Pilot carbon capture plant helping pave the way to a climate-neutral Europe
The EU aims to be climate neutral by 2050. By achieving climate neutrality, it will become the first continent to reach net-zero CO2 emissions. The EU-funded ACCSESS project seeks to make this a reality by developing replicable carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology. CCUS is an important emissions reduction technology that captures CO2 emissions and either uses them to make things such as building materials or permanently stores them deep below the earth’s surface. In particular, ACCSESS will lower emissions and contribute to offering climate-neutral end products. It will deliver safe, cost-effective, adaptable and replicable CCUS that addresses three industrial sectors, namely pulp and paper, waste to energy, and cement. All possess great potential for CO2 removal.
Pilot plant to accelerate CCUS uptake and deployment
In addition, the project team will demonstrate cost-efficient CO2 capture and use in industrial facilities. The first important milestone has now been reached with the launch of the Hafslund Oslo Celsio CO2 capture plant in Klemetsrud, Norway. Hafslund Oslo Celsio is Norway’s largest supplier of district heating. The pilot was made possible with the CO2 solutions technology provided by project partner Saipem from Italy. This innovation has been recognised as the project’s leading technology. Project partners completed all the suitable modifications to the plant. This was done to be able to operate with the CO2 solutions technology. They will also optimise all parameters. The pilot plant is already capturing CO2. “It’s really exciting that ACCSESS can start the pilot tests of this environmentally friendly capture technology after only a year,” comments project coordinator Kristin Jordal from Norwegian SINTEF Energy Research in a news item posted on the project website. “This is thanks to Hafslund Oslo Celsio allowing us to use their mobile pilot test rig.”
More pilots on their way for CO2 removal
When the test campaign finishes, the pilot will be moved to Technology Centre Mongstad, also in Norway. It will be integrated with a rotating packed bed absorber unit developed by project partner PROSPIN in Poland. This marks the technology’s next phase of development, culminating in the commercialisation of a modular, rapid and easy-to-build product. CO2 capture test campaigns will be carried out at the Stora Enso kraft pulp mill in Skutskär (Sweden) and at the HeidelbergCement kiln in Górażdże (Poland) during the period 2023-2024. On the path to a climate neutral Europe, ACCSESS (Providing access to cost-efficient, replicable, safe and flexible CCUS) will improve CO2 capture integration in industrial installations as key to accelerating CCUS implementation, tackle the full CCUS chain, and engage and inform stakeholders about CCUS. The project ends in April 2025. For more information, please see: ACCSESS project website
Keywords
ACCSESS, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, CCUS, CO2, climate neutral, emissions
