Alstom takes the initiative on CO2 capture technologies and global warming challenge

Alstom has been carrying out an intensive research and
development programme for the past years to meet the
technological and economic challenges of capturing the CO2
created in fossil-fuel-based electricity production. As early as
2014, the company will be able to offer fossil-fuel-based power
plants that respect the environmental constraints linked with
climate change. Several technologies will be tested in six pilot
projects already under way in Germany, the US, Norway, Sweden and
France. Other projects are being studied and will be announced
shortly.

Being aware of the urgency of the climate change problem and
various regulations in preparation in the world, Alstom has
launched, in parallel, the development of several technologies
so that it can offer CO2 capture solutions that give the best
energy efficiency for an acceptable cost of installation and
maintenance for the operator.

Of the three main technology paths for the capture of CO2
emitted by a power station burning fossil fuels, Alstom Power
is concentrating on post combustion technologies and
oxy-combustion. The main reason for this choice is that capture
technologies must be able to be used on existing power stations
as well as the numerous power stations, mainly coal, that will
be built by 2030 to meet the growing demand of developing
countries. The solutions chosen by Alstom correspond to
this.

Post-combustion technology is the most advanced technology
today and can be adapted easily to the large installed base of
coal-fired power stations. It consists of separating the CO2
from the exhaust gases using a solvent (amine or chilled
ammonia). The latest results from our bench test show that the
chilled ammonia capture method developed by Alstom can remove
up to 90% of CO2 from the combustion gases. This technology can
also by applied to both coal-fired power stations and to
combined cycle gas-fired power stations. The various pilot
projects and industrial demonstrations that will begin at the
end of this year will verify the energy use of this technology
and should confirm its economic advantages over other
technologies.

 

The oxy-combustion method consists of burning a
solid fuel in oxygen instead of air. The gases
produced by this oxy-combustion are mainly water and CO2, which
is easy to capture at the end of the process. The main
challenge of oxy-combustion technology today is reducing the
cost of large-scale oxygen production. This path has been
chosen by Alstom because it presents the least technological
risk.

The oxy-combustion should also be retrofitable to existing
power stations and the conditions for doing so are currently
being studied. Also, important technological breakthroughs are
being prepared, such as chemical looping, a new and promising
form of oxy-combustion currently undergoing bench tests at
Alstom. This process will allow to avoid the costly use of
cryogenic oxygen.

The third path, called pre-combustion, consists of
transforming by gasification a fuel rich in carbon (coal or
petrol derivatives) into a synthetic gas made up of carbon
monoxide and hydrogen. Several stages of transformation and
purification are then needed to transform the gas, remove the
CO2 and obtain a stream of pure hydrogen that can then be
burned in a
combined cycle power station. Although gasification is
a well known industrial process, producing electricity from
hydrogen on a large scale and
integrating several complex technologies similar to the
ones used in the refining and petrochemical industries, it
remains to be fully tested. Alstom has not gone down this
technological road because it cannot be used in existing power
stations, would be a costly investment and is difficult to put
into operation to give reliable electricity production.

A programme well on its way: 

Alstom has already signed six deals with utilities and oil
companies for the pilot CO2 capture plants using both
oxy-combustion and post-combustion methods.

Post-combustion: 

• A 5 MWt post-combustion pilot plant (chilled ammonia) in
  association with Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for
  We Energies in the United States (coal)
• A  5 MWt post-combustion demonstration plant
  (chilled ammonia) for E.ON in Sweden (oil and gas)
• A 30 MWt post-combustion product validation unit (chilled
  ammonia) for American Electric Power (AEP) in the United
  States (coal) followed by the design, construction and
  commission a commercial scale of up to 200 MW C02 capture
  system in 2011
• A 40 MWt Post-Combustion test and product validation
  facility (chilled ammonia) for Statoil in Norway (gas)

Oxy-combustion: 

• A 32 MWth oxy-firing demonstration (boiler retrofit) unit
  for Total in France (gas)
• A 30 MW oxy-firing demonstration plant for Vattenfall in
  Germany (lignite)

Other partnerships are also currently under discussion and
will be announced in months to come. Alstom thus intends to
take a worldwide leadership position in CO2 capture, as is
already the case in other clean energy areas.
Regardless of the fuel source, the solutions offered by Alstom
significantly reduce traditional pollutants and greenhouse gas
emissions without sacrificing the profitability of power
plants. World leader in air quality control systems, Alstom
offers the worlds largest scale of solutions to
eliminate dust and reduce traditional pollutants including
mercury, nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides by more than
90%. 

While the development of CO2 capture solutions is a
priority, Alstom remains committed to the foundation of its
business and the continued improvement of energy efficiency is
chief among its research and development efforts. Two main
roads are being pursued. On the one hand, the improvement of
plant efficiency, which translates into significantly more
electricity for the same amount of fuel and a longer life span.
This road translates into a large services offer, engineering
and equipment for the rehabilitation of existing power plants
with at stake important savings and CO2 emission reductions of
up to 25%. On the other hand, the use of ever increasing steam
cycle temperatures allows us to offer our clients the best
available technology for new power plants. The next step of
these advanced cycles will be at 700 degrees Celsius and will
allow for an energy efficiency of around 50% by 2020, or 42% of
CO2 emissions avoided compared to the average worldwide
emissions of coal-fired power plants.

With electricity consumption rising worldwide, the
protection of the environment, such as the control of CO2
emissions, is creating a new demand. Alstom, world leader in
clean energy, offers the complete range of solutions, both for
new equipment and for the retrofit of the installed base as
well as in terms of services.

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