Cement factories can reduce their CO2 emissions considerably by adopting technology for CCS. An international R&D project shows that so-called oxyfuel technology can be the solution of the future.
More cost-effective CO2 capture
For several years, the Research Council and Gassnova have collaborated with actors from other countries through the ACT platform. This has resulted in several good international projects. One of the projects is called AC2OCEM, where leading research environments from several countries have studied how oxyfuel technology can provide more cost-effective CO2 capture from cement factories.
The project was led by the University of Stuttgart and has had partners from Norway, Germany, France, Helles and Switzerland. From the Norwegian side, SINTEF and NTNU have played key roles.
Oxyfuel technology means that combustion processes take place with pure oxygen instead of pure air. This will provide a simpler process for CO2 capture.
Oxyfuel for cement factories
In the ACT2OCEM project, the use of oxyfuel for cement factories has been studied. Pilot-scale experiments have been carried out and this is combined with numerical modeling and simulation to describe how components in a cement factory can be designed to optimize CO2 capture.
The results from the project show that oxyfuel can be an alternative in the future for cement factories. Techno-economic analyzes and life cycle analyzes from AC2OCEM will be important tools for the design of CO2 capture facilities for cement factories.
In AC2OCem, pilot-scale experiments, as well as analytical studies, have be performed to bring the key components of oxyfuel cement plants to TRL6 with the aim of reducing the time to market of the oxyfuel technology in the cement sector.
AC²OCem has explored the 1st generation oxyfuel technology for retrofitting, focusing on optimization of the oxyfuel calciner operation and advancing the kiln burner technology for combusting up to 100% alternative fuels with high biogenic share to bring this Bio-CCS solution to TRL6.
The experimental investigations were complemented by retrofitability analysis, considering real boundary conditions from two real cement plants. Ultimately, the techno-economic evaluations will prepare a guideline for retrofitting oxyfuel in existing cement plants.
Returkraft is testing out membrane technology with support from CLIMIT
Yet another pilot has started testing of carbon capture on real flue gas from an industrial plant. Returkraft’s waste incineration plant in Kristiansand is testing Air Products’ membrane technology.
There is a great deal of excitement around the results of the project, as this knowledge may be beneficial for other incineration plants.
The pilot is integrated into the plant
“It will be exciting to see how Air Products membranes will manage capturing CO2 from an incineration plant,” says Jørild Svalestuen, Senior Advisor, CLIMIT, on her way to Kristiansand.
Testing Air Products commercial membranes on waste gas from an industrial facility has never been done before. The membranes are typically used to separate methane and CO2 in biogas plants, for example. It will also be an important step for Air Products if these membranes can also be used at industrial facilities to remove CO2 from off-gases. It will be particularly interesting to get knowledge on the capture rate and purity of the CO2 (permeability and selectivity) in this pilot test.
“Returkraft started testing in May and has already run the pilot for several days. Everything is going according to plan,” says project manager Ketil Bergmann, adding that they are extracting the flue gas at a temperature of around 60 0C, which seems to be going very well. “The membranes from Air Products are responding well to the flue gas and capturing of CO2 is ongoing.”
For Returkraft, this pilot project is an important part of their plan to realise a full-scale capture facility in 2030.
Returkraft will gain valuable information both on the operation of the capture facility and integration with existing production. This information can be shared with others once the testing has finished.
Ketil Bergmann explains about the test pilot to Jørild Svalestuen.
Here comes the CCS plant.
Returkraft in brief
Returkraft’s incineration plant is located five kilometres from Kristiansand city centre and started operation in 2010 handling waste from Agder. The owners are made up of the municipalities in Agder, with Kristiansand and Vennesla being the primary owners (49%).
Returkraft handles a total annual amount of general waste and hazardous waste of approximately 130,000 tonnes. The energy from the waste incineration produces 95 GWh of electricity per year. In addition, 250 GWh
of district heating is being produced every year. Annual carbon emissions are around 140-150,000 tonnes of with approximately 55% is biogenic CO2.
Kristiansand’s climate goals
Kristiansand Municipality has a goal of reducing its carbon emission by 80% by 2030. To meet this goal, Kristiansand’s largest emissions at source must contribute. Returkraft’s plant has 44 MW, of which 99% of the district heating goes to the citizens of Kristiansand. An advantage of this plant is that it will not be directly affected by being connected to a capture facility. There is already a possibility to provide a capture facility with both heat energy and cooling.
The piloting of CO2 capture at Returkraft could influence how future plants are built. “It is really great,” says Jørild, “that CLIMIT support contribute to reduction of risks and carbon capture costs on the way to full scale CCS. We also want CLIMIT projects to share their experiences and knowledge as far as possible.” Returkraft and the largest waste-to-energy plants in Norway have taken the lead on this and are collaborating to make CCS a reality by sharing their respective experiences and knowledge (KAN – Klimakur for Avfallsforbrenning i Norge (Climate cure for waste incineration in Norway)).
Air Products in Kristiansand in brief
A part of the American company Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APCI) and Air Products Prism Membranes (APPM), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of membranes.
Air Products is a Kristiansand-based company with long experience in the production of air separation units based on membrane technology. The company was originally founded to meet the needs for inert gas systems for ships but has more recently developed the technology for other uses, such as carbon separation (cf. pilot studies with NTNU’s CO2 membrane technology licenced to Air Products at Norcem, Brevik). Carbon capture is currently one of Air Products focus areas using membrane qualities Air Products has long experience with. Air Products in the United States are developing new membrane-based capture concepts.
Planning the next phase towards CCS
Ketil Bergmann is clear that the ball must get rolling if they are to achieve their goal of operating a capture facility by 2030. There is already ongoing work to get the next phase of the plan towards 2030 in place. Bergmann emphasises that the KAN cooperation is helpful. KAN consists of the five largest waste-to-energy plants in Norway. All having their own ongoing CCUS projects and by working together they will find the best possible frameworks and solutions for CCS on waste-to-energy.
Cignus Instruments develops a new solution for direct mass flow metering of CO₂
Existing flow meters do not meet all technical measurement requirements for measuring the mass flow of CO2 in future large scale CCS chains.
Cignus’ proprietary technology can help close this technology gap.
Measurement of accumulated mass CO2 will be an important function in CCS chains
The capture plants must be able to measure how much CO2 is delivered for transport with an accuracy that meets the authorities’ requirements for approval of their emission reductions. For the same reason, storage operators also need accurate measurements of the incoming mass flow of CO2 for storage. Future operators of CCS chains are prioritizing the development of new and better solutions for mass flow measurement. Cignus Instruments develops a new type of mass flow meter with technical advantages compared to the solutions available on the market today.
Several studies conclude that none of the existing technologies for mass flow measurement satisfy all the technical measurement requirements for measuring the mass flow of CO2 in CCS chains. Traditional Coriolis mass flow meters are considered the most accurate and the only technology for direct mass flow measurement, but have general limitations for large pipe diameters, especially at large operating pressures, and the technology is not qualified for subsea installations. Moreover, this technology has significant internal pressure drop, which presents challenges when handling liquids close to the boiling point where a pressure drop will result in a risk of boiling and thus increased measurement error. This is a risk in mass flow measurement of liquids with low boiling points, such as liquid CO2, NH3 and H2.
In October 2022 Cignus got funding from CLIMIT Demo for the project 622129 “Design, construction and installation of prototype Cignus mass flow meter for CO2 testing at Equinor P-Lab”.
“P-Lab” is Equinor’s research facility at Herøya in Porsgrunn, which features a multiphase flow loop. Equinor will run a test campaign with CO2 at “P-Lab” next fall, and Cignus has had the opportunity to test its prototype mass flow meter in this campaign.
Water flow test of CO2 prototype at TUV-SUD-NEL (Uk).
The project will demonstrate the function and accuracy of the Cignus mass flow meter in both gas and liquid form
The aim is for the project to lift the technology from TRL 4 to TRL6 “validated in relevant industrial environments”.
In the longer term, Cignus’ goal is to develop and qualify the technology for full-scale CCS service, such as in Northern Lights phase 2.
The technology developed by Cignis has several advantages compared to today’s solutions. It is better suited for high pressure, larger pipe dimensions, for subsea operation, and it has a low internal pressure drop. These advantages could translate into a competitive advantage in future CCS markets for large-scale pipeline transport, loading/unloading of ship transport and subsea storage.
Cignus Instruments was started in 2020 to develop proprietary mass flow metering technology, so far, the company’s only business area. The company currently has eight employees, including the founders. The same founders started the company Presens AS in 1996 which developed technology and produced pressure sensors for a global market. Presens was acquired by General Electric/Baker Hughes in 2012.
Conclusion
Today’s technologies do not meet the requirements for mass flow metering of CO2 in future CCS chains. The partners in Northern Lights and other future operators of CCS chains are prioritizing closing this technology gap. With the support of EnergiX, CLIMIT and industry partners, Cignus is developing a solution that can help close this gap.
New tool for monitoring CO₂ storage sites
In order to confront climate challenges, we will need to store significant volumes of CO2. The North Sea has an immense theoretical storage capacity.
But to turn this into a major CO2 storage site, we need the proper tools to monitor the movement of CO2 to ensure it stays in the storage reservoar.
How CO2 flows
There are many technologies to monitor how CO2 flows within a storage site, and it is perfectly possible to implement remediation actions if CO2 start moving away. However, we need a tool that makes it possible to set up a cost-effective system that ensures accurate CO2 monitoring at a low cost.
Through an international R&D project, the University of Bergen created such a tool to monitor CO2 storage sites. Together with researchers from the Netherlands, the UK and the US, a tool has been developed, which could be useful for both the authorities and companies planning for large-scale CO2 storage.
The ACTOM project
Through the ACTOM project, researchers have studied marine monitoring for offshore CO2 storage projects. National and international regulations and guidelines for CO2 monitoring were also included, as well as societal challenges related to CO2 storage. This is an interdisciplinary project, and participants in the project have backgrounds in law, geology, marine chemistry, mathematics, modelling and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). The main delivery from this project is a simulation tool for designing monitoring programmes for offshore geological storage sites. Procedures for detecting weak signals from a leak in an extremely varied marine environment are central for this new tool. The tool could help operators during the planning phase to design monitoring programmes that are in line with national and international regulations.
Key data about the project
Title: Act on offshore monitoring (ACTOM)
Project manager: Guttorm Alendal, University of Bergen
Partners:
From the US: Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of Texas, Austin
From the UK: Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the University of Dundee
From the Netherlands: TNO
From Norway: University of Bergen, NORCE and OCTIO Environment.
Budget: EUR 2 million
Financing: ACT has contributed EUR 1.5 million, the remainder is own financing from project partners.
ACTOM Decision Support Tool. Illustration: PML
Use of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)
RRI is an approach to predict and assess implications and expectations of new technologies based in the humanities and social sciences, a framework which is being increasingly used in marine environmental studies, biotechnology and innovation. This is the first time this approach has been used for CO2 capture and storage. Potential legal conflicts between CO2 storage projects, and between storage projects and other marine environments, are addressed with regard to marine area planning. The simulation tool can also analyse uncertainties and strengths of the planned monitoring programmes. National and international regulations and guidelines and the requirements these set for CO2 monitoring have also been taken into account.
The Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP) is setting up a new call for R&D applications. CCS is one of many topics that are prioritized in this call.
There will be NOK 30 M available for Norwegian partners in international CCS projects
The upcoming CETP Call will be published in June and CETP is setting up several events to promote the call. A full overview is available at the CETP web site: https://cetpartnership.eu/events/all
We will in particular recommend three webinars related to CCS:
We are also setting up a Norwegian webinar to explain the Norwegian national requirement for the call. This will take place 12th June 10:00-11:00. The meeting is open and you can join by this link: Click here to join the meeting
If you have questions, please contact Aage Stangeland at the Research Council of Norway, ast@rcn.no
Cheaper CO₂ storage from reusing oil and gas wells
The capture and storage of CO2 is seen as one of many solutions to mitigate severe climate change.
The challenge is to make the technology cheap enough, and an exciting research project has developed a tool which makes it easy to assess whether oil and gas wells can be reused for CO2 injection. This could reduce the cost of CO2 storage.
The suitability of existing wells
There are many oil and gas wells that could potentially be reused for CO2 injection to permanently store CO2 underground. The aim of the REX-CO2 project was to explore methods and tools to make it easy to assess the suitability of existing wells for CO2 injection. A significant part of the project was made up of experimental laboratory studies, with the emphasis on understanding well integrity and well barriers. Another significant element was the development of an assessment tool that can systematically evaluate a field and its wells for possible reuse for CO2 storage.
REX-CO2 has been funded through ACT (Accelerating CCS Technologies), in which funding agencies from several countries are collaborating on joint calls for funding of research and development projects. TNO (the Netherlands) was the project coordinator. Three Norwegian partners participated in the project, with SINTEF acting as research partner together with the two industrial partners, Equinor and ReStone. Other foreign partners were BGS (UK), IFP-EN (France) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA).
Gathering new knowledge and expertise
The research in REX-CO2 focused on the interactions between the well materials (cement and steel pipes), with the aim of understanding the system and minimising failure and the risk of leaks. The collaboration between researchers and industrial partners was crucial to gathering new knowledge and expertise.
The main result from REX-CO2 is a tool that makes it possible to evaluate the reuse of wells for CO2 injection. The tool can be downloaded without any cost from the project website.
The project also generated new knowledge of CO2-resistant cement for use in CO2 wells. It also enhanced our understanding of materials that can provide good well integrity.
The project started in 2019 and was completed towards the end of 2022.
Brief summary of the CLIMIT Demo project “Technology qualification of low-pressure CO₂ ship transportation”
As the name suggests, this project will carry out a technology qualification of low-pressure CO2 ship transport. The project is being led by DNV in collaboration with the following partners: Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies and Gassco.
The project has a total budget of NOK 26 million and was awarded 32% funding of the cost budget by CLIMIT Demo in 2021.
DNV`s visual CETO value chain. Illustration: DNV
LP transport is an unproven solution
Today, CO2 is transported in liquid form on ships with pressures and temperatures around 15 barg and -25 degrees Celsius, which is referred to as medium-pressure (MP). At the same time, the project’s partners believe there may be advantages to using lower pressures for transporting larger volumes of CO2 by ship. The pressure/temperature range in question is 6 barg and -50 degrees Celsius, and referred to as low-pressure (LP). The potential advantage of LP transport is that lower pressures allow for larger tanks and ships to be built, which in turn would lead to a lower per-tonne cost of cargo capacity for LP ships than MP ships.
LP transport is an unproven solution with higher risks than MP transport. LP pressures and temperatures are closer to the triple point for CO2 than MP. The triple point is the point at which the three phases of the substance are in equilibrium, solid (dry ice), liquid and gas. LP transport thus has lower margins compared to MP when it comes to unwanted phase changes, something which entails a technical risk that must be defined and minimised through good process design in the transport chain. The project partnership aims to qualify LP transport in order to be able to use this solution in future phases of Northern Lights and other future CCS chains that need to transport large volumes of CO2.
Main activities
The project will be carried out in accordance with the DNV’s recommended practice, ‘DNV GL RP-A203 Technology Qualification’, and consists of two main activities:
1) Designing ships with a cargo capacity of 30 kilotonnes, loading system (tanker loading/unloading system), and plants to liquify CO2.
2) Simulation and experimental testing: Development of loading/unloading process simulation tools (better definition of risk of dry ice formation), and experimental testing around the triple point as a basis for setting safety margins.
The intention behind the project is to reduce the risks associated with LP transport, and the goal of the project is to qualify LP transport for use in future CCS chains.
Gabriele has a background in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Genoa, Italy.
Joined DNV in 2007 and worked as a structural engineer for the Maritime Advisory focusing on the ultimate strength of vessels and offshore structures, rule development, R&D, design verification and trouble shooting. Member of ISSC since 2015, he is currently on the “Renewable Energy” committee.
Gabriele contributed to projects within the production, transportation, and storage of liquefied gas and concept development with an increasing focus on CO2 transport by ship in the context of CCS and CCU. At present, he is managing the JIP on technology qualification of low-pressure shipping solutions on the behalf of the DNV.
This report examines existing patent data in the field of carbon capture technology and has been jointly prepared by the Norwegian Industrial Property Office and Gassnova.
Eight technology areas
The goal of the report is to identify opportunities and challenges in terms of intellectual property rights by surveying the patent landscape in the technical field of carbon capture. The report is divided into eight technology areas which are considered the most important areas of research within the field of carbon capture.
The data has been analysed on a global level, but we also examine in further details how Norwegian stakeholders assert themselves in the field of carbon capture technology.
“It’s important that CLIMIT thinks internationally”
“International cooperation on CCS research and technology development will be even more important in the years ahead. The CLIMIT Programme gives us the opportunity to play a meaningful role.”
Marie Bysveen has been a member of the CLIMIT Programme Committee since 2015. “For many years, Norway has been one of the most ambitious and focused European countries when it comes to carbon capture and storage. Research and development under the auspices of CLIMIT has been extremely important in this regard. The work we do on the Programme Committee is interesting because it gives us good insight into everything that’s going on in the field, and because the Committee has a balanced composition of skilled people with a range of experiences and approaches to the challenges that developing technology and strong business models should help to solve. I also have the responsibility of being the head of the CCS programme under the EERA (European Energy Research Alliance) and am therefore particularly keen that projects supported by CLIMIT also include international cooperation and partnerships.”
How do you encounter CCS in your day-to-day work?
“All the time and in all sorts of situations. More specifically, I was recently involved in GHGT in Lyon, which is the major international gathering of researchers and industrial operators working on CCS projects and technology that takes place every other year. I was there to represent the EERA CCS community. I also took part in a panel debate about the importance of CCUS at the SET Plan conference in Prague and a board meeting for the ACCESS project, which is led by SINTEF Energy. At the moment I work with regional actors developing projects for large scale carbon capture and storage on Waste to Energy plants.”
What do you think is CLIMIT’s most important contribution to the green transformation?
“CLIMIT is, and should be, a driving force for the development of technologies that will lead to strong CCS solutions that will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as creating new job opportunities. The Programme is vital for achieving the changes that Norway and the world sorely need.”
Marie Bysveen works for SINTEF Energy and is a member of the Programme Board of CLIMIT.
Member of the Programme Board of CLIMIT
Marie Bysveen (54) has a PhD in Combustion and fuels technology NTNU and works as the Chief Market Developer, PhD at SINTEF Energy. She began her career as a researcher at NTNU and then worked at Kværner Oil and Gas and TecnoConsult. She began at SINTEF Energy in 2006 where she has held many positions in research, management, business development and strategy.
What should CLIMIT prioritise in terms of technology development in the future – where are the gaps?
“We have to reduce the costs and risks associated with CCS, which is why CLIMIT must continue to prioritise projects that will lead to more efficient solutions across the entire value chain. It will be particularly important going forward to focus on increasing our storage capacity, the safety of carbon transport and further developing effective capture technologies. Moreover, efforts must be focused on technology that will lead to significant negative emissions in the long-term, by which I mean carbon capture from the atmosphere. So, I’m also keen that we include social science research communities to a greater extent with regard to how this industrial effort can be implemented in a way that will be acceptable for and trusted by the public.”
What needs do you see for the CLIMIT programme over the next five years?
“CLIMIT uses some of the funding that the Programme receives as contributions to international carbon capture projects. This has been crucial for the mobilisation of CCS as a key tool in the fight against climate change in Europe and has contributed to creating a market for technology developed in Norway. Through CETP (Clean Energy Transition Partnership), the EU is now putting more focus on CCS research, and I think that it is strategically vital for CLIMIT to follow up on the positive dialogue and cooperation we have established. But beyond international efforts, CLIMIT must continue to provide support to good national projects and initiatives and contribute to our research communities remaining leaders in the development of new capture and storage solutions.
This study will provide insight into both technical and economic opportunities for what depleted reservoirs could mean for carbon storage in the future. The long-term, secure storage of carbon depends into well characterised geological reservoirs, such as saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas fields (DO&GF). The potential storage capacity of saline formations is well understood, and the aim of this IEAGHG study was to focus specifically on a set of storage conditions that apply to depleted hydrocarbon fields.
This study reviewed the risk induced seismicity at CO2 storage sites. The phenomenon has multiple causes including waste water disposal, geothermal energy and mining. Natural seismicity is also a widespread occurrence and can detected in the same regions as industrial activities associated with induced seismicity. Consequently the detection of any seismicity has to be clearly distinguished.
The aim of this study is to review potential solvents and process designs to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture technologies. Considering the extensive research of solvents and development, a rapid and reliable screening protocol is crucial for improving processes.
This study has investigated how carbon can be used in building materials such as cement and concrete. Capture processes were investigated and case studies where the processes were used are included.
