Engineering news
Carbon Clean Solutions Limited has announced the results of a successful pilot test campaign of its drop-in carbon capture solvent at Technology Centre Mongstad, Norway, the world’s largest and most advanced facility for testing and improving CO2 capture.
The pilot, which ran from November 2015 until the end of March 2016, involved a drop-in solvent test using Carbon Clean Solutions’ (CCSL) patented ‘APBS’ solvent, and was designed to measure environmental emissions, corrosion and energy efficiency.
The test delivered successful results, with plant availability levels of 100% and no loss of run time due to solvent issues. Over the period, CCSL captured more than 25,000 tons of CO2. Most significantly, it demonstrated parts per billion solvent emissions compared to parts per million for traditional solvents, and aerosol emissions were 80 times lower than the permissible Health and Safety Executive limit.
CCSL said: “This represents a major breakthrough, as solvent emissions using CCSL’s technology are essentially negligible. CCSL’s solvent degradation was also negligible over the test campaign run, demonstrating a far superior solvent stability.”
Corrosion testing confirmed that with APBS, it is possible to construct 50% of a plant using carbon steel rather than stainless steel. Traditional solvents require stainless steel, which is at least four times more expensive than carbon steel. This means that APBS can reduce the capital expenditure for commercial scale plants by more than 25%.
While the energy consumption data at the centre is still being analysed, a separate independent test at the University of Kentucky confirmed a 50% reduction in energy consumption over conventional solvents. CCSL said these results show that on a commercial scale, it would be possible to reduce the cost of carbon capture by at least 50%.
Aniruddha Sharma, chief executive of CCSL, said: “This pilot demonstrates a breakthrough in carbon capture technology, in terms of our ability to dramatically reduce corrosion, energy demand and solvent emissions. This translates to cost savings, both operational and upfront, which we believe will make carbon capture storage and reuse economically viable in the near future.”