“CLIMIT should therefore bear in mind that there is more than one road that leads to Rome”.

Benedicte Solaas has been a member of CLIMIT’s Programme Board since the start of 2022. She succeeded Hildegunn T. Blindheim, who became CEO of Offshore Norway last autumn, with Solaas taking over her position as Director, Climate and Environment.

‘Everyone’ knows that CO₂ emissions have to be managed

 “As a new member of the Programme Board, I find it very exciting to be able to look in depth at issues that are crucial for us both nationally and globally if we are to reach our climate goals. ‘Everyone’ knows that CO₂ emissions have to be managed, but involvement in CLIMIT gives both me and the industry I represent an incredibly good insight into the technologies that can and should be developed in order for us to actually achieve this.”

Solaas says that the CLIMIT Secretariat does a very thorough job of preparing and explaining the many project applications to be considered by the Programme Board.

“The positive thing in this regard is to see how many academic communities in Norway are engaged in finding solutions to the technical and societal challenges of capturing, transporting and storing CO₂ in the best possible way. Formidable efforts are being made to formulate good applications and obtain funding not only from CLIMIT but also from the industry. The discussions around the Board table are also very enlightening and constructive. So the organisation and content of the CLIMIT programme are very important for the development of a diverse CCS industry in Norway.”

How do you encounter CCS in your day-to-day work?

“In Offshore Norway we have a separate forum for CCS involving representatives of the member companies. There we work mainly with the policy framework and regulations for transport and storage of CO₂. We know there are strict demands for our industry to contribute to achieving the climate goals by gradually creating a new and forward-looking energy industry on the Norwegian continental shelf, where the management of CO₂ is a key element. With this in mind, we have focused in particular on solutions for transport and storage, where the expertise in the oil and gas industry has been crucial to developing rules and frameworks to safeguard the environment and safety. This is important not only for the successful launch of the Longship project, but also for future CCS projects.”

“But when the oil industry has a strategic climate goal whereby emissions are to be halved by 2030 and reduced almost to zero by 2050, we need to work on many different measures that bring us towards these targets. Electrification of parts of the continental shelf is very important, but people are also working on other solutions in which capturing CO₂ offshore is one of several possibilities to be assessed.”  

Member of the Programme Board of CLIMIT

Benedicte Solaas (38) holds a master’s degree in political science and international relations from the University of Kent and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. She was appointed as Director, Climate and Environment in Offshore Norway last year, after holding various positions in the organisation since 2013. She previously worked as an advisor in the business department of Nordland county municipality and at the European Office for Northern Norway in Brussels. Throughout her professional career, energy policy, including the management of CO₂ has been an important area of work for her.

What do you think is CLIMIT’s most important contribution to the green transformation?

“It is support for technology development and business models that lay the foundations for CCS on a broad basis. Together with the industrial partners, the Norwegian government has invested heavily in Longship, which is a fantastic, ground-breaking project. But it is also important to develop technology for other, alternative solutions for managing CO₂, as a basis for a viable and productive CCS industry for many years to come. CLIMIT should therefore bear in mind that there is more than one road that leads to Rome”.

What should CLIMIT prioritise in terms of technology development in the future – where are the gaps?

“As a recent addition to the Programme Board, part from the general response I have given to the previous question, I am a little cautious about identifying very specific areas of technology that need to be covered in the future. I will listen closely to the recommendations made by the Secretariat and very competent Board members. But the need for the CLIMIT programme over the next five to ten years is beyond dispute.”

So all-consuming has this interest become that Halland, who recently left her position as project manager at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, jokes that she eats and drinks CCS.

CLIMIT has made a big contribution to this

Eva Halland has been a member and deputy chair of the Programme Board of CLIMIT since 2013, which makes her the longest-serving representative around the table.

“The most interesting thing about this position has been to be able to follow good ideas from research through to demo phases, and see them end up as important elements in the Longship CCS project. All of this major investment in capture, transport and storage of CO₂ has its origins in the work that has been done over many years in R&D groups and prominent technology companies. It is very exciting and a lot of fun.”

“I am also very grateful for what the Board work has given me in terms of understanding and insight into the varied efforts of both technology developers and supplier companies to turn CCS into a complete value chain. The huge advance in knowledge and technology that has taken place in this area in recent years is very impressive, and I believe CLIMIT has made a big contribution to this.”

How do you encounter CCS in your day-to-day work?

“I eat and drink CCS,” she replies with a laugh, and gives an example:

“In the work I headed up in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to establish a CO₂ storage atlas for the Norwegian continental shelf and a Norwegian regulatory framework and framework for transport and storage of CO₂, it was incredibly reassuring to be able to contact centres of expertise and obtain informative and knowledgeable answers to all the big questions relating to provisions for handling risk, safety and the environment. It also gives me confidence in my role as a consultant to be able to draw on the strong knowledge environments we have in this country when I get enquiries from within Norway and abroad related to transport and storage. Our many talented technology developers make me very proud.”  

What do you think is CLIMIT’s most important contribution to the green transformation?

“It is to show that carbon capture and storage is actually possible, and can be done efficiently and safely. CLIMIT needs to help raise awareness both in Norway and in the international community that CCS is a necessary part of our work to achieve the climate goals. ‘Build more wind turbines instead,’ some say, but they need to understand that both industry and fossil energy sources have to be decarbonised to take us through a green transformation in the way we look after our shared planet.”

Deputy chair of the Programme Board of CLIMIT

Eva Halland (67) graduated in geology from the University of Bergen and joined the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) in 1984, where she has since held a number of technical and management positions. She was project manager for CCS and for the development of the Norwegian CO₂ storage atlas. Halland left the NPD in July this year and now works for CarbonGeo Consulting as a consultant and board member. She is also project manager for transport and storage of CO₂ in the member organisation CCUS Norway. In her career, she has had a number of jobs related to CCS around the world, including in South Africa and in several Asian countries, and has also acted as an advisor to ministries and departments in Western countries.

What should CLIMIT prioritise in terms of technology development in the future – where are the gaps?

“The challenge for us managing the CLIMIT programme is to keep two ideas in our heads at the same time. In the short term, it is important to support technology development which will enable us to quickly obtain new licenses for storing CO₂. This calls for more experience with the models that are now being established, so future projects can be even more efficient in terms of both costs and risk management. In the slightly longer term, it is important for us to contribute to completely new CCS solutions; solutions that few people have even thought of yet. That means cultivating innovation and creativity with at least as much intensity as CLIMIT has shown so far.”

What needs do you see for the CLIMIT programme over the next five years?

“CLIMIT needs to play a role in ensuring that we have technologies that are effective and safe enough for the CCS projects that are now emerging both in Norway and abroad up to 2030. We must help to ensure that our centres of expertise engage in international cooperation. I am convinced that the interplay between researchers and technologists with different approaches and mindsets produces the most innovative and best solutions.”

So says the chair of the Programme Board, Arvid Nøttveit. “But although we have come a long way, there is still much to be done to develop the technologies that will be needed to reach our climate goals.”

Very rewarding

Nøttveit has been chair of the Programme Board for CLIMIT since the start of 2019. “I accepted the position because for ten years I had been working on issues related to research into CO₂ management, including as head of the SUCCESS research centre (FME), which was concerned with developing better methods for CO₂ storage. The work of the Programme Board gives me insight and keeps me updated on what is happening in this exciting field of research both in Norway and around the world, so it is very rewarding.”

The CLIMIT programme is a collaboration between Gassnova and the Research Council of Norway, and aims to enable faster implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS). CLIMIT encompasses the Research Council of Norway’s support scheme for research and development (the R&D part) and Gassnova’s support for development and demonstration (the Demo part). Gassnova has overall responsibility for coordination and heads the programme secretariat. The mandate of the Programme Board is to process applications for projects in both categories on the recommendation of the secretariat, and perform regular audits of the programme plan for CLIMIT. This plan, which defines the type of projects that can receive support, is normally updated every two years, but it can also be changed more frequently when innovations appear that could have an impact on the way CO₂ is handled in the future. In CLIMIT-Demo there are now 71 active projects receiving a total of NOK 378 million in support, while CLIMIT R&D comprises 50 projects with financial support amounting to NOK 368 million. The Programme Board has ten members who meet five to six times a year.

“The work involves examining and processing project applications based on preparatory work from the secretariat. We also have an important role to play in ensuring that the programme keeps abreast of research and development in the CO₂ field. For example, we recently decided that projects related to the production of blue hydrogen are also eligible to apply. The challenge with this way of producing hydrogen is that the by-product is CO₂. This has to be captured and stored so the production does not contribute to global warming – and this requires more research and development of usable technologies.”

Chair of the Programme Board for CLIMIT

Arvid Nøttveit (69) is a strategic advisor for energy at the Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE) based in Bergen, and was CEO of its predecessor Christian Michelsen Research for 14 years. He has extensive experience from research in the oil and gas industry, and from managing practical work in drilling, exploration, field development and operations on the Norwegian continental shelf and around the world. Nøttveit holds a PhD in geosciences from the University of Bergen.

Why is the CLIMIT programme important for the development of CCS technology?

“This is a question I have been thinking about for a long time, and the answer relates to development for CCS internationally. We have to admit that there have been both ups and downs, with great enthusiasm and commitment to making CCS part of the climate solution often being followed by inactivity. In contrast, CLIMIT has been firmly established and stable since its inception in 2004; a beacon for financing of important research. In my opinion, the Norwegian authorities’ commitment and belief in CCS have been very important to the leading position we have in Norway in technology for handling CO₂, and have also contributed to development in other countries, because many of the CLIMIT projects are run jointly with international partners.”

“The other thing I would mention which makes the CLIMIT programme unique is the breadth of the project portfolio. The programme includes everything from pure research to industrial projects. I believe that this approach, with the vast knowledge base it has provided, has been crucial to our ability to implement Longship with two full-scale capture projects and transport and storage of CO₂. We are now seeing this major Norwegian initiative also triggering far greater engagement with CCS internationally.”

What do you see as the three most important measures in CLIMIT’s programme plan?

“Firstly, it is important for us to be able to maintain the breadth of project categories, because we are still at an early stage in the development of technologies needed by the global community. CLIMIT should also view CCS in the context of other technologies in the energy field that will be important for the green transformation. Finally, we must be open to including technology projects that may initially seem difficult to realise on a large scale, such as capturing CO₂ directly from the air. This is because, as things stand, a prerequisite for achieving the Paris Agreement goal of no more than 1.5 to 2 degrees of global warming is not just a reduction in current greenhouse gas emissions, but also what are called negative emissions. In other words, CLIMIT also has to contribute to the development of technologies that actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.” 

What should CLIMIT prioritise in terms of technology development in the future – where are the gaps?

“We must continue to contribute to projects that aim to reduce costs by using the mature technologies that are now being adopted, in the Longship project for example, because this is vital if we are to realise more projects, and for these to be commercial, with little or no need for government funding. It is also important to create technology for integrating capture facilities into existing, often compact, industrial environments. Technology for scaling is a very important issue for the transport and storage of CO₂. Northern Lights is a great demonstration facility, but if the goals set by the EU and the IEA are to be attained, the storage capacity has to be very rapidly increased to a hundred times the volume that Northern Lights will be able to handle. For this, technology for reception and storage needs to be developed to allow these demands to be met within a commercial economic framework.”

What needs do you see for the CLIMIT programme over the next five years?

“I am concerned that CLIMIT should be able and allowed to play a continued role in the years to come. It is important to emphasise that even if we succeed with Longship, there will still be a need for new technologies for handling CO₂ both nationally and internationally. This is not just a responsibility that we have to take on as a nation – with our status and leading position in the field, it also offers us great opportunities. This is because, through the EU’s CETPartnership (formerly ACT), we can launch and receive support for technology development with co-financing from the Horizon programme.”

What do you think is needed to develop and finance several large Norwegian full-scale projects in addition to Longship?

“It will probably be a long time before the state steps in with the same financial clout as in Longship to implement full-scale carbon capture and storage. In other words, industry and business need to take the responsibility, with less public support. However, we still need a scheme to promote the development and realisation of projects which, thanks to support from CLIMIT and other sources, are on the drawing board and ready to go. To cover this gap, there is therefore a need for better interaction between stakeholders such as Enova, Gassnova, Innovation Norway and the Research Council of Norway. A strategy needs to be drawn up to define how the policy apparatus can best help to ensure that essential and achievable climate benefits are realised.” 

If we are to achieve international climate goals, CO₂ capture and storage must be adopted on a large scale worldwide. The technology for this exists, but intensive development work is under way to make it cheaper and more efficient.

Moving Bed Temperature Swing Adsorption

Richard Blom from SINTEF has been the project leader of the EDeMoTec project, which has further developed an interesting process for CO₂ capture. The process is known as Moving Bed Temperature Swing Adsorption (MBTSA). This is a process in which flue gas containing CO₂ first comes into contact with solids, known as adsorbents, which can bind to the CO₂. In the next process step, the adsorbent is heated to release the CO₂. This produces pure CO₂ that can be permanently stored. One of the main issues for the MBTSA process is to achieve a high degree of purity of the separated CO₂ gas.

One challenge is to choose adsorbents that are both effective and stable, and this is where Blom and his team have achieved interesting results. Several types of materials have been studied, and some prove to be more effective and stable than others. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and zeolites have yielded very promising results.

A competitive solution

The EDeMoTec project, funded by CLIMIT, has enabled the researchers to run the necessary process simulations and a comprehensive testing programme. The results show that the process could be a competitive solution for CO₂ capture from gas-fired power plants and waste incineration plants, for example.

The MBTSA process will now be further developed in the Horizon 2020 project MOF4AIR. Richard Blom and his team are also working with industry players to optimise the process.

Facts about the project

Project number: 267873

Project title: Enabling technology for the development of Moving Bed Temperature Swing Adsorption process for post-combustion CO₂ capture

Project manager: Richard Blom, SINTEF

Partners: SINTEF, NTNU, SRI International

Period: 2017-2022

Budget: NOK 11.34 million

Support from the Research Council of Norway through the CLIMIT programme: NOK 10.75 million

Kari-Lise Rørvik (45) took over as Head of Secretariat for the CLIMIT programme on 1 November, replacing Ingrid Sørum Melaaen, who has become Technology Director at Gassnova. Rørvik’s ambition is to help keep Norway in the forefront of international research and development and the use of technologies to capture, transport and store CO₂. 

“But this does not mean that Norway has to be self-sufficient. On the contrary, the continuation of our extensive international cooperation is a prerequisite for our success in combating climate change, with carbon capture and storage as a major policy instrument.”

Seven employees

The CLIMIT programme is a partnership between Gassnova and the Research Council of Norway. The Research Council’s projects are often referred to as CLIMIT R&D, while Gassnova’s contribution is referred to as CLIMIT-Demo. The Secretariat has seven employees, each with a defined responsibility for following up and monitoring the portfolio of research programmes supported by CLIMIT. As Head of Secretariat, Rørvik is responsible for reporting to the Board and for dialogue with the authorities and partners internationally. The activities are managed by a Programme Board with ten members from industry, research institutions and the authorities. The Board carries out an audit of the programme every two years to ensure that the research efforts are up to date in terms of new knowledge and approaches that could provide a basis for developing technology and solutions to meet the needs of society.  

Longship a shining example

“The programme was established in 2005 and is aimed at businesses, research institutions, universities and colleges, often in collaboration with international companies and research bodies, which can help to accelerate the commercialisation of CCS. The most tangible result so far is the Longship project, where research efforts supported by CLIMIT and technology testing at Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) are now enabling industrial-scale capture, transport and storage of CO₂ with outstanding technologies.”

Kari-Lise Rørvik points out that CLIMIT provides support for research into the management of all possible CO₂ sources, not just point emissions in the industry. Within Energi21, the all-encompassing research and innovation strategy for renewable energy and climate-friendly energy technologies, CLIMIT is responsible for the management of CO₂.

Three key areas

The CLIMIT programme plan for technology development covers three key areas: A. Decarbonisation of industry and energy resources; B. Large-scale CO₂ storage on the Norwegian continental shelf; and C. Innovative technology development and solutions.

“Aker Carbon Capture’s development of the solvent to be used to capture CO₂ at Heidelberg Materials’s cement factory in Brevik received support from CLIMIT as early as 2005. The way Aker has succeeded in bringing down costs and reducing risk with its technology is very important to the development of the value chain and to value creation related to CCS. The same is true of Northern Lights, which is the first step on the road to creating the infrastructure that both Norway and Europe will need for safe storage of CO₂, particularly for monitoring stores in different geological formations. But it is also extremely important to support the development of completely new technologies that could help reduce the cost of managing CO₂. In this area, we are collaborating on other parts of the policy apparatus for project financing.”

Here, Rørvik refers to CLIMIT’s collaboration with the Research Council of Norway, Enova, Innovation Norway, Siva and Gassnova on green growth. The aim is to contribute to a quicker path from idea to market for climate-friendly products and services in Norway and around the world.

CCS “breaking through” internationally

After more than six years as a senior adviser on CLIMIT, Kari-Lise Rørvik is now observing significantly greater commitment, both in Europe and in other parts of the world, to making carbon capture and storage part of the climate solution.

“We have worked effectively with several European countries, the USA, Canada and India in ACT (Accelerating CCS Technologies), an initiative that is now being taken further in CETP (Clean Energy Transition) which is part of the Horizon Europe programme. We expect this to lead to even more innovative projects involving Norwegian researchers and technology developers.”

In 2004, Norway signed a bilateral agreement with the USA on research, development and demonstration in the energy field; a collaboration that both TCM and CLIMIT have contributed to and which has led to a number of technology developers coming together across the Atlantic.

Mission Innovation is a global initiative arising out of the Paris Agreement, which works to catalyse action and investment in research, development and demonstration to make clean energy affordable and accessible, on the road to a net-zero society. Here, Norway has undertaken to assist in the development of technologies for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), i.e. the capture and safe storage of CO₂ from the atmosphere. The goal is a net reduction of 100 million tonnes of CO₂ globally by 2030. This initiative is dependent on the policy apparatus supporting projects which aim to implement CDR.

Will demand more from the business sector

“Given the ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there will still be a great need for government support for projects to manage CO₂ in the coming years. The authorities also have an important role to play in helping universities and colleges to develop the expertise we need, in the form of world-class researchers. At the same time, it is important for the business sector to take its share of the risk that accompanies the development of new technologies. Good interaction between the business sector and funding providers is the key to continued progress with CCS progress,” she says.

Cost-effective capture of CO₂ from biogas plants and industry

With support from CLIMIT R&D, the technology company CondAlign, in partnership with researchers from SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), has developed a membrane technology that will contribute to cost-effective capture of CO₂ from biogas plants and industry.

These new membranes can filter out selected substances and are therefore an energy-efficient way of separating gases, including CO₂. The challenge with the membranes that have been available on the market to date is that their performance is too low and the cost too high for the technology to be commercially viable. Using nanoparticles and electricity, the research team has managed to improve CondAlign’s unique technology in a way that makes it highly relevant for gas separation and CO₂ capture.

Innovative membrane production

An interdisciplinary team, consisting of 15 researchers and product developers from SINTEF, NTNU and CondAlign, has managed to develop a new way of manufacturing polymer membranes. Basically, tiny particles and electric fields have been used to manipulate the position and orientation of nanoparticles in the membrane, proving very beneficial for the separation of gases. Organising the particles into a specific pattern makes the use of nanoparticles more cost-effective and improves the properties of the membrane.

This innovative technology is part of CondAlign’s commitment to developing new applications for CondAlign’s unique technology. The technology was originally the result of basic research at the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) in Oslo. The underlying technology is currently used to align thermally or electrically conductive particles through a 10–100μm thick polymer film – CondAlign’s “through-plane” technology. These polymer films can be produced relatively cost-effectively on an industrial roll-to-roll machine at CondAlign. The innovation has been implemented, among other things, in a new type of ECG electrode, combining 3D electronics and smart labels.

Patenting the process

Back in 2019, CondAlign filed two applications for patents to protect their intellectual property rights, based on the promising results from the unique process achieved in the laboratory. One patent has already been granted in Norway, and a decision on the international application is expected by the end of the year.

“As an innovation project for the industrial sector (IPN), MembrAlign’s focus has been on sustainable value creation and making this new knowledge and the solutions readily available,” says Linn Cecilie Sørvik, Head of Product Development at CondAlign.

“During the four years of research and testing, we met four of the five goals that were originally set for the project. The results have demonstrated Proof of Concept of the ability to align nanoparticles in-plane in a nano-thin polymer film. These are unique, internationally ground-breaking research results.”

In this context, she points out that experiments with the new membrane production method can increase CO₂ transport by an average of 34% without affecting the CO₂/N₂ selectivity.

More flexible – less energy-intensive

Used in the capture of CO₂, this technology can provide solutions that are more flexible and less energy-intensive than, for example, the current amine technology. Put simply, the nanoparticles are organised to influence how CO₂ from flue gas is transported through the membrane. The position and orientation of the nanoparticles create an efficient filter that ensures that the gas to be separated out passes through the membrane quickly, while the other gases meet more resistance. The method involves exposing the membrane to a powerful electric field, which makes the alignment (i.e. arrangement of the particles into the special filter pattern) possible. It is this process that forms the basis of CondAlign’s patent applications.

Ideal for small-scale installations

“The knowledge gained from the Climit project is important for ongoing product development and is also part of CondAlign’s technology roadmap. The innovation provides a good basis for future production of membranes using the technology we have developed for gas separation.  These membranes are ideal for use in small-scale installations in industry, agriculture, waste facilities and biorefineries. Polymer membranes are attractive because they have a smaller footprint and do not require the use of harmful chemicals,” Sørvik points out.

Excellent results

The MembrAlign project has focused on removing CO₂ from flue gas, but the technology may also be relevant in pre-combustion, or removal of CO₂ from natural gas, or biogas.

“The MembrAlign project has been a success because, by combining expertise from different research environments and working in a structured way towards common goals, we have managed to achieve excellent results,” says Åse Slagtern, special advisor at CLIMIT R&D. “We are convinced that the technology developed in this project will be important in the work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Facts about the MembrAlign project:

Membranes with Aligned nanostructures for CO₂ separation – the Research Council of Norway’s project bank (forskningsradet.no)

The project was carried out in the period 2018–2021 with a total budget of NOK 11.2 million, of which NOK 7.7 million was support from the Research Council of Norway’s CLIMIT programme. The project brought together complementary expertise from three separate environments:

• CondAlign: Expertise in in-plane alignment of particles, production of functional polymer film and commercialisation. Development of production technology for polymer films with advanced functionalities.
• SINTEF Industry: Expertise in membrane characterisation, functionalisation of nanoparticles, testing of gas separation under relevant conditions, and modelling of electric fields.
• Department of Chemical Engineering, NTNU: Expertise in membrane production, membrane characterisation and polymer materials.

Our research into attitudes towards carbon capture and storage in Norway and Germany has found that the public and private sector in both countries have some way to go in informing people about CCS and persuading them that it is a necessary measure in order to achieve climate goals.’

So says Gisle Andersen, Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE). He led the research project ‘Public Perceptions of Carbon Capture and Storage (PERCCSEPTIONS)’ which recently published its findings with support from the CLIMIT programme.

Better to store CO₂ offshore

One hypothesis was that the storing captured CO₂ offshore would meet less public opposition than storing it onshore. This hypothesis was based on, among other things, fewer concerns around leaks and other environmental issues as a result of storage in reservoirs beneath the seabed. However, prior to PERCCSEPTIONS (which was carried out over the years 2019 – 2022), little research had been done to verify this.

 

‘The analysis of the surveys on attitude we have carried out indicates that this hypothesis is correct. The jointly-adopted strategy of the Norwegian authorities and industry for their Longship and Northern Lights projects thus seems to have less potential for resistance and conflicts than would have been the case for onshore CO₂ storage facilities,’ says Andersen.

The Germans know little about CCS

But – and there’s a big but – the research found that knowledge about what CCS entails remains relatively low, especially among the German population. While 70 per cent of Norwegian respondents stated that they have heard of ‘carbon capture and storage’, this was only true for around 35 per cent of Germans. Among those who had heard about CCS, a significant majority in Norway were positive about the technology, while this proportion is lower in Germany.

Norway’s Equinor and Germany’s Wintershall Dea recently announced that they will work together to develop a comprehensive value chain for carbon capture and storage, linking CO₂ emitting companies on the continent with storage facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf. ‘This and similar agreements in the future will raise the visibility of CCS and naturally increase people’s interest in it as a phenomenon and climate measure, making it easier to disseminate information about the role this technology has to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,’ Andersen maintains.

Scepticism about CO₂ imports in Norway

‘The authorities and industry in both countries have work to do in explaining how the capture of CO₂ should take place and where it should be stored without negative environmental consequences. Although the level of knowledge and acceptance of CCS is significantly higher in Norway than in Germany, there is considerable scepticism towards the import of CO₂ from other countries. This has been factored into investment decisions and is an important aspect of Northern Lights, with its reception facilities in Øygarden and storage under the North Sea. This implies therefore a need for more and better information to be disseminated to the population about why and how Norway is aiming to become a CCS leader as part of the green transition. It is essential that we provide good and clear information about what happens to CO₂ when stored in geological formations, and about the probability and consequences of leaks both during transport and storage,’ says Gisle Andersen.

He adds that it is particularly important to provide information about plans to establish European infrastructure for the transport and storage of CO₂, and why such cooperation is necessary. It is worth highlighting that this technology is the only known option for removing emissions from some types of process industry, from cement production and from waste incineration. In Germany, it is important to start a public conversation about CCS to clarify that its purpose is not to enable the continued use of coal-fired power plants, but to allow for continued cement production and the use of waste incineration plants.

Better knowledge about pros and cons

The research project used open-ended responses to assess how different reasoning leads to acceptance or opposition to CCS. The Norwegian Citizen Panel and corresponding German panels were used to ensure the data gathered about people’s opinions in different scenarios was of high quality. The project has thus contributed to new knowledge about the driving forces behind acceptance of and resistance to large-scale implementation of CCS technology, as well as international transport of CO₂.

Analyses of open-ended responses show that there are different themes associated with support of and scepticism towards the technology. Respondents who are sceptical raised the danger of leaks from storage, costs, and that the technology might ultimately prevent necessary societal changes. In addition, some express concern about risks and emissions linked to catching and transport.

Respondents who are positive about the technology emphasise rapid cuts to emissions, jobs for Norway, technology exports and expediting the green transition in the oil sector. Analysis also shows that many of those who are positive about CCS set conditions for their assessment. The factors mentioned are essentially the same as those mentioned by those who are not positive by the technology. ‘This is interesting because it shows which dimensions are particularly important when this technology is assessed by most people, and here the overall environmental consequences for climate and the environment seem to be decisive,’ says Senior Researcher Gisle Andersen.

The research project PERCCSEPTIONS received funding worth NOK 4.6 million from the Research Council of Norway’s CLIMIT programme.

 

Protonic Membrane Reformer (PMR) technology extracts hydrogen from natural gas with superior energy efficiency and integrates CO₂ capture into the process.

Tested in a pilot

This project is a continuation of CLIMIT-backed project 618191 – ‘PROTONIC Phase I’ – with the main objective of phase II being to scale up the technology through pilot testing.

Project activities focused on three work packages:

• Performance and lifetime testing of membrane modules;
• Engineering, building and testing of pilot;

• Multiphysics and techno-economic modelling and assessment of technology and manufacturing maturity.

The result of the project confirm high performance in terms of producing high purity hydrogen and pressurised CO₂ ready for direct liquification. Lifetime testing of membrane modules reached 3,100 hours, and the project has developed and manufactured two pilot installations, each offering a capacity of 2 kg hydrogen per day. These were installed on site with SINTEF and an energy company respectively, where these installations underwent testing

Dissemination of results

Calculation models and techno-economic assessments have been disseminated together with the laboratory test results through an article published in Science titled ‘Single-step hydrogen production from NH₃, CH₄, and biogas in stacked proton ceramic reactors’ which was published in April 2022. The article has garnered attention in both Norwegian and international media, and has been the subject of widespread discussion on blogs and social media platforms.  This response can be tracked online via https://science.altmetric.com/details/127097079.

• Hydrogen production and carbon capture – in a single step, Norwegianscitechnews.com, https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2022/07/hydrogen-production-and-carbon-capture-in-a-single-step/
• Dette røret kan være et stort skritt fremover for blått hydrogen [This pipeline may be a major step forward for blue hydrogen], Titan.uni.no (in Norwegian). https://titan.uio.no/kjemi/2022/dette-roret-kan-vaere-et-stort-skritt-fremover-blatt-hydrogen
• Clark et al, Single-step hydrogen production from NH3, CH4, and biogas in stacked proton ceramic reactors, Science (2022). 
• Malerød-Fjeld et al, Thermo-electrochemical production of compressed hydrogen from methane with near-zero energy loss, Nature Energy (2017). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0029-4
• Project page for PROTONIC phase II: https://climit.no/prosjekt/conversion-of-natural-gas-to-hydrogen-and-compressed-co2-using-protonic-membrane-reformer-technology-protonic-phase-ii/
• Project page for PROTONIC phase I: https://climit.no/project/protonic-membrane-reformer-technology-for-conversion-of-natural-gas-to-hydrogen-and-co2/

Says Anne Cathrine Syversen from Powered by Telemark, an industrial and technology cluster. She is also the project manager of Grenland Industrial CO₂ Capture and Storage’s (GICCS). The research project was launched in November last year and will run until 2024. It has a budget of NOK 11.4 million, with half of its funding coming from the process industry and the other half from the CLIMIT programme. The starting point for this was the cluster’s roadmap, which identified 25 projects that will contribute to making Grenland the world’s first climate-positive industrial region.

This is a formidable task as the process industry in Grenland, with its 2.4 million tonnes annually, accounts for appr. 20 per cent of the Norwegian industry’s CO₂ emissions. When the capture plant associated with the Longship project at Heidelberg Materials’s factory in Brevik is commissioned in two years’ time, emissions will be reduced by around 400,000 tonnes a year. About 800,000 tonnes will be cut thanks to the recalibration of Yara’s fertiliser production process to incorporate green power as part of the HEGRA project.

Joint solutions to get rid of all climate emissions

– GICCS is focused on investigating and calculating how to annually eliminate appr. 1.2 million tonnes of emissions from the process industry in the region. This will be achieved through a joint investment and shared solutions that will limit costs incurred by individual companies, says Syversen.

SINTEF Industry in Porsgrunn is responsible for coordinating the different work packages. They are working in partnerships with researchers at the University of South-Eastern Norway. Kristian Aas at SINTEF Industry is the coordinator for all project activities and says that the cooperation with companies to collect data has been good.

Will use available waste heat

– In the first phase, we identified how much of the waste heat generated by the process industry can be redirected for the operation of facilities for capturing CO2. This is essential to keep energy costs as low as possible. In the next phase, we will explore whether there is also waste heat from other nearby industrial stakeholders available and consider the use of high-temperature heat pumps. Some electrical power will be needed to operate the facilities with compressors and other equipment, and we will quantify this need, says Kristian Aas

Extensive research required

Grenland is Norway’s largest industrial region, supporting around 6,000 jobs in the area. The biggest emitters are Ineos Rafnes, Inovyn Norway, ERAMET Porsgrunn and Heidelberg Materials (with total emissions of approximately 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ that are not planned captured in the Longship plant). The idea is that an absorber for CO₂ containing flue gases will be established at each of the companies. This will be connected by a pipeline leading to a standard ‘stripper’ where greenhouse gases will be separated in a capture process based on amines. This is the most mature of the technologies for capturing CO₂. The captured substances will then be stored in liquid form and transported from a shared warehouse to a reservoir.

– In this respect, the location of businesses in relation to the fjord will play a role in determining whether one or more capture facilities should be established. We will also have to assess whether it is appropriate to use alternative technologies for capturing CO₂ that require less heat based on the flue gases present. But if we find that amine technology is the preferred option, then we need to find out how high a temperature this solvent can have in the planned pipeline, says Aas.

Draws on strong and broad expertise

To provide solutions to these and many other technical challenges, researchers are drawing on expertise from throughout SINTEF. Nippon Gases, a world-leading company in the field of CO₂ handling, is also involved. Bluegreen is contributing expertise in thermoplastics, while Pipelife, who manufacture systems for plastic pipes, are also on board. Bouvet will assess sensors and IT solutions.

Another important partner is Herøya Industrial Park, which is the intended host site for these joint solutions. The project has also engaged Norsk e-fuel and Nordic Electrofuel to investigate the possibility of utilisation of CO₂ in the region.

A project with significant transfer value

– The project is divided into five work packages and a total of 29 interim reports are planned before the delivery of a final report in two years’ time. This will ensure that participants have plenty of opportunities to provide their input and views before the final summary of recommendations for the construction and operation of facilities is submitted, Anne Cathrine Syversen adds.

SINTEF has also created a separate website for the project which will be updated on an ongoing basis with assessments and results as research progresses.

– Disseminating knowledge during the project is important because we believe that what we arrive at in terms of recommended solutions in Grenland will also be of use to other industrial regions facing the same challenges as we do, both in Norway and in Europe. It is about being able to maintain production and employment in the process industry, and thus the welfare of people and countries, without harming the climate and environment. Without the funding and support offered by industrial companies and CLIMIT, we would not have been able to carry out such extensive and thorough research. We are very grateful that Gassnova, thanks to its presence in Porsgrunn, has been and remains an enthusiastic promoter of the project. We feel a sense of duty, and we will deliver, promises Anne Cathrine Syversen.

CLIMIT has provided NOK 8 million in support to CAPEWASTE

The CLIMIT programme is working to adapt to an ever-changing world and support for the waste management industry is one of the new industries seeing more and more applications for support. This is a huge industry with facilities that will have to make both minor and major changes in order to implement CCS. At the EGE Oslo Kommune plant at Haraldrud, there was a need to see what changes had to made for carbon capture to become a reality at the plant for when it undergoes redevelopment in 2030.

The CLIMIT project “CAPEWASTE” has studied the challenges associated with capture technology based on oxy-fuel combustion which uses oxygen instead of air in the waste incineration process. The flue gas from this process is composed entirely of CO₂ and steam, something which makes it easy to separate the CO₂ simply through the condensation of water. It is an amazingly innovative solution, and no plant like this has ever been built before.

Carbon capture in the energy recovery sector

Carbon capture from the waste sector is an industrial initiative that addresses these challenges with the added potential for being carbon negative. Implementation of CCS at the new Haraldrud plant has been boosted by the positive results from the full-scale CCS feasibility study carried out by Gassnova, as well the infrastructure to transport the CO₂ to the Port of Oslo and then to the offshore storage sites in the Smeaheia area, which is set to be operational by 2024.

R&D partner SINTEF Energi carried out an experimental study of how to efficiently burn household waste in an oxy-fuel combustion atmosphere and then how to scale up the technology through the help of numerical simulation. Through close international collaboration with partners at an associated project (NuCA) in Germany, the technology has been further tested at pilot scale. The results have been exchanged across borders.

• “It’s really fantastic that we built this partnership with Germany, which has been a key CCS partner in Europe also through, the ACT project NEWEST-CCUS, which began in 2019,” says CLIMIT special advisor Åse Slagtern. “This also highlights the significance of this CLIMIT project could have for the waste management industry all over the world. Opportunities are there.”

Decisions based on research experience

After the end of three years of research, the project has resulted in increased expertise for all project partners in what is an immature capture technology. For the owner of the plant, the project provides a good foundation for making evidence-based decisions about the opportunities and potential for using oxy-fuel capture technology at the future Waste-to-Energy plant at Haraldrud.