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19.10.2023

Offshore technology behind new CO₂ capture project

CLIMIT visited the University of Southeast Norway (USN) in September to have a look at Moreld Minox’s compact CO2 capture technology.

An idea based on patent from early 1990s

The Minox process was invented by Norlof Henriksen when he was with Norsk Hydro. The process removes oxygen from seawater to avoid corrosion and was patented in the early 90s. This Minox process has since then been in operation at several worldwide offshore oil and gas installations. In 2016, the idea came to develop CO2 capture technology based on the same principles.

Minox saw a changing market and an increasing interest in CCS. With support from the CLIMIT program a concept study was initiated. This was followed by the current project that is testing the technology in USN’s laboratory plant for CO2 capture. The CO2 absorber column has been replaced  by Minox’s compact CO2 absorber system that consists of a mixer followed by a gas-liquid separator.  The company targets to gain enough knowledge to build a larger facility. – Preferably on an offshore platform where we have previous experience, concludes Tor Skovdal Friis.

Minox-gjengen foran testpiloten

We met a dedicated group from Moreld Minox at USN. Left to right: Soudeh Shamshiri, Ole Morten Isdahl, Håkon Helgesen and Tor Skovdal Friis. We look forward to following the project further.

Compact CO2 capture

A well-documented CO2 capture liquid (MEA) is used during the USN test campaign. This enables  comparison  with reference data. – We want to have an efficient technology, and this must be well documented. We have seen a promising capture rate, and eventually, we look forward to test this out on a larger scale, says Ole Morten Isdahl, who is the project manager for the CO2 capture project and technical manager at Minox. The unique feature with this compact process is the formation of small droplets of CO2 capture liquid that provides large contact area to the surrounding flue gas.

Minox is aiming at a plant sisze of 200,000 tons of CO2 per year and is expecting an absorber height of less than 14 meters and a total area requirements far below current practice. The tests have shown interesting energy performance, and the project is now working on optimization. Minox is satisfied with the capture rate and the effects they have seen at different pressure as well as temperature levels. We are happy to be able to draw on the expertise at USN. It gives us unique comparison and development opportunities – The technology looks promising, emphasizes Ole Morten, who is looking forward to presenting results at several upcoming offshore and CCS conferences.

Facts about the Minox process

The Minox process was developed by Minox and Norsk Hydro’s research center during the years 1985 to 1990. The first unit was delivered to Saga Petroleum’s Snorre A platform in 1991. Today this platform is operated by Equinor. Since then, the process has been continuously improved and optimized and has proven to be a very efficient, robust, and reliable way to deoxygenate seawater. To date, around 30 systems have been delivered worldwide.

Repsol Norge and Moreld Minox, together with the University of Southeast Norway and ProSep, are collaborating on the proof-of-concept of the Minox Compact CO2 capture system. The project will document the absorption and energy efficiency of the liquid-based compact absorber in a pilot scale. A potential application for the technology is CO2 capture in places where conventional solutions are too large and heavy. The target is to optimize the technology for capturing 200,000 tons of CO2/year from offshore gas turbines, but in general the technology is scalable.