North Sea oil services giant starts work on ‘globally significant’ carbon capture project in Norway

Aker Solutions – the North Sea oilfield services giant – has started a five-month test program to capture carbon emissions from the council-run waste-to-energy Klemetsrud plant in Oslo, Norway (pictured, left).

The project is the first of its kind globally for a waste-to-energy plant and comes after Aker Solutions signed a contract with the city council last month.

The project is funded by Gassnova, the state enterprise that supports the development and demonstration of technologies to capture carbon dioxide (CO2).

Valborg Lundegaard, head of Aker Solutions’ engineering business, said: “This is pioneering work with significant potential as the world focuses on finding ways to limit carbon emissions.

“As such, this pilot project is of international importance. We see potential in this market across the world”.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an important tool in reducing CO2 emissions and curtailing global warming. The test will be a key element in qualifying Aker Solutions’ amine-based CO2 capture technology for commercial application at waste-to-energy plants globally.

There are about 450 such plants in operation in Europe and about 700 globally.

The test will be conducted using the company’s mobile test unit for carbon capture. The gas released from Klemetsrud contains about 10% CO2 and is treated in several steps before it enters the mobile unit. Klemetsrud, which gets a majority of its feedstock from biomass, emits about 300,000 tons of CO2 per year. 

Oscar Graff, Head of CCS at Aker Solutions (pictured left), added: “The tests will verify important operating parameters such as energy consumption, solvent degradation, losses and required solvent make-up.

“We expect to capture up to 90% of the CO2”.

Aker Solutions’ carbon capture technology provider was selected as the preferred solution by Scottish Power in 2009 (winner of UK CCS Competition 1).

Last month, the UK Chancellor stunned the industry when he cancelled the £1 billion competition to support the now-aborted proposed carbon-capture project planned for Peterhead power station by Shell and SSE.

Scottish Energy News 13 Jan 2016: Why cancelling the Peterhead project has put UK behind Norway, Canada and US in commercial-scale carbon capture

http://www.scottishenergynews.com/why-cancelling-the-peterhead-project-has-put-uk-behind-norway-canada-and-us-in-commercial-scale-carbon-capture/