New project promises CO2 capture at $30 per tonne

Carbon Clean Solutions Limited (CCSL) has claimed that its new project in India will strip CO2 at $30 per tonne, significantly cheaper than other carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.

Located near Chennai, the project aims to help the 10MW coal-fired power station become a ‘zero-emission plant’, with the captured CO2 used locally for soda ash production.

During a visit to CCSL’s research facility at Imperial College earlier this year, The Engineer heard how the company hopes to reduce the cost of CCS to $10 a tonne by 2018. Current CCS technologies typically cost between $60-90 per tonnes, and CCSL is hailing the new privately funded scheme as a major breakthrough. With fracking in Lancashire given the green light last week, CCS technology could be a crucial tool to help the UK meet both its energy needs and climate targets.

CCSL says its product is 20 per cent more energy efficient than current solvents
CCSL says its product is 20 per cent more energy efficient than current solvents

“This project is a game-changer,” said Aniruddha Sharma, chief executive officer at CCSL.

“By capturing and crucially, re-using, CO2 at just $30 per/tonne, we believe that there is an opportunity to dramatically accelerate uptake of CCU (carbon capture and utilisation) technology, with its many benefits, around the world. This is a project that doesn’t rely on government funding or subsidies – it just makes great business sense.”

Between November 2015 and May 2016, CCSL ran a test programme at Technology Centre Mongstad in Norway, the world’s largest CO2 capture demonstration plant. The company says its proprietary solvent provided a 20 per cent reduction in energy costs, with eight times less solvent lost in the process and a seven times reduction in corrosion to the capture plant equipment.

According to the CCSL, its technology has now been proven at pilot scale in five countries: the UK, USA, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands. The company operates offices in India, the UK and the US.