Carbon capture contract

has been contracted by

to construct a demonstration chilled ammonia (carbonate) CO

capture plant in Norway.

The demonstration plant will be the first one of its kind to treat flue gas from a gas-fired power plant.

StatoilHydro, the operator of the project, signed the contract on behalf of TCM, a partnership of three companies with a strategic interest in developing new post-combustion CO₂ capture technology. The other partners include Gassnova and A/S Norske Shell.

Alstom will supply and install the demonstration plant, due to be operational in November 2011, which will use the company's chilled ammonia post-combustion technology to capture CO₂ from the flue gases of a combined heat and power plant at Mongstad. It will also treat flue gases from a petroleum-processing plant at the nearby Mongstad refinery, which has a CO₂ output equal to that of a coal-fired power plant.

It is claimed the TCM facility at Mongstad is the largest planned demonstration facility of its kind with an annual capacity to capture up to 100,000 metric tonnes of CO₂.