Dec 17 2008
Advanced amine-based scrubbing technology from The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) is expected to be used in a pilot carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant built by Alstom Power, Inc. (Alstom) at the Belchatow Power Plant in Poland – Europe’s largest coal-fueled thermal power station. This effort is part of a Joint Development and Commercialization Agreement between Dow and Alstom announced earlier this year.
A memorandum of understanding between Alstom and PGE Elektrownia Belchatow S.A. calls for a two-phased project that will begin with Alstom’s design and construction of a pilot carbon capture plant at the existing unit 12 of the Belchatow power plant, which would capture approximately 65,000 metric tons of CO² annually using the advanced amines technology co-developed with Dow, a global leader in gas treating technology. The pilot will be jointly operated by Alstom and Elektrownia Belchatow and is expected to be in operation by mid 2011.
During the second phase, Alstom and PGE plan to build a larger CCS project to capture CO² produced by the new 858 megawatt lignite-fired unit currently being built by Alstom for Elektrownia Belchatów. This CCS plant will be in operation by 2015.
Lignite and hard coal are the mainstay of the Polish power generation sector and the reduction in CO² emissions resulting from the Belchatow CCS project would be higher than 1 million tons per year. This initiative is one of the candidate projects to the EU Flagship Program for Carbon Capture and Storage.
The advanced amine-based scrubbing technology in development by Dow and Alstom will offer significant reductions in the amount of energy required for CO² separation and capture for the power industry and similar industrial sources that produce exhaust of flue gases with high oxygen content compared to using standard amines.
“This agreement marks a significant milestone in Dow’s commitment to developing innovative products and technologies to economically address the capture of CO² from stationary power sources,” said Janet Giesselman, vice president and general manager of Dow Oil & Gas.
As a world leader in chemistry, Dow is uniquely positioned to continue to provide innovations that lead to energy alternatives, less carbon intensive raw material sources, and other solutions not yet imagined.
Alstom is at the forefront of carbon capture technology development. In 2007, as part of its multi-product strategy, Alstom announced agreements with AEP, Statoil, Vattenfall and E.ON to test CO² capture technologies in the U.S. and Europe. By the end of 2008, Alstom will have started operation at three CO² capture pilot projects, with EPRI and We Energies in Wisconsin, USA, E.ON in Sweden and Vattenfall in Germany.
Philippe Joubert, Alstom executive vice president and president, Power Systems, states: “This MoU will enable Alstom and its partners to play a key role in reducing Poland’s carbon emissions. The agreement is integral to Alstom’s global CO² strategy, with the large-scale capture plant at Belchatow providing the last step to full commercialization of our amine-based CO² capture technology.”