Adding carbon capture for negative emissions

Above: Klemetsrud waste-to-energy facility (photo: Hafslund Oslo Celsio)

A recent significant development reported by Aker Carbon Capture was the signing of a FEED contract with Hafslund Oslo Celsio (formerly Fortum Oslo Varme) for Norway’s first waste-to-energy CCS project, at the Klemetsrud WtE facility, Oslo.

The FEED contract follows Celsio’s cost reduction initiative in response to an updated cost estimate indicating that the Klemetsrud CCS project as originally configured, employing Shell Cansolv capture technology, would exceed the maximum budget stipulated in its government funding agreement. Celsio placed the project on hold while it worked to reduce costs.

As part of the cost reduction effort, new vendors were brought in to present alternative solutions that could lower costs. On the basis of feasibility and concept studies conducted, Aker Carbon Capture and Aker Solutions were selected to perform the FEED, paving the way for a possible EPCIC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation & Commissioning) contract.

The new FEED study is based on Aker Carbon Capture’s modularised Just Catch 400 unit, with a design capacity of 400 000 t of CO2 captured per year.

The Klemetsrud CCS project is part of the Longship full CCS value chain development and the Klemetsrud waste-to-energy facility is the largest carbon dioxide emitter in Oslo, responsible for 17% of the capital’s carbon emissions. The facility treats household waste, and waste from industry and commerce.

Some 50% of the waste treated at the facility is described as biogenic, opening up the possibility of achieving negative emissions via CCS. The carbon capture project, if it goes ahead, should provide valuable learnings for the European waste-to-energy industry, says Aker Carbona Capture, which includes close to 20 facilities in Norway and around 500 similar facilities across Europe.

Aker Carbon Capture has also recently been awarded a feasibility study by Limeco, a Swiss company planning to construct a new waste-to-energy plant in Dietikon, in the canton of Zurich. CCS is expected to be mandatory for future waste-to-energy plants in Switzerland.

The new waste incineration plant will consist of two identical incineration lines, and Aker Carbon Capture says its standardised and modularised Just Catch carbon capture units will be a good fit.

The CO2 will be liquefied for transport by truck or train.

Limeco’s waste-to-energy plant is a greenfield project that will provide district heating, with heat integration between the incineration plant and the carbon capture plant to maximise district heat production.

Switzerland currently has 29 waste-to-energy plants, emitting about 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Aker Carbon Capture is also active in Denmark, delivering five Just Catch units, with a total design capture capacity of 500 000 tonnes CO2 per year, to two Ørsted CHP plants:

Asnæs in Kalundborg, which is woodchip fired; and the straw-fired Avedøre plant in Greater Copenhagen.

Above: Avedøre power plant site (photo: Ørsted)

It is expected that the carbon capture projects, which were awarded a 20-year contract by the Danish Energy Agency in May 2023, will capture 430 000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the two plants, starting from early 2026. The capture and storage of CO2 from straw- and woodchip-fired power stations will deliver negative CO2 emissions, making a substantial contribution to Denmark’s climate targets for 2025 and 2030.

The capture projects are part of the ‘Ørsted Kalundborg CO2 Hub’ project.

Some 150 000 tonnes of CO2 per year will be captured at Avedøre, which is fuelled with straw “arising as a byproduct of agriculture.” The CO2 will initially be transported by lorry to Asnæs, until a shared pipeline infrastructure across Zealand has been established.

Some 280 000 tonnes of CO2 per year will be captured at Asnæs, which will also function as the CO2 hub, handling and shipping carbon dioxide from both Avedøre and Asnæs to the Northern Lights storage reservoir in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.

The Asnæs plant is fuelled with wood chips primarily sourced from the Baltics. The wood chips come from “sustainably managed production forests and consist of surplus wood from sawmills or residues from trimming or crooked trees.”

Meanwhile, Aker Carbon Capture is in the final stages of completing a Just Catch 100 capture facility (capacity 100 000 t CO2/y) at the Twence waste-to-energy facility in the Netherlands.