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Sept / Oct 2012 Issue 29

Alstom and Dow progress on aminesStrataclear® - carbon capture from vehicles and home heating systems

Corrosion in amine capture systems - a review

UK CCS Research Centre opens

CO2 compressionspecial features

- Dresser-Rand andRamgen

- MAN Diesel & Turbo

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At our free October 8 London conference,we will discuss whether the industry isdeveloping at a satisfactory pace bearing inmind the challenges involved, and look atpossible ways to accelerate the industry'sgrowth. Free admission - register now tosecure your place.

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Chaired by Stuart Haszeldine,professor of carbon capture andstorage, School of GeoSciences,University of Edinburgh

Anne Strømmen Lycke, chairperson,Technology Centre Mongstad - Whatcan the UK learn from the Norwegians?

Dr Chris Satterley, TechnicalConsultant, EON Newbuild andTechnology Ltd - Overcomingenvironmental challenges to theimplementation of post-combustion CCS

Dr Ward Goldthorpe, ProgrammeManager, CCS & Gas Storage, CrownEstate

James Watt, technical manager, AMEC

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Contents

UK CCS Research Centre opensThe UK CCS Research Centre, which opened in April this year, will hold its inauguralmeeting in Durham in September

ROAD project - lessons learnedA report highlights a number of key learning points that will allow the Rotterdamproject to continue successfully through future phases, and which may prove valuablefor other CCS projects in the future

CCS in Europe - the way forwardThe priorities have changed since the inception of the CCS project and the EU shouldlook again at its energy policy to ensure that the best solutions for Europe’s energyfuture have the chance to develop, says Agata Hinc, Managing Director, demosEUROPA –Centre for European Strategy

Prospects for CCS in the UKThe UK Department of Energy and Climate Change has released a TechnologyInnovation Needs Assessment (TINA) which says CCS could reduce UK energy costs by£10-45bn to 2050

DOE begins integrated CCUS project at Plant BarryCO2 injection has begun at the world’s first fully integrated coal power and geologicstorage project at Alabama Power's Plant Barry

Carbon Capture Journal2nd Floor, 8 Baltic Street East, London EC1Y 0UPwww.carboncapturejournal.comTel +44 (0)207 017 3405Fax +44 (0)207 251 9179

EditorKeith [email protected]

PublisherKarl [email protected]

[email protected]

Advertising and SponsorshipJohn FinderTel +44 (0)207 017 [email protected]

Diamond X-Ray imaging used to evaluate capture efficiencyScientists from the University of Leeds are using the UK’s national synchrotron toinvestigate the efficiency of calcium oxide (CaO) based materials as carbon dioxidesorbents

Corrosion in amine systems - a reviewIrrespective of consistent and dominant usage of aqueous amine based processes in acidgas capture facilities since 1930s, there is constant concern over a number of operationalsnags including, but not limited to, corrosion. By Muhammad Hasib-ur-Rahman, FaïçalLarachi, Laval University

Closing in on a solution for amine emissionsStatoil says it has made good progress in solving the challenges associated with amineemissions from carbon capture at Mongstad

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Alstom and Dow progress on aminesDevelopments on Advanced Amines Process technology in absorption and regenerationmethods will be demonstrated at a facility in EDF’s coal-fired power plant in France

CO2 capture in vehicles and home heating systemsStrataclear® is the first CO2 capture technology for moving vehicles and home heatingsystems. The technology also produces a clean solid residual material that can be sold foruse in industrial applications. By Donald G. Rynne, Ryncosmos

Capture

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Carbon capture journal (Print) ISSN 1757-1995

Carbon capture journal (Online) ISSN 1757-2509Sept - Oct 2012 - carbon capture journal

Carbon Capture Journal is your one stopinformation source for new technicaldevelopments, opinion, regulatory andresearch activity with carbon capture,transport and storage.

Carbon Capture Journal is delivered on printand pdf version to a total of 6000 people, allof whom have requested to receive it,including employees of power companies,oil and gas companies, government,engineering companies, consultants,educators, students, and suppliers.

Subscriptions: £250 a year for 6 issues. Tosubscribe, please contact Karl Jeffery [email protected] you can subscribe online at www.d-e-j.com/store

Front cover: Ramgen 8 MW, 10:1 pressure ratioCO2 compressor being assembled for test onthe Dresser-Rand dedicated closed-loop CO2test facility in Olean, NY, USA

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The Past, Present and Future of CO2 CompressionDresser-Rand joined forces with Ramgen Power Systems LLC in 2008 to develop itsshockwave compression technology

Advanced compression technology for CCS, EOR, refrigeration and vapourAn overview of advanced, innovative and proven technologies for CO2, N2, propyleneand vapour compression, including reciprocating and centrifugal compression - with afocus on innovative gear type designs for onshore applications - in comparison to othertechnologies. By Dr. Rolf Habel, MAN Diesel & Turbo

Special section - CO2 compression technology

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A variety of CO2 capture technologies arecurrently being developed. Many of these de-velopment programs rely on collaborationbetween utility companies, universities andgovernment agencies. A promising post-com-bustion solution is the AAP, jointly devel-oped by Alstom and the Dow Chemical Com-pany (Dow). The AAP relies on an advancedamine solvent, UCARSOL™ FGC 3000, de-veloped by Dow specifically for CO2 capturefrom combustion gas.

The AAP technology is validated andimplemented in various steps: First a smallsize pilot plant, capable of capturing 5 tonnesCO2 per day and located in SouthCharleston, West Virginia USA was set up.Following this demonstration facility a part-nership between Électricité de France (EdF)and Alstom was established. The Charlestonpilot plant at Dow’s facility was used to de-velop the data and operations experience nec-essary for the design of larger, subsequentplants and to investigate the impact of equip-ment features and process operation on over-all system performance. It also provided theplatform for the development of suitableamine management strategies.

The EdF Le Havre demonstration unitfeatures the latest Advanced Amine Processdesign for the absorber, regenerator and ther-mal management systems and will reduce en-ergy consumption and minimize solventdegradation. The mentioned process will befully studied for process performance, opera-tional flexibility and emissions. EdF’s LeHavre new demonstration facility has beengranted of a partial funding from ADEME(the French Environment and Energy Man-agement Agency).

Pilot plant, demonstration unit opera-tional results and model development effortswill be used to improve the predicted per-formance of larger demonstration plants(around 250 MWe) that are currently underdevelopment in Europe as part of the EUFlagship programme.

AAP technology: process and solventThe AAP technology is based on the chem-istry of the amine-CO2-H2O system and the

ability of amine solution to absorb CO2 atlow temperatures and release it at moderate-ly elevated temperatures. CO2 reacts withaqueous amines in an absorption column,forming chemical compounds, resulting inthe removal of CO2 from the gaseous stream.In the proposed process CO2 is absorbed inthe amine solution at a temperature of around40°C and at atmospheric pressure.

Flue gas from the boiler is picked updownstream of any installed Air Quality Con-trol System (AQCS). Concentrations of NO2,SO2, SO3, HCl and particulate matter needto be kept relatively low to prevent co-ab-sorption, amine solution degradation as wellas equipment fouling. Additional AQCSequipment may be needed to meet these re-quirements.

A booster fan is used to drive the fluegas through the CO2 absorber in which the

CO2 reacts with the lean amine solution. Thetreated gas exits at the top of the absorbertower. Typical target CO2 removal efficiencyfrom the flue gas is 90 %, although a suitablydesigned absorber can operate at removal ef-ficiencies ranging from 50 % to 99 %.

The system consists of two main blocks,the CO2 absorber, where the CO2 is absorbedinto an amine solution via fast chemical re-action and the regenerator system, in whichthe amine is regenerated and then sent backto the absorber for further absorption. TheAAP relies on regeneration performance toreduce the operating cost of CO2 capturefrom combustion gas.

The regeneration operation reduces there-boiler duty necessary to regenerateUCARSOL™ FGC3000 and produces CO2suitable for compression and pipeline trans-portation. The rich amine exiting the CO2 ab-

Alstom and Dow progress on aminesSince the creation of the Joint Development Agreement between The Dow Chemical Company andAlstom in 2008, both companies have investigated improvements to the Advanced Amines Processtechnology (AAP) through innovative changes to the conventional amines process flow scheme. Recentdevelopments with the AAP technology in absorption and regeneration methods will be demonstratedat a facility in EDF’s coal-fired power plant in Le Havre, France.By By Larry Czarnecki and Davy Theophile (Alstom Power), Fabrice Chopin (Électricité de France), Craig Schubert and EricKlinker (Dow Chemical Company)

carbon capture journal - Sept - Oct 2012

Figure 1 - The AAP pilot plant facility in Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. is capable of capturing 5tonnes of CO2 per day

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pilot plant facility. In addition, the solvent management

principles have also been demonstrated, in-cluding solvent integrity and overall systemperformance maintenance. Strategies foramine solvent and heat stable salt manage-ment have also been demonstrated.

EdF Le Havre demonstration facilityThe demonstration unit at Le Havre, France,has been designed to capture 25 tonneCO2/day from the flue gas exiting boiler No.4 at a 600 MWe hard coal-fired plant ownedby EdF. The boiler is equipped with a selec-tive catalytic reduction (SCR) system forNOx control, an electrostatic precipitator(ESP) for controlling particulate emissions

sorber is sent to the top of the regeneratorsection via a cross heat exchanger. Desorp-tion of CO2 occurs within a regenerator thatincludes heat integration features. Thus, theenergy content in the flashed water vapourpartially recovered as CO2 is released fromthe rich solvent. The heat integration featuresalso allow control of both temperature andamine solvent flow rate in the lower part ofthe absorber column.

The CO2 absorber is designed as apacked tower. The absorber is filled with apacking material, layered in several beds tomaximise CO2 absorption. The height of thepacking is determined by the desired CO2 re-moval efficiency and the amine circulationrate. The diameter of the absorber is based onthe flue gas flow with the aim of maintaininga constant column loading factor.

The absorber includes an inlet duct de-signed to evenly distribute the gas in thepacked bed. Lean solution returning from thebottom of the regeneration column is cooledto the operating temperature at the top of theabsorber in the lean cooler by heat exchangewith cooling water or air.

The regeneration column may containtrays or packing. Rich solution flows downthe regeneration column counter-current torising steam produced by boiling part of thelean solution exiting the bottom of the col-umn. Gaseous CO2 and water vapour exit thetop of the regenerator where residual wateris condensed. The condensed water is thensent to the top of the regenerator or to themake-up water system.

Charleston pilot plantThe Charleston pilot plant, jointly operatedby Alstom and Dow since September 2009,treated a flue gas slip stream from a bitumi-nous coal-fired process boiler and achieving90 % CO2 capture efficiencies using UCAR-SOL™ FGC3000 series of solvents.

The main objective of this pilot was togain both amine solvent management andprocess system operating experience on coal-fired flue gas for an extended duration. Asthe design of the Charleston pilot plant of-fered a wide range of process configurations,various improved flow schemes were exam-ined in comparison to a conventional, basicflow scheme. Process performance parame-ters such as CO2 capture efficiency, aminesolvent and flue gas flow rates, and thermalduties of different flow schemes were exam-ined in parallel.

The long-term impact of oxygen andtrace contaminants present in the flue gas onthe stability of the solvent were studied byexamining several issues:• Impact of exhaust gas trace pollutants on

AAP performance (efficiencies/duties)

• Impact of accumulation of oxidative andthermal degradation products on processperformance (efficiencies/duties)

• Amine make-up rates needed to maintainCO2 removal efficiency

• Amine reclamation to maintain heat stablesalts and other degradation products atacceptable levels

• Emission of amines and associated aminedegradation products

• Analytical methods suitable formonitoring the amine solvent composition

The information obtained from theCharleston pilot plant has been used to deter-mine further process improvements for mini-mal energy consumption levels and to vali-date the simulation tool used to engineer the

Figure 2 - the EdF Le Havre demonstration unit features the latest Advanced Amine Processdesign for the absorber, regenerator and thermal management systems and will reduce energyconsumption and minimize solvent degradation.

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Leadersand a limestone wet flue gas desulphurisation(WFGD) for SOx control.

A nominal 5000 Nm3/hr slipstream ofexhaust gas (nominally 2 MWe) is withdrawnfrom the WFGD exhaust stack and directedto the demonstration unit. The scrubbed fluegas stream and the CO2 product stream areboth returned to the main exhaust duct lead-ing to the plant chimney. Process steam isprovided from the boiler steam supply anddemineralised water is provided from theplant utilities. The major process configura-tion consists of a two-section absorber col-umn, a single section regeneration columnand associated heat management equipment.

The exhaust gas from the WFGD isrouted through a sodium-based desulphurisa-tion unit that reduces the SOx content to be-low 20 ppm prior to introduction to the ab-sorber column. A blower provides the pres-sure necessary to drive the gas through theCO2 absorber. The absorber is equipped witha water wash section to minimise amine va-porisation losses during CO2 capture opera-tions. The absorber is designed to remove 90% of the incoming CO2 from the inlet fluegas stream. The absorber column containsstructured packing selected for optimal CO2capture (mass transfer) and pressure drop(hydraulic) characteristics.

The demonstration unit regenerationcolumn contains random packing and is ther-mally driven by a steam re-boiler unitequipped with a steam de-superheater. Theexiting CO2 gas product stream is cooled anddried in a cooling section located in the re-generation column. The CO2 product pres-sure is relieved prior to discharge to the plantexhaust duct.

All columns along with the amine cir-cuit use stainless steel materials to allow fu-ture operation on other amine solvents. Theamine circuit features rich-lean solvent crossheat exchangers and lean solvent coolers foroptimal process conditions. All cooling unitsare air-cooled to minimise process water con-sumption and associated piping.

Amine solvent management is accom-plished with the use of mechanical filters, anactivated carbon bed filter and an Electro-Dialysis (ED) reclamation unit. The EDreclamation unit converts heat stable aminesalts, formed from trace acid gas products inthe flue gas, into usable amines while elimi-nating the undesired acid anions. The EDreclamation unit also selectively removessome undesired amine degradation products.The ED reclamation unit employs ion selec-tive membranes in an electric field to segre-gate and extract the unwanted anions fromthe amine solvent stream. Caustic is used dur-ing the reclamation process to neutralise theheat stable amine salts during the membrane

3000, including gaseous emissions alongwith any liquid and solid waste streams.

4. Study of the impact of oxygen strip-ping on the degradation of amine solvent bycorrelating oxygen content against changesin solvent composition and AAP system per-formance.

5. Study of the performance of aminereclamation by electro-dialysis during opera-tion for efficiency and waste stream charac-terisation.

6. Assess the corrosion resistance ofsteel and non-metallic materials at key loca-tions in the demonstration unit.

7. Demonstrate AAP technology robust-ness and behaviour during transient operat-ing modes such as load variations and “cold”and “hot” start-ups and shutdowns.

It is expected that some of the test ob-jectives will be studied continually through-out the entire test programme, while otherswill be studied either intermittently or se-quentially. The operation of the first pilotplant in Charleston has demonstrated the ba-sic operation and solvent maintenance strate-gies of the AAP process when treating fluegas from a coal-fired boiler.

ConclusionAlstom and Dow have been actively involvedin the development of the Advanced Amineprocess since 2008. The advancements andopportunities learned from the Charleston fa-cility have been applied to the design of theAAP demonstration unit installed at EdF LeHavre and define the test program needed tocomplete the AAP validation program.

With defined test program, this facilitywill demonstrate and detail the performancecharacteristics of the latest AAP process flowscheme for energy efficiency, emissions andamine solvent management methods.

The operating practices and process per-formance findings from these both facilitieswill support on capitalizing for large scaledemonstration plant (around 250 MWe) to fi-nally validate the performance of the mostpromising advanced flow scheme and corre-sponding optimized process conditions. Al-stom is currently designing its first large-scale Advanced Amine Process demonstra-tion plant for PGE Elektrownia BelchatowS.A. in Poland with an estimated start-up in2015.

filtration.The amine circuit also has an oxygen

scrubber to minimise amine oxidative degra-dation caused by oxygen absorbed from theflue gas. The oxygen scrubber treats the richamine solvent exiting the CO2 absorber,where the solvent is exposed to a reducedpressure environment to promote the desorp-tion of oxygen gas. The oxygen scrubber isdesigned to extract absorbed oxygen from theamine solvent stream with minimal impactson solvent composition or affecting the CO2load of the solvent. Flue gas condensate andreclaimed wastes are collected local to thedemonstration unit for characterisation priorto further disposal.

The demonstration unit control systemis instrumented to observe and record processperformance and unit operation details. Thecontrol system is fully automated to supportcontinuous operation of the plant. Gas streamCO2 and pollutant compositions system arecontinuously monitored using NDIR flue gasanalysers with several access locations pro-vided for gas sampling and testing.

Test program objectivesAn on-site laboratory will be set-up to sup-port the demonstration unit operations. Thislaboratory will be equipped with several ana-lytical instruments for evaluating amine sol-vent characteristics and process operationperformance.

One key aspect of an amine-based CO2capture facility being the emission of aminesolvent and the associated degradation prod-ucts in the exiting flue gas stream, (this is aconcern as an environmental issue and an op-erating cost), the test programme at EdF LeHavre facility will continue to assess theemission levels for the latest AAP flowscheme. Moreover, the demonstration unitfeaturing the minimising of the oxidativedegradation by scrubbing absorbed oxygenfrom the amine solvent, the impact of thistreatment on emissions and overall demon-stration unit performance will be investigat-ed at the facility. In addition, due to Le HavrePower Plant operation profiles, the impactof the transient operation will be particularlytested at Le Havre facility.

The first year of operation will focus onexecuting a test programme to meet Alstom’sand EdF’s mutual objectives. The proposedprogramme will address the following issues:

1. Verification of key process-relatedobjectives such as: CO2 capture efficiency,thermal performance and solvent manage-ment of the AAP technology.

2. Validation of AAP flow scheme in-cluding process tuning and stability mapping.

3. Comparative environmental study ofadvanced amine solvent UCARSOL™ FGC

More informationDavy Theophile

[email protected]

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instituted a close academic working relation-ship.

Although great strides have been madeto reduce CO2 emissions, its storage and dis-posal is an ongoing issue. Most CO2 cap-ture technologies produce liquid formresidue, which must be carefully disposed ofdeep underground or under the ocean floor.Strataclear®’s residue is a clean solid dy-namic material. The technology changes thetraditional way we view Carbon Capture andStorage (CCS), which for many evokes alarge scale installation similar in size to apower station or plant full of complex equip-ment such as valves, pumps and exchangers.

The Strataclear residual material haseconomical and product-enhancing poten-tials that touch many industries. Amongthem are construction, road building, ironsmelting and pulp and paper. It can also be

used for sulphur removal from flue gases andin glass making, sewage treatment plants andcoal mining.

Preliminary results from in-house test-ing of the technology’s residual withsheetrock and bricks concluded the follow-ing:

1) Sheetrock becomes much lighterwhen 50% of the gypsum is replaced withthe residual. Moreover, when it is subjectedto 1000° F for six minutes there is no pene-tration. The standard sheetrock, on the otherhand - made with 100% gypsum and subject-ed to the same heat for half the time - showedpenetration.

2) A standard brick consisting of equalparts cement and sand weighs a third morethan a brick with equal parts cement and theresidual material. Not only is thecement/residual brick much stronger but it

CO2 Capture in vehicles and home heatingStrataclear® is the first CO2 capture technology for moving vehicles and home heating systems. It is aninnovative carbon capture technology that removes CO2 from exhaust gasses up to: 25% inautomobiles; 40% in trucks; and, 50% in home heating furnaces. Moreover, the technology produces aclean solid residual material that can be sold for use in many industrial applications. By Donald G. Rynne, Ryncosmos LLC

The Strataclear system is a unique emissionreduction technology that will enable thecapture and disposal of carbon dioxide gasfrom moving vehicles and home heating sys-tems.

A specially designed system, Strata-clear includes removable absorber cartridgesthat replace the resonator and muffler in avehicle’s exhaust system. The solid absorbernever changes its form even when it is com-pletely spent. Nor does it impede the flow ofthe exhaust or engine performance. Con-tained in a CO2 capture device, the absorbercartridges are simply stored along theperimeter of the car trunk until they are eas-ily replaced at a gas station or another ex-change facility.

With patent pending from New York-based Ryncosmos, LLC, the new technologyreduces carbon emissions from any type ofinternal combustion engine. The exhaustgases pass the catalytic converter then enterthe Strataclear® exhaust treatment systemwhere CO2 is absorbed. The purified exhaustwith reduced CO2 is emitted from thetailpipe where it captures up to 25% of car-bon dioxide in automobiles and 40% intrucks.

In home heating systems, the technolo-gy captures as much as 50% carbon dioxide,providing the user with a 37% savings on gasor oil heating bills. The by product is a cleanchemically inert material captured in the ab-sorber that can be safely stored and usedbroadly in numerous exciting industrial ap-plications, creating great potential for viableprofit centres.

Following extensive tests at its Pro-gram for Advanced Vehicle Evaluation(PAVE) facility, Auburn University certifiedthe Strataclear technology. The testing wasdone with a small diesel car equipped withthe emission reduction technology. The carmade intensive round trips on the Auburntest track at different speeds over a two-dayperiod. The collected data were analysed byUniversity researchers who certified to theefficacy of the carbon dioxide emissions.They also certified they found no adverse ef-fects on engine efficiency. As a result of thistesting, Ryncosmos and Auburn University

Figure 1 - a prototype of the Strataclear technology installation in the trunk of the test vehicle.Pipes and cables in the car trunk are only for testing purposes, performed using thecomputerized industry standard, five gas analyzers, complemented with On Board Diagnosticsversion II reading of the engine data. This is typically performed by the car servicing station, todiagnose problems and collect data. The analyzers and part of the exhaust gas conduits arevisible in the trunk.

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Leadersappears more resistant to heat and cold.

Further research and scientific testingis currently underway at the Auburn Univer-sity PAVE facility to evaluate and certify theresidual’s many applications in numerous in-dustries. Nonetheless, the in-house testingconducted so far has shown exciting resultsmaking its potential for sustainable profitcenters very real.

The policy of CO2 reduction in vehiclesIn late March 2012, AutoNews Europe re-ported that by 2015, the auto industry mustreduce CO2 emissions from new cars sold inEurope to a fleet average of 130 grams perkilometer. Last year's average was140.9g/km, down from 145.9g/km in 2009,according to an analysis of 21 Europeanmarkets by JATO, an automotive intelligenceprovider.

The magazine went on to cite ToyotaMotor Corp., PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA andBMW AG as the automakers closest toreaching their EU-mandated CO2 targets.Toyota, PSA and BMW need to cut theiroverall fleet emissions by 7 percent or lessto comply with the tougher emissions regu-lations, which start to take effect next year.

Daimler AG, Mazda Motor Corp., andNissan Motor Co., will need to speed up thepace of their CO2 cuts to help the industryreach its overall goal. If the automakers fallshort, they will face steep fines, which havebeen established from 2012 to 2018. Mostindustry experts say it is unlikely automak-ers will miss their targets.

As new engine technologies shift to-ward cheaper, smaller, lighter vehicles, saidJATO, this will help automakers’ CO2 emis-sions. For example, Toyota only needs to cutits fleet CO2 by 4.2 percent by 2015 to reachits EU target of 20% reductions by 2020.Overall, Toyota ranked second in Europe lastyear based on average CO2 emissions of130.0g/km while Fiat had the lowest CO2emissions at 125.9g/km. They need to dropdown to 116.1g/km – an 8.4 percent decrease– by 2015, according to JATO's “A Reviewof CO2 Car Emissions Across Europe FY2010” report.

The new carbon capture technologyclearly complements efforts to build smallercars with more efficient engines at a fractionof the cost.

In 2008, carmakers lobbied aggressive-ly to extend by three years a deadline for av-erage new car CO2 emissions to reach130g/km. As a result, the EU postponed thetarget year from 2012 until 2015.

Industry experts say the next goal of95/g/km by 2020, is going to be hard toachieve pointing to the next step and beyondbecoming, “…. ever more challenging and

expensive” as they focus on the “need tomake [auto] parts out of magnesium and oth-er exotic expensive materials,” says Au-toNews.

To reduce the amount of CO2, a gasblamed for climate change, the EU set au-tomakers’ individual CO2 reduction targetsas part of a goal to cut average new-car emis-sions in Europe overall to 130g/km by 2015from 160g/km in 2006. The 130g/km figureis equivalent to fuel consumption of about5.6 liters of gasoline or 4.9 liters of dieselfuel per 100 km.

Pressed by French and German au-tomakers, the EU also introduced a weight-based system that sets individual targets foreach automaker. Fiat, which sells mainlysmall cars, had the lightest average weightfor its models at 1,067kg last year comparedwith 1,337kg in 2009.

CO2 emissions control in the U.S.Worldwatch, an independent research insti-tute devoted to global environmental con-cerns, reported a year ago the California leg-islature passed a bill establishing the mostextensive CO2 emission controls in theUnited States.

The law requires a 25 percent reductionin state CO2 emissions by 2020, with thefirst major controls taking effect in 2012.The California Air Resources Board, theagency that enforces the state’s air pollutioncontrols, will be the main authority in estab-lishing emission targets and noncompliance

penalties, which also allows for business in-centives to reach the goals.

The research institute also reported sev-eral northeastern U.S. states signed a region-al agreement to reduce CO2 emissions backin December of 2005 but their target wouldreduce emissions by only some 24 milliontons. The California mandate, which aims tocut emissions to their 1990 level, will resultin cuts of some 174 million tons.

Supporters hope the legislation will in-stead inspire other states -- and eventuallythe federal government -- to follow suit saidWorldwatch.

President Obama has repeatedly reiter-ated his support for an aggressive effort toreduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases,according to the National Centre for PublicPolicy Research. He promised to reduce U.S.emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 - a cut ofabout 16 percent - and then to cut them anadditional 80 percent by 2050. That's anoverall cut of 68 percent from today andwould mean trimming U.S. carbon emissionsto roughly where they were in 1905.

Note: All emission estimates from theInventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emis-sions and Sinks: 1990-2010.

According to the EPA (EnvironmentalProtection Agency), the main human activi-ty that emits CO2 is the combustion of fossilfuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) for energyand transportation, although certain industri-al processes and land-use changes also emitCO2. The EPA cites Electricity, Transporta-

Figure 2 - small diesel car equipped with the emission reduction technology making intensivetrips on the Auburn University test track at different speeds to test carbon dioxide emissions andthe technology’s effect on engine performance. Auburn certified to both the efficacy of the CO2emissions that there were no adverse effects on engine efficiency

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Leaderstion and Industry as the main sources of CO2emissions in the United States.

Electricity: Coal burning to produceelectricity generates more CO2 than oil ornatural gas accounting for 40% of total U.S.CO2 emissions and 33% of total U.S. green-house gas emissions in 2009.

Transportation: The combustion of fos-sil fuels such as gasoline and diesel to trans-port people and goods is the second largestsource of CO2 emissions, accounting forabout 31% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and26% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissionsin 2010. This category includes transporta-tion sources such as highway vehicles, airtravel, marine transportation, and rail.

Industry: Many industrial processesemit CO2 through fossil fuel combustion.Several processes also produce CO2 emis-sions through chemical reactions that do notinvolve combustion, for example, the pro-duction and consumption of mineral prod-ucts such as cement, the production of met-als such as iron and steel, and the productionof chemicals.

Various industrial processes accountedfor about 14% of total U.S. CO2 emissionsand 20% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emis-sions in 2010. Note that many industrialprocesses also use electricity and thereforeindirectly cause the emissions from the elec-tricity production.

Given one kg equals approximately 2.2pounds, one US gallon of fuel when com-pletely burned, on average produces CO2emissions, as follows: Diesel: 9.96 kg or5,070 liters in normal pressure and tempera-ture; Biofuel: 9.42 kg or 4,800 liters; and,Gasoline: 8.71 kg or 4,400 liters resulting in22, 21 and 19 pounds of CO2, respectively,while furnaces emit 50% more carbon diox-ide. A reduction of 25% CO2 emissions ormore moves an entire fleet of trucks intocompliance.

A new way to control emissionsCar and truck manufacturers, who must com-ply with impending legislation, including theUS existing and proposed CAFE (CorporateAverage Fuel Economy) standards, US re-gional and state standards as well as morestrict regulations in Europe and other coun-tries, will find an effective solution in the newtechnology. As such, Ryncosmos sees the es-tablishment of a new industry, which createsthousands of jobs and generates large profits.

Most countries regulate emissions frommoving vehicles in some fashion includingboth the air quality emissions (carbon oxide,nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons etc.) and GHG(greenhouse gases), chiefly CO2. The regula-tion sets targets either directly on the CO2emissions or on fuel consumption.

Moreover, the majority of Europeancountries, Japan and the US set such standardsand/or market-based programs. In Californiaa bill was passed launching the most exten-sive CO2 emission controls yet in the UnitedStates. The law calls for a 25 percent reduc-tion in state CO2 emissions by 2020. It takeseffect this year. On the East Coast all statesexcept New Jersey have embraced the Re-

gional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. In the US, the EPA standards are esti-

mated to achieve a fleet-wide level of 155g/km of CO2 in model year 2016 and its pro-posed standards are estimated to achieve afleet-wide level of 101 g/km of CO2 in mod-el year 2025 (passenger car target is 89 g/kmCO2, the light truck target is 126 g/km CO2).

Strataclear’s dual application is the an-swer to reducing CO2 emissions and captur-ing carbon efficiently and safely. Due to itsgreat economic potential, it can reduce thecost to manufacture a car, lower home heat-ing costs substantially, and all the while it canprovide a profit center by recycling its by-product, which has wide applications acrossindustry. It’s a win-win and most importantlyit “greens” the world and brings us the futuretoday.

Figure 3 - US CO2 Emissions: 20-year graph from 1990-2010 (Source: Worldwatch)

More informationDonald G. Rynne

Chairman & CEOPhone: 646-233-4027Email: [email protected]

Subscribe to CarbonCapture Journal...Six issues only £250

...and sign up for our freeemail newsletterEvery monday morning

July / Aug 2012 Issue 28

C-Capture: developing safe non-amine solvents

UK and Norway: working together to achieve the promise of CCS

Induced seismic activity from CO2 storage - the debate

CCS with biomass - the way forward for Europe

CCS - realising the potential?

CCS in AustraliaCO2CRC researchhighlights including

Otway project and newcapture pilot plantCarbonNet project:

investigating CCS inVictoria

Carbon Capture Journal is yourone stop information source fornew technical developments,opinion, regulatory and researchactivity with carbon capture,transport and storage.

www.carboncapturejournal.com

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:15 Page 7


Special section - CO2 Compression

The Past, Present and Future of CO2CompressionDresser-Rand has a rich history in carbon dioxide (CO2) compression, yet there is always room forimprovement. This is why Dresser-Rand joined forces with Ramgen Power Systems LLC in 2008 todevelop solutions that address the future of CO2 compression.By Mark Kuzdzal, Director, Business Development, Dresser-Rand and Pete Baldwin, President, Ramgen Power Systems LLC

Dresser-Rand has supplied reciprocating andcentrifugal compressors for CO2 compres-sion for more than 80 years. The first unit, areciprocating compressor, went into servicein 1928, and the company shipped its firstcentrifugal compressor for CO2 service in1948.

Dresser-Rand has shipped more than400 reciprocating and centrifugal CO2 com-pressors totaling more than 900,000 BHP(671 MW) and believes it has the largest in-stalled base of CO2 compression equipmentin the world. More than 250 of these units areon CO2 injection service, totaling more than500,000 BHP (372 MW).

The highest pressure achieved using aCO2 centrifugal compressor is more than8,000 psia (550 bar), while the maximum in-let flow is greater than 48,000 acfm (82,000m3/hr.). With a CO2 reciprocating compres-sor, the maximum discharge pressureachieved is more than 6,000 psig (425 bar)and the maximum inlet flow exceeds 4,000acfm (7,000 m3/hr.).

The reinjection process is an enhancedoil recovery (EOR) technique that helps bringmore oil to the surface by both pressurizingthe well and reducing the oil’s viscosity. Thefirst CO2 re-injection project developedspecifically to mitigate greenhouse gas emis-sions began operation in August 1996 in theNorth Sea. As of 2012, more than 16 millionmetric tonnes of CO2 have been injected atthis site (approximately 1 million metrictonnes of CO2 per year). The CO2 is cap-tured by an amine plant and stored in a salineaquifer. The objective is to reduce the CO2content in the methane from 9 percent to 2.5percent, so that the methane can be exportedas “sales gas”. Compressor availability hasbeen reported at 98 to 99 percent.

Past to PresentOn May 4 2012, a successful hydrocarbontest was performed on a DATUM® Frame 6centrifugal compressor in Olean, New York,USA. This was the highest discharge pres-sure CO2 compressor ever tested on hydro-carbon in Olean at more than 8,250 psig(581.4 bar), with a suction pressure of ap-

power guarantees were achieved. Typically, as the power, gas density and

discharge pressure of a centrifugal compres-sor increase, there is concern that rotor vibra-tions will increase, particularly sub synchro-nous vibrations. However, through its R&Dactivities, Dresser-Rand developed advancedbearing and sealing technologies that actual-ly improve rotordynamic stability as power,gas density and discharge pressure increase.

This was demonstrated during a rotor-dynamic stability test at full-load and full-pressure using a magnetic bearing exciter toimpart asynchronous forcing functions intothe rotor while operating at full speed andload. The purpose of the testing is to evalu-ate the robustness of the design by “exciting”the compressor to extract a stability parame-ter known as logarithmic decrement. Duringtesting of the 8,250 PSIA (581.4 bar) com-pressor, the logarithmic decrement was meas-ured as the compressor discharge pressurewas increased. Again, the testing resultsmatched the predictions, confirming that therotor became more stable as power, gas den-

proximately 3,500 psig (241 bar). Also, thiscompressor is believed to be the highest den-sity compressor ever manufactured and test-ed in the world, 34.7 lbm/ft3 (556.2 kg/m3),compressing gas that has a molecular weightof approximately 36 and consists mainly ofcarbon dioxide. This unit was purchased fora floating production, storage, and off-load-ing (FPSO) vessel gas reinjection project foroffshore Brazil.

In order to predict the CO2 compressorperformance (specifically the head and pow-er requirement), it is critical to use the cor-rect gas properties. Although high-pressuregas properties do exist for CO2, the additionof methane to the gas at these discharge pres-sures does change the gas properties and cancreate uncertainty in aerodynamic perform-ance predictions. As a result, extensive gasproperty testing was conducted with the fieldsimulated gas mixture to ensure accurate per-formance predictions. Full-load, full-pressuretesting results were such that, as tested, headand power aerodynamic performance curvesmatched the predicted curve and head and

Figure 1 - Ramgen 8 MW, 10:1 pressure ratio CO2 compressor being assembled for test on theDresser-Rand dedicated closed-loop CO2 test facility in Olean, NY, USA

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:15 Page 8

9

Special section - CO2 Compressionsity and discharge pressure increased. Thetesting validated both mechanical and aero-dynamic robustness and successfully mitigat-ed risk prior to field operation.

A New Era in CO2 CompressionCO2 compression is on the dawn of a newera. Dresser-Rand is working with RamgenPower Systems LLC to develop the next gen-eration of low-cost, high-efficiency CO2compressors. The joint engineering team isdeveloping a unique shockwave compressiontechnology for use on high molecular weightgases like CO2. The primary goal is a low-cost, high-efficiency CO2 compressor thatwill significantly reduce the overall capitaland operating costs of carbon capture, utiliza-tion and storage (CCUS).

CO2 compressors represent approxi-mately one-third of the capital and operatingcost of a post-combustion, amine-basedCCUS system. The CO2 compressor powerrequired for a pulverized coal (PC) powerplant is eight to 12 percent of the plant rat-ing, depending largely on the suction pres-sure. A 1,000 MW PC plant would require134,000 hp (100 MW) for CO2 compressionat an estimated $150 million in equipmentcost for the current 3 x 50% configuration, inaddition to $75 - $100 million in installationcosts.

Part of the reason that existing CO2compressor designs are expensive is becausethe overall pressure ratio is anywhere between100:1 and 200:1.The most significant impacton cost, however, is an aerodynamic designpractice that limits the stage pressure ratio onheavier gases such as CO2. Conventional cen-trifugal compressors typically require eight to12 stages of compression to meet the require-ments of these applications. [“Low-CostHigh-Efficiency CO2 Compressor,” CarbonCapture Journal Sept-Oct 2009].

pressure (LP) and high-pressure (HP) stages,and an after-cooler is used after the HP stage.The high-pressure stage is shown below,along with a typical T-s diagram for the Ram-gen two-stage configuration.

The stage discharge coolers can be theCCUS process itself. Cost effective heat in-tegration, enabled by the high quality heat ofcompression associated with the 10:1 com-pression ratio, can substantially improve theeconomics of CCUS. The Ramgen LP andHP stages can provide 270 Btu/lb- CO2 to avariety of heat integration options.

It should be noted that eight- or 10-stagedesigns are sensitive to a two-phasing effect,because the margin between the compressor-stage discharge pressure and the two-phaseregion in and around the critical point (shownin red below) is small and somewhat unpre-dictable depending on gas impurities. Theproximity of the line of a constant 100°F

Ramgen Technology – Looking Towardthe FutureRamgen’s shockwave compression technolo-gy is expected to represent a significant ad-vancement for many compressor applica-tions, and specifically for CO2 compression.The principal advantage of Ramgen’s shock-wave compression, based upon proven super-sonic aircraft inlet design (Fig. 2), is that itcan achieve high compression efficiency atvery high singlestage compression ratios.

The result is a product that lowers bothcapital and operating costs in a smaller foot-print.The Ramgen concept requires only twostages of compression, with a matched set ofindependent-drive, single-stage compressorsinstead of a conventional integral gear com-pressor configuration with a common bullgear drive. Each of the Ramgen stages canachieve a pressure ratio of ~10.0+:1.

An intercooler is used between the low-

Figure 2 - Ramgen compression technology is based upon proven, supersonic flight inletstructures.

Figure 3 - Ramgen single-stage solid model –high-pressure CO2 compression stage

satu

rate

d liq

uid

satu

rate

d va

por

Critical Point:1073 psia, 87 F

22 psia, 100 F

2200 psia, 509 F

Ramgen LP Stage

Ramgen HP Stage

satu

rate

d liq

uid

satu

rate

d va

por

Critical Point:1073 psia, 87 F

22 psia, 100 F

2200 psia, 509 F

Ramgen LP Stage

Ramgen HP Stage

Figure 4 - Ramgen CO2 pressure-enthalpy diagram

Sept - Oct 2012 - carbon capture journal

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:15 Page 9

Special section - CO2 CompressionTest Validation of AerodynamicPerformanceRamgen and Dresser-Rand are currentlypreparing for a test of a 10:1 pressure ratio,10,700 HP (8 MW) CO2 unit with a 2,215PSIA (152 bar) discharge pressure. The unitis being assembled for testing on a dedicated13,400 HP (10 MW) closed loop CO2 test fa-cility at Dresser-Rand Olean Operations. Thegoal is to validate aerodynamic performance,as well as operating characteristics and me-chanical integrity. The test facility is current-ly being qualified, and testing is expected tobegin later this year.

Additionally, Ramgen and Dresser-Randare currently in the process of developing afamily of supersonic compressors to serve theCO2 market. Development is expected to becomplete in early 2014. The high-pressure ra-tio-per-stage capability of the Ramgen tech-nology is the key enabler needed to achievethis goal. The technology concept addressesthe two key objectives identified by the U.S.DOE for the capture and storage of CO2 –lower cost and improved efficiency.

nal discharge temperature of 500°F (260°C)vs. conventional integrally geared designs of200°F (93°C).

- The Ramgen design can take advan-tage of colder inlet temperatures and result-ing lower power consumption, if available.The Ramgen inter-stage pressures arenowhere near the critical point on the pres-sure enthalpy diagram and the associatedtwo-phase concerns. Ramgen may be able torun colder inter-stage temperatures, whichcould further enhance its efficiencies.

- Shock compression is a near-instanta-neous phenomenon. As long as the dischargepressure is above the critical point on thepressure enthalpy diagram of all the con-stituents in the gas mix, concerns over two-phase flow should be minimized.

- The two-stage intercooled log meantemperature difference (LMTD), a key deter-minant of the cooler surface area required,will be three times that of the integral geardesigns resulting in coolers that require one-third of the surface area to achieve the samecooling effect.

- Ramgen’s design will have a substan-tially smaller footprint.

- High power drives are of limited avail-ability and expensive; Ramgen’s independ-ent drive configuration should allow for im-proved motor selection options.

(38°C) temperature to the CO2 vapor domein the pressure-enthalpy diagram (show ingreen) illustrates the challenge of fully inter-cooling the later stages of multi-stage de-signs. Ramgen (shown in blue), on the otherhand, operates in regions very much removedfrom the critical point.

Ramgen and Dresser-Rand plan to de-velop a series of frame sizes to support bothamine-based and ammonia-based capturetechnologies, as well as other emerging cap-ture technologies. The planned frame sizeswould be able to support a full capacity 800MW power plant using a single set of Ram-pressor units.

Ramgen’s Competitive AdvantageRamgen’s technology has both capital andoperating cost advantages.

- Ramgen expects to be 50-60 percent ofthe conventional integrally geared centrifugalcompressor on an installed cost basis.

- The Ramgen two-stage configurationwill require approximately the same shaft in-put power as the eight- or 10-stage equiva-lent when inter-stage temperatures and pres-sure drops associated with intercooler are in-cluded.

- Heat recovery can be of significantvalue when fully integrated at scale. TheRamgen two-stage configuration has a nomi-

BENEFITS OF ATTENDANCE:Insight into current CCS issues:

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CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 10



Advanced compression technology for CCS,EOR, refrigeration and vapourThis paper gives an overview of advanced, innovative and proven technologies for CO2, N2, propyleneand vapour compression. This includes reciprocating and centrifugal compression - with focus oninnovative gear type designs for onshore applications - in comparison to other technologies. Thiscomparison is related to demands for upcoming Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), CCS, Coal Gasification(IGCC, Oxyfuel), refrigeration processes, vapour re-compression and an outlook to offshore highpressure CO2 compression.By Dr. Rolf Habel, MAN Diesel & Turbo SE

Compression of CO2, N2, Propylene and va-por has a long tradition in modern industrialprocesses and furthermore plays an increas-ing role in the present discussion of theworld wide climate change. Especially in re-finery and food industry applications it isused and a common good since severaldecades. Nowadays numerous industrial pro-cedures require them not in a gaseous but ina compressed state at a specific pressure andtemperature.

The use of high-speed reciprocatingcompressors for Sequestration (CCS) or En-hanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is the historicaland traditional approach for the manufactur-ing of compressed CO2. Nevertheless recentinvestigations reveal several limits of thistechnology – e.g. the upper capacity of pos-sible flow rates have strong restrictions dueto the mechanical design.

For this reason centrifugal type com-pressor systems are now state of the art anda promising solution for future CO2 projects.Centrifugal compressors generally can besplit into two major building types whichdistinguish by design namely single-shaft(in-line, between bearings) centrifugals andmulti-shaft integral-gear centrifugals. Theseassembly alternatives will be compared inthis paper.

MAN Diesel & Turbo has manufac-tured reciprocating compressors in the pastand still is manufacturing both types of cen-trifugal technologies (single-shaft and multi-shaft type, according to API 617 as stated byMACEYKA, PICKEREL in 2007) for CO2services. We therefore feel confident and ina position to give a sophisticated overviewand comparison of all technologies.

Conventional CO2 Technology (Recipsand centrifugal compressors)For Food Industry, Refineries, Sequestration(CCS) or Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), thetraditional approach to CO2 compression hasbeen to use high-speed reciprocating com-

• Slow speed recips. require massivefoundations - resulting in high capital andoperating costs

By comparison, centrifugal compres-sors offer:• Higher capacity, volume flows are

possible (up to ~ 100 kg/s)• Superior efficiency• Oil-free compression• Higher speed, better matched to the high-

speed driver (electric motors or steamturbines) commonly used in the 10-40MW range

• By design, they are less maintenance-intensive, leading to considerablyextended intervals between overhauls

Proven Gear-Type technology forinnovative onshore CO2 projects (EORand CCS)Within the centrifugal compressor markets,there are still 2 technologies, namely single-

pressors. The main reasons for this are:• Flexibility with regards to pressure ratio,

and capacity (if equipped with variablespeed drive or valve unloaders)

• Short delivery times, since many recip.packagers dispose of a selection offrames and cylinders on stock, and canassemble a package in a few months

• Light-weight skid-mounted units can berelocated at will

• Familiarity of the field operators withthese machines and their suppliers

A number of factors however favor us-ing centrifugal compressors for such appli-cation (BOVON & HABEL, 2007):• The capacity of most CO2 recovery

schemes today exceeds the range ofreciprocating compressors (max. 12 kg/s)

• Reciprocating compressors aremaintenance intensive

• The high density of CO2 may causeproblems with high velocities (valves)

Figure 1 - process overview

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 11

12

Special section - CO2 Compressionshaft (in-line, between bearings) centrifugalsand multi-shaft integral-gear centrifugals.MAN manufactures both and has appliedboth in CO2-Service. We come to the con-clusion, that for most high flow onshore CO2applications, the multi-shaft integral-geardesign offers undeniable advantages:

Higher efficiency, thanks to:• Optimum impeller flow coefficient, due

to the fact that optimum speed can beselected for each pair of impellers

• Axial in-flow to each stage• Shrouded or unshrouded impellers can be

used• Small hub/tip ratio• Intercooling possible after each stage

(impeller). See Figure 9: Mollier Chartfor CO2 with marked pressure lines for100 and 220 bara.

• External connection after each stage givesmore flexibility in selecting the pressurelevel for the dehydration system, ifapplicable

• Contrary to in-line compressors, there ispractically no limit to the possiblenumber of stages in one machine(pressure ratio of 200 is possible on asingle frame)

• Integral-gear compressors can be direct-driven by a 4-pole electric motor on thebull-gear, or a steam turbine on one of thepinions

All the features of these machines arewell-proven and many references exist invarious services and frame sizes:• Design is existing for 30 years and more• Engineered units can be built up to 10

stages (5 pinions). Unit power range up to30 MW is commonly used, for instance inair separation plants

• Can be equipped with all the currentrange of sealing systems

• Integral-gear compressors nowrecognized by API 617

• Reliability and interval between overhaulconsidered comparable to in-line design

MAN has delivered several integral-gear compressors for CO2-Service with upto 10-stages. References are:

• 8-Stage CO2 compressor RG 80-8

for coal gasification plant in North Dako-

ta, CO2 is used for EOR in Weyburn Oil-

fields - two units commissioned in 1998,with an additional train in 2005

- Pressure from 1.1 bara to 187 bara- Massflow ≈ 34 kg/s- Impeller diameters 800mm – 115 mm- Pinion Speeds 7350 – 26600 1/min- Driven by fixed-speed synchronous

electric motor

For more details on this project refer toOLSON, AMMERMANN, HAGE (2004) aswell as PERRY, ELIASON (2004).

• 10-stage CO2 RG 56-10 compressor

in Russia commissioned in 1992

- Pressure from 1 bara to 200 bara: - Massflow ≈ 13 kg/s- Impeller diameters 550mm – 90mm- Pinion speed 26000 – 48000 1/min- Driven by fixed-speed asynchronous

electric motor

• 8-stage CO2 compressor RG 40-8 in

Slovakia commissioned in 2002

- Pressure from 1.1 bara to 150 bara- Massflow ≈ 8 kg/s

- Impeller diameters 400mm – 95mm- Pinion speed 8000 – 41000 1/min- Driven by variable speed

asynchronous electric motor

• 8-stage compressor RG 56-8 in CIS

commissioning in 2011

- Pressure from 1.1 bara to 150 bara- Massflow ≈16 kg/s- Impeller diameters 500mm – 95mm- Pinion speed 8000 – 36000 1/min- Driven by steam turbine

Technology Comparison and furtherInnovations and Improvements In Table 1 different technologies for CO2compression services are compared. It showsthat gear type centrifugal compressors dis-play better efficiency and lower power us-age when compared to inline centrifugalcompressors, reciprocating compressors anda new shock waves technology, which is in adeveloping/research stage by the companyRAMGEN Power Systems. However thisgear type technology for HP CO2 is by nowonly proven for onshore applications.

For this reason the authors` opinion isthat the multi-shaft design is in total the su-perior technology for industry applications,based on the good experience and provenfield references.

The latest result of MAN developmentis the extension of the multi-shaft productline for high volume flows in a fully engi-neered RG100. For this reason MAN cannow offer the following flows with their ex-isting and proven gear type product line ac-cording to Table 2.

In Figure 4 a typical design of a 4-stageintegrally gear type compressor is shown. InFigure 5 a typical performance curve of anRG100-8 is displayed.

Figure 2 - T-s Diagram of 10 stage compression process with intercooling

Figure 3 - RG80-8 during testing (top);Impellers of RG80-8 in North Dakota (bottom)


CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 12



Conclusion In conclusion and based on our experience,for volume flows > 12 kg/s and pressures upto 250 bar integral-gear compressors havedefinite advantages over reciprocating or su-personic technologies and in-line centrifu-gals in most CO2 services and as well for N2compression, several special coolingprocesses and vapor recompression. Over250 bar and offshore the barrel type design

is state of the art.• Gear type compression is more efficient

than supersonic or reciprocatingtechnology (see Table 1)

• In-line compressors require approx. twicethe number of stages than integral-gearcompressors, leading to one or two

additional casings• Integral-gear compressors show higher

efficiency• Integral-gear compressors have

comparable maintenance requirements asin-line compressors

• Barrel type design is better referenced forpressures > 250 bar and offshoreapplications

Based on the individual project de-mands a proven, reliable, and cost effectivesolution for advanced compression can bechosen.

ReferencesBovon, P.; Habel, R.: CO2 CompressionChallenges ASME Turbo Exp, CO2 Com-pression Panel, May 2007, Montreal, CanadaMaceyka, T.; Pickerel, G.; Integrally GearedCompressors - API Specs Extend Their Serv-ice to Offshore Services, TurbomachineryInternational sept/oct 2007Olson, B.; Ammermann, D.; Hage; H.: CO2Compression Using an Eight Stage, Integral-ly Geared, Centrifugal Compressor, Pro-ceedings of IPC 2004, Calgary AlbertaCanadaPERRY, M.; ELIASON, D.: CO2 Recoveryand Sequestration at Dakota GasificationCompany, October 2004Habel, R: Advanced compression soolutionsfor CCS, offshore CO2, OTC-22659-PP, Riode Janeiro, October 2011

Table 1: Comparison of different CO2 compression technologies

Table 2: Overview over typical sizes and flows

Figure 5 - typical performance curve for a RG100-8 compressor

Figure 4 - 3D Model of a 4 stage integrally-geared RG – Compressor

More informationDr. Rolf Habel

[email protected]

Further publications and information canbe found here:www.mandieselturbo.com

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 13


Projects and Policy

The UK CCS Research Centre, which opened in April this year, will hold its inaugural meeting in Durhamin September.

UK CCS Research Centre opens

The UK CCS Research Centre was estab-lished in April with funding from the Engi-neering and Physical Sciences ResearchCouncil (EPSRC - £10M), the Departmentof Energy and Climate Change (DECC -£3M) and member organisations (£2M).Since then it has literally made a RAPIDstart, as academics and industry experts haveworked to produce the first version of its re-search planning guide, the Research andPathways to Impact Development (RAPID)Handbook.

RAPID begins by looking in detail atthe knowledge and related capacity that willbe needed to implement a wide range of dif-ferent CCS applications and also to what ex-tent this knowledge is already available tousers. This makes it easier to identify spe-cific research needs and how the results canbest be used to make an impact on CCS de-livery. Nineteen separate applications, in-cluding full systems analysis, many types ofcapture technology, pipeline and shippingtransport, storage and cross-cutting legal, en-vironmental, social and economic inputs toCCS projects are covered in this first versionof the RAPID Handbook, which is free todownload from the Centre’s website ().

Professor Jon Gibbins, the Centre Di-rector, is particularly grateful for the helpfrom industry CCS experts in the RAPID ex-ercise, "since DECC's new CCS Commer-cialisation Programme launched at the sametime as the Centre, everyone has been verybusy. So we academics in the UK CCS Re-search Centre really value and appreciate thetime that industry colleagues were able tospend with us looking in detail at how CCSresearch might be applied."

The Centre launched its first call forproposals from the UK academic communi-ty in July with the help of its newly estab-lished Board, chaired by Philip Sharman.Up to £1.5M is available to fund research

If you would like to find out more aboutbecoming a member of the UK CCS Re-search Centre, please fill out a membership& mailing list form online. The website al-so includes further information on RAPID,the PACT Facilities and UK CCS research.

Registration for the 19-20 Septemberbiannual meeting and UK CCS ResearchCentre launch is available online (see below)

Attendance is open to anyone with a le-gitimate interest in CCS, although prioritywill have to be given to UKCCSRC mem-bers and network associates if space is limit-ed.

projects highlighted by RAPID that addresspriorities identified by the Advanced PowerTechnology Forum (APGTF) and the DECCCCS Roadmap for Innovation and R&D.

The UKCCSRC Pilot-scale AdvancedCapture Technology (PACT) Facilities, setup with contributions from DECC and RWEnpower, are being commissioned on a sitenear Sheffield. PACT will offer one site fora unique set of pilot-scale combustion, gasi-fication and post-combustion capture facili-ties that can operate in a wide range ofmodes. It will be the focal point for largerscale experimental work undertaken byUKCCSRC and will also be available for useby UK industry, including SMEs, for devel-opment and demonstration of products forthe CCS supply chain..

Other major research opportunities areexpected to emerge as part of the UK's CCSCommercialisation Programme. Links withoverseas projects, particularly onshore injec-tion trial sites which the UK cannot readilyprovide, are also being pursued.

The Centre is a virtual organisationbringing together academics, industry, regu-lators and others in the sector to collaborateon analysing problems and undertaking ad-vanced research. Centre membership, basedon CCS experience developed in about£50M of research projects, now stands atover 150 and is still growing. A key priorityis to support the UK economy by driving anintegrated research programme that is fo-cused on maximising the contribution ofCCS to a low-carbon energy system for theUK. Current central funding runs for 5 yearsand this will be supplemented by further sup-port from a range of sponsors for specialisedresearch projects; for example a new EPSRCcall for projects on engineering aspects ofCO2 storage has just been issued: www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/open/Pages/carboncapture.aspx

UKCCSRC Coordination Group Members andBoard Chair, Philip Sharman, at the officiallaunch of the RAPID Handbook by theSheffield and Tinsley Canal. (PACT offices attop of the tall building in the background.)

More informationwww.ukccsrc.ac.uk

Register for the event:www.ukccsrc.ac.uk/meetings-events

Free London CCS eventGetting Carbon Capture & Storage Moving

October 8, 2012. Limited places, register now to secure yours!

www.carboncapturejournal.com

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 14


Projects and Policy

ROAD project - lessons learnedThe report highlights a number of key learning points that will allow the project to continuesuccessfully through future phases, and which may prove valuable for other CCS projects in the future.

A report into the Rotterdam Opslag en AfvangDemonstratie (ROAD) project has delivered anumber of conclusions.

It was found that a solid understand-

ing of permitting procedures and schedul-

ing can have a significant impact on timing

and funding constraints. Anticipating delaysin agreeing draft permits for public consulta-tion, and building these delays into the projectschedule would help avoid any delays inagreed milestones; for example, a final invest-ment decision.

The nature of this project as a technicaldemonstration of a new technology must benoted as having a unique impact on the per-mitting procedure that is likely to result inchallenges through various aspects of the pro-cedure, from permit application to public con-sultation. In addition to this, the impact of anyproject delay could have further consequenceson funding that may be conditional on achiev-ing certain milestones.

Time, budget and space constraints haveled to solutions that are not fully optimizedwith respect to technical decisions and energyusage. For a new power plant with full scalecarbon capture, many technical concepts canlead to further performance improvement andsavings in investment and operational costs.

Considering the current market condi-tions and the expected plant operation modesfor grid support, the steam pressure will fluc-tuate with load. ROAD has been limited in de-sign optimization for off-design performanceof the capture plant. One of the major ques-tions ROAD will be able to answer when op-erating the demo-plant, is its reaction and be-havior when lower steam pressure is available.

Independent process model validation

using pilot plant data has been particularly

valuable. It would be much riskier for a com-pany to develop a post-combustion captureproject without undertaking independentprocess model validation combined with ac-cess to pilot plant performance data. Howev-er, current pilot plants are not optimized fordemonstrating low emission performance.

Therefore care should be taken when in-terpreting the results especially when extrapo-lating them to full scale. Appropriate inde-pendent process modeling expertise using pi-lot plant data is valuable in reducing risks as-sociated with extrapolation of pilot plant data.Using pilot plant data in process models is al-so a key risk mitigation strategy for estimation

of operating costs (i.e. parasitic energy usage).For transport and storage it is impor-

tant to define the specifications for the CO2

product. Parameters like oxygen, water anddust (amount and particle size distribution) arethe most important. The CO2 specificationsdiffer widely for different capture technolo-gies and due to lack of experience it is notknown what is acceptable for pipeline, welland reservoir. A significant insight of the flowassurance study was the conclusion that a two-phase flow will occur in the pipeline and inthe well (at least the top of the well), duringstart-up.

Transporting a fluid with two phases is achallenge; this can lead to severe slugging ef-fects which will lead to vibrations. Also, thedesign of the CO2 compressor was a chal-lenge. It seems there are a few companies ableto build a large CO2 compressor combinedwith the demanded wide operational envelope.Furthermore, modifying a satellite platformwith limited space provides challenges be-cause limited space is available. Also the in-tegrity of the existing platform is an attentionpoint.

In addition, important lessons were

learned with regard to the integration of

CCS and a power plant. Productive cooper-ation between the power plant and CCS teamsis essential. A key learning point for the proj-ect in this regard was the importance of theutilities agreement between Maasvlakte CCSProject (MCP) and Maasvlakte Power PlantUnit 3 (MPP3).

Support and involvement of local, re-

gional and national governments through-

out all project phases, as well as a positive

public perception, are a prerequisite for

creating the right circumstances for the suc-

cessful implementation of a CCS project.

Since CCS is a technology under devel-opment, a specific legal and regulatory frame-work on capture, transport and storage tech-nologies is in many countries still missing orin development. This demands pro-activity,flexibility and close interaction with regula-tors and authorities.

Managing expectations of stakeholdersand developing a clear project vision are a pre-requisite in that regard. One of the biggestthreats is losing track of stakeholders’ viewsand interests. Instead CCS projects should de-velop an outside in perspective, taking into ac-count stakeholder expectations. By develop-

ing a stakeholder dialogue they create two-way communication with stakeholders that arerelevant to the implementation of the project.

As a consequence of diverse technolo-gies in the CCS chain, spread over differentareas, multiple governments and authoritiesare involved in the projects. This demands anintegrated Stakeholder Management approachcomprising functions such as regulatory af-fairs, permitting and public outreach. Ulti-mately Stakeholder Management is instru-mental in creating necessary conditions forother project functions (e.g. capture, transport& storage).

The fact that the project is carried out

in a joint venture has had a generally posi-

tive impact. Combining the knowledge andmethodologies of two parent companies, as-sumptions are challenged more rigorously,group thinking is avoided and decisions aretaken more objectively. The existing knowl-edge within the parent companies is crucial inall aspects of the technical and commercial ac-tivities. Knowledge sharing between the proj-ect team and the parent companies is crucial.However, working in an innovative joint ven-ture project also poses some challenges.

The ROAD construction schedule isdriven by both the MPP3 construction sched-ule and cost minimization. In order to avoidMPP3 outage penalties, the tie-in works haveto be executed on-track. Both drivers led tothe specific construction plan and the cluster-ing of heavy lift components. Thanks to theclustering of heavy lift components the costand project schedule can be squeezed signifi-cantly. After the lifting and placement of thesemajor components the capture plant can be as-sembled. In a second phase the transport andstorage works will become a point of atten-tion.

The cooperation with the Global CCS

Institute has proven instrumental in reach-

ing the wider CCS community. ROAD hasreceived valuable comments on draft SpecialReports, all of which we believe today forman excellent bundle of practical informationfor setting-up a large scale CCS demonstra-tion Project. ROAD is looking forward to con-tinuing this cooperation in the future.

More informationwww.road2020.nlwww.globalccsinstitute.com

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Projects and Policy

CCS in Europe - the way forward

€180 million from the EC and it has an ad-ditional €150 million from the Dutch Gov-ernment, and hopes to make a final invest-ment decision soon.

Fact three – funding for CCS is not sufficient There are a number of obstacles that all EUCCS demonstration plants have been facing.They are (in most cases): a lack of regulato-ry regime, a low level of public acceptanceand a problem with ensuring financing forthe total project costs. The last one seems tobe the most challenging.

Assuming that the average cost of an EUCCS demon stration plant can be estimated ofabout €1.5 billion and knowing that all theprojects have been awarded €180 million (theItalian project received a bit less €100 mil-lion) from the EERP – this means that eachproject has roughly 12% of its costs secured.

Fact four – a new gamechanger occurred The Energy Roadmap 2050 had the advan-tage of being released 9 months after theLow Carbon one and it identified “new” pos-sible transition technologies for carbon in-tensive economies that have become avail-able in the European market very recently.Shale gas is one of them.

The Energy Road-map very clearly il-lustrated that the switch from coal to lesscarbon intensive fuels (i.e. shale gas) can benot only less painful, but also it could be ofa benefit to coal-dependent countries (likePoland) and at the same time to the energyand climate policy of the European Union.Shale gas became a game changer not onlywith respect to energy and climate policy,but also with respect to the energy securityissue in Europe and therefore should not beunderestimated.

The way forward If CCS is to happen (globally), its demon-stration phase needs to be completed soon –literally, there have to be full scale integrat-ed CCS demonstration plants operating onthe ground, that would test the effectivenessand economic viability of the whole CCSchain – capture, transport and storage (bothoffshore and onshore).

There seems to be three basic scenariosfor the European Union to go forward withits “CCS project”:

The priorities have changed since the inception of the CCS project and the EU should look again at itsenergy policy to ensure that the best solutions for Europe’s energy future have the chance to develop,says Agata Hinc, Managing Director, demosEUROPA – Centre for European Strategy

Scenario 1. Business as usual

In this scenario, the EU stays with the cur-rent policy approach and the regulatory andfinan cial regimes and hopes for the best.Scenario 2. Reshaping the CCS policy

In this scenario, the European Union re-shapes its current CCS policy and makes itmore effec tive.Scenario 3. Changing the EU energy and

climate policy priorities

In this scenario, the European Union decidesto re focus its climate and energy policy.

ConclusionsAs far as the emissions reduction potentialis con cerned, no better technology than CCShas been found that could reduce CO2 emis-sions from burning fossil fuels in a substan-tial manner.

As far as the economic potential is con-cerned, it has been proven that innovativelow carbon technologies can help stimulatefuture growth of the EU and there seems tobe a common agreement that Europe wantsto use these technologies for that purpose.

There are two key ways of decarbonis-ing Eu rope: (1) switching from coal to other(less carbon-intensive) energy sources (i.e.renewa bles, gas), (2) make use of clean coaltechnolo gies. Both options might be com-bined and will almost certainly have to be.This view is confirmed both by the“Roadmap for moving to a low-carbon econ-omy in 2050” (March 2011) and by the “En-ergy Roadmap 2050” (December 2011).16

Europe is at energy crossroads and itsfuture energy mix and energy supply chainsare uncer tain. Because of this, some impor-tant decisions on the development of differ-ent energy technologies need to be takensooner rather than later. This does not im plythat the EU should choose the winners (theenergy technologies of tomorrow) now, butit should ensure that the technologies withthe biggest potential to deliver the commongoals have foundations to develop. If the cur-rent way of ensuring these foundations is noteffective enough, there is not only a need forbut also a duty of the EU deci sion- and poli-cy-makers to change it.

It was John Maynard Keynes who said,“When the facts change, I change my mind”.These words should resonate with anyonewho runs a multiannual project and are verymuch true for the “CCS project” of the Eu-ropean Union, says Agata Hinc in the report,“CCS in Europe - the way forward”.

The project itself seemed to be one ofthe best solutions to the challenge of climatechange back in 2007 when Europe was shap-ing its current energy and climate policy andin 2009 when the EU CCS Directive waspublished. The facts have changed since thenand this means that the EU should rethink itsstrategy regarding the role of CCS in decar-bonising the EU economy. There are at leastfour new facts that should be taken into con-sideration in this respect.

Fact one - the political momentum is gone At the very beginning of this century thereseemed to be a consensus among key politi-cal stakeholders that very ambitious energyand climate goals were needed. Back thenthere was a common understanding thatfighting climate change was one of thebiggest chal lenges facing the world and thatit was Europe who should become a leaderof this fight regardless of the costs.

Now, the political momentum for CCSis not there any more. Political leaders hadto redirect their priori ties toward the burningissues of economic instability and fiscal co-hesion in Europe.

What is more, the regulatory regime en-abling safe CO2 storage (a condition forimplementa tion of any CCS full scale proj-ect) has not been transposed in most EUmember states and the deadline expired on25 June 2011. Only eight EU countries havecompleted the implementation of the EUCCS Directive.

Fact two – most of the EU CCS demo plantswill not meet the 2015 deadline The ROAD (Rotterdam Opslag and AfvangDemon stratieproject) project seems to be theonly one (of all EU CCS demo plants) thatis really progressing. Most probably, thiswill be the only EU CCS demo plant thatwill not be delayed and will start operatingin 2015.

The project, which is expected to cost€1.2 billion was awarded funding of up to

More informationwww.demoseuropa.eu

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Projects and Policy

The TINA examines the potential for innova-tion in CCS technology and assesses the eco-nomic benefits to the UK. A much more de-tailed TINA analysis pack will be publishedseparately, said DECC.

Innovation across the CCS technologychain could reduce UK energy system costsby £10-45bn1 to 2050, says the report, andinnovation to ensure the security of long-runCO2 storage remains particularly critical toCCS viability.

Innovation can also help create a UK in-dustry with the potential to contribute furthereconomic value of £3-16bn to 2050. Signifi-cant private sector investment in innovation,catalysed by public sector support where thereare market failures, can deliver the bulk ofthese benefits with strong value for money.

Key findings of the TINA

Potential role in the UK’s energy system

- CCS offers many benefits to a low-carbon energy and economic system: (i) it al-lows the flexibility and energy security bene-fits of fossil fuel combustion with near-zeroGHG emissions; (ii) when applied to biomassfiring, it serves as a source of relatively low-cost negative emissions; (iii) it is applicableto industrial power and process emissions,which are particularly costly to reduce.

- Energy system modelling suggests thatelectricity generation with CCS could deliv-er c.10-35% of total generation by 2050, withc.11-60GW in capacity. This depends prima-rily on public acceptance of alternatives(wind and nuclear), the availability of bio-mass, and the overall energy demand. The ap-plication of CCS to industry offers further de-ployment potential, but is not assessed in thisreport.

- Having CCS available (compared toan energy system without CCS) is estimatedto save the UK hundreds of billions of GBPin cumulative value between 2010 and 2050.Nevertheless, considerable work remains todemonstrate CCS at large scale and acrossthe entire chain (capture-transport-sequester-secure), and widespread deployment is un-likely prior to 2020.

Cutting costs by innovating

- The key technological components of

carbon capture, transport and injection havebeen demonstrated at commercial scale, how-ever, component costs and efficiency penal-ties remain high and uncertain, and manychallenges related to full integration remainto be tackled.

- Full-scale, source-to-sink demonstra-tion is particularly urgent to prove scalabilityof CCS, and its long-run availability to thesystem. Moreover, it is necessary to drivecost-reduction opportunities related to fullplant integration, and to identify the most im-portant component technology innovations.

- Critically, the assurance of very long-term CO2 storage with a very high degree ofcertainty is still unproven. This constitutes asignificant risk to the viability of CCS and itsrapid roll-out in the near to mid term. Inno-vation has the potential to drive down thecosts (ignoring fuel) of conversion with cap-ture by 15% by 2025 and 40% by 2050. In-novation can further reduce the long-runcosts of transport by ~50% and of storage by>50%.

- Innovation in measuring, monitoring& verification (MMV) and mitigation & re-mediation (M&R) can ensure the security ofsequestered CO2, reducing the financingcosts of CCS, as well as enabling its overallavailability as an abatement option.

- Successful innovation could reducethe costs to the UK of CCS deployment by£10–45bn to 2050.

- On top of this, >>£100bn in systemssavings would result from CCS availability(by reducing the need for more expensive al-ternatives).

More informationwww.decc.gov.uk

Green growth opportunity

- UK suppliers could play a significantrole in the global CCS market, with a 4-6%share of a market with potential cumulativegross value-added of between £150 - 750bnup to 2050.

- If the UK successfully competes in aglobal market to achieve the market shareabove, then the CCS related industry couldcontribute £3 – 16bn to UK GDP up to 2050(with displacement effect).

Potential priorities to deliver the greatest

benefit to the UK

- Innovation areas with the biggest ben-efit to the UK are (i) deep sea storage, MMVand M&R; and (ii) advanced capture devel-opment (especially gas and biomass) anddemonstration of integrated conversion-cap-ture. In both, the UK should look to lead orjoin multi-national partnerships

- Given specific niche strengths, thereis also a case for broad “open call” supportfor leading ideas with “breakthrough” poten-tial (e.g. novel capture or compression con-cepts, etc.)

- Supporting all of the UK‟s priority in-novation areas would require hundreds ofmillions of GBP over the next 5-10 years(leveraging 2-3 times that in private sectorfunding). The UK is addressing some of theseinnovation areas, but there remains consider-able scope to expand this activity.

UK government publishes CCS innovationneeds assessment

What are TINAs?The TINAs are a collaborative effort of the Low Carbon Innovation Co-ordination Group(LCICG), which is the coordination vehicle for the UK’s major public sector backedfunding and delivery bodies in the area of ‘low carbon innovation’.

The TINAs aim to identify and value the key innovation needs of specific low car-bon technology families to inform the prioritisation of public sector investment in lowcarbon innovation. Beyond innovation there are other barriers and opportunities in plan-ning, the supply chain, related infrastructure and finance. These are not explicitly consid-ered in the TINA’s conclusion since they are the focus of other Government initiatives, inparticular those from the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage in DECC and from BIS.)

The TINAs apply a consistent methodology across a diverse range of technologies,and a comparison of relative values across the different TINAs is as important as the ex-amination of absolute values within each TINA.

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released a Technology Innovation NeedsAssessment (TINA) which says CCS could reduce UK energy costs by £10-45bn to 2050

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Projects and Policy

CCS research centre opens in Australiawww.co2crc.com.auThe Peter Cook Centre for Carbon Cap-

ture and Storage Research has opened in

Victoria, Australia.

The Cooperative Research Centre forGreenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC)will direct research at the new Centre, whichhas been sponsored by Rio Tinto with $3million in funding over 3 years.

A further $3 million in Rio Tinto fund-ing over 3 years will support the CO2CRCOtway Project, Australia’s first demonstra-tion of geological carbon dioxide storage, asa field site for carbon storage research.

“The Peter Cook Centre for CCS Re-search will integrate CO2CRC research ca-pabilities at the University of Melbourne,forming a world class hub for research intothis important technology,” said Dr RichardAldous, Chief Executive of CO2CRC.

“The Centre brings together professorsand researchers from a wide variety of disci-plines, including the chemical and processengineering associated with capturing CO2from power plants, and the geology and geo-mechanics required for storage of carbondioxide in deep rock formations. The com-plementary work at the Otway Project ishelping develop the tools and methods to en-sure CO2 is safely stored and monitored."

“Building this kind of critical mass inan Australian research centre is vital to thenational development and deployment oflarge-scale CCS, which will be a major partof Australia and the world’s drive to manageclimate change.”

Incorporating extensive research al-ready underway at the University of Mel-bourne, the Peter Cook Centre for CCS Re-search will initially host over 30 scientistsworking on CCS, including a recently fund-ed Professor of Carbon Storage supported bythe Victorian Government.

The Centre, named for the eminent ge-ologist and founder of CO2CRC ProfessorPeter Cook, will link researchers with theCO2CRC Otway Project Subsurface StorageLaboratory, which has been safely storingcarbon dioxide deep underground since2008.

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Energy,Doug Ritchie, said today’s announcementwas an important one for Australian science.

“Rio Tinto believes carbon capture andstorage will be a significant technology glob-ally, and one with a particular resonance forAustralia given the role of coal as our majorsource of electric power, and our position asa major international supplier of fossil fu-els,” Mr Ritchie said.

“CCS will be the only way of decar-bonising significant sectors of the globaleconomy such as power generation and steeland cement manufacture but it needs furtherdevelopment and commercialisation. RioTinto is proud to contribute to this with to-day’s $6 million announcement. There arevery few projects in the world that are gamechangers in CCS. The CO2CRC Otway Proj-ect is one of them.“

Victoria is a natural location for devel-opment of CCS, as the future of the State’slarge brown coal reserves is dependent onnew low emission technologies. Victoria al-so has significant offshore CCS storage po-tential.

DOE begins integrated CCUS project atPlant Barryfossil.energy.govCO2 injection has begun at the world’s

first fully integrated coal power and geo-

logic storage project at Alabama Power's

Plant Barry.

The "Anthropogenic Test"—conduct-ed by the Southeast Regional Carbon Se-questration Partnership (SECARB), one ofseven partnerships in DOE’s Regional Car-bon Sequestration Partnerships program—uses CO2 from a newly constructed post-combustion CO2-capture facility at AlabamaPower’s 2,657-megawatt Barry Electric

Generating Plant (Plant Barry).It will help demonstrate the feasibility

of carbon capture, utilization and storage(CCUS), assessing the integration of thetechnologies involved and laying the foun-dation for future use of CO2 for enhancedoil recovery (EOR).

In a unique process developed by Mit-subishi Heavy Industries, a small amount offlue gas from Plant Barry—equivalent to theamount produced when generating 25megawatts of electricity—is being divertedfrom the plant and captured using Mit-subishi’s advanced amine process to producea nearly pure stream of CO2.

Once captured, the CO2 is transportedapproximately 12 miles west to the southernflank of a geologic structure called the Cit-ronelle Dome, within the Paluxy saline for-mation. A pipeline was constructed for thispurpose in 2011.

The Paluxy is an ideal site for injectionbecause it is more than 9,000 feet under-ground and is overlain by multiple geologicconfining units that serve as barriers to pre-vent CO2 from escaping.

Carbon dioxide injection will takeplace over 2 years at a rate of up to 550 met-ric tons of CO2 per day. Multiple monitor-ing technologies will be deployed to trackthe CO2 plume, measure the pressure front,evaluate CO2 trapping mechanisms, and en-

Policy, company and regulation news

Launching the Peter Cook Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage Research. Left to right:Minister Michael O’Brien (Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources), Richard Aldous (CEO,CO2CRC), Doug Ritchie (Head of Energy, Rio Tinto) and Professor Jim McCluskey, (Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) University of Melbourne)

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 18


Projects and Policysure that the CO2 remains in the formation.

In 2017, following 3 years of post-in-jection monitoring, the site will be closed.At that time, the wells will either be pluggedand abandoned according to state regula-tions, or re-permitted for CO2-enhanced oilrecovery (CO2-EOR) and CO2 storage op-erations. If re-permitted, CO2 that wouldotherwise be emitted to the atmospherewould be used to recover stranded oil whilealso being sequestered in a geologic forma-tion.

SECARB’s Anthropogenic Test is ledby the Southern States Energy Board in part-nership with the Electric Power Research In-stitute, Southern Company, Alabama PowerCompany, Denbury Resources, Inc., Ad-vanced Resources International, Inc., andother experts.

Global CCS Institute releases five yearstrategywww.globalccsinstitute.comThe Global CCS Institute has released a

draft Five-Year Strategic Plan to its inter-

national Membership.

The Plan outlines how the Institute willcontinue to work both at global and regionallevels to accelerate the successful demon-stration and deployment of carbon captureand storage.

The Plan also outlines how the Institutewill continue to develop itself as a Member-driven organisation so that it may furtherchampion the role of CCS in reducing green-house gas emissions.

“In a relatively short time, the Institutehas established itself as a primary channel ofinfluence and expertise on carbon capture,use and storage” said the Institute’s ChiefExecutive Officer Brad Page.

“Our commitment to creating a Mem-ber-driven organisation means that we mustensure continued relevance to our Member-ship and a financially sustainable basis forthe Institute’s future.”

The Institute’s Membership, built sinceits inception in 2009, currently totals 349 na-tional and provincial governments, corpora-tions, NGOs, research/academic agenciesand industry bodies.

“Our growing Membership is testamentto our solid achievements and continuingwork program, and to the fact that we con-tinue to be a global advocate for CCS,” saidPage.

The Institute will engage in extensiveconsultation with Members over the comingmonths to gather feedback on the Plan andforward strategy.

The Strategic Plan is expected to be fi-nalised during 2012 with implementation tobegin in 2013.

Alberta projects get funding boostwww.ccemc.caThe Climate Change and Emissions Man-

agement (CCEMC) Corporation is pro-

viding $46 million in funding to support

six new clean technology projects.

The projects have a combined value ofmore than $327 million. The organizationsreceiving funding from CCEMC are:

- Cenovus Energy Inc. - $10 million fora Chemical Looping Steam Generator - 10MW Pilot at Christina Lake near Fort Mc-Murray

- Husky Energy - $2.9 million for theLashburn CO2 Capture Demonstration Proj-ect near Lloydminster

- Imperial Oil - $10 million for a CyclicSolvent Process pilot in Cold Lake

- Inventys Thermal Technologies Inc. -$3 Million for the VeloxoTherm(TM) CO2Capture Project at Joffre

- MEG Energy Corp. - $10 million forHeavy Crude Quality Improvement in theAlberta Industrial Heartland Region

- N-Solv Corporation - $10 million forthe N-Solv BEST Pilot Plant at SuncorDover in Fort McMurray

CCEMC estimates these six projectswill combine to reduce emissions by morethan 183,000 tonnes over 10 years, and thatdoes not consider further emissions reduc-tions as technology is commercialized. Thepotential emissions reductions that could berealized through build out and commercial-ization of these technologies is estimated atfive megatonnes by 2021. For every dollarCCEMC invests in these projects, about an-other seven dollars are also invested.

The six projects are from the CCEMC'sfourth round of funding that was announcedin April 2011. The maximum CCEMC fund-ing per project for this round is $10 million.

Funding for CCEMC is collected fromindustry. Since 2007, Alberta companies thatannually produce more than 100,000 tonnesof greenhouse gas emissions over a baselineare legally required to reduce their green-house gas intensity by 12 per cent. Compa-nies have three options to meet their reduc-tion target: improve the efficiency of their op-erations, buy carbon credits in the Alberta-based offset system or pay $15 into the Cli-mate Change and Emissions ManagementFund for every tonne over the reduction limit.

The CCEMC invests the money col-lected in clean technology. The CCEMC isnow in the fourth year of operations. By theend of the 2011/12 operating year, theCCEMC expects to be involved in close to$1 billion of active projects that reduce emis-sions and spur innovation in clean technolo-gy and help our world move toward moresustainable practices.

UK-Canada CCS trade mission visitscampuswww.iseee.caThe Institute for Sustainable Energy, En-

vironment and Economy and Carbon

Management Canada co-hosted a UK-

Canada trade mission focused on carbon

capture and storage (CCS) on Monday,

August 20, 2012.

More than 40 people participated in anall-day meeting of presentations and discus-sions with 12 members of the UK delega-tion.

Participants included University of Cal-gary researchers and graduate students, offi-cials from Carbon Management Canada, andrepresentatives from industry and govern-ment.

The event included a tour of Calgary-based Carbon Engineering's air capture pro-totype machine on campus, followed by a re-ception at Hotel Alma, hosted by ConsulGeneral Tony Kay, the newly appointed con-sul general in Calgary.

The ISEEE website will feature a reporton the meeting and speakers' presentations.

ECN report supports business case forChina carbon capturewww.ecn.nlWith carbon prices at rock bottom, it may

be surprising to hear that research con-

ducted by ECN indicates that a business

case for CCS in China is still within reach.

Dutch sustainable energy research or-ganisation ECN, with the Centre for LowCarbon Futures, The Chinese Academy ofSciences and consultancy firm Azure Inter-national have collaborated on a project to as-sess the potential of capturing CO2 fromnon-power industrial installations in theShaanxi province of China. The CO2 can inturn be used to improve oil production in lo-cal oil fields whilst simultaneously trappingthousands of tonnes of CO2 that would haveotherwise be released into the atmosphere.

Sponsored by the British Embassy Bei-jing as part of the China Prosperity SPF Pro-gramme, the project has identified a numberof possible carbon capture utilization andstorage (CCUS) projects which combinelow-cost industrial CO2 capture and utiliza-tion of the CO2 for enhanced oil recovery(EOR). If implemented in accordance withinternational best practice on site characteri-zation and monitoring, between 90-95% ofthe CO2 injected for EOR can be stored safe-ly for geological timeframes.

The third largest fossil fuel producingprovince in China, Shaanxi is an importantrefining and chemical production hub for thenation. The project team identified 22 high-purity (>95% CO2) CO2 sources within the

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 19


Projects and Policymethanol, ammonia, hydrogen and ethyleneproduction industries, which together releasealmost 65MtCO2 per year. Nine of thesesources are within 150km of a suitable loca-tion for EOR, with the storage capacity inthe region estimated at 200MtCO2.

"Two methanol plants were identifiedthat each produce over 6Mt of high-purityCO2 per year," explained Tom Mikunda,who led the project for ECN. "Including therevenues of the incremental oil produced,these projects could be realised with costs aslow as 5$ per tonne of CO2.” Even with car-bon prices at rock bottom, given policy sup-port and a suitable regulatory framework,this initial research indicates that a businesscase for CCUS in China is still withinreach."

ADB helps People's Republic of Chinaplan CCS road mapwww.adb.orgThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) is as-

sisting the People’s Republic of China

(PRC) in the development of a road map

for CCS to help achieve the country’s

CO2 emissions reduction goals.

ADB will assist the PRC in developinga detailed plan for a staged demonstrationand deployment of CCS, which is an essen-tial set of technologies to prevent climatechange. CCS involves the separation andcapture of CO2 and compression, transporta-tion, and injection of the captured CO2 in asuitable underground storage.

“There is an urgent need to fast-trackthe demonstration and deployment of carboncapture and storage in the People’s Republicof China to cut CO2 emissions from the en-ergy and industrial sectors and achieve thecountry’s long-term climate change mitiga-tion goals,” said Annika Seiler, Finance Spe-cialist for Energy at ADB’s East Asia De-partment.

Since 2008, ADB has been supportingthe government’s efforts through capacitydevelopment projects, studies, and financialassistance. Incomplete policy and regulatoryframework, low fiscal and financial supportfor CCS demonstration projects, and inade-quate international funding mechanisms tosupport projects have been identified as keybarriers to large-scale demonstration of CCSin the PRC.

A comprehensive government-en-dorsed road map for CCS is expected to en-courage more demonstration projects in thePRC. This project is set to launch at least twolarge-scale CCS demonstration projects by2016, with an installed capacity to capture atleast 2 million tons of CO2 per year.

ADB will also support the assessmentof the potential role of oxy-fuel combustion

sample of respondents mirrored the generalpopulation throughout Saskatchewan,” saidBriana Brownell, Manager of Analytics atInsightrix.

Thirty-two percent of those surveyedbelieve that CCS could be very or fairly ef-fective in fighting climate change while 39percent think it would not be very effective,or not at all effective.

The remaining 29 percent are unsure,which is a notable increase from the 2011 re-search where 20 percent of those surveyeddid not have an opinion whether or not CCSwould be effective in fighting climatechange.

A majority of Saskatchewan residents(58%) believe that climate change is occur-ring due to a combination of human activityand natural climate variation. Some (21%)believe that climate change is occurring dueto human activity, and even less think thatclimate change is occurring only because ofnatural variation (16%).

“Compared to 2011, the opinions ofSaskatchewan residents on their anticipatedlevel of concern if a carbon dioxide (CO2)storage site was to be located within 5 kilo-meters of their home has shifted,” saidBrownell.

“The proportion who would be fairly orvery worried has decreased (from 49% to43%), while a higher proportion of residentsare unsure (10% vs. 16%).”

A national survey on Public Awarenessand Acceptance of CCS in Canada will bereleased by IPAC-CO2 in August 2012.

UK Don Valley project leads EU fundingbidwww.2coenergy.comThe European Commission has an-

nounced that 2Co Energy's Don Valley

CCS Project currently leads the EU's

funding contest.

2Co's 650MW Don Valley project inSouth Yorkshire, UK now leads a list of Eu-ropean CCS projects competing for a shareof an estimated €1.3 to €1.5billion fundingpot.

The NER300 funding programme isone of the world´s largest funding pro-grammes for low carbon energy commercialdemonstration projects and a key componentof the EU´s strategy to tackle climatechange. It also is one of the EU´s major pol-icy initiatives to stimulate growth and em-ployment across the EU.

The Don Valley CCS Project has al-ready won €180m in European funding mak-ing it one of the most advanced CCS proj-ects in Europe. Recently, Samsung C&T andBOC each agreed to take an equity stake inthe Project.

CO2 capture, one of the three available CO2capture technologies, in the PRC’s optimalmix of CO2 capture technologies.

To fast-track CCS demonstration, nec-essary analyses and studies of oxy-fuel com-bustion CO2 capture technology will be un-dertaken in parallel to the formulation of theroad map.

ADB is providing $2.2 million, fi-nanced on a grant basis by the ADB-admin-istered Carbon Capture and Storage Fundunder the Clean Energy Financing Partner-ship Facility. In 2009, the Global CarbonCapture and Storage Institute contributed toestablish the fund. In April 2012, the UnitedKingdom announced financing for CCS de-velopment in developing and emergingcountries.

Public opinion divided inSaskatchewan www.ipac-co2.comSaskatchewan residents have strong but

divided opinions about climate change

and CCS technology, concluded a public

opinion survey commissioned by IPAC-

CO2 Research Inc.

“Almost seven in ten (68%) residentsare concerned about climate change,” saidJoe Ralko, Director of Communications forIPAC-CO2, who managed the survey.

“However, there is no consensus onhow to address the problem. That could bebecause the survey discovered there is noagreement on what residents believe to bethe main sources of greenhouse gas emis-sions. What the people of Saskatchewan aresaying is that whatever steps are taken tomitigate climate change must be effective.”

Saskatchewan residents are clear ontheir trusted sources of information on cli-mate change.

“Our study shows scientists and re-searchers (73 %) are the most trusted sourcefor information but they are confused aboutthe impacts of CO2 on the environment, anddon’t know what the risks and benefits ofcarbon capture and storage are,” said Dr.Carmen Dybwad, Chief Executive Officer ofIPAC-CO2.

“People are overwhelmed by the infor-mation that is out there, which is why thereneeds to be a group like IPAC-CO2 who cancommunicate about CCS and climatechange.”

Responses for the survey were collect-ed from 1,003 Saskatchewan residents be-tween May 30 and June 8 using InsightrixResearch Inc.’s proprietary online panel,SaskWatch Research™.

“We set specific quotas for demograph-ic variables, such as: age, gender, education,region, income and voting, to ensure the

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21Sept - Oct 2012 - carbon capture journal

Capture and Conversion

gases at temperatures between 400 and 800°C from processes such as fossil-fuel com-bustion. They are also being considered as ameans to remove the CO2 that is generatedas a result of thermochemical fuel upgradingwith biomass sources, which are growingmore and more popular as an alternative tofossil fuels. Using CaO based materials forcarbon capture is just one of the ways tocombat global warming.

Since CaO based materials are lowcost, there is an economic incentive to solvethe problem of surface area loss to potential-ly turn this into a method for large scale CO2capture. These recently published results area promising step towards improving theselow cost methods.

CaO based materials have a large range ofapplications including pre- and post-com-bustion carbon capture technologies andthermochemical fuel upgrading. They arelow cost, high abundance, have a large sorp-tion capacity and fast reaction rates duringthe chemical process. They capture CO2 inthe temperature range 400-800 °C via theformation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)which can be regenerated with subsequentrelease of CO2, ready for compression andstorage.

However, after multiple capture and re-generation cycles, the materials’ capacity forcapture decreases due to the loss of surfacearea through sintering, a process that fusespowders together to create a single solid ob-ject. Although the surface area can be re-stored through hydration, the material suf-fers a reduction in mechanical strength. Ifthese problems can be overcome, CaO basedmaterials could provide a low cost answerfor carbon capture on a very large scale.

"In-situ X-ray diffraction of CaO basedCO2 sorbents" was published in the Journalof Energy & Environmental Science. The re-sults provide an explanation for one of thekey mechanisms involved in CaO based cap-ture. This new knowledge will inform effortsto improve the efficiency of this economi-cally viable method of carbon capture andstorage.

Led by Dr Valerie Dupont and Dr TimComyn from the University of Leeds’ Facul-ty of Engineering, the team carried out a se-ries of experiments on Diamond’s High res-olution powder diffraction beamline, I11, us-ing intense X-rays to study the carbon cap-ture and hydration process in CaO based ma-terials on the nano-scale. Their observationssuggest a mechanism for the interaction be-tween CaO and water during hydration.

“We found that the stresses in the cal-cium hydroxide phase when bound to CaOwere more than 20 times higher than itsstrength, leading to disintegration and thegeneration of nano-sized crystallites," ex-plained Dr Comyn.

"Although the generation of a high sur-face area is a good thing, mechanical friabil-ity needs to be kept in check in order toachieve long term reliability for these sys-tems. Our analysis provides an explanation

of the enhanced capture/disintegration ob-served in CaO in the presence of steam. Nowwe understand this, the next step is to devel-op methods for improving the materialsused, and apply the same techniques to othersystems.”

Roger Molinder, an Engineering andPhysical Sciences Research Council (EP-SRC) funded PhD student on the project, de-scribes, “Using the high resolution powderdiffraction beamline at the Diamond syn-chrotron was key to this discovery; conven-tional X-ray sources such as those found atmost Universities in the UK provide datawith broad peaks, which do not make thissort of analysis possible.”

“From a rigorous analysis of peakshapes arising from the data, we were ableto determine the shape and size of the hy-droxide phase, and determine the level ofstress. Knowledge of these derived parame-ters is key to understanding the mechanismof sintering/disintegration.”

CaO based materials are a promisingcandidate for the removal of CO2 from flue

CaO readily forms a shell of calcium hydroxide when exposed to water in the air (right). Due todifferences in atomic congurations (top left) between the oxide and hydroxides, enormousstrains develop due to the interface. These strains of 0.78% lead to stresses 20 times higher thanthe rupture strength of the hydroxide leading to rupture and the generation of nanoparticles.

Deconvolution of the data generated by Diamond (bottom left) allows the Leeds team todetermine the size and strain in these layers, from the breadth of the peaks (the peaks fromCaOH are far narrower than CaO). Conventional X-ray sources would have considerable peakoverlap, making this type of analysis almost impossible

Image courtesy Diamond Light Source

Diamond X-Ray imaging used to evaluatecapture efficiencyScientists from the University of Leeds are using the UK’s national synchrotron to investigate theefficiency of calcium oxide (CaO) based materials as carbon dioxide sorbents.

More informationwww.leeds.ac.ukwww.diamond.ac.ukpubs.rsc.org

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22 carbon capture journal - Sept - Oct 2012


Various physical/chemical factors likeprocess temperature, amine type/concentra-tion, metallurgy, CO2 concentration, othergaseous impurities, gas loading, suspendedparticles, and heat stable salts, play their re-spective role in intensifying the corrosionoccurrence that also favours solvent degra-dation. This obligates the use of additivesthat not only supplement the cost but alsopose a risk to the environment, as typicallyheavy metals such as arsenic, vanadium etc.constitute the more efficient corrosion in-hibitors.

What else then?Replacing water with more stable room-tem-perature ionic liquid (RTIL) in amine basedsystems might be an optimistically workableoption as it renders three benefits: excellentcorrosion control, stoichiometric maximumgas loading by overcoming equilibrium lim-itations through carbamate precipitation, andseparation of CO2-captured product in theform of carbamates.

This strategy might also promise addi-tive-free capture fluids. Moreover, easy sep-aration of solid carbamate can offer cost-ef-fective regeneration. As comprehensivescrutiny is still needed in this regard, the lim-ited work has shown some good prospects ofalkanolamine/RTIL mixtures as more opti-mal successors of aqueous amines for CO2capture.

PerspectiveAmine-based chemical solvents have beenin practice for over half a century in the oiland gas processing industry and are beingconsidered as one of the best potential can-didates for CO2 capture from flue gases.However, this cannot be a trouble-free tech-nology regarding post-combustion capturein particular as flue gases contain particulatematter as well as acid gas impurities otherthan CO2 (like H2S/SO2) that ought to beremoved separately [1,2]. Besides, corrosionof equipment and amine degradation furtheradds to process downsides.

All aqueous amine-based CO2 captureinstallations are susceptible to corrosion thatnot only adds to process costs but also raises

concerns about the safety of personnel andenvironment. A number of factors like high-er CO2 loading, increased amine concentra-tion, elevated process temperature, as wellas presence of oxygen greatly intensifies thecorrosion of metal (Figure 1). Moreover,presence of suspended solid particles andamine degradation products/heat stable saltsalso causes augmented corrosion phenome-na. The process equipment typically vulner-able to corrosion includes absorber, amineexchanger, regenerator, and pumps [3,4].

In aqueous alkanolamine-CO2 systemscorrosion is the result of anodic (iron disso-lution) and cathodic (reduction of oxidizerspresent in the solution) electrochemical re-actions on metal surfaces. In CO2-loadedaqueous amines, iron dissolution is inducedby various oxidizing species such as hydro-gen/bicarbonate ions, protonated amine, car-bamate ions, and undissociated water [4].The most significant redox reactions arisingin this regard, are:

Fe ↔ Fe2+ + 2e-

2H+ + 2e- ↔ H22HCO3

- + 2e- ↔ 2CO32- + H2

2H2O + 2e- ↔ 2OH- + H2

In case of either flue gas or raw naturalgas, CO2 generally occurs in conjunctionwith some other acidic impurities like SO2,H2S that also help accelerate wear and tearof the metallic tools. For instance, the SO2amount in flue gas is directly proportionateto iron dissolution through the formation ofhydrogen ions as shown below [5]:

SO2 + H2O ↔ H+ + HSO3-

HSO3- ↔ H+ + SO3

2-

SO2 + ½O2 + H2O ↔ 2H+ + SO42-

The H+ ions serve to abstract electronsfrom metallic iron resulting in oxidativedecay of the equipment:

Fe + 2H+ ↔ Fe2+ + H2

Amine degradation products have alsobeen found to increase the corrosion rate andcorrosion products then lead to further aminedegradation. Degradation occurrence not on-ly depletes the active CO2 capturing materi-al but the resulting species also speed up thecorrosion rate by introducing additional oxi-dants. In fact corrosion and degradation phe-nomena are closely interrelated. For optimalfunctionality, perpetual removal of contami-

Corrosion in amine systems - a reviewIrrespective of consistent and dominant usage of aqueous amine based processes in acid gas capturefacilities since the 1930s, there is constant concern over a number of operational snags including, butnot limited to, corrosion.By Muhammad Hasib-ur-Rahman, Faïçal Larachi, Department of Chemical Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, Canada

Figure 1: Effect of various parameters on the corrosion rate of carbon steel C1020 in aqueousMEA (basal conditions: MEA conc. 5 kmol/m3; gas loading 0.4 mol CO2/mol MEA; 80 °Ctemperature) [4]

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:16 Page 22

23


still lower up to about 70% when comparedto what was observed in aqueous mo-noethanolamine (Figure 4).

Since the CO2-captured product (car-bamate) moves away from the reaction phaseas solid moieties, it is no longer involved inthe electrochemical corrosion reactions. Al-so, RTIL coating on metal surface barricadesthe access of any oxidants to the workingelectrode facet. Furthermore, the absence ofaqueous phase, that in combination withCO2/O2 provides the bulk share of oxidiz-ing species in the case of aqueous amine sol-vents, diminishes the chances of the occur-rence of redox process.

The results also demonstrated that hy-drophobic ionic liquids, compared to hy-drophilic ones, could efficiently prevent met-al deterioration at higher temperatures andmight offer more success if the whole bulk

trapolation method was employed using aBio-Logic VSP potentiostat. Diethanolamine(DEA)/hydrophobic 1-hexyl-3-methylimida-zolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imideionic liquid ([HMIM][Tf2N]) combinationappeared to better control corrosion occur-rence even at higher temperature.

The results showed that at 60 °C, evenin the presence of oxygen and moisturealong with CO2, the corrosion rate was neg-ligibly small (<1 mpy) as shown in Figure 3.

To know the effect of ionic liquid’s hy-drophobic/hydrophilic nature, three hy-drophilic RTILs (1-butyl-3-methylimidazoli-um tetrafluoroborate [BMIM][BF4], 1-eth-yl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoro borate[EMIM][BF4], 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazoli-um trifluoromethanesulfonate [EMIM][Otf])were studied in more detail.

Effects of amine/RTIL type, water con-tent, CO2 load-ing, O2 concen-tration in simu-lated flue gas,water content,as well as tem-perature wereevaluated. At25°C, theamine/RTILblends showedgood corrosioncontrol but athigher tempera-ture (60°C) thecarbon steel un-derwent a sub-stantial amountof corrosion,however, it was

nants (degradation/corrosion products, par-ticulate matter, etc.) from the chemical sol-vent is required [2,6,7].

Corrosion controlVarious approaches can be practiced to pre-vent corrosion to avoid severe operationalproblems in amine treating units. These mayinclude process-specific equipment metal-lurgy/design, removal of contaminants, anduse of corrosion inhibitors. The last optionhas been accomplished in industry quite ef-fectively. A number of corrosion inhibitors,based on arsenic, antimony, vanadium, cop-per (like NaVO3, CuCO3) are being used inorder to control and prevent corrosion thatnot only adds to the capital cost but most ofthese are toxic and hazardous to life as well.Stricter regulations in the case of toxic/haz-ardous substances in the very near futuremay limit the use of such compounds due tohigh disposal costs [8,9].

Alternative workable routeReplacing the problematic aqueous phase(chiefly responsible for corrosion occur-rence) with some apposite solvent such asnon-corrosive room-temperature ionic liq-uids under gas capture conditions might be aviable option at least as a near-term solution.

Alkanolamine/room-temperature ionicliquid blendsImidazolium based room-temperature ionicliquids (RTILs) are thermally stable, virtual-ly non-volatile, and generally non-corrosive.RTILs being of tunable nature, because ofthe availability of manifold ion-pair combi-nations, can be tailored by choice in accor-dance with the individual process require-ments and hence can be used as a replace-ment of water in alkanolamine based CO2capture processes.

These can significantly suppress corro-sion phenomena when combined with pri-mary/secondary alkanolamines [10,11].Moreover, such novel schemes also offersome momentous benefits regarding CO2separation methodology [10-13]:

• Carbamate precipitation/crystallization• Stoichiometric maximum gas loading

by avoiding equilibrium limitationscontrary to what is experienced inaqueous amine based systems

• Enabling easy separation of solidcarbamate thus promising cost-effective regenerationLarachi’s research group at Laval Uni-

versity has studied the corrosion behaviourof carbon steel 1020 in alkanolamines blend-ed with hydrophobic or hydrophilic ionic liq-uids [10,11]. Linear polarization resistance(LPR) measurements followed by Tafel ex-

O

O

C

Carbamate

crystals

Figure 2: Schematic concept of CO2 scrubbing by amine-RTIL blends

Figure 3: Corrosion rate of steel 1020 under CO2+O2+H2O(vap.)atmosphere, a) Aqueous diethanolamine (15% w/w); b) Pure [HMIM][Tf2N];c) Diethanolamine/RTIL emulsion (15% w/w)

Sept - Oct 2012 - carbon capture journal

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24 carbon capture journal - Sept - Oct 2012

Capture and Conversionof gas capturing amine/RTIL fluid would besubjected to thermal regeneration. This su-premacy is probably due to its superior safe-guarding through coating/adsorption on themetal surface and also because of its re-pelling behaviour towards water species.

In spite of the above cited outcomes,prior to large scale applications, a significantamount of work is still required to exactlyevaluate the corrosion phenomenon underreal regeneration conditions. Moreover, it isyet to be scrutinized if we can avoid aminedegradation by using this stratagem, and theimpact of impurities / contaminants alsoneeds appraisal.

References[1] Perry et al. CO2 Capture Using

Phase-Changing Sorbents, Energy Fuels 26(2012) 2528-2538.

[2] www.mprservices.com/pdfs/corro-sionenhancers.pdf

[3] I.R. Soosaiprakasam and A.Veawab, Corrosion and polarization behav-ior of carbon steel in MEA-based CO2 cap-ture process, Int. J. Greenh. Gas Control 2(2008) 553-562.

[4] N. Kladkaew, R. Idem, P. Tonti-wachwuthikul and C. Saiwan, Corrosion be-haviour of carbon steel in the mo-noethanolamine-H2O-CO2-O2-SO2 system:products, reaction pathways, and kinetics,Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 48 (2009) 10169-10179.

[5] N. Kladkaew, R. Idem, P. Tonti-wachwuthikul and C. Saiwan, Corrosion be-haviour of carbon steel in the mo-noethanolamine-H2O-CO2-O2-SO2 system,Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 48 (2009) 8913-8919.

[6] W. Tanthapanichakoon and A.Veawab, Electrochemical Investigation onthe Effect of Heat-stable Salts on Corrosionin CO2 Capture Plants Using Aqueous Solu-tion of MEA, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 45(2006) 2586-2593.

[7] S. Chi and G.T. Rochelle, OxidativeDegradation of Monoethanolamine, Ind.Eng. Chem. Res. 41 (2002) 4178-4186.

[8] A. Veawab, P. Tontiwachwuthikul

monoethanolamine in hydroxyl imidazoliumbased ionic liquids. Energy Environ. Sci. 4(2011) 2125-2133.

and A. Chakma, Investigation of low-toxicorganic corrosion inhibitors for CO2 separa-tion process using aqueous MEA solvent,Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 40 (2001) 4771-4777.

[9] I.R. Soosaiprakasm and A. Veawab,Corrosion inhibition performance of coppercarbonate in MEA-CO2 capture unit, Ener-gy Procedia 1 (2009) 225-229.

[10] M. Hasib-ur-Rahman, M. Siaj andF. Larachi, CO2 Capture inAlkanolamine/Room-Temperature IonicLiquid Emulsions: A Viable Approach withCarbamate Crystallization and Curbed Cor-rosion Behavior, Int. J. Greenhouse GasControl 6 (2012) 246-252.

[11] M. Hasib-ur-Rahman, H. Bouteld-ja, P. Fongarland, M. Siaj and F. Larachi,Corrosion Behavior of Carbon Steel in Alka-nolamine/Room-Temperature Ionic LiquidBased CO2 Capture Systems, Ind. Eng.Chem. Res. 51 (2012) 8711-8718.

[12] D. Camper, J. E. Bara, D. L. Ginand R. D. Noble, Room-Temperature IonicLiquid-Amine Solutions: Tunable Solventsfor Efficient and Reversible Capture of CO2.Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 47 (2008) 8496-8498.

[13] Q. Huang, Y. Li, X. Jin, D. Zhaoand G. Z. Chen, Chloride ion enhanced ther-mal stability of carbon dioxide captured by

More informationMuhammad Hasib-ur-Rahman holdsan M.Phil. degree in Inorganic/AnalyticalChemistry from Quaid-i-Azam Universi-ty (Islamabad, PAKISTAN). Currently heis a PhD student in Chemical EngineeringDepartment, Laval University (QuebecCity, Canada) working on application ofblended amine/ionic liquid systems forCO2 capture.Faïçal Larachi is full professor of Chem-ical Engineering and the holder of a tierone Canada Research Chair “Process in-tensification for cleaner and sustainableenergy and materials”. He holds a doctor-al degree from the Institut National Poly-technique de Lorraine in France. His re-search interests encompass multiphase re-actor engineering, chemical kinetics,process intensification, and new ap-proaches for mitigation of greenhouse gaseffect via mineral carbonation, ionic liq-uids and enzymatic [email protected]

Figure 4: Various process conditions tested for amine/RTIL (hydrophilic) blends, a) Amine type; b)RTIL type; c) CO2 loading; d) O2 conc. in flue gas; e) Water content in the fluid; f) Temperatureeffect

Capture newsClosing in on a solution for amineemissionswww.statoil.comStatoil says it has made good progress in

solving the challenges associated with

amine emissions from carbon capture at

Mongstad.

Through the full-scale CO2 captureproject at Mongstad (CCM), Statoil and

Gassnova have developed a set of methodsfor conducting adequate risk assessment asregards emissions from amine technologies.This will make it possible to test whetheremissions from amine technologies will beunder the limit values set by the NorwegianClimate and Pollution Agency (Klif).

“We are very pleased that we have de-veloped a toolbox that enables us to analyse

emissions from open amine facilities for cap-ture of CO2, including assessing the degreeto which humans and the environment areexposed to hazardous components from suchfacilities,” says Arne Myhrvold, head ofHSE in Statoil’s CCM project.

The work on the toolbox has been animportant part of the CCM technology qual-ification process, which started in the au-

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25Sept - Oct 2012 - carbon capture journal

Capture and Conversiontumn of 2011.

The toolbox includes sampling, treat-ment and analysis of emissions from aminefacilities to both air and water. The methodsinclude extensive variables linked to forma-tion, degradation and spread in the atmos-phere, as well as exposure to potential haz-ardous substances from amine emissions.

“Until now, the methods for calculatingthese emissions have not been good enough,and this has been one of the most significantuncertainty factors in relation to health risklinked with amine-based CO2 capture facili-ties. The methods developed through thiswork is a confirmation that the decision tocarry out a technology qualification processwas sensible,” says Myhrvold.

Extensive research activity initiatedand carried out by Statoil, Gassnova andtheir partners has considerably enhancedknowledge about emissions from amine fa-cilities.

“Now we have the methods that enableus to measure these emissions, and the re-sulting exposure. Together with Klif’s emis-sion limits, we have what we need to testvarious amine technologies in a manner thatis prudent and comparable,” says Myhrvold.

Statoil and Gassnova started a technol-ogy qualification programme for CCM in theautumn of 2011. The programme is now en-tering a phase in which technologies sup-plied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries LTD,ALSTOM Carbon Capture GmbH, SiemensAG, Aker Clean Carbon and Huaneng-CeriPowerspan Joint Venture will be tested inseparate test facilities.

“The CCM project will now start ex-tensive testing of various technologies to in-vestigate whether they are able to complywith the emission criteria set by Klif,” saysMyrvold.

Statoil and Gassnova have cooperatedwith a number of leading international re-search institutions to develop this toolbox,including NILU, NIVA, Yale, Sintef, TEL-TEK, the University of Oslo, DNV, CERC,CSIRO Rambøll and the University of Illi-nois.

“We want to share these methods withothers, and our goal is for them to becomethe industry standard for open amine facili-ties. The work we have done through theCCM project has been pioneering, and theresults are a very important milestone; notjust for the CCM project at Mongstad, butfor the entire industry in its work to developCO2 capture technology”, says Myhrvold.

Codexis releases enzyme CO2 captureresultswww.codexis.comCodexis has unveiled preliminary results

months in a bench-scale system that capturescarbon dioxide from synthetic gas and hasdemonstrated excellent performance. In re-cent weeks, this system was relocated to op-erate on a coal-fired boiler capturing carbondioxide from actual flue gas containing SOx,NOx, mercury, particulates and other impu-rities. In these tests, the system demonstrat-ed continuous capture of over 90% of incom-ing carbon dioxide over a period of threeweeks. During this period, there was no ob-servable decline in biocatalyst activity.

New material for CO2 absorptioncordis.europa.euA team of researchers, led by the Univer-

sity of Nottingham (UK), has developed a

novel porous material that has unique

carbon dioxide retention properties.

The chief feature of this new materialis its absorption of CO2, which the re-searchers say could have an impact on thedevelopment of new carbon capture productsdesigned to reduce emissions from fossil fu-el processes. The team's results have beenpublished in the journal Nature Materials.

"The unique defect structure that thisnew material shows can be correlated direct-ly to its gas absorption properties," said thehead of the research team, Professor MartinSchröder from the University of Notting-ham.

"Detailed analyses via structure deter-mination and computational modelling havebeen critical in determining and rationalis-ing the structure and function of this materi-al."

The interlocked metal organic frame-work the researchers created is called NOTT-202a. It consists of tetra-carboxylate ligands,a structure made up of a series of moleculesor ions bound to a central metal atom filledwith indium metal centres. The structure re-sembles a beehive, as it is arranged in a hon-eycomb-like pattern, allowing CO2 to be ab-sorbed selectively. While other gases, suchas nitrogen, methane and hydrogen, can passthrough the structure, CO2 remains trappedin the material's nanopores, even at low tem-peratures.

The team used x-ray powder diffractionmeasurements to gain insight into the uniqueCO2 capturing properties of the material, aswell as computer modelling to probe the ma-terial at the Diamond Light Source UK re-search facility.

The study was funded in part by theCOORDSPACE ('Chemistry of coordinationspace: extraction, storage, activation andcatalysis') project, which received a Euro-pean Research Council (ERC) grant worthEUR 2.5 million under the EU's SeventhFramework Programme (FP7).

from its pilot scale demonstration at the

U.S. National Carbon Capture Center

(NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama.

The field test, on flue gas emitted froma Southern Company's power plant, showsthat enzymes have promise to facilitate CO2capture at coal-fired power plants, saidCodexis.

This is the largest scale that enzyme-based carbon capture technology has beendemonstrated to date, with the equivalentdaily capture rate of 1,800 average sizedtrees per day.

Akermin pilots capture system withSouthern Companywww.akermin.com Akermin has signed an agreement with

Southern Company Services to install and

operate a pilot plant incorporating its bio-

catalyst delivery system at the National

Carbon Capture Center.

As part of a two-year project, partiallyfunded through a grant from the US Depart-ment of Energy, Akermin is designing a pi-lot plant to demonstrate the performance ofits enzyme based biocatalyst system for highefficiency carbon dioxide capture.

The project is on schedule to be com-missioned in the 4th quarter of 2012 and willallow Akermin to demonstrate sustained bio-catalyst performance over an extended peri-od when capturing carbon dioxide from theflue gas of a coal-fired power plant. Aker-min intends to operate the pilot plant for upto six months. During this period, it will col-lect data to validate system performance, in-cluding biocatalyst performance, energyconsumption, carbon dioxide removal effi-ciency, capture of residual SOx and NOxemissions, by-product quality for potentialresale and other parameters.

"This project signifies Akermin's tran-sition from laboratory testing and develop-ment to field pilot testing and demonstrationmarking a key step towards commercializa-tion of our technology," said Barry Black-well, Akermin President & CEO.

"The results from this pilot project willhelp to prove the viability of our technologyto capture carbon dioxide from industrialprocesses and accelerate development ofcommercial partnerships and future demon-stration projects covering multiple marketapplications."

Akermin's biocatalyst delivery systemincorporates the use of an enzyme that is be-ing supplied by Novozymes, a leading en-zyme supplier, based in Denmark. The pilotplant is sized to capture over 90% of incom-ing carbon dioxide.

Akermin's current prototype has beenoperated on a continuous basis for several

CCJ29_Layout 1 24/08/2012 23:17 Page 25

Safe CO2 Geologic Storage...anywhere in the world

Independent, Reliable Risk Assessment and MitigationThe Incident Response Protocol developed by IPAC-CO2 is an example of applied performance and risk assessment using our network of excellence. The protocol was deployed on the Kerr farm near the Weyburn project by IPAC-CO2 which concluded CO2 was not leaking from depth. Performance audits and research are our next focus of attention.

Regulatory Frameworks and ComplianceSince 2009, researchers at IPAC-CO2 have been working with CSA Standards

current focus is to assist companies with developing compliance measures.

Public Trust IPAC-CO2 develops community engagement tools in order to raise awareness and understanding of carbon capture and storage as a Clean Development Mechanism.

Research and Information2

in Saskatchewan with their storage capacities. IPAC-CO2 now is researching Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) capacity for CO2 storage at depth.

To work with IPAC-CO2, contact [email protected].

www.ipac-co2.com

#120 – 2 Research Drive, Regina, Canada S4S 7H9

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