Carbon Capture: First Waste-to-Energy CCS, CO2 Solutions Project Results

In carbon capture and storage news, Aker Solutions has announced a first-of-its-kind project to capture CO2 emissions from a waste-to-energy plant in Norway and CO2 Solutions has released the verified results of its demonstration project in Canada.

Aker Solutions says it expects the five-month test program to capture 90 percent of the CO2 from the municipality-operated waste-to-energy Klemetsrud plant (pictured) in Oslo, Norway. The company says the test will be a key element in qualifying its amine-based CO2 capture technology for commercial application at waste-to-energy plants globally. There are about 450 such plants in operation in Europe and about 700 globally.

The test will be conducted using Aker Solutions’ mobile test unit for carbon capture. The gas released from Klemetsrud contains about 10 percent CO2 and is treated in several steps before it enters the mobile unit.

Klemetsrud, which gets a majority of its feedstock from biomass, emits about 300,000 tons of CO2 per year.

Also this week CO2 Solutions announced the verified results of its demonstration project at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, near Montreal, Québec, which operated for more than 2,500 hours.

Highlights include:

• The company’s proprietary enzyme, 1T1, performed in a stable manner.
• No toxic waste products were generated.
• Solvent consumption was negligible.
• The demonstration unit was in large part operated autonomously (i.e. did not require a dedicated operator).
• The technology produced CO2 suitable for food, beverages and other reuse applications.
• The use of low-grade, nil value heat for solvent regeneration at low-temperature was accomplished, demonstrating this innovative method of operating cost savings.

CO2 Solutions contracted with Tetra Tech for an independent review of the project data related to the mass and energy balances. This review allowed the CO2 Solutions to confirm core process capture costs for a 1,250 tonne-CO2/day (tpd) scale of $28/metric ton, in line with earlier published estimates.

This cost is below the proposed Alberta carbon tax and below the US Department of Energy’s target for new carbon capture processes.

CO2 Solutions says it believes its technology has achieved the lowest demonstrated cost in the industry for a post-combustion carbon capture application.