Air Products Joins World’s First Full Demonstration of Oxyfuel CO2 Capture and Sequestration at Vattenfall
Air Products announced it will play a key role in the world's first full demonstration of oxyfuel carbon capture and sequestration with the signing of an agreement with Vattenfall AB. Air Products will install its proprietary carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, purification and compression system at Vattenfall's research and development facility in Schwarze Pumpe, Germany, which is viewed globally as the preeminent CO2 oxyfuel project. Air Products will focus specifically on the purification and compression of oxyfuel combustion flue gas. The two companies also executed a joint research and development agreement related to the project. Air Products' pilot plant is to be operational at Schwarze Pumpe in December 2010.
"This is the world's first full demonstration of oxyfuel CO2 capture and sequestration, and our unique CO2 purification and compression technology will be validated at pilot scale through this work," said David J. Taylor, vice president - Energy Businesses at Air Products.
At the Schwarze Pumpe facility, Air Products will take flue gas directly off Vattenfall's 30 megawatt (MW) wall-fired boiler at the oxyfuel pilot plant. It will purify and compress the carbon dioxide, a portion of which will ultimately be transported for sequestration. Air Products' proprietary sour compression technology uses a staged compression process to optimize pressure, hold-up, and residence time to allow removal of impurities during the compression process. This allows cost savings in the oxyfuel combustion process and minimizes the concentration of acidic components, important in preventing corrosion during the CO2 sequestering process. This pilot will demonstrate the efficient purification of CO2, and remove inert gases, in particular oxygen. In addition, it will incorporate novel membrane technology, targeting carbon capture rates as high as 98 percent.
Other news from the department research and development
