E.ON to Build Pilot Plant for CO2 Capture

As the first company in Europe, E.ON will be testing a new process in Sweden which can be used to remove up to 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plant flue gases. The method is currently being developed by Alstom, the power generation specialist. E.ON and Alstom have now agreed to continue developing the technology at E.ON's power plant at Karlshamn to a stage where it can be used in the actual environment of a power plant. The pilot plant at Karlshamn is to start trial operation in early 2008.

For E.ON, carbon dioxide capture from power plants is one of the key technologies in tackling the global climate change problem. This is why E.ON is pushing the development of different processes in all markets as part of its technology initiative. In its quest for the best technology, the company is investigating various solutions in a number of parallel projects.

The method to be used at Karlshamn is based on the latest technology which involves the use of ammonia to capture the carbon dioxide. The key advantage is that this cleaning process uses less energy than other CO2 removal processes, so its impact on the overall efficiency of the power plant is relatively low. Experts expect the first almost CO2-free commercial power plants to come on line in 15 to 20 years.

Background information

As part of a carbon capture and storage initiative, efforts are currently underway worldwide to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flue gases of power plants for safe storage. Three technologies are under development:

Pre-combustion capture

This process involves the use of a gasification process to convert the coal into a fuel gas which is stripped of its CO2 before combustion in a combined-cycle power plant to produce electricity. This process is being investigated by E.ON Energie together with E.ON US and other industry partners as part of the FutureGen project in the United States, and by E.ON UK at its Killingholme plant.

Post-combustion capture

In this process the CO2 is removed from the flue gas stream by solvent washing. E.ON considers post-combustion capture to be a key technology and is therefore lobbying for the development of innovative washing processes in several national and international projects. The Karlshamn project will be using the flue gas washing technology.

Oxyfuel technology

Unlike conventional power plants, this process uses pure oxygen instead of air for the combustion of coal or natural gas, so the flue gases produced consist mainly of CO2 and water, which makes CO2 removal relatively easy. E.ON is actively involved in this field as part of joint ventures in Germany. E.ON UK operates its own pilot plant at Ratcliff.

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Posted 27/06/07

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