Few other countries in the world have invested in combating climate change as strongly as Norway. Among other measures, the country is currently investigating carbon capture and storage, commonly known as CCS. Citec has recently been involved in an advanced CCS feasibility study in Norway, which was initiated by the Norwegian authorities through the company Gassnova, with Klemetsrudanlegget AS (now Fortum Oslo Varme KEA AS) as Citec’s client. The study was carried out to investigate the opportunities, challenges, risks and costs for the implementation of full-scale carbon capture within an existing  waste-to-energy plant in Klemetsrud, Oslo.  “This was not a theoretical study, but rather a very hands-on approach to determine how different technologies could be adapted to a specific combustion plant”, explains Global Business Development Manager Jonas Nylund from Citec.

The study included sub-studies from companies providing different kinds of established and commercial CCS technologies – Aker Solutions’ amine scrubbing technology, GE Alstom’s chilled ammonia scrubbing technology, as well as MTR’s membrane technology. In addition, the study also looked at the transportation and interim storage of the captured CO2.

Citec conducted the feasibility study and played a consolidating role in the project, as the company was responsible for setting up the scope limits and supervising the sub-studies.

In addition, Citec performed calculations and simulations on the material provided by the other participants in order to analyse the total impact on the plant. As the technological requirements were high, Åbo Akademi University was also involved in the study and provided expertise on the subject.

The Klemetsrud waste-to-energy plant is already incinerating around 60 per cent non-fossil based waste, which means that if it is equipped with CCS technology, it could actually act as a carbon sink. From a technical point of view, waste-to-energy plants are well suited for carbon capture, as their flue gases are already fairly clean due to very strict emission regulations.
In addition to the study led by Citec, two other similar studies were performed on other plants in Norway. The feasibility study in which Citec was involved was made during spring 2016, and the results look promising. “Apparently different CCS technologies suit different kinds of power plants. The results will definitely be useful as they were at least partly unexpected”, says Chief Design Engineer Johan Fagerlund. Before any investment decisions can be made, however, further FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) studies are needed.