BASF, RWE Power and Linde Team up to Develop CO₂ Capture Technology for Coal-Fired Power Plants

BASF, RWE Power and the Linde Group have agreed today on the development of new processes for CO₂ capture from combustion gases in coal-fired power plants. The cooperation will comprise the construction and operation of a pilot facility at the lignite-fired power plant of RWE Power AG in Niederaussem/Germany to test new developments and solvents from BASF for the capture of CO₂– so-called CO₂ scrubbing. Linde will be responsible for the engineering and the construction of the pilot facility.

“We are accepting the challenges of climate protection and want to be proactive in pushing all the available options for the reduction and avoidance of CO₂. We are confident that, together with our cooperation partners, we will soon be developing the process of CO₂ capture to commercial maturity so that this technology can be deployed in new and existing modern coal-fired power plants in the future,” said Dr. Johannes Lambertz, Board member of RWE Power with responsibility for fossil- fuelled power plants.

“BASF conducts worldwide research on products to conserve resources and energy. By entering into this cooperation with RWE Power and Linde, we are contributing our wide-ranging expertise in CO₂ capture technology. Our research is seeking to find a suitable solvent for the efficient capture of CO₂,” said Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF AG and Research Executive Director.

“This promising cooperation of three responsible major companies can provide an important impetus to climate protection,” said Dr. Aldo Belloni, Board member at Linde AG. “It is the aim of the Linde Group to help reduce emissions wherever possible. Our activities include ongoing efficiency improvements at our facilities for the benefit of our customers, CO₂ capture methods as well as powerful recycling systems and the production of environment-friendly alternative fuels.”

The purpose of the planned pilot facility is the long-term testing of new solvents with a view to gaining an understanding of processes and plant engineering to improve CO₂ capture technology. The goal is to apply CO₂ capture commercially in lignite-fired power plants by 2020. The new technology should enable us to remove more than 90 percent of CO₂ from the combustion gas of a power plant and then subsequently to store this gas underground. Once we have successfully completed our pilot tests, we will decide on a subsequent demonstration plant in 2010. This will be designed to provide a reliable basis for the commercialisation of the new process. RWE Power has earmarked a budget of approximately €80 million for the development project, including the construction and operation of the pilot facility and demonstration plant.

“There is agreement among experts,” says Lambertz, “that coal will continue to be an important pillar in the global energy supply for decades to come. This is why we have set up a long-range CO₂ avoidance strategy: we are building the most efficient coal-fired power plants in the world, and we are developing a new generation of power plants for tomorrow, with an efficiency of over 50 percent. We are already designing all our modern coal-fired power plants so that they can eventually be equipped with the CO₂ capture technology that is currently being developed with BASF and Linde. The aim must be to set up not only highly modern plants from 2020, but also virtually carbon-neutral coal-fired power plants including storage.”

Apart from the so-called CO₂-scrubbing method, RWE Power is also developing the first carbon-neutral coal-fired power plant with CO₂ transport and storage, based on the integrated gasification combined-cycle process (IGCC). This large-scale 450-MW plant is due to come on stream in 2014, although no decision has yet been taken as to where it should be located. With a view to climate protection, RWE Power has also decided to expand renewable energies throughout Europe, with the focus on generating electric power from water, wind and biomass.

RWE and BASF have been involved in the CASTOR project since early 2004, a research project that is sponsored by the European Union (EU) and which seeks to find methods to remove CO₂ from combustion gases and to store it. The project is also supported by a number of prestigious European universities, research institutions, public authorities and industrial enterprises, including several renowned power plant operators, oil and gas companies and plant manufacturers.