [*.pdf].
Reuters: World's biggest biomass power plant coming to Wales - November 21, 2007.
Forbes: UK govt gives go ahead for construction of world's largest biomass plant - November 21, 2007.
South Wales Evening Post: Green Light for £400m power plant - November 21, 2007.
Biopact: UK outlines Biomass Strategy: large potential for bioenergy, bioproducts - May 28, 2007
Biopact: UK opens first large scale 30MW biomass power station - November 13, 2007
Biopact: UK's largest biomass plant approved, biomass task force created - June 16, 2007
Article continues
posted by Biopact team at 9:50 PM 0 comments links to this post