OxyCoal UK

In 2010 the Oxycoal UK phase 2 project in which Vattenfall participated was finalised. A total of 20 test days were accomplished in the test facility. For Vattenfall, the tests are a good compliment to the test activities in our own pilot plant at Schwarze Pumpe.

The OxyCoal UK project is developing the Oxyfuel technology for the capture of carbon dioxide. This involves burning coal in a mixture of high-purity oxygen and recycled gas to produce a gas rich in carbon dioxide that can be purified and compressed for transportation and storage.

The OxyCoal UK project is led by the technology supplier Doosan Babcock and run by a group of industry sponsors and university partners. Vattenfall’s contribution to the project is, besides extensive knowledge and experience of CCS technology, about £330 000.

The OxyCoal UK project consists of two phases. The first phase includes mapping of the underpinning technologies for the Oxyfuel process, such as combustion fundamentals, including CFD modelling, furnace impacts and CO₂ product gas clean-up and purification.

In the second phase of the project, Doosan Babcock will modify its Multi-Fuel Burner Test Rig at Renfrew in Scotland to accommodate Oxyfuel firing on pulverised coal. The Oxyfuel state will be created by supplying oxygen from tanks and recycling the flue gas. The facility will demonstrate the operation of a full-scale 40 MW burner for use in coal-fired boilers, suitable both for new power plants and for retrofit applications. For Vattenfall, the project is an important complement to our own efforts in the Oxyfuel pilot plant in Schwarze Pumpe.

The 40MWth OxyCoal pilot plant in Renfrew, UK was inaugurated on the 24th of July, 2009.