Vattenfall and Carbon Capture and Storage

Carbon Capture and Storage - CCS – is a concept for capturing carbon dioxide from flue gas, compressing it into liquid form and storing it deep underground in suitable geological formations.

 
The world is currently depending on the use of fossil fuels for its energy supply. This will continue to be the case in the foreseeable future. The development of alternative energy sources will take time, but emissions from fossil fuels need to be drastically reduced already.

CCS is a plausible concept that can help achieve a sharp reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fired power plants. It can support the transition to a long-term sustainable energy system and help reduce fossil fuel dependence.

CCS – a necessity to halt the greenhouse effect
Vattenfall’s CCS project
Capture
Transport
Storage
Pilot plant in Schwarze Pumpe
Vattenfall’s plans for demonstration plants
The goal of our CCS project
Contacts CCS project

CCS – a necessity to halt the greenhouse effect

Climate change, a result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, is the overriding environmental challenge of our time. Vattenfall uses fossil fuels in several plants and we therefore have a responsibility to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. We also see it as our responsibility to take initiatives, to be a driver of development and lead the way for others

CCS will enable us to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while continuing to use fossil fuels, something that will still be necessary for a long time to come. CCS will work as a temporary solution and give us the time we need to develop a sustainable energy system in the future. We say that CCS is a way of “bridging to the future”.

The world needs CCS technology to start reducing the ever-growing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and thereby counteract the greenhouse effect.
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Vattenfall’s CCS project

Vattenfall has ventured into the development of CCS technologies in order to make it possible to take a large step towards reduced carbon dioxide emissions

Since 2001, Vattenfall has been working on developing methods for capturing CO₂ from large coal-fired power plants and storing it deep underground. We work to develop safe, cost-efficient and viable technologies. This work includes all parts of the chain – capture, transport and storage. Another important part of the project is to identify and assess the environmental impact that capture, transport and storage of CO₂ entails.
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Capture

There are three main technology options:

• Oxyfuel combustion, where fuel is combusted is in almost pure oxygen and recycled flue gas, instead of air. CO₂ is practically the only end product from Oxyfuel combustion.
• Postcombustion, where CO₂ is washed from the flue gas after conventional combustion.
• Precombustion, where a gasification process removes the carbon from the fuel before the resulting hydrogen gas H2 is combusted.

Transport

A functional infrastructure for transporting carbon dioxide ties the capture at power plants together with storage at suitable sites. One single 1 600 MW lignite-fired power plant, like our power plant in Schwarze Pumpe, produces around 10 million tonnes of CO₂ each year. Transports through pipelines or by ship are the most suitable alternatives for such large amounts of CO₂.
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Storage

In many parts of the world, natural carbon dioxide is found in geological formations where it has been trapped in sedimentary rock types in much the same way as oil and gas. The intention is to make the conditions for geological storage resemble the conditions in these natural CO₂ storage sites.

Depleted oil and gas fields have demonstrated an ability to hold oil and gas over millions of years. They have great potential to function as long-term storage sites for CO₂. Another alternative is to inject CO₂ into active oil and gas fields to enhance the recovery of oil and gas.
There are also geological formations that are filled with salty water and can be suitable as storage sites as CO₂ partially dissolves in the water. In some cases it can slowly react with minerals and form carbonates.

Regardless of the option we choose, the storage site will be covered with an impermeable layer of rock, known as cap rock, that prevents leakage. When the storage site has been filled, it will be permanently sealed and put under surveillance.
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Pilot plants in Schwarze Pumpe and Buggenum

In Schwarze Pumpe, Germany, we have built a pilot plant connected to one of our lignite-fired power plants. The purpose of the pilot plant is to validate and improve the Oxyfuel method of capturing CO₂. The pilot plant was inaugurated in 2008. Since then, we are performing a wide range of tests in a first test phase stretching over three years. 

We aim to inject captured carbon dioxide from the pilot plant for permanent storage in a gas field in Altmark in northern Germany together with Gaz de France. Another option is to use it for injection in Ketzin outside Potsdam in the EU funded project CO2SINK.

In Buggenum at the Willem Alexander Power Plant, a CO₂ capture pilot plant is under construction. The precombustion technology for capturing CO₂ from a small part of the syngas from the existing IGCC plant will be tested for a couple of years starting late 2010. 
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Vattenfall’s plans for demonstration plants

A demonstration plant is the link between the small-scale pilot plant and a fully developed commercial concept. In the pilot plant, the technology itself and the process will be validated, whereas in a demonstration plant the commercial abilities of the technology will be proven.

In Germany, we will turn the Jänschwalde power plant into a demonstration plant. Parts of the existing plant will be equipped with units for CO₂ capture and we plan to implement both Oxyfuel and Postcombustion technology at Jänschwalde. We are presently investigating two possible storage sites east of Berlin in Brandenburg, but it has not yet been decided where the captured carbon dioxide is to be stored. This demonstration plant is planned to be put into operation earliest in 2015.

In our Dutch operations (still known as Noun) there is ongoing work to build a demonstration plant at the new multi-fuel power plant Nuon Magnum in Eemshaven, using precombustion capture technology.

In northern Denmark, we are investigating the possibility of storing CO₂ and also if the Nordjylland Power Station can be equipped with a full-scale unit for CO₂ capture using Postcombustion technology. Nordjyllandsverket is a possible early commercial power plant, and the CO₂ can be transported in at 30-kilometre pipeline to the Vedsted structure, a geological structure suitable for CO₂ underground storage.
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The goal of our CCS project

Our CCS project aims to provide commercially-available technology for the capture and storage of CO₂ by the year 2020. We believe in the CCS technology and consider 2020 to be a fully realistic goal. Our ambition is to be able to capture more than 90 percent of the carbon dioxide in the emissions from power plants.

To reach our goals, the technology must gain acceptance from the general public. There is also a need for financial and political support and for a legal framework for CO₂ storage.
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CCS Contacts in the Vattenfall Group:

Bjarne Korshøj, CCS Manager at Vattenfall Group
Staffan Görtz, Information contact for Vattenfall’s CCS project, Vattenfall Group and Business Group Nordic
Damian Müller, Press contact for Vattenfall’s CCS project, Germany
Nuon Pressoffice, Vattenfall Business Group Benelux